August 27, 2025 • 20 mins
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians
What happens when childhood musical bonds evolve into full-blown rock stardom? Alex Laska, founding member and guitarist of Kingswood, takes us behind the scenes of one of Australia's most versatile bands in this captivating conversation.
From surprising beginnings as a classically trained pianist who didn't touch a guitar until after completing his piano degree, to performing alongside Fergus Linacre in primary school covering Aerosmith, Alex reveals the unexpected path that led to Kingswood's formation and success. The band's journey includes supporting rock legends AC/DC and Aerosmith, a full-circle moment that saw Steven Tyler bursting into their dressing room years after they covered his song as children.
With over 90 million streams and six entries in Triple J's Hottest 100, Kingswood has established themselves as genre-defying musical chameleons. Alex discusses their new single "Lovin a Girl" and forthcoming album with ABC Music, offering insights into the storytelling behind their songwriting and the challenges of balancing artistic integrity with the modern streaming landscape. "When you're a musician, the thing you really crave is a journey and experience," he explains, lamenting the shift away from album-oriented listening experiences.
Currently touring with an expanded seven-piece lineup featuring pedal steel and additional vocalists, Kingswood continues pushing boundaries while maintaining the creative spark that's defined them from the beginning.
Between tales of their record-breaking tour (112 shows in six months) aboard their tour bus "Peggy" and glimpses into Alex's passion for vintage motorcycles and cars, this episode captures the spirit of a band that refuses to be confined by expectations.
Don't miss this intimate look at Australian rock royalty in the making. Check out Kingswood's tour dates at kingswoodband.com and stream their new single "Lovin a Girl" on all platforms now.
What has Kingswood's Alex Laska been up to lately? Let's find out!
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cheryl Lee (00:00):
That Radio Chick Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rockin ItPodcast, where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
We caught up with Fergus fromKingswood back in April.
Today we're lucky enough tocatch up with Alex Laska from
Kingswood, founding member andguitar player.
(00:20):
Kingswood boasts a massive over90 million streams of their
catalogue, originally discoveredthrough Community Radio and
Triple J.
They won Triple J's Unearthedin 2012, earning a coveted spot
in Splendour in the Grass thatyear.
Since then, they've scored sixentries in Triple J's hottest
(00:45):
100 countdown, they're ariaaccredited going from strength
to strength and they're mid-tour.
Right now, to catch up onpodcasts from other favourite
artists, simply go to thatradiochick.
com.
au.
Hi there, how are you?
Oh, good thanks.
Are you out in nature?
Alex Laska (01:00):
I am, indeed.
I'm actually going to move to aspot that is far more nature
conducive, so I'm just going toposition myself there and give
you a beautiful view of thesetrees that are surrounding us.
We're right on the ocean's edgeon the eastern part of
Australia's coast.
Cheryl Lee (01:13):
Lucky duck.
Alex Laska (01:14):
I'm going to have a little seat now and show you
some of these trees.
Maybe I'll go mobile, maybeI'll get closer to the water's
edge.
How's this?
Cheryl Lee (01:20):
Very nice.
Alex Laska (01:21):
Beautiful.
Cheryl Lee (01:22):
I can see that you're enjoying nature there.
Alex Laska (01:26):
I am indeed.
I can see that you've got threeguitars behind you, and what
have you got?
Is it clocks in the corner?
Cheryl Lee (01:31):
They're imitation, old-fashioned radios.
Alex Laska (01:35):
There you go.
Fantastic.
Well, one of them's real.
Cheryl Lee (01:37):
The big one at the back actually works.
Alex Laska (01:39):
Is a real one, yeah, amazing.
Cheryl Lee (01:41):
The rest are, to be totally honest, biscuit tins.
Alex Laska (01:44):
Beautiful.
How cool is that.
Cheryl Lee (01:46):
I like those and I like biscuits.
Alex Laska (01:48):
You like old-fashioned radios and
biscuits.
What a great combination.
Cheryl Lee (01:52):
I know right, and unfortunately the guitars aren't
mine.
I'm the fundraising coordinatorfor Support Act in South
Australia.
Alex Laska (02:00):
Oh, amazing, beautiful.
Cheryl Lee (02:01):
We get them donated, we get them signed and we
auction them.
Alex Laska (02:05):
Fantastic.
Cheryl Lee (02:06):
Should we get started then?
Alex Laska (02:08):
Yeah, absolutely.
Cheryl Lee (02:09):
You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick and I'd
like to welcome into the Zoomroom today, although he is
actually outdoors communing withnature.
The lucky bugger.
It's Alex Laska from Kingswood.
Thanks for coming.
Alex Laska (02:24):
Thank you for having me in the Zoom room.
It's a pleasure to be therewith you.
Cheryl Lee (02:27):
I like your Zoom room better than mine.
You've got some sunshine.
Alex Laska (02:31):
My Zoom room is accompanied by beautiful
sunshine and trees in the ocean,so I'm very lucky today.
Cheryl Lee (02:37):
I spoke to Fergus back in April.
You guys were just about tohave the launch of your Claptrap
doco.
Alex Laska (02:46):
Oh yes, how did you enjoy it?
Cheryl Lee (02:47):
I actually was shooting all day and couldn't
make it, which I was reallybummed about.
I was going to ask you how didit all go?
Alex Laska (02:54):
Cheryl Lee, I also was not.
I was in Nashville, believe itor not, so I'm always in an
unusual space to not beavailable for these things, but
trying to pursue greatness, soto speak.
Cheryl Lee (03:05):
Did Fergus make it or was he with you in Nashville?
