{"id":1977412,"date":"2025-08-24T15:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T15:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1977412"},"modified":"2025-08-24T15:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T15:23:08","slug":"interview-alex-laska-from-kingswood-talks-about-influences-and-new-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/interview-alex-laska-from-kingswood-talks-about-influences-and-new-music\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: Alex Laska from KINGSWOOD talks about influences and new music"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

<\/h4>\n

Multi-Platinum<\/strong> & Gold ARIA-certified<\/strong>, ARIA-nominated<\/strong>, and 4x Golden Guitar-nominated <\/strong>powerhouse KINGSWOOD<\/strong> are back with their latest single, \u201cLovin\u2019 A Girl\u201d \u2013 a heartfelt, guitar-driven ode to classic Country Rock. This single sets the tone for KINGSWOOD\u2019s<\/strong> forthcoming album \u2013 a pure country rock journey that reaffirms their place among Australia\u2019s most versatile and authentic musical storytellers.<\/h4>\n

We caught up with Alex Laska to talk about new music, influences and dinner guests\u2026<\/h4>\n

Sean: Well, how\u2019s things been in the Kingswood camp? 2023 was obviously enormous, with two albums, a huge 100-odd-date tour, and now rolling forward to 2025 and a brand-new single. Exciting times. It\u2019s got a wonderful country vibe, a song that\u2019s definitely going to fit very well into your live sets, especially after the tour for the \u2018Home\u2019 album. But where do all these influences stem from?<\/p>\n

Alex: Country music and Southern rock and Americana and alt-Country have always been deeply enriched in the Kingswood tapestry and particularly in like our listenership you know like covering Skynyrd in primary school and and even stuff like Aerosmith, you know, big blues albums, which we\u2019ve launched as well, and Tom Petty, and obviously getting further and further down the line to more traditional country stuff as we got older. Probably my first introduction into it was probably Elvis, and The Travelling Wilburys and a bit of Orbison, and then kind of going, \u201cOK, well, who\u2019s playing guitar?\u201d Like, for me, it was fairly guitar-driven, so it\u2019s like, who\u2019s playing guitar on the Elvis stuff? It\u2019s Scotty Moore. Okay, well what is Scotty leaning on? Well, he\u2019s kind of leaning on like Chet Atkins style picking and Jerry Reed and it\u2019s like, well who\u2019s Jerry Reed? And why is he so famous for a particular guitar playing style?<\/p>\n

And then you go \u201coh, well he went and played guitar with this guy named Glenn Campbell\u201d and you go, well who\u2019s Glenn Campbell? Why is he so good at guitar? Well not only is he great at guitar he\u2019s got this beautiful voice and sings these amazing songs and you go, \u201cwell, how does that complement who were his contemporaries at the time\u201d and all of a sudden you\u2019re looking at George Jones and a little bit later like in the 70s and 80s and everything progresses and all of a sudden there\u2019s this massive web of music that you would have never encountered purely because you might have been inspired by the guitar playing on an Elvis recording.<\/p>\n

And, yes, I\u2019ve always been like that, and that\u2019s not just country music. You know, I started playing classical piano from a young age but moved pretty heavily into jazz in my teenage years. And that was a huge, huge shift in the music that I was being exposed to and what I was being drawn to and how it influenced my playing and you know, I mean I got into the blues through jazz. And alto saxophone like Louis Jordan and Dave Fathead Newman and like Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins and all these great tenor players and great blues players and of course
Coltrane and all this stuff and Cannonball Adderley, The Cannonball Adderley Quintet was so blues focused and soul focused and gospel and of course like David Newman played tenor on all the Ray Charles stuff and you have a good smashing of country and soul and blues in Ray Charles. It never stops for me, it\u2019s always just like, how could I deny one over the other?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sean: What an incredible plethora of heroes and peers to sort of be influenced by.<\/p>\n

Alex: Oh, absolutely. I mean, these guys are the titans. They\u2019ve been the hallmark to a lot of the stuff I\u2019ve developed musically over the course of my life.<\/p>\n

Sean: \u2018Lovin a Girl\u2019 has got a fantastic country rock roots vibe again. Catchy as hell too. And what a great fun video to go with it. But where do you guys find the time to write because that was a gruelling tour you did last time and releasing two albums so close to each other. What is it?
A few weeks off and then back to the grind or is it something that when you\u2019re on the road you write?<\/p>\n

Alex: A little bit. A lot of this in my mind to start off with, particularly after I hear riffs and I hear certain things and I can\u2019t escape them, if they don\u2019t continue to invade my subconscious and my sort of inner creative hearing, then I go, that\u2019s worth investigating, if that makes sense. You know, we were in Brisbane actually having completed that big tour, and I was like, man, I\u2019ve got this riff that just keeps poking around my head. I started it off, it\u2019s just like September 2023. God, you know, that\u2019s like definitely leaning on the (Tom) Petty side of things and the more like American songbook, like, you know, Californian or like West Californian music, I\u2019d call it.<\/p>\n

