INTERVIEW:
Three Kings High
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IT has been a while since I spoke with Three Kings High.
The Bristol-based band came to my attention with the album, They Think They’re People (2016). I have been catching up with them and seeing what they are to. The guys talk about new recordings and studio-time; they tell me about the Bristol; music scene and how they came together; the artists that inspire them; tour dates they have coming up – whether there is a good mood in the camp right now.
I ask about tour dates and whether they have a treasured memory from their time in music; what they would tell new artists coming through – the members choose an album that means a great deal to them.
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Hi, guys. How are you? How has your week been?
Joe: We’re good, thanks. It’s been a busy week: been recording and had a gig in London where we brought a fun bus of Bristolians over to the big smoke with us – so, still a bit fragile but truckin’ on.
For those new to your music; can you introduce yourselves, please?
I’m the singer/ranter/lyricists/gobs*ite in the band, Three Kings High: a six-piece Rock and Roll crew based in Bristol city. We make honest, working-class drinking anthems and, at times, sexy songs to knock boots to and regret the morning after.
Sam: I’m the lead guitarist and funky bouncer for the band.
Hawk: I’m the bassist and guitar-string-changer; silent assassin, drinker; driver (not together) and morale officer of the band.
Tell me how Three Kings High got together - and what those first jams were like?
Joe: I guess it started ten years ago when I moved down South from the North East and met up with Sam Otis (Lead Guitar). We knew each other from our Hip-Hop days: I had some records of Sam’s and he had mine. We were both M.C.s and worked with Veekay (the band’s producer) for a while making Hip-Hop - until we decided to switch it up. I had this idea that I wanted to be in a Rock and Roll band; I always did, to be honest. I guess I had a way with words and got into rapping as it was easier for me not being able to play any instruments.
Sam, on the other hand, tends to be able to play anything he picks up – so, he was a good starting point for experimenting in the beginning. I’d like to say we just had it in the pocket straight away when we got into rehearsals but it literally took years to find our sound. I definitely didn’t ever want to be an M.C.-fronted festival band: that stuff’s just not my bag.
But, because of who we were and our history; we got booked for those sort of nights a lot. I suppose it was our safety-zone knowing we could do that Hip-Hop crossover easily if we wanted – but, really, it’s only the last few years we found our sound and, although it’s still rooted in that Hip-Hop sensibility; it’s only the trained ear that will notice these days.
Bristol is where the band resides. What is the like there for new artists? Do you think it is an upcoming spot for ambitious musicians?
Sam: It’s a great place for new artists. Getting gigs in town is easy and promoters are approachable – so; a good start to get a name for yourself.
Joe: It was easy to get started in Bristol, to be fair, when we first played out we were all over the shop. The gigs were more like public jams but it was exciting - and good to get the opportunity to acid test our early tracks with a different audience each time. There’s some long-serving music venues that, if you put the work in, support you fully. Also, being an out-of-towner and from up Newcastle-way; I always felt pretty accepted here: maybe it’s the transient student crowds that Bristol’s used to that makes it quite open.
But; it’s not always this friendly when you find yourself in another city trying to make moves…
I know you are in (Bristol’s) Foxhole Studio working on new material. Is that a new album? What can you reveal about the songs and ideas you are laying down?
The new stuff is just better.
Not that I don’t stand beside our earlier work but we really found our groove with the last L.P., They Think They’re People, and have built and warped that sound to something new. However; we are all absolute arrogant megalomaniacs. So; even if its dogsh*t, we still think it’s the absolute bollox!
Hawk: The new tracks in the pipeline are a lot more cohesive. Like Joe said; we seem to have found our groove on this one. They’re more explorative, instrumentally, and are generally just better-crafted songs. We’re really excited to get them out.
Is the mood good and excitable in the band’s camp right now? Is 2018 a year where you have big ambitions and developments in the pipeline?
