King Ibis are sitting on the edge of their seats, with past experiences in their back pocket and ready to launch on August 3, 2019 at The Aardvark. The debut EP, Find Me On The Roof, casts stories of Reminiscing whilst disregarding the advice of Backseat Drivers to steadfastly cement in Concrete their place in the Perth music scene. Amidst their preparation for the launch, the entire team at King Ibis sat down with ANNIE MUNROE.
Congratulations on the release of your Debut EP Find Me On The Roof. Tell us about who you are, where you met and what it means to be King of the Ibises?
Nadene: Thank you! We’d like to think we’re two parts Middle Kids, a cup of Jungle Giants, a dash of Angie McMahon and maybe just a pinch of Kylie Minogue circa 2001.
John: Well, me, Nadene and Matt met at Uni and formed the bones of band.
Matt: Back when we used to have a much rougher sound and a name that left a lot to be desired
Nadene: But yeah, after gigging around the Perth scene a bit and refining our sound, we met Sam and King Ibis was hatched.
Sam: As for the name, we’re just trying to reverse the stigma around the ibis and bring awareness to the natural beauty and majesty that is the threskiornithidae (ibis and spoonbill family).
How did you guys get into writing and playing original music growing up?
John: I think we all grew up surrounded by incredible music found in our parent’s CD collections. It was certainly the start to our writing and playing careers… Whether it was playing drums on the kitchen pots and pans.
Nadene: Or singing bad No doubt covers in an all-sister trio. I think (we all knew) early on we wanted to pursue a career in music.
Matt: All of us have different tastes in music and have come from different parts of WA and we think that helps when writing songs to create something special. When you’re at a King Ibis show you can expect each song to offer you something a little different.
This EP definitely feels like a representation of where you’ve been. Do you think as time goes on your approach will change?
Sam: This EP has been a long time coming and we feel that it’s a good representation of where we’ve been.
John: Yeah, we’re super excited for our EP to be out in the world for people to hear and hopefully enjoy. Since deciding to record these songs last year we have already developed a lot as a band and feel our music has changed a lot in that time
Nadene: And will probably change again in the future.
Also, an extra congratulations for receiving a nomination for Reminiscing for a WAMAward this year! It’s a personal fave here in the office. Is that recognition intimidating, or is really sweet to get that response?
Matt: It was a really nice surprise to receive a nomination when there is so much great music being released from WA artists.
Nadene: We are glad to hear that our music is being appreciated by people outside of our friends and family so thanks heaps for the support!
That’s fair. As a Perth band in the midst of the Perth music scene, have you felt like your music is influenced by the bands you’re essentially growing up with?
John: The Perth music scene is very incestuous with (so) many band members playing with other bands and being constantly surrounded by each other, so being influenced by each other is essentially the inevitable outcome.
Nadene: We’re super excited to share the stage with local legends and old-time friends Joan and the Giants, Green Pools and Elle Clover for our EP launch on August 3.
So what’s next, and what’s coming from King Ibis post-release?
Matt: We are looking at a new chapter for us, moving into recording some material that we feel is heading in a new direction.
Sam: So we will be recording and writing a little more to round out the new material we already have and hopefully moving into a new exciting place musically.
Nadene: So in a way this EP is also a little farewell to the first chapter of us, celebrating some songs we have played from the beginning and putting them out to the world as a little send off. In terms of gigs we are hoping to try to put some tours together and play some bigger gigs and festivals so hopefully you will be hearing about that soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veMmudYseo8
