New York doom laden brethren’s Kings Destroy are heading to New Zealand and Australia for the first time, touring alongside psych rockers Radio Moscow in what should be a brilliant tour combination. With only days before the tour kicks off, we had a quick chat with Steve Murphy from Kings Destroy to talk about the tour but not before we chat a little American football!
It just so happened to be Super Bowl Sunday when I called Steve up and right in the middle of the game too, but he was kind enough to chat while on a break from the game. Of course I had to ask which team he was going for. “You know what? None of my teams are in but I’m going to root for Denver tonight.” As the band are from New York, I figured he was a fan of one of the New York teams which he was. “I’m a Buffalo Bills fan which is actually the only real New York team because the New York Giants and the New York Jets play in New Jersey, so I’m a Buffalo Bills fan, the working mans team!” For the record, it was 13-7 at the time of our interview with Denver going on to win 24-10. As we moved on from the usual chit chat and pleasantries, we started discussing the upcoming tour to New Zealand and Australia which kicks off on February 11th. It’s certainly nice to see the band coming down under.
Steve: It is! I’m getting on a flight tomorrow (feb 9th) at 5 O’clock actually.
Andrew: Oh right! Is this your first time or have you been here before?
Steve: I’ve been to Australia as a tourist with my wife to visit friends but we’ve never toured there.
Andrew: OK cool. Well obviously you are coming over to play with Radio Moscow which is a great combination between you guys, it’s great to see that Heathen Skulls set this up. I guess from your end, what can the fans expect as far as the setlist and all that kind of stuff?
Steve: Yeah we’ve toured with Radio Moscow a couple of different times and we just get along great with those guys. Whereas those guys are very much heavily rooted in new American Psych rock team, we’re more in the hard rock or stoner rock so different takes along the same lines of heaviness.
Andrew: So where do you draw your influences from? I’m guessing Black Sabbath and that kind of stuff are a big influence on you guys?
Steve: Definitely Sabbath but I mean we also have our roots in the old New York hardcore scenes. So we cross into the Melvins or even a little Kiss or Led Zeppelin and Black Flag, it’s kind of all in there.
Andrew: For some of the people out there that may not have heard of your music or are not familiar with your stuff, how did you guys first get together?
Steve: So we started in a couple of hardcore bands called Killing Time and a band called Upper Cut and we were sort of mainstays in the CBGB’s scene which is kind of one of the more well known New York City rock clubs and thought that we were going to stop playing really fast and were gonna start playing a little slower. We’ve known each other a really long time so we started playing smaller and the more dim hard rock world and that’s where we are today.
Andrew: There’s a lot of fans here that love that kind of stuff and it seems to be in the last 5 to 10 years that kind of music has really taken a surge in popularity. Have you found that this sort of music has been catapulting a bit in the last few years?
Steve: Yeah I mean I can’t speak for Australia but in the United States today compared to 1998, 1999, 2000- 2003, it’s way ahead of where it was, definitely.
Andrew: Yeah it’s great to see as I love this kind of music too. Now you mentioned that you toured with Radio Moscow before, how are those guys live?
Steve: I think Radio Moscow, to be completely honest, are one of the hottest live bands I’ve seen and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing those guys night after night because we both toured with Pentagram all over the United States about a year ago. And there’s no question that Radio Moscow can hold their own versus pretty much any band on the planet right now live, they’re a fantastic live band.
Andrew: Good to hear! There’s another band touring with you as well, a local band called Holy Serpent. I’m not sure if you are aware of those guys at all?
Steve: Totally aware of them, those guys are signed to a west coast, up and coming record label called Riding Easy records and they signed a band called Blackout which is a band from New York City. Holy Serpent have made a pretty good name for themselves over the last…it seems to me they haven’t been around very long…over the last 6 to 9 months. That album that they put out has done quite well and we definitely heard them in the U.S. and I believe they made some noise in Europe as well so we’re actually looking forward to meeting up and seeing those guys. We’ve only spoken by email but they seem like lovely guys.
Andrew: Yeah it should be good to check them out as well. One of the things that I know about Radio Moscow is that a couple of the guys are now in a band called Blues Pills who I am a huge fan of as well. Are you into Blues Pills or know much about them at all?
Steve: Yeah I think I have their last album but yeah, fantastic band and she (Elin Larsson, vocalist) obviously has a great voice and she brings a lot to that band’s sound, no question about it and they’re doing very well.
Andrew: Yeah they came over here to Australia about 2 years ago and it was the first time I had even heard of them and was completely blown away how great they were. But I didn’t realize at the time that they were from Radio Moscow.
Steve: Yeah it’s the old rhythm section of Radio Moscow and they’re American I believe and they moved to Sweden and they met the singer who I believe is Swedish. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think that’s how it all came together.
Andrew: Yep. So about the setlist for this tour, are you the kind of band that changes it up or do you have a rigid setlist that you try to keep on?
Steve: We really try to switch it up pretty much every night. Our experience has been that a lot of bands don’t do that, that we’ve toured with anyway but it’s our style. We have 3 albums out so we have plenty of material so we definitely switch it up every single night.
Andrew: That’s good, I guess there may be some fans who will be travelling and seeing you guys more than once which is always good to see. Fantastic stuff, thanks for your time today and we will see you in a few days!
Steve: Really appreciated!
RADIO MOSCOW AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND TOUR 2016:
w/ Kings Destroy and Holy Serpant
Thursday 11th Feb: Auckland, NZ @ Kings Arms Tavern
Friday 12th Feb: Wellington, NZ @ Bodega Bar
Saturday 13th Feb: Melbourne @ CHERRY BAR
Sunday 14th Feb: Melbourne @ CHERRY BAR
Monday 15th Feb: Sydney @ Newtown Social Club
Wednesday 17th Feb: Brisbane @ Crowbar
Thursday 18th Feb: Sydney @ Newtown Social Club
Friday 19th Feb: Canberra @ Transit Bar
Saturday 20th Feb: Wollongong @ Yours and Owls
Sunday 21st Feb: Rolling Thunder Festival @ Coburg Town Hall, VIC
Sunday 21st Feb: Ballarat, VIC @ Karova Lounge
Tickets and tour details can be found at Heathen Skulls.