Alex Laska (03:07):
Ferg made it and apparently it was a blast in
Adelaide.
Cheryl Lee (03:10):
Just to touch on that, what an amazing adventure
making that would have been.
You broke some Australiantouring records record with 112
shows in six months, and livedto tell the tale.
Alex Laska (03:25):
We did live, indeed, to tell the tale, and continue
to do so, on Peggy, thewonderful touring vessel that
she is.
Cheryl Lee (03:32):
Yes, it made a bus into a tour vehicle and off you
went.
Alex Laska (03:36):
Yeah, we used a model that's pretty well
exercised by the American andEuropean markets, which is to
create these touring sleepers,because there is a touring
capacity that lends itself tohave those kinds of vehicles.
And everyone says Australiadoesn't, and it's true just to
an extent you can actually makeit.
So there is a feasible andviable touring route that allows
(04:00):
for the sleeper, that is, Peggythe touring bus, to flourish
and for us to tackle, you know,in excess of 112 shows over six
months.
Cheryl Lee (04:08):
Well done.
I take my hat off to you.
We've got some new music totalk about and some exciting
stuff, but I was wondering if wecould go backwards a little bit
before we go forwards, becauseI want to ask some of the
questions that I asked.
Fergus, Alex, are you from amusical family?
Is your mum and dad musical?
Is it in your DNA?
When did you pick up thatguitar?
Alex Laska (04:28):
Funnily enough, I didn't start playing guitar
until much later age.
I actually started playingclassical piano and clarinet
from about the age of six, sixor seven.
My parents aren't particularlymusical that I know of.
They might have a geneticcomponent that they never
discovered or investigated.
I think my grandma apparentlyused to sing and play mandolin.
One of my grandmothers I don'tknow how well, so music's not
(04:52):
really an apparent thing in myfamily other than everyone has a
huge appreciation for it and adeep, deep love of it, and why.
I was thrust into music at sucha young age and then continued
with those instrumentsthroughout my entire life and
picked up more, ended uppursuing a piano degree and
completed that, and it was uponthat completion that I began
(05:13):
playing guitar and we reallystarted investing in Kingswood.
It's a very unusual road to getto where we are.
Cheryl Lee (05:19):
Did mum and dad put you into piano, yes, or were you
going?
Oh, I'm playing piano.
Alex Laska (05:25):
I wanted to be involved with some sort of music
because my sister sister who'stwo years older than me was
studying piano and I was justobsessed with it and wanted to
be a part of it and, obviouslybeing a little younger and they
waited.
I just like things that makenoise, just loved anything that
made noise.
Cheryl Lee (05:39):
You sort of fell in love with it from quite an early
age.
Did you always know that youwere going to be involved in the
music industry as your career,or did you have a plan B to
start with?
Alex Laska (05:51):
I suppose I had such an extensive education in music
that there's no way that Icould probably be divorced from
it.
I don't know whether I wasgoing to pursue it in like a
professional sense, but it wascertainly going to be part of my
life in some capacity, and Ithink it was at about the age of
15 or 16, I was so resolved andresolute in that that that was
going to be the case, like musicwas going to be my life.
(06:12):
And I told my parents and theywere super supportive and just
said have a plan B.
So I started with plan B.
I could prove that plan Bdidn't work, which was a whole
bunch of other degrees atuniversity and then I was like,
yep, I've done plan B, let's goback to plan A, which is music.
And here we are, all theseyears later.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
You are listening to Still Rockin it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee (06:36):
We're not going to make you wait till the end to
hear the brand new Kingswoodsong.
Here it is hot off the pressLovin a Girl.
Then we're back to speak toAlex Laska and find out all the
goss about the new song.
Alex Laska (10:15):
Yeah, we met at primary school and we were
actually in a band in primaryschool.
Cheryl Lee (10:18):
In primary school.
Alex Laska (10:20):
In primary school we played two shows, but I think
Fergus was only on the secondshow, which was the big show.
That was like the pinnacle ofour career at that point, which
was the school fair, and weplayed three songs.
One of them was LynyrdSkynyrd's Sweet Home, Alabama,
and I was playing drums and Fergwas playing guitar and we both
(10:40):
sang in unison together which,hilariously, we still do
sometimes.
And then the second song wasAerosmith's Don't Want to Miss a
Thing.
And lastly, there was anoriginal called Living on the
Edge that had been written bythe original singer who Ferg
replaced, who we then felt badfor having fired and who became
our manager.
Cheryl Lee (10:56):
And is he still your manager?
Alex Laska (10:58):
No, his career and the career of that band ended
post that performance, veryshort-lived.
Cheryl Lee (11:04):
So two classic songs and an original.
See, that's very clever whenyou're introducing originals to
play something the punters know.
Alex Laska (11:13):
Correct.
Cheryl Lee (11:13):
And then skip them with your brand new one.
Alex Laska (11:15):
That's right.
Drop it in and hope no onenotices.
Cheryl Lee (11:18):
Even then you knew Marketing 101 for new songs.
Alex Laska (11:22):
That's right.
Just trying to swindle theaudience Cheryl.
Cheryl Lee (11:25):
You guys have been together for like a hundred
years.
Alex Laska (11:29):
If you consider that , the inception of Kingswood,
which I would say is aninception, I would say yes about
a hundred years of beingtogether.
Cheryl Lee (11:36):
Has it been all smooth sailing?
Alex Laska (11:38):
No, nothing smooth sailing.
But you don't want it to besmooth sailing because then you
won't appreciate the victories.
Certainly not been easy andit's still not easy.
