Troy Kingi chats with Bec!

Troy Kingi is about to release his ninth album in the 10/10/10 series (ten albums in ten years in ten genres) He called up to talk us through the collaborations on this latest one and where we can catch him playing live in the coming months.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome So Radio Hooke's Off the Record podcast with Big Sandy's.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
So I've got one of al Tato's most creative and
hard working musicians, actor, songwriter, mentor and sound alchemist. We
take the stage as a special guest for Lenny Kravitz's
Blue Electric Light Tour when it hits Auckland Spark Arena
on November fifteenth. Is Lennie's first ever New Zealand show,
and what better way to kick it off than with
one of our own musical powerhouses, Troy King and Killed

(00:33):
Out and welcome.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hello. Wow. I didn't realize it was his first ever
New Zealand show. That's very special, pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
So kringrats on opening for LENI. That's massive. How did
that come about?

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yeah, my agent put my name in the mix maybe
five months ago. We heard about it and then heard
nothing for like four months. In the back of my mind,
I was like, oh, that's not happening, And there was
probably about a month ago he messages and says, we
got the gig. Yeah, I was like, what what the hell? Yeah,

(01:08):
it's so real. He's definitely an icon and amazing artist.
I'm really honored and looking forward to performing next week.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
For sure, because there's something kind of poetic about you
opening fore Lenny, because I feel like he's all about
freedom and self expression and kind of staying true to
the art. Do you see parallels between what he represents
and what you've been doing across your ten album journey.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
I suppose I just wish I had his abs, but yeah, definitely.
He's been such an iconic person figure for such a
long time and so authentic. He's never strayed from that,
just been true to himself. So yeah, such an honor
to be able to put to open for him.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Are you going to be rocking leather pants as well? Oh?

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Probably not? Maybe yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
So I saw you at the Supergroove gig in christ
Church earlier this year, if it just felt like such
a seamless blend of musicians throughout the show. Do you
approach live shows like that with that sense of sheered
energy and kind of freedom to perform on stage?

Speaker 3 (02:20):
To be honest, when I do my own shows, I'm
not actually the boss. Marika my base place. She's the
one who puts our shows together and she just tells
me what I need to do, and I'll say, are you?
Are you for real? Should I do that? Yeah, I've
got to go to a credit for whatever we do
live shows. That's Marika's realm now, and then I'll pop

(02:42):
up with an idea and she might be like nah.
But otherwise yeah, she's the one who puts our set
list and everything together. Nice.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
So will Marika be performing with you?

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, yeah, we'll have Actually, I think we've got a
six piece band performing next week in so So, mostly
from a rock catalog from the last album, but I
think the kind of artist that linears will probably put
a bit of funk and soul and into it as well.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, yeah, you got that was my next question, because
he is known for his live energy and his blend
of rock and soul and funk. So my question was like,
what are you most excited to bring to the stage.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Actually, probably doing these rock ones as well, because it
might be the last little run of that album, So
looking forward to playing them and maybe the last time
for a while. So we've got our keyboarders back from Berlin.
We've got guy Harrison back, so it's going to be
cool having the whole gang back together.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, so cool. So I guess going looking back from
guitar party at Uncle's batch through the upcoming night Lord's album,
your nine albums deep into your ten albums and ten
genres and ten years challenge, and somehow you're still finding
new ways to surprise us. So how has the journey
turned out how you imagined or.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
Thing I've been saying it for the last few years.
It's just gotten hard and hard and heart it's become
an uphill battle. It's only because you're those first few years,
you're so eager and you've you've probably got the songs
up your sleeve. And then when you don't have the
songs up your sleeve, you got to find them from somewhere.
So you've got to really dig deep and work those

(04:23):
songs to put them in a place that you're happy with.
So it has gotten harder. But in saying that, I
feel like this latest album that is about the drop
is probably one of the coolest albums I've ever dropped,
So I'm looking forward to everyone hearing it.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
So this is your ninth album, you're talking about night Lords,
and this is a hip hop R and B inspired album.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, So the idea for it come probably before the
ten ten thing come about when I was listening to
Black Rock by Black Keys, and they did all the
music and then got heaps of cool, cool artists to
rap on it. I was like, man, I'd love to
do something like that at some point. And then we
got deep into the ten ten ten, and then I

(05:05):
think it was twenty twenty three. Our Michael was a
Fear brought up the album of Black Thought from the
Roots and I was like, yeah, so that's how I'm
going to do it. That's how I'm going to do it,
because I couldn't just do a hip hop album and
just automatically overnight try and be an EMC because no
one will take me seriously. So I thought, well, and
I have, I'll have the aesthetic for the music and

(05:27):
it will sound like what I wanted to sound like.
And then I just get my favorite ns at EMC
is to come in and just give it the money
that it that it needed. And yeah, they didn't disappoint.
I'm really looking forward to everyone hearing it because it's
pretty gangster. Yeah, I can't wait.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Are you giving Wrap a go on this one.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
I'm just gonna say that I'm the rap on one
of the tracks, but if you look online on digital
you'll see that I haven't named any of the artists.
You're going to have to go and listen for your
favorite artists. And that was my way of me sneaking
myself in there and hoping that I'd go under the
radar without anyone going, who the hell is this guy rapping?

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Good move?

