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Hereford-based hard rock outfit KinStrife have recently released their stunning debut album ‘Fools and Monsters’, and band members Mike (vocals/guitar), Al (lead guitar), and Si (drums) join us to talk about the background of the band and what you can expect when checking KinStrife out, as well as talking about their own individual musical memories and influences.
What are the origins of KinStrife? How long have you been playing together?
Si: Al, I will leave the origins of the band to you, I joined in 2017 after the then drummer decided he wanted to move on.
Al: Back in about 2010 Dave [bass guitar] and I both auditioned for the same band just playing some covers. That band never came to anything as the drummer that originally put the call out left, two singers left but Dave and I hit up a great friendship and decided to stay together. We found a new drummer and would eventually find a singer and we just continued playing covers. We only did one gig together which didn’t go great, but I had already booked ourselves a festival! I was going to pull out when Mike who I played in a band 10 years previous (1999-2000 ish) called me and said if we still wanted a singer he was in! I had called Mike a few times to ask him to join but he was singing in another band. We had the awful task of letting the previous singer know they were no longer required – sorry!
This whole ordeal took Dave and I 3 years, but we were now a band – we just needed a name now!
How did you feel performing your first gig as a band? And how was it?!
Mike: Our first ever gig as KinStrife was at a festival, one we have frequently played at since, though at the time Simon hadn’t joined us on drums. I remember it well; I joined the band, and the gig was only 8 weeks away and I had 10 songs to learn. Gotta say we nailed it and we have always loved the festival scene ever since.
Al: Our first gig as a band was pretty much my first ever gig so I was bricking it. My wife picked up on my nerves and she couldn’t watch for the first song or two. I was shaking like mad, so god only knows how I played the whole set! Thoroughly enjoyed it though and it went brilliantly.
Si: My first gig with the guys was at a small pub in Hereford called the Volunteer. It was a bit nerve-racking as this was the first gig I had played with the guys and they had obviously had a relationship with another drummer, and we had also lost a guitarist as well. A previous drummer was also there, and he had been asking about coming back, so it was a big thing for me to make sure I could do the guy’s justice. You never really know how things are going to go at a live gig when you play for the first time. You can practice all you want, but until you get out there in front of a crowd, you will never know how you will gel.
What should people expect when they check the band out? How would you describe KinStrife?
Si: I would describe KinStrife as musically a very tight unit. Dave turns into someone else when he starts playing and just comes alive. I just feed off his energy and we all really enjoy what we are doing. This really shows as when we do make a mistake, we can laugh it off and get on with it. The crowd can tell we all enjoy what we do. This is more apparent when we play our own songs as well.
Mike; Powerful hard rock. We try to put bits and pieces of all the stuff we love from the bands we grew up listening to into our songs, without copying or reproducing, and making it fresh. It’s guitar-driven rock with smouldering bass lines, huge drums fills, and a rather meaty vocal.
‘Fools and Monsters’ is the recently released debut album, what was the gestation period like for the album? How long had the songs been brewing for?
Mike: Myself and Al had separately been working on ideas for as long as we have been playing instruments. Mixing our songwriting styles has opened up pathways we never singularly knew or thought of, it’s brilliant and a huge rush when you get the thumbs up on a song idea and roll with it. This album contains a majority of those older ideas and a handful of stuff born from us four contributing to the sound of the band.
So, the answer to this is anything from 25 years to yesterday, and with the amount of great ideas still waiting I’d imagine the next album will be the same.
Si: The album was in the pipeline for a good while before I joined. There were four or five songs ready to record already I think? A friend had offered to record the album as a project for himself, but he struggled to dedicate the time to it as he worked full time as well. Two members then left – the drummer and the rhythm guitarist, so it was kind of back to the drawing board. I came along and tried to put drums over already recorded songs, but the feel was all wrong for me trying to play over someone else’s parts, so we decided the best thing to do would be to start fresh. We started to put together all of the other songs and things began to really go well. We had to look for another place to record as our friend just did not have the time, and we came upon a local studio. We entered the studio just as we had finished polishing the 12th song and were able to get the recording done. We were all keen and pushing on at this point to get it done, but as the album was finished, Covid struck, and we had to hold off releasing it for a while.
What goes through your head in the run-up to releasing new music, especially your debut album? Are you excited? Nervous? – Both?!
Si: It is always an uncertain time. We are all confident in the songs and we play the style of music we love. It is nerve-racking as we just do not know how others will react. There will always be people who just do not like our music, and that is fine, but so far, all reviews have been good. it is just really nice to have so many people appreciate our music as much as we do.