It's still very, very difficultto be a musician in this
current age and it's gettingmore and more difficult.
But we soldier on and wecontinue to create and ride and
express and we tour like buggery.
We're talking about the bus.
You can see this huge vehiclebehind me.
(12:00):
Is the bus.
Oh, that's the bus.
Yeah, literally we're mid tourand we're going up the coast to
approaching the Gympie MusicMaster and we've got a huge band
.
We've got a seven-piece bandwith pedal steel and additional
guitar players and additionalvocalists and it's awesome.
We love it.
We love it.
To answer your question, it'scertainly not smooth sailing.
There's always something toovercome or something to wrangle
(12:22):
with on your road to success orsome sort of success, you know.
Cheryl Lee (12:26):
Like you say, it's the downs that help you
appreciate the ups even moreright.
Alex Laska (12:30):
Cheryl, without them , you wouldn't know that you
were up, would you?
Cheryl Lee (12:33):
Exactly right.
Being a 60s girl growing upwith these rockers, I have to
say you guys supported rockroyalty Acadaca on their Rock or
Bust Australian leg.
I'm impressed by that.
Alex Laska (12:47):
That was quite an experience and we're very, very
lucky to have shared the stagewith those guys and well, a
whole tour actually, cheryl.
Cheryl Lee (12:54):
Learned anything from them.
Alex Laska (12:56):
You certainly gain insight into how big those
machines are and how much ittakes to put on a show, and
having developed such an art ofentertainment, yeah.
Yeah, it was just incredible tobehold, like the sheer size of
it and how they tour and howthey make it work.
Yeah, we got to meet them aswell and have a little hangout
(13:17):
and they were, all you know,real fun.
Brian was super fun.
Brian was a very, veryentertaining guy.
Yeah, AC/DC was great time ofour lives.
Cheryl Lee (13:26):
Big learning curve then.
Alex Laska (13:27):
Yeah, and also just putting us on massive stages in
front of lots of people and justus having to pull it together
and put a show on and likereally brings you from here to
here really quickly.
If you're not performing wellon that bigger stage and you
haven't got your music, themusical part of it together and
all the entertainment parttogether, you're not engaging.
Like you will know about it,nothing that highlights the
mediocrity like a band that's inover their heads, you know no,
(13:50):
there's nowhere to hidesomething else certainly not me,
because I'm you know, I alsolove big hair bands how was
Aerosmith.
Cheryl Lee (13:58):
How was that?
Alex Laska (13:58):
Incredible.
That was incredible.
We've had some, Cheryl, as youkeep pointing out.
We've had some pretty amazingexperiences.
I know Probably caught the endjust caught the end of a lot of
these bands, unlike Aerosmith,have retired now.
AC/DC is probably doing theirlast run, I can imagine.
So, yeah, we're very lucky tohave had these experiences with
bands and having you know nowthat you've just found out, we
did an Aerosmith cover when wewere 12.
(14:20):
Talk about a full circle momentof having Steven Tyler like
kick in our dressing room doorand be like any guys here, like
being the larger than lifecharacter that he is.
It was awesome, it wasunbelievable.
Our first arena show and wewere pretty young at the time
and pretty new as a band andjust having these incredible
opportunities, you know, as aband and just having these
incredible opportunities youknow.
Cheryl Lee (14:40):
Good on you, you earned them.
Still rockin that podcast withthat radio chick, Cheryl Lee.
What an absolutelymind-blowingly amazing
experience for a young band togo on tour with AC/DC, their
Rock or Bust tour.
Let's have one from ACDC's Rockor Bust album, Rock the Blues
(15:01):
Away.
And then we're back to speaksome more with Alex from
Kingswood.
(18:28):
You are back with me, Cheryl Leeand Alex Laska from Kingswood
in the Zoom room.
Your point of difference hasbeen said that few bands
seamlessly traverse genres theway that you guys do, sort of
like on the crossroad of vintagerock and modern country.
You've been said to beSpringsteen-esque with a bit of
(18:49):
Tom Petty chucked in yeah, theseare all wonderful artists to be
complemented with.
Alex Laska (18:54):
Yeah, I dare say we have.
We are a genre bending band,particularly if you follow our
catalog from the first album tonow.
Our god, I don't know whatalbum this is that's going to be
coming up next year.
It's probably like the ninth,and in there we had nominations
for a traditional bluegrassalbum at the Golden Guitars and
we had an old country recordthat was the second highest
(19:15):
selling country album of 2023,an Aria nomination for a rock
album on our first release.
And then, as you said, havingopened for, like hard rock,
royalty and AC/DC and more bluesrock and Aerosmith, and we've
done all sorts of stuff, havingbeen exposed to so much music
and and being educated in somany forms on so many different
instruments between all of usand you get this melting pot of
(19:38):
ideas and of trajectory andstuff that's inspiring and you
know how things shape yourplaying and what and who shapes
you playing and what bands werethey in and how did they get to
play the way they do?
And you can kind of follow thetapestry of like why people play
the way they do and why theywrite the way they do and
everything's linked toeverything and the more you
discover where that comes from,the more kind of bends you in a
(19:59):
particular direction.
I don't know.
I love too much stuff to wantto sit in one place.
Cheryl Lee (20:04):
That was going to be my next question Do you think
this is sort of where you'regoing to settle, or do you think
you'll just keep experimentingwith new things?
Alex Laska (20:11):
Never know where we're going to end, Cheryl.
Never know, never know.
Keep our eyes open.
Cheryl Lee (20:15):
Let's talk about the new song.
You guys are storytellers.
