STACK #156 Oct 2017

NEWS MUSIC

INTERVIEW

KING PARROT A lone man walks along a grimy ‘burban street, mashing a hotdog into his face. As he’s heckled and abused by geriatric passers- by, he ducks his head in sorrow, so that the enormous black phallus strapped to his forehead droops as sadly as a Seaworld orca’s dorsal fin. “There was mention, ‘We’re going to get you to wear a dildo on your head,’” says bassist Slatts of his starring role in the clip for King Parrot’s propulsive, spitting single Ten Pounds Of Sh-t In A Five Pound Bag . “I’m like, ‘Yeah cool, that sounds hilarious.’ As it got a bit closer… I probably didn’t feel as comfortable as I did previously about it. That said, I’m a man of my word, so eventually it just became a typical representation of what I am every day, which is a d-ckhead.” Ten Pounds Of Sh-t is one in a collection of 10 typically explosive grindcore tracks on new album Ugly Produce ; the ARIA-nominated five-piece assembled the record on the road, “sharing riffs any way possible”, then planning time away together to write. Slatts says it’s

TOURING 13/12 - 17/12

Ugly Produce by King Parrot is out now via EVP Recordings.

Read the full interview online at stack.com.au

looking at ‘How do we do what we do better, while still remaining who we are?’” Youngy can ruminate on that, while Slatts has other things to not think about. For example, the tracklist. “It’s so important, and it’s important, Zoë, to someone else. Not me. I love writing music. I love performance. I love people looking at me. But after that, f-ck, I don’t know. I don’t know sh-t. Makes me a great interview person. Then Youngy goes, ‘What did you f-ckin’ say that for, man?’” ZKR

his favourite of the guys’ three albums to date. “It’s a bit more punky, I suppose – dirty,” he says. “I’ve always liked music that has hairs on it. You can hear mistakes – that’s f-cking cool. It’s certainly representative of our show and the people that we are. Just mistakes.” And it works because of the enduring respect shared between these long-time mates, as well as the wish to keep evolving. “Youngy’s very mindful and astute around that area,” Slatts says of vocalist MatthewYoung. “He’s constantly

PROTOMARTYR Lyricist and vocalist Joe Casey from urgent and sagacious Detroit post-punk act Protomartyr gives us an insight into the band's remarkable fourth album Relatives In Descent .

sure it would incorporate a mass of airhorns.

Here IsTheThing opens with “Airhorn age, age of horn blowing” – that’s the second reference to horns in as many songs ( A Private Understanding : “Don’t wanna hear those foul trumpets anymore”).Why are they a recurring symbol for you? Yeah, I like the image of trumpets being used as a warning call or heralding some new dark age. Trumpets can sound regal

There are some very subtle strings within The Chuckler , right towards the end. Strings are a kind of shorthand for drama sometimes, but you’ve mixed them so quietly.Why is that? Well, the strings are prominent through the first part of the album and then come back in force near the end. We were drawn

Read the full interview online at stack.com.au

on the previous songs because it made sense to us. They're used in a less subtle manner on Here Is The Thing , for instance. In Male Plague , the line “Everybody knows it’s gonna kill you some day” is this awesomely weird paradox, because it’s such a dark remark but the melody is like a kid’s sing-a-long. Did the lyrics and rhythm come first, or the guitar line melody? The music always comes first. The words have to fit the mood of the music as I see it. Writing lyrics

is fun that way because it allows you to approach the work with a framework already there. You can juxtapose words and moods, focus on the rhyme scheme, ignore the scheme, repeat words for effect, hide personal stories in feedback, make sh-t up. Having said that, I don't think I'm a particularly disciplined lyricist. I'll try and jam in too many words and consonants if I think I can get away with it. I'm sure in the case of Male Plague I had that line and was going to have it as my last line no matter what. "It only fits if I sing-song it? Fine by me!" ZKR

or parp like sick bowels. They are famously used on the game show The Price Is Right as a musical cue for abject failure, which is nice. Airhorns are just the idiots' version of a trumpet, I guess. If somebody were to compose a march for our current president I'm

to how bands like The Raincoats used violins. When you're making an album, you try to avoid shorthand. You have the opportunity to stretch musical and lyrical ideas over several songs, sides, and minutes. They're mixed quieter on Chuckler than

Relatives In Descent by Protomartyr is out now via Domino.

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