Mike; Exciting, very exciting. It’s a childhood dream for all of us to have a recording out there in the big wide world, let alone an album we are so very proud of and happy with. It’s more than we could have imagined in many ways, and that is down to the songs and the songwriting ability of all four of us as a unit. 4 very proud papas!
It’s quite an interesting album title, is it aimed at anyone in particular?
Mike: It’s not aimed as such. The line from ‘Rise and Fall’ is just saying don’t judge a book by its cover, ” some of us still have a heart!” being the next line.
But we know of people in the music industry (and many industries) who just want to take advantage, get rich quick off those that do all the hard work, so yeah it fits in both ways. There will always be fools and monsters!
I believe that ‘Any Given Day’ is quite a personal track for you Mike? What are the lyrical themes behind it?
Mike: A.G.D is such a fun song to play but I wanted it to also be meaningful. It’s a song I wrote as I left the care industry behind. I had worked in health care for 8 years and loved and hated it both equally in that time.
It’s a hard job and real carers are amazing people. I was told when I started that a carer burns out after about 2 years in the job, so I was well in need of a change in profession by the end. Frazzled! But when the health care industry becomes lazy and all about money instead of care, it affects the ones who need that individual help.
I wanted to write a song looking through the eyes of someone who just wants to be loved and cared for in their later years, and not as a burden or seen as a job or chore to be handled without care. I must admit I smile a lot playing this song just because it’s a powerful pounding fun riff. It is a deep message hidden in lyrical meaning and rock riffs, or to you, it could just be a fun song until you think about what I am saying, then it has massive meaning!
‘Bombs’ is a bit of a banger (excuse the pun), what is this one about?
Mike: Bombs is another song about industry, though this time it’s more about the devil in man and money, and war! It’s the first song myself and Al got writing together on. I thought I’d make it a rock and roll devil fuelled metal song, but as usual, my lyrical mind took me to thinking more about the people who suffer during wartime, and the victims it leaves behind. It’s not about bombs, it is NOT a political song, it’s a cry against the devil in industry. Deep yeah!!
Listening back to the album for the very first time, what moment gave you the biggest goosebumps?
Si: For me, it was listening to the last song finish and thinking “That’s ours! That’s our Album!!” All we wanted was an album to hold in our hands to say we had done it, and my god, what a great album it is!
Mike: My first chance I got to listen to Fear in its finished form was an amazing moment for me. It was the song we used to get all the mastering and sounds right for the album mix levels, the genius pig, and I sat on the edge of my bed thinking there were more notes to be written, more editing to be done, and then I played it and I was blown away! What Ryan at AR Studios had done was something amazing and something very special. What a talented man. The song needed him as much as it needed us to write it!
Al: Listening to ‘Unconditional’ always gives me goosebumps so hearing that all mixed and mastered was a moment for me. Along with ‘Slow and Easy’ (which incidentally when the distorted guitar pounds in…) were both pieces of music I wrote such a long time ago and never thought I would hear them become proper songs!
In what ways has the band grown over the last few years?
Si: We have become a much tighter unit with the current line up and we can get our heads down at practice and knock out a couple of new songs every time. We seem to get things moving more now as well. If we need to do something, we tend to push the gas pedal and get on with it.
Mike: We have had set back after set back with members of the band coming and going. Mostly the people around us want to be in cover bands just to get out and play, and this is something we wanted to “get away” from, so it stopped the songwriting side of things many times. Being in an original band is a big part of our lives, it’s a certain commitment that’s hard to find as we are all just local lads.
Al: I’ve likened the changing of band members to modifying a car, when you first add a modified part you have to adjust the other parts to suit. We have had a few mods over the years but now we are fully tuned up!
Mike: We were lucky enough to add Si to our mix at a time when things were looking very bleak with a drummer and guitarist leaving, so I decided to pick up the guitar role as well, and for me, the band is now a much more defined thing. Four very focused people!
In terms of a similar audience: who would be the ideal act for KinStrife to support?
Si: For me it would be someone like Saxon, Whitesnake, AC/DC, or other bands like those. I think we would compliment them very well.
Mike: We all have our favourites, but one band I think unites all our different styles and likes…. Guns N’ Roses! Yes please!
Al: Yes GnR (as they once were) would be amazing. I would also love to play a gig with Ozzy – or just be in the same room as him! But in terms of a similar audience, I don’t know we have so many different styles so some people might hear Disturbed in one song, Motorhead in another!
What are your first musical memories? And what was the lightbulb moment that made you go “I want to do that”?