Alex Laska (20:19):
Some days we are storytellers, some days we're
just instrumentalists, some dayswe're rock stars.
That's correct, Cheryl.
Cheryl Lee (20:27):
Are you trying to tell a particular story with
this song?
Alex Laska (20:30):
It's certainly a story of protecting one's
heartstrings, living outfictional relationships so that
you don't have to engage in areal one and therefore have your
heart broken.
Cheryl Lee (20:42):
It's called Loving a Girl and it's the first single
from the upcoming album.
Alex Laska (20:46):
Absolutely.
Cheryl Lee (20:47):
You guys have just recently signed a new record
deal with ABC Music and the gurufrom there, Graham Ashton.
Yes, the album manager sayshe's blown away not only by your
material, but by your workethic.
That's a nice compliment.
Alex Laska (21:02):
It's a fantastic compliment, very appreciative,
that he admires and is inspiredby the way we approach things
because he doesn't have to be,and that was probably a
combination.
Those two qualities, I guess,that excite him, are the reason
that we ended up signing withABC on this album.
Cheryl Lee (21:20):
Will you have a couple more singles come out,
which sort of seems to be theway now a couple more singles
before the album.
Alex Laska (21:26):
Oh, absolutely, yeah , yeah, yeah.
Probably a whole host of them,probably more than people would
expect.
Cheryl Lee (21:32):
We'll see how we go.
That seems to be the new way,instead of just looking at the
whole album now.
Alex Laska (21:41):
Yeah, it's a tricky one because we just love
creating an album experience andwe come from that world of
putting on a record or a tape ora CD and sitting through
something that someone'sdesigned for you and then that
all sort of.
You know that archetype andwhat became standard was this
release of singles and singleson playlisting and the
importance of playlisting andthe engagement of a moment and
all the short-lived media andit's like sure, but when you're
(22:03):
a musician, the thing you reallycrave is a journey and
experience or something like anemotional, whether it be.
You know, something is involvedas a symphony of one of the
great composers or an album byone of the great bands.
It's sort of a similar thing.
You don't leave with an emotionthat was conjured and
experienced over 15 seconds andthen ends exactly the same way,
you know.
Cheryl Lee (22:23):
Yeah.
Alex Laska (22:24):
It's like very, very fast-paced high absorption rate
.
That's like a musical fireworkfor me.
Cheryl Lee (22:31):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
I understand the new world andit is what it is, but I must say
I sometimes do miss putting onan album, listening to the whole
story side A 100% and maybeeven having a breath and going
all right.
Alex Laska (22:48):
Wow, I wonder what awaits me on the other side of
this disc.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
You are listening to Still Rockin it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee (22:59):
While we wait for the new album to come out, let's
play one from the Tale of GCTownes from 2023.
This song is called Glass HalfFull.
And then we're back to saygoodbye to founding member and
guitarist of Kingswood, AlexLaska.
Alex Laska (27:16):
If people want to get a hold of the music
streaming in all the usualplaces and 100% All of it
Website kingswoodband.
com, all of the social platforms, all the streaming services and
eventually, and hopefully toour point just now that it will
be pressed on vinyl and cassetteand CD and that'll all be
(27:36):
physically available next year.
Cheryl Lee (27:38):
Awesome.
Watch this space and also thetour dates on kingswoodband.
com as well.
Alex Laska (27:44):
Kingswood tour dates are on sale.
Currently we're mid-tour, so wewould love to see anyone who's
listening on the East Coast,absolutely.
Cheryl Lee (27:51):
Get onto the Google and see when Kingswood are
hitting your town.
Any plans to come to my littletown soon?
Alex Laska (27:58):
We do love your part of the world and probably, I
think, we.
When did we?
Just in South Australia?
We were a couple of months agowe played in McLaren Vale, we
played at Big Easy Radio andjust before that we did Lion
Arts.
I tell you where we wererecently Port Lincoln and
Whyalla and one more.
So we do love the region, sowe're going to hopefully head
(28:19):
back soon.
We'll definitely get over toyou.
Cheryl Lee (28:21):
I noticed that you guys off stage you are motorbike
and car enthusiasts.
So what do you ride?
Alex Laska (28:30):
I ride a Triumph Thruxton R a 1200.
Nice, that has been tuned up alittle hotter and it had a few
modifications for it to besignificantly louder and faster.
And then I've also got an oldfastback Mustang a 66.
Cheryl Lee (28:48):
Nice, very nice what colour?
Alex Laska (28:51):
It's black and gold.
It's a Hertz Shelby replica, soit's pretty spectacular.
And I've got an 85 F-150, anold Ford flatbed that lives in
Nashville, and to top it off,I've got a 2006 Mitsubishi
Pajero that is a workhorsevehicle.
Cheryl Lee (29:08):
Very nice.
I was just asking because we'vejust ridden well, not our
Harley.
We hired a Harley from Chicagoto LA.
We did route six.
Alex Laska (29:16):
Oh wow, that would have been incredible.
Cheryl Lee (29:19):
Earlier in the year.
It was awesome.
Alex Laska (29:21):
I've planned many a motorbike trip with many mates
over the years to traverseAmerica, which we will do at
some point.
Cheryl Lee (29:27):
I highly recommend it.
Alex Laska (29:29):
I'll probably do it on a Road King or something like
that.
I imagine that's what you guysgot, or at least a Fat Boy or
something.
Cheryl Lee (29:34):
I don't know, it was black.
Alex Laska (29:36):
It would have been like a big cruiser.
Cheryl Lee (29:38):
Yeah, and I just held on.
Alex Laska (29:40):
Yeah, there you go.
