‘We all came from a sheltered music background. In very small town Queensland you’re pretty much stuck with your top 40 AM radio. – Roy (Krill)
If you had to decorate the stage for Krill’s 2008 Big Day Out shows, you would need pineapples, cider, and at least one bottle of ice-cold beer. Beer, because that is what lead guitarist Roy likes to have on stage with him when he plays a gig. Cider, for their first EP from 2005 titled The Sweet Side of Cider. And Pineapples?
The five family members grew up in a homestead on a hill overlooking Yeppoon, a tiny town half an hour’s drive from Rockhampton in Central Queensland. Famed for its pineapples (and infamous for the marijuana reputed to grow in nearby state forest), the highlight of the Yeppoon social calendar is the Pineapple Festival, and the crowning of the Yeppoon Pineapple Princess.
Roy assures me this is not where Krill got their break.”‘We all came from a sheltered music background. In very small town Queensland you’re pretty much stuck with your top 40 AM radio”. He never even kissed the princess.
Looking beyond these influences, the band developed their special blend of synth & guitar rock. ‘I think maybe the synth rock is a throwback of our early keyboard influence. We all started off playing classical piano, and over time introduced other instruments, gravitating toward the one we liked best’. While the other Yeppoonese were paddling around the Great Barrier Reef on surfboards, waiting for the cyclones to blow up a decent swell, the five siblings were busy at home practicing – Kim on keyboards, Roy and Jan on guitar, with the 21 y-o twins Lea and Lee playing drums and bass.
Roy suggests they may one day honor local tradition one day by covering Pineapple Head by Crowded House. If they have time.
During a busy 2007 the four sisters and brother performed live on MTV’s The Lair to win the UncharTED band comp and a record deal with Sony BMG Red Label. This followed from the success of their 2nd EP Into the Woods and lengthy tours at home and abroad. This includes the official 2006 FIFA Soccer World Cup Festival, a gig which provided one of their career highlights as the fledgling band turned into proper stadium rockers. ‘They basically converted a football stadium into a concert hall,’ Roy explains, ‘and we played in front of 20 000 excited people wearing Germany t-shirts and waving flags. It’s hard to beat that feeling’.
Back home and signed to Sony BMG the band are planning a tour to promote their new single Shake it Up Ma and their debut album due later in 2008. Something to listen to at home as you get ready to drive off to a friend’s party, the single is ‘a bit of a fire up song’, with ‘no deep hidden messages or social commentary’. Krill will feature the single as they begin they tour of the east coast in mid February, including Playground Weekender Festival. Get your pineapples ready and check below for krill tour dates.
Krill tour dates:
Thursday Feb 22 – Spectrum, Darlinghurst
Sunday Feb 24 – Beach Rd Hotel, Bondi
Sunday Mar 9 – Playground Weekender Festival, Hawkesbury River
Friday Mar 14 – The Globe, Brisbane
Thursday Mar 27 – The Golden Vine Hotel, Bendigo
Friday Mar 28 – Espy, St Kilda
Saturday Mar 29 – The National, Geelong