Joe: Yeah. We’re all pretty hyped about 2018. We’re at the point, now, where our expectations are based in reality: it’s quite nice to come out of those inexperienced teen years where you think you’re gonna be the next number-one band within a month because your so fuck*ng amazing; get your arse kicked and humbled and come back better and more grounded. We had a year of great gigs and busy recording sessions - which is what we’ve always measured our success on.
A crowd’s response is, as you know the gauge. You can think you’re great but, if your reception is flat when you perform that new track, there’s nothing worse…and we haven’t had that for a long time.
We’ve grown a good team around us - after years of being with small labels and various booking agencies etc. We have some strong relationships, now, with publishers and P.R. companies - and it’s freed up some time for us to curate our own nights and even start up a small indie label of our own (Donut Records).
Your latest release is They Think They’re People. What has the reaction been like performing the album on the road?
It’s been great to perform. After our first L.P. Hail VeeKay, the producer, really cracked how to capture that live energy in our tracks. When we play, people’s reactions are always that we’re tight. I’m sure that might be the case, but, as well; I think it’s because we record our songs as though they’re live - which is a credit to the guys, as I said earlier: I’m just the gobs*ite taking all the glory: those lot are the ones that make our sound big on stage.
I'Il do my best not to ruin it!
That record was released in 2016. How do you think you’ve developed as a band since then? Were you at the point (now) where you needed to get back in the studio and capitalise on the success coming your way?
Sam: Yeah. We knew we wanted to keep running with the momentum we had when recording that L.P. Sometimes we get so caught up doing gigs - and writing becomes the in-between stages. We decided, at the end of 2016, we’d take a new tact and do a few months on and a few months off of the road. For me, writing and recording is the real creative part: performing is showing off, but I like the nerdy conversations about sounds and lyrics and giving that aspect the focus it deserves. All of us have our own ideas for tracks.
In that room; nothing’s off the table.
Members of the band hail from different areas of the U.K. Is the eclectic and broad membership a reason why the band is so layered? Is diversity the key to your success?!
Joe: The short answer is: ‘I have no idea’. It just worked for us. I think it’s more, perhaps, that we met as adults in our twenties, rather than kids from college - apart from Sam and Wookash who knew of each other and worked a little on some Hip-Hop releases. But; even then, I think it comes down to everyone being individual with their own backgrounds. Some are classically trained musicians, some Hip-Hop aficionados. Some Funk and Jazz-schooled and some just talk shi*e and hope no one notices there blagging it…
But, in a small way; I think maybe the regional U.K. differences do inform our background. For instance, up home, there’s a thriving Hardcore scene and, even if it’s not your bag; it’s hard to avoid knowing and hearing and learning about your city’s sounds and musical heritage - being exposed to Punk and heavy Rock, perhaps, morphs your ear to it more. Same for the South West’s Trip-Hop legacy and Electronica past - they eek in through osmosis, no doubt.
Hawk: I’d say it was more because of our diverse musical tastes than our whereabouts. We all come from such different backgrounds in that sense - but we all love most of the same stuff, too. It’s great to hear Sam and Joe go into wormholes about specific offshoots of Hip-Hop, or hear the crazy Math-Rock Wookash is zoning out to. We definitely have experts in different musical genres but without the single-mindedness that can sometimes blinker you into just one scene.
What sort of music did you all grow up on? Give me a sense of your childhood tastes…
Joe: Probably, like most people, my tastes were mainly informed by my parents - mainly my dad’s, with people like The Band, The Kinks, Bob Dylan etc. 1960s and 1970s Rock, really. Then, I discovered bands like Ocean Colour Scene, The Verve; was a bit of a mod until Hip-Hop got me - then it was all I listened to for about five years!
Hawk: I went through a short stage of being well into Hard House and Trance. Glad that’s over. The Blues has always been a part of what I’m into. As I mentioned earlier; it’s the reason I even started playing seriously. Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana; Led Zeppelin, Sublime, Rancid; NOFX - loads of different stuff. Me and my brother used to stuff loads of towels up our jumpers and pretend we were The Fat Boys. Good times.