Cheryl Lee (29:41):
You'll love it.
Well, thank you so much forspending some of your time today
.
What a great idea to do itoutdoors with nature.
It's been lovely chatting toyou, and all the best with the
new singles.
Alex Laska (29:54):
Yes, thank you so much, Great to chat to you as
well.
Cheryl Lee (29:57):
Thanks for having me on you and everything.
Alex Laska (29:59):
Thanks for having me on your program.
See you next time, no worries,take care.
Cheryl Lee (30:02):
Still rockin the podcast with that radio chick,
Cheryl Lee.
The only thing we can go outwith is Don't Want to Miss a
Thing by Aerosmith that the boysplayed together in their very
first performance when they were12 years old and ended up
supporting Aerosmith in a hugefull circle moment.
(35:02):
Thank you so much for joining meon the Still Rockin it podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music and I'll see you
down the front.
That Radio Chick Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rockin ItPodcast, where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
We caught up with Fergus fromKingswood back in April.
Today we're lucky enough tocatch up with Alex Laska from
Kingswood, founding member andguitar player.
(00:20):
Kingswood boasts a massive over90 million streams of their
catalogue, originally discoveredthrough Community Radio and
Triple J.
They won Triple J's Unearthedin 2012, earning a coveted spot
in Splendour in the Grass thatyear.
Since then, they've scored sixentries in Triple J's hottest
(00:45):
100 countdown, they're ariaaccredited going from strength
to strength and they're mid-tour.
Right now, to catch up onpodcasts from other favourite
artists, simply go to thatradiochick.
com.
au.
Hi there, how are you?
Oh, good thanks.
Are you out in nature?
Alex Laska (01:00):
I am, indeed.
I'm actually going to move to aspot that is far more nature
conducive, so I'm just going toposition myself there and give
you a beautiful view of thesetrees that are surrounding us.
We're right on the ocean's edgeon the eastern part of
Australia's coast.
Cheryl Lee (01:13):
Lucky duck.
Alex Laska (01:14):
I'm going to have a little seat now and show you
some of these trees.
Maybe I'll go mobile, maybeI'll get closer to the water's
edge.
How's this?
Cheryl Lee (01:20):
Very nice.
Alex Laska (01:21):
Beautiful.
Cheryl Lee (01:22):
I can see that you're enjoying nature there.
Alex Laska (01:26):
I am indeed.
I can see that you've got threeguitars behind you, and what
have you got?
Is it clocks in the corner?
Cheryl Lee (01:31):
They're imitation, old-fashioned radios.
Alex Laska (01:35):
There you go.
Fantastic.
Well, one of them's real.
Cheryl Lee (01:37):
The big one at the back actually works.
Alex Laska (01:39):
Is a real one, yeah, amazing.
Cheryl Lee (01:41):
The rest are, to be totally honest, biscuit tins.
Alex Laska (01:44):
Beautiful.
How cool is that.
Cheryl Lee (01:46):
I like those and I like biscuits.
Alex Laska (01:48):
You like old-fashioned radios and
biscuits.
What a great combination.
Cheryl Lee (01:52):
I know right, and unfortunately the guitars aren't
mine.
I'm the fundraising coordinatorfor Support Act in South
Australia.
Alex Laska (02:00):
Oh, amazing, beautiful.
Cheryl Lee (02:01):
We get them donated, we get them signed and we
auction them.
Alex Laska (02:05):
Fantastic.
Cheryl Lee (02:06):
Should we get started then?
Alex Laska (02:08):
Yeah, absolutely.
Cheryl Lee (02:09):
You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick and I'd
like to welcome into the Zoomroom today, although he is
actually outdoors communing withnature.
The lucky bugger.
It's Alex Laska from Kingswood.
Thanks for coming.
Alex Laska (02:24):
Thank you for having me in the Zoom room.
It's a pleasure to be therewith you.
Cheryl Lee (02:27):
I like your Zoom room better than mine.
You've got some sunshine.
Alex Laska (02:31):
My Zoom room is accompanied by beautiful
sunshine and trees in the ocean,so I'm very lucky today.
Cheryl Lee (02:37):
I spoke to Fergus back in April.
You guys were just about tohave the launch of your Claptrap
doco.
Alex Laska (02:46):
Oh yes, how did you enjoy it?
Cheryl Lee (02:47):
I actually was shooting all day and couldn't
make it, which I was reallybummed about.
I was going to ask you how didit all go?
Alex Laska (02:54):
Cheryl Lee, I also was not.
I was in Nashville, believe itor not, so I'm always in an
unusual space to not beavailable for these things, but
trying to pursue greatness, soto speak.
Cheryl Lee (03:05):
Did Fergus make it or was he with you in Nashville?
Alex Laska (03:07):
Ferg made it and apparently it was a blast in
Adelaide.
Cheryl Lee (03:10):
Just to touch on that, what an amazing adventure
making that would have been.
You broke some Australiantouring records record with 112
shows in six months, and livedto tell the tale.
Alex Laska (03:25):
We did live, indeed, to tell the tale, and continue
to do so, on Peggy, thewonderful touring vessel that
she is.
Cheryl Lee (03:32):
Yes, it made a bus into a tour vehicle and off you
went.
Alex Laska (03:36):
Yeah, we used a model that's pretty well
exercised by the American andEuropean markets, which is to
create these touring sleepers,because there is a touring
capacity that lends itself tohave those kinds of vehicles.
And everyone says Australiadoesn't, and it's true just to
an extent you can actually makeit.
