Interview by Kris Peters
Ten years ago, a then unknown Australian band called Kingswood laid solid claim to becoming a band you had to hear with the release of their stunning debut album, Microscopic Wars.
Drenched in rhythm, carried by the band’s strong chemistry, bolstered by a confidence and swagger felt between songwriters Alex Laska and Fergus Linacre, MICROSCOPIC WARS heralded not just an exciting jump off point for the Melbourne group; for fans, it was the start of a journey with a band whose ambition would see them navigate a diverse range of music influences to follow.
After six more studio albums, Kingswood are now a household name both here and abroad, but the band have never forgotten the album that gave them their start. And now, with that album celebrating its ten-year milestone, Kingswood are set to embark on a nationwide tour to celebrate by playing the album in full.
Vocalist Fergus Linacre joined HEAVY recently to reveal the band's weird and wonderful plans to say happy birthday to Microscopic Wars.
"We've got a few special guests that are gonna come up and join us on stage," he teased. "We're taking a great band called The Delta Riggs with us for most of the tour, and over in WA we're gonna have Death By Denim come with us. Alex and I were talking, and he said to me yesterday when we were planning out who is gonna play what and what the parts are gonna be - because we've gotta relearn a lot of it. I've got to relearn how to play piano, which I never did in the first place (laughs). He said we're gonna give them… because we're so much more experienced - we're better singers, better performers, better players - he said we're gonna give the fans that love that album the best version of those songs that they've ever heard. Far better than when we played them back in the day, so it's exciting."
In the full interview, Fergus discusses the tour in greater detail, what fans can expect from the show, playing the album in full and any problems that may pose, if the songs still resonate as strongly after ten years, the band's thought process going into Microscopic Wars, his memories of making it, recording in Nashville and how it impacted the album sonically, the temptation of reproducing that winning formula on future albums, diversifying your music while staying true to your fans and roots, how Kingswood's music has changed from their debut album to now, things they have learnt about themselves and their music over ten years and more.
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