MoM: How have the band members been handling the lack of touring and even the lack of practicing in 2020?
King Kraken: It's been very difficult for us, especially since we were in full flow in February and march with playing some of our biggest shows and recording our newest e.p, all plans going forward were going really well and the gigs were coming in with a good flow, then march came and everything came to a halt, which it did for everyone, from there we really couldn't do very much except for writing new songs online, initially that’s what we took it as was a writing break as it was only expected to last a few months and with one of our guitarists families isolating, we as everyone did thought it might be over by august.
The hardest thing we had to face was cancelling or postponing gigs that we had worked really hard to get with bigger bands, I personally (Rich-drums) remember in April postponing 11 gigs, all of them being out of wales and seeing all the band members heads go down (virtually) because of the work we had put into it collectively go up in smoke, from there nothing much happened, Because it couldn't.
We have all struggled with the lack of gigs as I'm sure everyone in bands has because that was our escape from the real world (work).
Luckily, we got signed to Metal Rocka Records (a sister label of Off Yer Rocka Records) then in august which picked everyone back up, but it's been a strange one as we can't celebrate it as such with playing more gigs or tours, luckily, we have had good backing and advice from them. We started practicing again in September only having 2 practices before going back into lockdown for the firebreak. But since then, were back in the saddle again, going over all the riffs and full songs written earlier in the year in which we nearly have our 1st album done and ready to go, strange situation at the moment as we have a new set to play but nobody to play it to.
MoM: Were there any gigs/shows/events that you were particularly gutted to have missed?
KK: Yes, one was smoke on tent 2 in Stoke On Trent which was an all-day long gig with such bands as master charger who actually signed to the same label as us now and witch tripper who we were especially excited to watch and meet, also on the bill was obey and I think it was going to be their last show ever so it was due to be a special show. Was gutted to cancel any gig but particularly that one
MoM: What did you have to do to adapt to the pandemic situation, i.e digital releases, videos, livestreams?
KK: We had to adapt our own writing style, as now it was online and people writing by themselves at home, we couldn't put in the same amount of input we were used to, Pete and Adam couldn't rip riffs apart and rebuild them the same way as we could when we were together if one of them wrote a new riff, the strange thing with writing online is that we don’t know if it's actually going to work when we get together again and practice so it turned more into a collection of riffs with some songs that we have constructed,
Our whole Chaos Engine E.P release was turned upon its head, as we thought when we recorded it in February, we wanted to release it in Swansea’s Hanger 18 or Cardiff’s Fuel but that couldn't happen then it was just sitting there, gathering dust because we didn’t want to release it in lockdown and would keep it for when things went back to normal, then label approached us and we would release it on announcement that we had signed to Metal Rocka, luckily we had the video for Chaos Engine which had to be digital just wrapping up so we were able to release everything on August 16th
We did livestreams for breaking bands festival and a few gear run throughs on our social medias but it wasn’t the same as playing live or doing anything together, now were able to practice it feels like were a new band starting from a different place
MoM: Your EP Chaos Engine has been gaining a lot of positive coverage and not just from us, how has that felt for your first 'proper' release?
KK: Definitely a bit of a strange one really, we can't really class it as our 1st proper release because we couldn't do anything for it as in touring and that’s a massive thing for us, we didn’t get it pressed even, even the release was strange for us as the label released it and we didn’t have to do anything but take a step backwards from our baby and let them deal with it, we just went with digital release because of the pandemic, was definitely the best choice for us as it still kept fans ears pricked (new & old) as to who we were and what we were about in preparation for our 1st album release in 2021 which will be the main event for us.
