Words: Jake Patton

Images: Rebecca Reid

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Tonight for me was a show I had been waiting for a while to see. Having missed them during their last national tour, it was finally good to see King Parrot returning to Brisbane’s The Brightside, with Malakyte and SpitFireLiar, and giving me the opportunity to hear their new material live for the first time.

I love watching Malakyte. They are probably one of my favourite local bands, seemingly because there is always such a great energy that is brought to their shows. Im generally particular about the thrashier metal that I enjoy listening too, but I just cant go past these guys. The air of excitement gets that great each time that I eventually think that one of these days one of the band members is going to get that excited and smash their instrument. They were an appropriate opener for tonight’s proceedings and they didn’t let the opportunity go to waste. Their dual guitar tones just do something that set their show apart from most other local bands, and each member of band does an equally important job at trying to get the crowd involved. While their crowd was relatively small to begin with, once the music started playing the people streamed in, and were treated to a small amount of the chaos that was in store for tonight.

I cant really find any other words to describe SpitFireLiar’s set apart from intriguing. I had never heard of the band before tonight and I guess that in many ways it was a baptism by fire for me. Stylistically, this was the perfect support for the King Parrot the tour. They had that punk rock edge with some grindcore element sound going on that so many bands are trying to capture these days – and they pulled it off. Their single guitarist has been eloquent enough to work a couple of quick solos into their music , something typically difficult to do with this genre, and it added an extra element that caught my attention. Perhaps the other thing that really caught my attention was some of the song titles – I have heard some brilliant ones before but never at this level. Tracks like ‘‘Mum I Like Your Lingerie’, ‘I Want To Eat Natalie Portman’s Poo’ and ‘Jazzy’s Boobs’ should hopefully give you an indication of the hilarity that ensued when these guys played. They are definitely a band that I enjoyed watching and someone I am probably going to try and see again in the near future.

Before they had even taken the stage, the venue had filled out for King Parrot. Probably the best thing about watching King Parrot live is that the band doesn’t accept any passengers. From the people down the front knowing what they are getting too, to the unknowing viewers up the back, everyone plays a part in a King Parrot Show.

If you ever need your walls and floors washed, the best thing to do would be to organise a King Parrot show and then have someone come through with a mop afterwards. Before a single not had even been played, water was being splashed over the crowd, the floor and walls by vocalist Matt ‘Youngy’ Young who was screaming at the crowd to ‘wake up’. This baptism continued throughout the whole show, even encapsulating the people up in the elevated viewing area, which left the walls and the floors drenched at the conclusion of the show.

Having seen King Parrot on a larger and smaller stages, im now completely convinced that they are simply at home being on any stage in general as each time I see them they get more and more comfortable. In my eyes Youngy has quickly elevated himself into a category of revered frontmen because there is just something about what he does that commands every ounce of a crowds attention when he takes the stage. That coupled up with the other band members like Matthew ‘Slatts’ Slattery doing his stagelong shuffle with that goofy grin on his face (the kind that you would expect from a child up to no good), Andrew ‘Squiz’ Squires and Ari “Mr. White’ White with their thrashy guitar sections, and Todd ‘Toddy’ Hansen on drums, windmilling victoriously along to his fills just leavesto so much going on stagewise that its impossible not to keep your eyes glued to what is happening in front of you.

There is no safety at a King Parrot show. If you are on your phone, asleep (yes it has happened before, and happened again tonight), or just ‘not altogether interested’ then you can expect being spotted by Youngy and either doused in water, or being called out and having the crowd peer pressure you into something. A few times tonight people were singled out and those poor souls will probably never make those same mistakes again. This live performance and engagement is something that draws alot of people to the band, and its something which isn’t replicated by any others. The fact that the band had it’s own fans repeatedly putting themselves in harms way jumping from an elevated viewing area down onto the crowd below is just one way in which you truly recognise how engaging that King Parrot is when they take the stage.

It really is difficult to put a King Parrot show into words. It’s not something that you can simply read about, but something that you have to experience. If you haven’t gone out to see them yet then you are truly missing out. Australian bands take note. These guys have found a way to climb from the relative obscurity of Australian pubs to packing most Australian venues out and spending three quarters of their years touring overseas in a few small years. There’s a reason Australian’s love King Parrot, and tonight was just another showcase on why.