So there is a feasible andviable touring route that allows
(04:00):
for the sleeper, that is, Peggythe touring bus, to flourish
and for us to tackle, you know,in excess of 112 shows over six
months.
Cheryl Lee (04:08):
Well done.
I take my hat off to you.
We've got some new music totalk about and some exciting
stuff, but I was wondering if wecould go backwards a little bit
before we go forwards, becauseI want to ask some of the
questions that I asked.
Fergus, Alex, are you from amusical family?
Is your mum and dad musical?
Is it in your DNA?
When did you pick up thatguitar?
Alex Laska (04:28):
Funnily enough, I didn't start playing guitar
until much later age.
I actually started playingclassical piano and clarinet
from about the age of six, sixor seven.
My parents aren't particularlymusical that I know of.
They might have a geneticcomponent that they never
discovered or investigated.
I think my grandma apparentlyused to sing and play mandolin.
One of my grandmothers I don'tknow how well, so music's not
(04:52):
really an apparent thing in myfamily other than everyone has a
huge appreciation for it and adeep, deep love of it, and why.
I was thrust into music at sucha young age and then continued
with those instrumentsthroughout my entire life and
picked up more, ended uppursuing a piano degree and
completed that, and it was uponthat completion that I began
(05:13):
playing guitar and we reallystarted investing in Kingswood.
It's a very unusual road to getto where we are.
Cheryl Lee (05:19):
Did mum and dad put you into piano, yes, or were you
going?
Oh, I'm playing piano.
Alex Laska (05:25):
I wanted to be involved with some sort of music
because my sister sister who'stwo years older than me was
studying piano and I was justobsessed with it and wanted to
be a part of it and, obviouslybeing a little younger and they
waited.
I just like things that makenoise, just loved anything that
made noise.
Cheryl Lee (05:39):
You sort of fell in love with it from quite an early
age.
Did you always know that youwere going to be involved in the
music industry as your career,or did you have a plan B to
start with?
Alex Laska (05:51):
I suppose I had such an extensive education in music
that there's no way that Icould probably be divorced from
it.
I don't know whether I wasgoing to pursue it in like a
professional sense, but it wascertainly going to be part of my
life in some capacity, and Ithink it was at about the age of
15 or 16, I was so resolved andresolute in that that that was
going to be the case, like musicwas going to be my life.
(06:12):
And I told my parents and theywere super supportive and just
said have a plan B.
So I started with plan B.
I could prove that plan Bdidn't work, which was a whole
bunch of other degrees atuniversity and then I was like,
yep, I've done plan B, let's goback to plan A, which is music.
And here we are, all theseyears later.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
You are listening to Still Rockin it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee (06:36):
We're not going to make you wait till the end to
hear the brand new Kingswoodsong.
Here it is hot off the pressLovin a Girl.
Then we're back to speak toAlex Laska and find out all the
goss about the new song.
Alex Laska (10:15):
Yeah, we met at primary school and we were
actually in a band in primaryschool.
Cheryl Lee (10:18):
In primary school.
Alex Laska (10:20):
In primary school we played two shows, but I think
Fergus was only on the secondshow, which was the big show.
That was like the pinnacle ofour career at that point, which
was the school fair, and weplayed three songs.
One of them was LynyrdSkynyrd's Sweet Home, Alabama,
and I was playing drums and Fergwas playing guitar and we both
(10:40):
sang in unison together which,hilariously, we still do
sometimes.
And then the second song wasAerosmith's Don't Want to Miss a
Thing.
And lastly, there was anoriginal called Living on the
Edge that had been written bythe original singer who Ferg
replaced, who we then felt badfor having fired and who became
our manager.
Cheryl Lee (10:56):
And is he still your manager?
Alex Laska (10:58):
No, his career and the career of that band ended
post that performance, veryshort-lived.
Cheryl Lee (11:04):
So two classic songs and an original.
See, that's very clever whenyou're introducing originals to
play something the punters know.
Alex Laska (11:13):
Correct.
Cheryl Lee (11:13):
And then skip them with your brand new one.
Alex Laska (11:15):
That's right.
Drop it in and hope no onenotices.
Cheryl Lee (11:18):
Even then you knew Marketing 101 for new songs.
Alex Laska (11:22):
That's right.
Just trying to swindle theaudience Cheryl.
Cheryl Lee (11:25):
You guys have been together for like a hundred
years.
Alex Laska (11:29):
If you consider that , the inception of Kingswood,
which I would say is aninception, I would say yes about
a hundred years of beingtogether.
Cheryl Lee (11:36):
Has it been all smooth sailing?
Alex Laska (11:38):
No, nothing smooth sailing.
But you don't want it to besmooth sailing because then you
won't appreciate the victories.
Certainly not been easy andit's still not easy.
It's still very, very difficultto be a musician in this
current age and it's gettingmore and more difficult.
But we soldier on and wecontinue to create and ride and
express and we tour like buggery.
We're talking about the bus.
You can see this huge vehiclebehind me.
(12:00):
Is the bus.
Oh, that's the bus.
Yeah, literally we're mid tourand we're going up the coast to
approaching the Gympie MusicMaster and we've got a huge band
.
We've got a seven-piece bandwith pedal steel and additional
guitar players and additionalvocalists and it's awesome.
We love it.
We love it.
To answer your question, it'scertainly not smooth sailing.
There's always something toovercome or something to wrangle
(12:22):
with on your road to success orsome sort of success, you know.
Cheryl Lee (12:26):
Like you say, it's the downs that help you
appreciate the ups even moreright.
Alex Laska (12:30):
Cheryl, without them , you wouldn't know that you
were up, would you?