You know, there\u2019s a country thing to it, but it\u2019s certainly more like I guess pop rock driven as well. It\u2019s got the country tilt. And I was like, yeah, what if we lean on that a bit more and even lyrically and the phrasing and there\u2019s a little bit of Fleetwood and stuff and it\u2019s kind of all the worlds that we love combining. It wrote itself pretty quickly actually to be honest, on the bus that night and I guess it\u2019s just a continuation of that sort of approach to song writing. I mean song writing is something that I do professionally for other people as well, so it\u2019s certainly not uncommon to me to sort of focus something on, focus the attention on something I\u2019ve been feeling or something that I\u2019ve been observing or something that I\u2019ve been pondering and kind of putting it to a soundtrack that sort of feels like Kingswood\u2019s next progression, whatever that may be at the time.<\/p>\n

Sean: Well, of course before we kicked off the interview you just said that you\u2019re in the studio working on the album, so we are excited to hear that that\u2019s progressing. Obviously I haven\u2019t seen a release date or a title as yet so we\u2019ll sit tight and wait but certainly one thing I have spotted is some shows coming up this month. It must be great to get back out and play live, I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n

Alex: We just love it, I mean we really do. You know, people go, you know you\u2019ve been on the road 15 years and especially from 2023 onwards it\u2019s been an in excess of over\u2026 if you include Europe as well, we\u2019re well into like the 300 mark for shows. You know, at the end of the day we\u2019re musicians. We live and breathe music we love being musicians and we\u2019re so fortunate as to be in a position where we can tour that much. I mean there\u2019s certainly a time where that may not be the case and it wasn\u2019t at one point so we\u2019re going to play as much as we can and be as musical as we can because that\u2019s our job. I always say this, it\u2019s like a doctor gets up every day and goes and helps people and nurses and bus drivers and plumbers, they go to work every day. What\u2019s the exception for us?<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kingswood at Prince Bandroom \u2013 Photo: Shot by Slaidins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sean: Well knowing how busy you are I would love to ask a couple of general questions before you go. If you could invite three musicians, dead or alive to join you for dinner on evening, who would you invite?<\/p>\n

Alex: The one on the list is one of the greats. It\u2019d be Mozart. Just because of his age, and I expect a very wicked sense of humour. Bit of a grunt, old Wolfgang. Paul, obviously. Like, as much as everyone\u2019s like, you know, John\u2026 Paul, I think I resonate a lot more with Paul. He\u2019s still here and he would have amassed a wealth of stories. I\u2019ll take Paul, I\u2019ll take Mozart, and I\u2019ll take\u2026 Who\u2019s my third? I\u2019m going to take\u2026 Is it someone like Miles Davies? Or is Miles too loopy? [laughs] Like, he\u2019s an interesting guy, but was a huge influence of mine. Nah, I\u2019m skipping again. I\u2019m skipping forward. Oh, I\u2019m going to take Dolly Parton.<\/p>\n

Sean: [laughs] Well, there are a few jumps there! Are you sure?<\/p>\n

Alex: [laughs] I think so. I think Dolly would be a hoot because she would have so much insight and maybe give me the real dirt on the stuff that I\u2019d want to know about the guitar players that I idolize, and all the steel players, or Lloyd Green and Buddy Emmons and all the guys who pioneered pedal steel playing. I\u2019d maybe do Orville Gibson or Leo Fender. Maybe. In exchange for Dolly, just to like, you know, they tell me heaps of cool stories. They tell me heaps of cool stories about the artists and stuff. I don\u2019t know, man. That\u2019s a tricky one. [laughs]\n<\/p>\n

Sean: I\u2019ll let you have all five. You did do a 120 date tour, so you\u2019ve earnt a couple of extra chairs at the table [laughs].<\/p>\n

Alex: [laughs] That\u2019d be amazing. Let\u2019s do that.<\/p>\n

Sean: What was the last album you listened to?<\/p>\n

Alex: Oh, the last full album I listened to, which wasn\u2019t that long ago was Vince Gill, \u2018When I Call Your Name\u2019 I reckon. I\u2019ve got all his albums.<\/p>\n

Sean: Finally, if you could be credited with writing any song ever written what song would you choose?<\/p>\n

Alex: Oh good Lord above! Chopin\u2019s \u2018Fantaisie-Impromptu\u2019 as a composition for sure. Maybe Beethoven\u2019s \u20185th\u2019. I\u2019m trying to give you examples of pieces that I am floored by. \u2018Yesterday\u2019 by Paul McCartney. \u2018Black Dog\u2019. \u2018Sunshine of Your Love\u2019, which has one of the all-time greatest riffs ever! Of course, someone wrote that but it\u2019s mind blowing, but the way they did it. Oh god there is so many\u2026 too many!<\/span><\/p>\n

Sean: Well, let me add those to my playlist for starters. Alex, thank you so much for your time and great to hear there is a new album underway. Excited to listen out for release and tour dates, and a huge congratulations on \u2018Lovin A Girl\u2019.<\/p>\n

Alex: Great to catch up and thanks for your time & support as always Sean. Always a pleasure mate.<\/p>\n

Sean: Regards to Fergus and hope to see you when your next over in WA.<\/p>\n

Alex: We can\u2019t wait to get back over there and we\u2019ll see you then. Thanks mate.<\/p>\n