Blue King Brown gets Bleach*ed

C.G- The first thing we noticed about Blue King Brown is your strong lyrical message in all of your songs in a real “power to the people” kinda’ way. Can you tell us a bit about the messages and beliefs behind your lyrics.

BKB- We believe that it’s important to be conscious of the world we live in today, to be aware of the health and well being of our planet and our people. Our music also carries in it a message of hope and solidarity with the millions of people who fight daily for equality, peace, humanity and most of all justice so that we can start to realise the dream of living in a world where high moral and ethical standards are more important than high profit margins.Where elected world leaders truly represent the will and best interests of the people, where war is alive only in the history books and where the planet runs on a renewable energies that projects us into a living future, instead of binding us to old technologies of a dying past.

C.G-You’ve travelled all over the world playing music to so many different cultures. How has this influenced your music over the career of the band?

BKB- We have been grateful to be able to travel with our music, we are definitely inspired by the places we go and people we meet. I think a clear example of that is in our most recent album “WORLDWIZE Part 1 NORTH & SOUTH”.  You can hear the difference between this and our first album “STAND UP”, mainly in the way we used a lot more electronically generated sounds on Worldwize, more post production and adding programmed beats to our live drums, this was inspired by broadening our knowledge of music from around the globe. Also Worldwize was created over a time where we had just started to branch out into new territories of the world, mainly the U.S.A, Canada and Europe, so this touring and experience inevitably has a positive impact on creative processes.

C.G- With so many sounds going on in your music how does the writing process work within the band? Is there one main song writer or is it a group effort bouncing ideas and sounds off each other ?

BKB- We have 2 main songwriters, myself and co-founder/bass player Carlo Santone. We bring the songs, sometimes complete, sometimes just an idea or skeleton of a song, to the band and we further work it until we feel it’s ready for either the stage or the studio.

C.G- You released a single with Gurrumul last year. How did that come about and what was the experience like working with him ?

BKB- We had met Gurrumul years ago and loved his solo work. Carlo had been working with his team for a while doing artwork for both of his albums and producing/directing his first music video. Gurrumul had said he was interested in performing a song with us at Darwin Festival one year, so we learnt one of his songs while on tour in the U.S, landed back in Darwin and performed Gathu Mawula together for the first time. Both BKB and Gurrumul were very comfortable playing together so we played that song whenever we were on the same festival or show. It was a natural progression to decide to record a version of it, Gurrumul was great to work with in the studio, he’s got so much talent and effortlessly produces these incredible vocals that have an undeniable ability to go straight to your heart.

C.G- You’re playing as part of the Bleach* Festival at The SoundLounge in Currumbin. You’ve played The Byron Blues Fest’ as well as countless shows in Byron Bay & the Gold Coast itself over the years. Do you like touring to coastal towns? Are there members of the band that have a connection to the ocean ?

BKB- Well, we love touring coastal areas, because of the beaches and because beach communities have a good vibe, also we have a very strong connection to the Byron Bay, Northern Rivers area, it was our home for a long time before we moved to Melbourne and we still consider that part of the world a home and a community we feel connected to. As for the beaches, all the way up the coast they’re stunning….we miss them!

Thanks Blue King Brown!
BKB are playing at Bleach* Festival at SoundLounge, Currumbin on Sunday the 26th of February. Check out more on the action HERE. Get your tickets HERE.

Photographs by Jai Long from Blue King Brown’s Byron Bay show in May last 2011.