Cheryl Lee (12:33):
Exactly right.
Being a 60s girl growing upwith these rockers, I have to
say you guys supported rockroyalty Acadaca on their Rock or
Bust Australian leg.
I'm impressed by that.
Alex Laska (12:47):
That was quite an experience and we're very, very
lucky to have shared the stagewith those guys and well, a
whole tour actually, cheryl.
Cheryl Lee (12:54):
Learned anything from them.
Alex Laska (12:56):
You certainly gain insight into how big those
machines are and how much ittakes to put on a show, and
having developed such an art ofentertainment, yeah.
Yeah, it was just incredible tobehold, like the sheer size of
it and how they tour and howthey make it work.
Yeah, we got to meet them aswell and have a little hangout
(13:17):
and they were, all you know,real fun.
Brian was super fun.
Brian was a very, veryentertaining guy.
Yeah, AC/DC was great time ofour lives.
Cheryl Lee (13:26):
Big learning curve then.
Alex Laska (13:27):
Yeah, and also just putting us on massive stages in
front of lots of people and justus having to pull it together
and put a show on and likereally brings you from here to
here really quickly.
If you're not performing wellon that bigger stage and you
haven't got your music, themusical part of it together and
all the entertainment parttogether, you're not engaging.
Like you will know about it,nothing that highlights the
mediocrity like a band that's inover their heads, you know no,
(13:50):
there's nowhere to hidesomething else certainly not me,
because I'm you know, I alsolove big hair bands how was
Aerosmith.
Cheryl Lee (13:58):
How was that?
Alex Laska (13:58):
Incredible.
That was incredible.
We've had some, Cheryl, as youkeep pointing out.
We've had some pretty amazingexperiences.
I know Probably caught the endjust caught the end of a lot of
these bands, unlike Aerosmith,have retired now.
AC/DC is probably doing theirlast run, I can imagine.
So, yeah, we're very lucky tohave had these experiences with
bands and having you know nowthat you've just found out, we
did an Aerosmith cover when wewere 12.
(14:20):
Talk about a full circle momentof having Steven Tyler like
kick in our dressing room doorand be like any guys here, like
being the larger than lifecharacter that he is.
It was awesome, it wasunbelievable.
Our first arena show and wewere pretty young at the time
and pretty new as a band andjust having these incredible
opportunities, you know, as aband and just having these
incredible opportunities youknow.
Cheryl Lee (14:40):
Good on you, you earned them.
Still rockin that podcast withthat radio chick, Cheryl Lee.
What an absolutelymind-blowingly amazing
experience for a young band togo on tour with AC/DC, their
Rock or Bust tour.
Let's have one from ACDC's Rockor Bust album, Rock the Blues
(15:01):
Away.
And then we're back to speaksome more with Alex from
Kingswood.
(18:28):
You are back with me, Cheryl Leeand Alex Laska from Kingswood
in the Zoom room.
Your point of difference hasbeen said that few bands
seamlessly traverse genres theway that you guys do, sort of
like on the crossroad of vintagerock and modern country.
You've been said to beSpringsteen-esque with a bit of
(18:49):
Tom Petty chucked in yeah, theseare all wonderful artists to be
complemented with.
Alex Laska (18:54):
Yeah, I dare say we have.
We are a genre bending band,particularly if you follow our
catalog from the first album tonow.
Our god, I don't know whatalbum this is that's going to be
coming up next year.
It's probably like the ninth,and in there we had nominations
for a traditional bluegrassalbum at the Golden Guitars and
we had an old country recordthat was the second highest
(19:15):
selling country album of 2023,an Aria nomination for a rock
album on our first release.
And then, as you said, havingopened for, like hard rock,
royalty and AC/DC and more bluesrock and Aerosmith, and we've
done all sorts of stuff, havingbeen exposed to so much music
and and being educated in somany forms on so many different
instruments between all of usand you get this melting pot of
(19:38):
ideas and of trajectory andstuff that's inspiring and you
know how things shape yourplaying and what and who shapes
you playing and what bands werethey in and how did they get to
play the way they do?
And you can kind of follow thetapestry of like why people play
the way they do and why theywrite the way they do and
everything's linked toeverything and the more you
discover where that comes from,the more kind of bends you in a
(19:59):
particular direction.
I don't know.
I love too much stuff to wantto sit in one place.
Cheryl Lee (20:04):
That was going to be my next question Do you think
this is sort of where you'regoing to settle, or do you think
you'll just keep experimentingwith new things?
Alex Laska (20:11):
Never know where we're going to end, Cheryl.
Never know, never know.
Keep our eyes open.
Cheryl Lee (20:15):
Let's talk about the new song.
You guys are storytellers.
Alex Laska (20:19):
Some days we are storytellers, some days we're
just instrumentalists, some dayswe're rock stars.
That's correct, Cheryl.
Cheryl Lee (20:27):
Are you trying to tell a particular story with
this song?
Alex Laska (20:30):
It's certainly a story of protecting one's
heartstrings, living outfictional relationships so that
you don't have to engage in areal one and therefore have your
heart broken.
Cheryl Lee (20:42):
It's called Loving a Girl and it's the first single
from the upcoming album.
Alex Laska (20:46):
Absolutely.
Cheryl Lee (20:47):
You guys have just recently signed a new record
deal with ABC Music and the gurufrom there, Graham Ashton.
Yes, the album manager sayshe's blown away not only by your
material, but by your workethic.
That's a nice compliment.
Alex Laska (21:02):
It's a fantastic compliment, very appreciative,
that he admires and is inspiredby the way we approach things
because he doesn't have to be,and that was probably a
combination.