IN THIS PHOTO: Wasuremono
Who are the new artists you recommend we check out?
Joe: Locally; I’d give Los Savages and Wasuremono a spin and, obviously IDLES. If you’ve been living in a cupboard the last few years and don’t know; IDLES had the best live show I saw last year…definitely worth a peep. Khruangbin are amazing. Caught them the other night in Bristol. Check out there 2015 album, The Universe Smiles Upon You, as an introduction. You won’t regret it.
Hawk: The Chats are killing it right now. There’s also a brand-new band coming out of Bristol called Alexander Sun which I’m really excited about. You probably won’t find much on them just yet - but watch this space on that one.
IN THIS PHOTO: The Chats/PHOTO CREDIT: Dougal Gorman
If you each had to choose the one album that means the most to you; which would they be and why?
An album that means a lot to me would have to be Unplugged by Eric Clapton. I haven’t listened to it in years but when I was a kid I nicked it off my old man and bought the music book; learnt to read guitar tab and taught myself to play it from start to finish. That’s how I learned to play.
Joe: The Last Waltz by The Band
It’s a live album of The Band’s farewell concert in 1976. Apart from them being at there absolute best, it seems as though it was the end of an era in 1976 - where a certain type of American rock star bowed out to make room for the late-1970s Punk. They were joined by a heavyweight list of their peers such as Muddy Waters, Van Morrison; Neil Young etc. I was brought up on that L.P. and. every Sunday when I was a kid; my dad would play the Scorsese documentary of the same name. So, I guess it’s nostalgic, too.
Can we see you tour soon? What gigs do you have coming up?
Hawk: We’re organising some tour dates with our new agents that will kick off in May. It’s something that will run along some releases over the year - and we’ll be adding dates amongst them to flesh it out…but its early stages. I’m also trying to start up a live night in Bristol and make that semi-regular: it’s important to us to stay relevant in our H.Q.
We also want to get back out to Europe again and are looking at autumn dates for that. But, right now this month, we’re recording for a release and making a video.
Have you each got a favourite memory from your time in music – the one that sticks in the mind?
Favourite memory would be playing a bar and looking out seeing The Animals, The Troggs and the Yardbirds all in one room watching us. Pretty exciting!
Joe: Hanging out with the Troggs on tour was a big one for me - if only for the fact they were the soundtrack to my childhood. Something else that sticks in my head was when we were on one of our early U.K. tours and it was when E.L.O. first joined us as the backing-singer. It was about four years ago, the final gig was in London at Finsbury Park, and we smashed it! Crowd went mental. When we finished the last track, this big American bloke came up to the stage and shouted: “Who are you guys?”. The music had stopped momentarily while we packing away and the D.J. was getting set up - but we answered in unison: “THREE KINGS HIGH”.
Then, as though choreographed; Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr. came over the house system full-blast. The crowd went crackers; we played along and got people on stage with us – “Du du durr du, durrr du du du, du dud du/who you gonna call?/GHOST BUSTERS!”. Ha. It was cheesy as f*ck and maybe we were drunk at the end of a laborious set of dates but that was unadulterated fun - and it set the tone for us as a group. We just want people to have a laugh and get loose with us.
Later that night, we set fire to my shoes and watched them burn because they were possessed.
What advice would you give to new artists coming through?
Hawk: Don’t be too try hard and don’t take yourself too seriously.
Joe: QUIT AND DO SOMETHING ELSE. THERE'S TOO MANY OF YOU NAVEL-GAZING ASSHOLES. Na. I’d say, do everything yourself until it’s too busy to handle; rely on nobody apart from those who’ve shown there dedication.
Never wait for things to come to you…
Finally, and for being good sports; you can each choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).
Joe: Has to be done…
The Band – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Sam: Check your bum for grubs and check this out…
Cosmic Psychos - Fuckwit City
Hawk: This never fails to get me hyped!
Rio – Low Cut Connie
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