MoM: What are the plans for King Kraken going forward in 2021? (Obviously as far as the pandemic allows)
KK: Definitely more now the vaccine has been announced, were having regular meetings with the label who has some big plans with touring and release is all we can say, we have Ibiza Rocks in may which we defiantly hope will go ahead as that will be our 1st gig out of the UK, lots of gigs in the planning but defiantly all hands are on deck and everything going into our 1st album release, we have a name for it most of the songs, expect a new video for one of the songs on chaos engine e.p in the beginning of the year, plenty of gigs the middle of the year, album end of the year and massive tours to go along with it, The Future Is Green. KK
The hardest thing we had to face was cancelling or postponing gigs that we had worked really hard to get with bigger bands, I personally (Rich-drums) remember in April postponing 11 gigs, all of them being out of wales and seeing all the band members heads go down (virtually) because of the work we had put into it collectively go up in smoke, from there nothing much happened, Because it couldn't.
We have all struggled with the lack of gigs as I'm sure everyone in bands has because that was our escape from the real world (work).
Luckily, we got signed to Metal Rocka Records (a sister label of Off Yer Rocka Records) then in august which picked everyone back up, but it's been a strange one as we can't celebrate it as such with playing more gigs or tours, luckily, we have had good backing and advice from them. We started practicing again in September only having 2 practices before going back into lockdown for the firebreak. But since then, were back in the saddle again, going over all the riffs and full songs written earlier in the year in which we nearly have our 1st album done and ready to go, strange situation at the moment as we have a new set to play but nobody to play it to.
MoM: Were there any gigs/shows/events that you were particularly gutted to have missed?
KK: Yes, one was smoke on tent 2 in Stoke On Trent which was an all-day long gig with such bands as master charger who actually signed to the same label as us now and witch tripper who we were especially excited to watch and meet, also on the bill was obey and I think it was going to be their last show ever so it was due to be a special show. Was gutted to cancel any gig but particularly that one
MoM: What did you have to do to adapt to the pandemic situation, i.e digital releases, videos, livestreams?
KK: We had to adapt our own writing style, as now it was online and people writing by themselves at home, we couldn't put in the same amount of input we were used to, Pete and Adam couldn't rip riffs apart and rebuild them the same way as we could when we were together if one of them wrote a new riff, the strange thing with writing online is that we don’t know if it's actually going to work when we get together again and practice so it turned more into a collection of riffs with some songs that we have constructed,
Our whole Chaos Engine E.P release was turned upon its head, as we thought when we recorded it in February, we wanted to release it in Swansea’s Hanger 18 or Cardiff’s Fuel but that couldn't happen then it was just sitting there, gathering dust because we didn’t want to release it in lockdown and would keep it for when things went back to normal, then label approached us and we would release it on announcement that we had signed to Metal Rocka, luckily we had the video for Chaos Engine which had to be digital just wrapping up so we were able to release everything on August 16th
We did livestreams for breaking bands festival and a few gear run throughs on our social medias but it wasn’t the same as playing live or doing anything together, now were able to practice it feels like were a new band starting from a different place
MoM: Your EP Chaos Engine has been gaining a lot of positive coverage and not just from us, how has that felt for your first 'proper' release?
KK: Definitely a bit of a strange one really, we can't really class it as our 1st proper release because we couldn't do anything for it as in touring and that’s a massive thing for us, we didn’t get it pressed even, even the release was strange for us as the label released it and we didn’t have to do anything but take a step backwards from our baby and let them deal with it, we just went with digital release because of the pandemic, was definitely the best choice for us as it still kept fans ears pricked (new & old) as to who we were and what we were about in preparation for our 1st album release in 2021 which will be the main event for us.
MoM: What are the plans for King Kraken going forward in 2021? (Obviously as far as the pandemic allows)
KK: Definitely more now the vaccine has been announced, were having regular meetings with the label who has some big plans with touring and release is all we can say, we have Ibiza Rocks in may which we defiantly hope will go ahead as that will be our 1st gig out of the UK, lots of gigs in the planning but defiantly all hands are on deck and everything going into our 1st album release, we have a name for it most of the songs, expect a new video for one of the songs on chaos engine e.p in the beginning of the year, plenty of gigs the middle of the year, album end of the year and massive tours to go along with it, The Future Is Green. KK