Those two qualities, I guess,that excite him, are the reason
that we ended up signing withABC on this album.
Cheryl Lee (21:20):
Will you have a couple more singles come out,
which sort of seems to be theway now a couple more singles
before the album.
Alex Laska (21:26):
Oh, absolutely, yeah , yeah, yeah.
Probably a whole host of them,probably more than people would
expect.
Cheryl Lee (21:32):
We'll see how we go.
That seems to be the new way,instead of just looking at the
whole album now.
Alex Laska (21:41):
Yeah, it's a tricky one because we just love
creating an album experience andwe come from that world of
putting on a record or a tape ora CD and sitting through
something that someone'sdesigned for you and then that
all sort of.
You know that archetype andwhat became standard was this
release of singles and singleson playlisting and the
importance of playlisting andthe engagement of a moment and
all the short-lived media andit's like sure, but when you're
(22:03):
a musician, the thing you reallycrave is a journey and
experience or something like anemotional, whether it be.
You know, something is involvedas a symphony of one of the
great composers or an album byone of the great bands.
It's sort of a similar thing.
You don't leave with an emotionthat was conjured and
experienced over 15 seconds andthen ends exactly the same way,
you know.
Cheryl Lee (22:23):
Yeah.
Alex Laska (22:24):
It's like very, very fast-paced high absorption rate
.
That's like a musical fireworkfor me.
Cheryl Lee (22:31):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
I understand the new world andit is what it is, but I must say
I sometimes do miss putting onan album, listening to the whole
story side A 100% and maybeeven having a breath and going
all right.
Alex Laska (22:48):
Wow, I wonder what awaits me on the other side of
this disc.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
You are listening to Still Rockin it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee (22:59):
While we wait for the new album to come out, let's
play one from the Tale of GCTownes from 2023.
This song is called Glass HalfFull.
And then we're back to saygoodbye to founding member and
guitarist of Kingswood, AlexLaska.
Alex Laska (27:16):
If people want to get a hold of the music
streaming in all the usualplaces and 100% All of it
Website kingswoodband.
com, all of the social platforms, all the streaming services and
eventually, and hopefully toour point just now that it will
be pressed on vinyl and cassetteand CD and that'll all be
(27:36):
physically available next year.
Cheryl Lee (27:38):
Awesome.
Watch this space and also thetour dates on kingswoodband.
com as well.
Alex Laska (27:44):
Kingswood tour dates are on sale.
Currently we're mid-tour, so wewould love to see anyone who's
listening on the East Coast,absolutely.
Cheryl Lee (27:51):
Get onto the Google and see when Kingswood are
hitting your town.
Any plans to come to my littletown soon?
Alex Laska (27:58):
We do love your part of the world and probably, I
think, we.
When did we?
Just in South Australia?
We were a couple of months agowe played in McLaren Vale, we
played at Big Easy Radio andjust before that we did Lion
Arts.
I tell you where we wererecently Port Lincoln and
Whyalla and one more.
So we do love the region, sowe're going to hopefully head
(28:19):
back soon.
We'll definitely get over toyou.
Cheryl Lee (28:21):
I noticed that you guys off stage you are motorbike
and car enthusiasts.
So what do you ride?
Alex Laska (28:30):
I ride a Triumph Thruxton R a 1200.
Nice, that has been tuned up alittle hotter and it had a few
modifications for it to besignificantly louder and faster.
And then I've also got an oldfastback Mustang a 66.
Cheryl Lee (28:48):
Nice, very nice what colour?
Alex Laska (28:51):
It's black and gold.
It's a Hertz Shelby replica, soit's pretty spectacular.
And I've got an 85 F-150, anold Ford flatbed that lives in
Nashville, and to top it off,I've got a 2006 Mitsubishi
Pajero that is a workhorsevehicle.
Cheryl Lee (29:08):
Very nice.
I was just asking because we'vejust ridden well, not our
Harley.
We hired a Harley from Chicagoto LA.
We did route six.
Alex Laska (29:16):
Oh wow, that would have been incredible.
Cheryl Lee (29:19):
Earlier in the year.
It was awesome.
Alex Laska (29:21):
I've planned many a motorbike trip with many mates
over the years to traverseAmerica, which we will do at
some point.
Cheryl Lee (29:27):
I highly recommend it.
Alex Laska (29:29):
I'll probably do it on a Road King or something like
that.
I imagine that's what you guysgot, or at least a Fat Boy or
something.
Cheryl Lee (29:34):
I don't know, it was black.
Alex Laska (29:36):
It would have been like a big cruiser.
Cheryl Lee (29:38):
Yeah, and I just held on.
Alex Laska (29:40):
Yeah, there you go.
Cheryl Lee (29:41):
You'll love it.
Well, thank you so much forspending some of your time today
.
What a great idea to do itoutdoors with nature.
It's been lovely chatting toyou, and all the best with the
new singles.
Alex Laska (29:54):
Yes, thank you so much, Great to chat to you as
well.
Cheryl Lee (29:57):
Thanks for having me on you and everything.
Alex Laska (29:59):
Thanks for having me on your program.
See you next time, no worries,take care.
Cheryl Lee (30:02):
Still rockin the podcast with that radio chick,
Cheryl Lee.
The only thing we can go outwith is Don't Want to Miss a
Thing by Aerosmith that the boysplayed together in their very
first performance when they were12 years old and ended up
supporting Aerosmith in a hugefull circle moment.
(35:02):
Thank you so much for joining meon the Still Rockin it podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music and I'll see you
down the front.
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