Above: King Cannons opening for Bedouin Soundclash recently at The Prince.
“It’s like baking a cake,” enlightens heavily tattooed, rockabilly-esk King Cannons (KC) lead vocalist Luke Yeoward about the bands creative process of song writing. “Some times I’ll come up with something, a little riff, or hook and other times me and someone else will come up with something and we will just build on it from there,” he adds. With culinary skills like the ones KC processes, the sharp looking crew need to get themselves onto Master Chef quick sticks, after a particularly noteworthy performance at The Prince in St Kilda recently.
The New Zealand birthed, Melbourne adopted band, consisting of Luke on lead vocals and guitar, Rob on electric, Johnno on bass, Josh on drums, Mike on keyboard and the lovely Lanae on percussion, (the bands token female,) started out in New Zealand in 2008, as a group of mates and acquaintances who showed up at the same gigs. “We had a bit of a jam in a friends lounge room, wrote some tunes and that was pretty much it, we started playing shows,” Yeoward says in a ‘bobs your uncle’ manner.
KC have recently toured with Canadian, Bedouin Soundclash as their support act on the Australian leg of their journey. “Its pretty hard to find bands in this part of the world that sound like Bedouin Soundclash OR King Cannon for that matter. It was definitely a good match for us and a good opportunity to play to the Bedouin Soundclash fans. We were pretty excited about it,” says Yeoward.
Despite spending most of his life in New Zealand, Yeoward likes Melbourne. “Melbourne is wonderful, I was born here even though I grew up in New Zealand… Yes my accent is fucked,” he laughs. Yeoward likes a casual scene when he heads out, despite living in Australia’s cultural capital. “I like going to the Gem in Collingwood and having a beer there. That’s my kind of place. It has a pretty chilled out mood and the people are always friendly.” Although Yeoward admits he will never be the poster child for city living. “If I didn’t have to live in a city with people and petrol and folks doing crazy things, I wouldn’t fucken be here. I’m only here for the music necessity. That’s what keeps me in the city,” he says. With themes of serenity and healthiness running true throughout the bands songs, with titles such as, Smoked out City, Time to Yourself and Teenage Dreams. However since relocating to Melbourne, Yeoward has yet to find a nice getaway place in Australia and likes to go back to New Zealand and chill by a lake.
Yeoward got his first guitar as a gift from his mother when he was ten. She taught him a few chords then bought him a guitar book so he could teach himself. He sings about this in the song, Teenage Dreams, as well as his experiences growing up, how money was tight and his salvation was music. Once Yeoward had mastered the basics, he took to the streets, “I used to go out busking and that’s how I got my first electric instrument and started a band when I was 13. That’s how I got into playing,” says Yeoward.
Noteworthy also is the bands image. KC present themselves a way that is rarely done these days, wearing a uniform of crisp black shirts and pressed black trousers, with black dress shoes. A look any mother would be proud of and Yeoward says his parents have been supportive of him from day one, despite him getting his first tattoo at the age of sixteen. “It was a skull and cross bones on my back and was done in Taupo in New Zealand. My mum thought it was a fake tattoo and she tried to scratch it off… no parent really wants their child to get tattooed,” he laughed.
Those who have not heard music by culinary experts KC, can expect influences from a wide variety of sources, making them a band with something for everyone. “You sort of mash them all up and that’s how we have come to be,” says Yeoward. With a heavy influence of world music, as well as pre 50’s blues, rock and roll, ska music in the 60’s, rock steady and reggae right through to dance hall, electronic, hip hop and country mixed with punk rock backgrounds, it all makes for a hefty performance, or tasty cake.
“Its really important to remain open minded when it comes to music and everything tells a story,” says Yeoward, who has been playing in bands for the last ten years and has developed a thick skin from an early age. “Criticism can be taken on board when its constructive and everyone’s got an opinion,” he says. And where would Yeoward like to see the bank in two years time? The answer is simple. “In as many peoples record collections as possible and in as many different continents as possible, that’s all I could ever hope for.”
King Cannons will be playing at the East Brunswick Club in Melbourne on November the 25th.
To find out more, visit the bands website at http://www.kingcannons.com/
Or to try a piece of King Cannons' toe tappin’, rock‘n’rollin’ cake for yourself, please visit their Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/kingcannons
They will be more than happy to have you for a bite. They do cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Also, see below for a review of their recent gig with Bedouin Soundclash.
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