Si: For me, it was listening to an album called “Juke Box Jive” which was a compilation of fifties music. I would have been six or seven at the time and I would put it on the record player and listen through headphones over and over again. I had access to drums as a child, so I suppose it was that influence that had me tapping along. When I was thirteen I joined a band with some other school friends and that was the point where things clicked for me as a drummer. I just seemed to know what to do. from there on I just taught myself what to do.
Mike: The first time I played any instrument was when I was about 6 years old. We had a piano in a small dining room and my brother was already having lessons. I remember hearing him play some simple tune and not getting it right. He kept trying and trying but kept hitting the wrong notes. I could barely see the keyboard as I was so small… when he stopped playing, I tiptoed and reached up and luckily found his first note straight away and continued to play the tune by ear, or by fumbling lucky notes. I can’t remember the time, but it sounded right! My mum looked down and said I needed to have lessons instantly which I did the next week…. and that was the start of my musical journey!
Al: When I was at infants school you either liked Shakin Stevens or Adam Ant and my mama took me to see Shaky! My parents weren’t big music lovers and the only record worth listening to was ‘Then Came Rock n Roll’ all the 50/60s greats. Dad had one cassette in his car. Meatloaf on one side and REO Speedwagon on the other So these are my first musical memories. However, moving on a couple of years and I don’t know how I came to have it but around 11 years of age I had the double cassette of ‘Live after Death’ by Maiden. I played this over and over and stared at all the pictures. I wanted to be Bruce but couldn’t sing! In fact, I couldn’t do anything musically!
Personally, who has been the biggest influence on you becoming a musician? Would it be a teacher? A family member? A fellow musician?
Mike: Gotta say musically David Coverdale is my go-to inspirational geezer every time growing up. Loved Whitesnake from the first time hearing still of the night and never get tired of it. Others vocally for me would be Scott Stapp, Myles Kennedy, Brent Smith, Chris Cornell… the list goes on and on.
Al: I got to know a local guitarist called Bernie and would go and watch his band play any time I was sober enough. I loved what they were doing but still couldn’t play anything. Bernie gave me a few lessons and I also had some lessons from a local guitar tutor and years later actually played in a band with Bernie! I still judge what I do to what they did! “Get over it Alan!”
What current social issue are you particularly passionate about?
Mike: Covid… definitely Covid! I’m one that goes with the rules. Let’s get rid of it!
Si: I am concerned with the nanny state we seem to live in. People have gone soft and want to be able to blame someone else for their failings. To be honest, society needs to grow a pair and take responsibility for its actions. It then needs to take a good long hard look at itself and start to put things right. Own what you do and be responsible for it people! Stop acting like a bunch of entitled children!
Alan: One thing that concerns me atm is dog theft and the violence sometimes used to steal these dogs!
What album do you have in your collection/Spotify playlist that would surprise most people?
Si: I have a lot of country artists I listen to and I have various albums of them. Most people think that country music is about your woman and dog leaving you and your pick-up truck is busted, but there are some really talented artists out there. A lot of it crosses over into rock too. There is a guy called Brantley Gilbert and I would put him up with a lot of rock artists. He is worth a listen to.
Al: I am still a big listener of CDs and can confidently say I have never purchased a non-rock/metal CD. However, my mama recently cleared out her attic and gave me a box of those old records which does include a number of Shakin Stevens albums – and no I haven’t listened to them since those old days…. yet!
Mike: Alicia Keys… the diary of… and unplugged… An amazing musician (and sexy!) (Like KinStrife’s Al but more piano!)
Al: hehehe
Although 2020 was a year to forget, there was some great music released; what would be your album of 2020?
Si: I would put two albums, just to be different! The Red and White trilogies by Whitesnake!
Mike: Not bought any newer releases but went back on their earlier stuff, have seen at the start of 2020 if that counts, and massively now into… Wayward Sons!
Al: I must admit I had to google what albums were released in 2020. There are 4 I am now listening to from last year. Ozzy, Testament, Trivium, and Corey Taylor so it will probably be one of these. If I had to choose it would be Ozzy just because he is Ozzy!
What are your plans for 2021 should COVID ever disappear?!
Al, Mike, and Si: To gig and gig and gig!
Si: We just want to get out there and promote our album.
How active are you on social media and where can people connect with you?
We are not overactive on our socials although we do have FB, Twitter, and Instagram! We do try to post a couple of times a week and post different content on each.
‘Fools and Monsters’ is available now, purchase here.
Stream on Spotify, here.
