The Custom Kings Interview

16 August 2010 by Max Easton

Coming off the back of a successful debut in At Sea and a couple of side projects in Joe Neptune and Eagle and the Worm, the Custom Kings are set to release their second record, titled Great Escape. Days before it hit shelves, frontman Nick Vorrath called in for a chat with Soulshine’s Max Easton.

Many, many drinks have passed since we last heard from Melbourne’s four-piece collective of diversified rock, the Custom Kings. 2007 was the last official word we heard from the band with their triumphant debut, At Sea, featuring radio hits like Up Late and Rose Pickles. Compared to anyone from Nick Drake to G.Love & Special Sauce, their debut toyed with genres as far reaching as reggae, back through whitenised hip-hop and settling on an air of pop-flavoured rock. Three years later with the side projects Joe Neptune and Eagle and the Worm out in the world, the Custom Kings are back together in all their maritime enforcement glory for a second record, Great Escape, one which has taken a subtle change in direction. 

“We were aware that the last album was very diverse and we didn’t wanna go down that track with this record,” explains frontman Nick Vorrath, referring to the number of different styles toyed with on At Sea, “We’ve been playing together for ages and that’s the kind of sound that we emerged with. With this album we did talk about making more of a conscious and cohesive record, but I guess it’s just the type of music we’re into at the moment which created [the sound on Great Escape.]”

The new album is noticeably different from At Sea, but doesn’t stray too far from the roots that gave them a wide-reaching and excitable fan base. Probably the most noticeable change is an added influence on a few tracks reminiscent of 50’s and 60’s rock n roll, with bordering on doo wop call and response backing vocals tingeing tracks like the radio hit, Sunday. It’s a sound also being toyed with by their city mates’ Little Red.

“We’re good friends with Little Red and have done a few shows with them,” he continues, “I actually played on their first record - but yeah, we’ve always loved that kind of music. I think they definitely had a fair part in reawakening that sound in the Custom Kings, though I’ve always been right into the Beatles and the Beach Boys and stuff. But they definitely did influence the direction of this record in some way if I’m gonna be honest.”

“We’re really happy with the sound we have,” he continues, “I guess in making records you’re never 100% happy, I think it’d be kind of scary if one day we sat down and thought that we nailed it, but with a bit of distance and listening to it now, I’m really happy and looking forward to playing it live.”

The particularly lengthy hiatus between Custom Kings albums was stretched by Vorrath’s side project with fellow Custom King Jarrad Brown, the breezy folk of Joe Neptune. Off the back of that much-loved album, the track Indigo was re-recorded for the Great Escape, a feat made also by Angus & Julia Stone re-recording Lady of the Sunshine’s 'Big Jet Plane'. The difference being that the Custom Kings have actually re-imagined the track for the album.

“After playing the Joe Neptune shows, we just started playing Indigo like that. If I had my time again I would have gone back and recorded it [the way it appears on Great Escape.] We started to play it at a few Custom Kings shows and we just ended up feeling the need to re-record it. We cut it on a late night in the studio and it sounded really good, and I thought the album needed something a bit mellow, so we just put it on. Plus, it’s nice to have a little cross-promotional thing going [laughs].”

“It was really good to do [Joe Neptune]. We used to try to cram all the things we wrote onto Custom Kings releases regardless of what kind of sound it was, so taking the mellow, folky kind of stuff away from Custom Kings and making it Joe Neptune kind of helped solidify the Custom Kings in a way. So it’s a bit more of a solid sound as opposed to jumping back and forwards between rock n roll and reggae and sensitive folk music.”

With a return to the Custom Kings, a band that comes with a fan base and expectation attached, there must be an inherent nervousness involved in playing new music to a fan base who absolutely adores the band for what they’ve done in the past. So is it a nervous excitement, or a nervous fear?

“Probably a healthy dose of both of those,” Vorrath answers, “we’re looking forward to seeing how it goes over, but we have played a few shows around Melbourne and had a little mini-tour of Sydney, and it seems to be going really well. The old fans seem to like it. It’s not like we’ve made a quantum change or anything though, there are still familiar aspects to our music. It’s really about people turning up to see your show for a start and then how they react. It’s all about getting people to connect with your music.”

And getting people to connect with their music is something they’re planning to do straight after their second album hits the shelves. Heading out for a whiz-bang tour of the East Coast in September, the Custom Kings are set to hit the East Coast for a brief run of initial dates before a more comprehensive run around after that,

“We’re kind of waiting on a few things organizational wise before we start locking in lots of dates, so this tour is kind of small. But we’re hoping to do a couple of runs, so this is sorta testing the water to give it a bit of a trial run before we book out the next couple of months.”

The Custom Kings new album, Great Escape hits stores on Friday the 13th of August before a tour that hits Brisbane’s Spiegeltent on September 4, Richmond’s Corner Hotel on the 10th, Sydney’s Notes @ Newtown on the 11th and finishing up in Cronulla on the 12th. Be sure to catch them on their way through; the Custom Kings are a band who absolutely do not fail to please.

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