Speaker 1 (06:09):
I like that.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
So you've mentioned in some interviews that your kids have
been scoring you on new hip hop while you score
them on nineties hip hop. So how much of that
father kid musical exchange found its way into Night Lords?

Speaker 3 (06:21):
Probably a lot of it actually, Musically like my kids,
one of their favorite tracks is buster Rhymes. You really
want to Party with me? Put in your hands with
my eyes and see just the beats. So we've been
going back and looking through cool beats. Is that that
one a thug one that Tupuc did with Bone Thugs

(06:41):
in Harmony with the Gunshots. There's all these cool tracks
like that. I don't know if my album sounds exactly
like those, but I was definitely listening to them when
we were when we were in the studio riding it,
so hopefully a little bit so that made its way
into the album.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
Nice.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
So for the fans who followed you through every genre.
What do you hope they'll take away from this album
night Lords.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
I don't know. I just feel like it's it's got
real read listenable appeal. Not one of those ones you
listen to it and then that's it. I've probably listened
to it nearly two hundred times that's all finished. So
it's one of those ones you want to listen to
in the car and turned out really loud.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, I mean that's how we listen to music back
and so for me in the nineties anyway, I've still
got my Snoop Dogg and Cypress Hill tapes that were
just like they were my heart, Like every time we
went on road trips, they were the they were always
the ones kind of you know when you go on
the road trip and it's a bit of a lull
and you put those albums on, it's just like you
know every word and it's just I don't know something
about it.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
Yeah, Dougie Style and MoU Team Forever as well. It
was probably the one.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Nice I can't wait to listen to it. So, your
last album, Littherman and Mahave Desit. It was a rock
album and it took it all the way to the
California deser and you did the was It documentary Troy
Kingy's Desert Hikoy That's where you got to meet local
indigenous people and you explored a cave that said to
be quite a spiritual portal. What moment from that trip

(08:10):
has really stayed with you?

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Probably sitting in the cave. Actually, I can close my
eyes and I'm like, straight back there. It's so vivid,
so clear. And I sung in this cave and as
soon as I finished, this massive gust of wind blew
through the cave and just said, it just gave us
the hebgb's in a good way. And the doctor was like, Oh,

(08:34):
that's our ancestors. And it felt like it. It definitely
felt like it. And I always remember that moment and
it just made me feel like they're always around us.
They're always there when we need them.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Because you've talked about how the land itself has shaped
your music, and when you were in the desert and
that experience, do you think it changed you as a
songwriter or even as a person.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, I don't know how to put words to it,
but I definitely, even working on this album, probably approach
it slightly different than I would other ones. And that's
with every album, you know, you come through a year,
you do a whole different style, you get new feathers
for your cap of songwriting. And for instance, the fifth album,

(09:21):
working with Delaney Davidson, and we're so both so strong
minded that you know, there was a lot of give
and take and trying to find that middle ground where
we're both happy negotiating on this album. But I feel
like I got to have more say, which was way cooler.

(09:41):
But you know, you learn different skills with every album
that you do. Some of them are subconscious skills, but
definitely that trip to the Mohave Desert will live with
me forever. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
I mean, I've watched the doco twice now because I
was just like, wow, this is You pick up different
things every time you watch it. And I guess it's
like every time you listen to an album, it's like
layer upon layer, Like each album that you've released as
another layer on another layer. So you're just getting deeper
and deeper into your I guess journey of every genre.
That's amazing.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah, I suppose it's like someone that does massive long hikes.
They do it for a few years and they do
different different trails and the harder ones, and they learn
something about themselves and the process, even if they weren't
even seeking it out. Then you know, you start learning
stuff about yourself. So I don't know who I'm going

(10:35):
to be at the end of the ten albums, but
I'm hopefully a good person of course.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Now you've got some summer shows coming up, including Nostalgia
Fest and christ Church. I think it's on the seventh
of February. Are the other shows that we can see
you at over summer?

Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah, Actually you're talking about Super Groove. I'm jumping back
in with them at rock the Bowl and Taranaki on
the twenty ninth of December, a couple of nights before
New Year's We also got a few shows next year,
wine Fest in Marlborough, and I'm at the meat Stock

(11:11):
as well, so I might still be able to for
a few Rocky Tunes in there as well. So I
think I'm ending my summer at the Chatham Islands. I'm
supposed to be going Chatham Islands at the end of
the so looking forward to that.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Have you been there before?

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Never? But I've ever since I was a dive instructor
fifteen sixteen years ago. That's been my dream. That is
Stuart Island, but I got to go to Stuart Island,
so Cadams it is right.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
So you're a dive instructor. That's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
Well, I haven't been a working dive instructor for over
thirteen years.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
But yes, it's still still the ray.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
It's still there. I'm going for a dive tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Awesome. That's Troy Kingey. He'll be opening for Lenny Kravitz
Blue Electric Light to a November fifteenth at Spark Arena
brand new album night Lords at the end of this month.
You can check it out wherever you get your music,
and you can streame Troy Kingy's visit Hakoi now on
TV and Z Plus. Troy, It's been awesome chatting with you.
Really looking forward to seeing you sharing the stage with
Lenny and the new album drop. What an absolute journey

(12:14):
and I can't wait to see where you take it next.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
Thanks so much, Ah, thank you, appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
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