King Cannons have been dubbed by The Daily Telegraph’s Kathy McCabe as ‘heirs apparent to The Living End’ – and they are about to release their debut full length album ‘The Brightest Light’ in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Austria & Switzerland on June 22nd.
King Cannons are currently in the throws of launching their career in Europe via a 17 date tour spanning across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and The Netherlands. The dates come as the result of a personal invitation from one of Deutschland’s biggest bands, The Broilers to be their main support.
Cheese on Toast asked King Cannons front man Luke Yeoward what his current top five tunes were and he told me…
SAM & DAVE – SOOTHE ME
I particularly like this live footage of Sam and Dave with the MG’s as their backing band, they would always do things off the cuff on stage, and pull it off so very well! Apparently these two never got along very well, and it was only a professional relationship, but on stage, you would never tell would you, they are true showmen. Listen to that breakdown…. man! These guys give it 110% and make modern nonsense look and sound soulless. This is sugar for the ears. STAX!
JOHNNY TAYLOR – ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY (SAM COOKE)
One of the great 60′s soul tunes performed by Johnny Taylor. The lyrics to put the worlds trials and tribulations into perspective very well. Patience, persistence, faith, courage, hope, heart, and style – It’s all in this tune! I think it was originally written and performed by Sam Cooke? They just dont make songs like this anymore…
JOLIE HOLLAND – WRECKAGE
I heard Jolie Hollands latest single for the first time a few months back on RRR radio in Melbourne whilst driving in my car, and I was blown away by the fantastic sounding live/room recording. The song itself is very special too. The magic is definitely in this track! It is like Jolie hired The Rolling Stones to pop over with acoustic guitars and be her backing band or something…. It’s so fuckin’ smooth. I really dig it.
NORAH JONES – HAPPY PILLS
King Cannons are label mates Norah Jones, and It was through our A&R guy at EMI that I heard Norah’s latest single “Happy Pills” This tune was crafted with hip hop artist/producer, Dangermouse. You can’t go wrong with a simple, solid, pop song, ya know? The guitar makes me think “The Motels – Total Control” and the lead melody reminds me of any great 80′s saxophone solo. This song just takes me to a sunny place. Its refreshing. I like it.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – TENTH AVENUE FREEZE OUT
This song is on high rotation because I had the pleasure of seeing Bruce in Germany earlier in the year. It was the best show I have ever seen in my life, and this song was a highlight. Especially when they did the mid song tribute to the late Clarence Clemons, I will always remember that. I was in tears. This just a great soul song, I love the groove, I love the lyrics, I love the chords. I fuckin’ love Bruce.
King Cannons’ self-titled EP, released in late 2010, showed what was on the horizon with live-recorded tracks ‘Take The Rock’ and ‘Teenage Dreams,’ the latter described by Yeoward as the most personal song he’d written up to that time.
On the lead up to the recording of the band’s debut album, Yeoward locked himself in the music room of his house and wrote every day for two months, landing the gang with over 50 tracks to work from.
With Tom Larkin, drummer for the internationally known rock force Shihad, at the helm of the album’s recording inside Melbourne’s famed Sing Sing Studios, the intention for the album was to capture King Cannons’ live sweat with the greatest production values.
“Whether it’s up-tempo rockin’ sort of songs or slower songs, our music is soul music,” Front man and lead songwriter Luke Yeoward explains, “and if you try and record soul music in any other way than those people in a room together making that music, it just doesn’t translate.”
“That’s how the six of us said we were going to make this record,” he continues. “It’s going to be performed in an honest way, and the songs are going to have integrity and, more importantly, when we’re in there doing it in the studio, our performance is going to have integrity. Otherwise it takes away from that basic ethos we forged right at the beginning.”
ALBUM OUT June 22nd
photo by Tony Mott; supplied
