They’ve supported the best of the best and now The Kin’s first headlining national tour brings them to the Rosemount Hotel on Friday, October 31. AARON BRYANS reports.
When you’re an up-and-coming band hidden within the masses of New York City how do you stand out amongst the pack?
Robbing a restaurant would do it. At guitar-point.
Yes, the trio comprised of Aussie brothers Isaac and Thorald Koren alongside US drummer Shakerleg, have made a name for themselves holding up many public places across the globe, performing their unique blend of foot-tapping beats and smooth instrumentals wherever they can, whenever they can; much to the distress of building owners and the occasional local consumer.
“Most of them end poorly but half the people just love it but then the people in charge… it’s their job to get rid of us, they’re mad at us but smiling underneath,” Isaac chuckles.
“There was one in New Zealand, in Wellington, where we have some serious enemies. We thought it was a good idea to musically rob a bunch of law students; but we didn’t know it was their yearly review where they’ve got one hour to try ask as many questions and cram the year’s worth of information into their last lecture before the exam. So we roll in and it was a true shock; it was an amphitheatre so the sound was great and loud.
The trio recently signed to Interscope records and are on the verge of releasing their debut album on the label. They’ve also racked up an impressive resume of support slots, performing for Pink in the US and Australia as well as joining Coldplay in Sydney.
“We got on really well with the Pink crew,” Thorald retells.
“They were both incredible experiences. The Pink one obviously there’s no mystery it single-handedly built our fanbase. We’d hung out in New York and played LA and New York and a bit up and down the East Coast and done some tours out to the mid-west and still could play to fifty people here and there but we now have a fan base across the whole US into Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
“The big difference was when we showed up for the Pink tour we got five minutes to sound check and when we played for Coldplay they were like ‘you guys cool with an hour?,’” Isaac laughs.
“We were like ‘you’re joking right? Is this you testing us? Giving us enough rope to hang ourselves’. I guess they had a different culture. It was great.”
The endless touring between both Australia and America has been a dream come true for the trio who have soaked in life on the road and don’t ever want to look back, resulting in some serious decompression time upon returning home.
Having just kicked off the Wolf in the Woods tour alongside Reece Mastin, the band are prepping for a long visit across the country, and with their own headline tour set to follow, the trio are more then happy to make themselves at home.
“It’s a cool thing,” Isaac smiles. “We feel like when we’re in America we’re billed as an Aussie band and when we’re in Australia we’re billed as an American band and so it’s like we don’t really exist anywhere and we don’t have a home yet. We’d like for Australia to claim us. We’d like for Aussies not to bill us as an American band. Shakaleg is fast becoming an honorary Aussie and there’s no way you’ll kick the Aussie out of us even though our accents are a bit butchered. This tour and the headline tour we’re doing is good because we’ve always wanted to go country. You Aussies are stuck with us ’til November.
