Troy Kingi makes a nostalgic return to his rock roots when he plays the final gig of his Leatherman & the Mojave Green Tour this Sunday at Gisborne's Smash Palace.
Troy Kingi makes a nostalgic return to his rock roots when he plays the final gig of his Leatherman & the Mojave Green Tour this Sunday at Gisborne's Smash Palace.
Gisborne rock music lovers can expect an explosive, high-energy gig when Troy Kingi and his band perform the final show of their Leatherman & the Mojave Green Tour on Sunday night at Smash Palace.
This will be the tenth show on their nationwide tour of Leatherman & the Mojave Green album and Kingi reckons they’ll be “the tightest band” they could ever be by the time they reach the East Coast.
“The show itself is nothing like I’ve ever done before. People are coming along not knowing what to expect and getting a full-on rock show,” he says.
“It’s been a bit of nostalgic return for me – the particular rock that we play is probably 20 years old but it’s the rock that I love.
“Even though it’s noisy, it’s still technically pleasing and rhythmic and all of those cool things – we’re just giving it to people in a way that they probably haven’t heard in a long time.”
He felt like a schoolboy again playing the music that inspired him in his youth, he said.
“In the past, we’ve toured reggae music and soul where everything was quite restrained and there was a lot of space, but this is hectic and full on. When we finish, the drummer and I just look at each other absolutely drenched in sweat thinking, oh my god we’ve got to do this again tomorrow! It’s good fun.”
Leatherman & the Mojave Green was inspired by a trip to Joshua Tree, California in July last year and recorded at the Rancho de la Luna Studio there.
“Putting myself in such a foreign place like Joshua Tree felt like I was on a different planet,” Kingi said.
The change of scenery helped him break a creative block and the music started to flow again.
“Whereas for the previous couple of years, I’d been in the same room, with the same people, playing the same guitar ... it was hard to get inspired when you’re looking at the same four walls.”
Kingi and his band were able to explore parts of the United States that felt untouched, like a cave they visited in the Californian desert where they saw paintings done thousands of years ago.
“You could feel the mauri of the land and it just put things into perspective – in the whole scheme of things we are so small and insignificant, kind of a blip in time. It made me think we shouldn’t really be worrying about small things – so those worries I had kind of subsided and I was able to relax and get into the mahi.”
They were hosted by musician and producer Dave Catching who has recorded and toured with Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal, earthlings?, Mark Lanegan, Mojave Lords, Mondo Generator and many other bands.
“He really looked after us and was so generous, sharing stories and knowledge,” Kingi said.
“All the tones that you hear on my guitar are all him. He’s got this room with hundreds of amplifiers and he’ll just pick the right amp for the song and put on his own mic.”
While in California Kingi’s experience of the famous cactus juice resulted in some prolific song-writing.
Having the goal of 10/10/10 – 10 albums in 10 genres in 10 years – gives him a challenge and helps him stay focused.
Next year he and the band, The Cactus Handshake, will go to the UK to record number 9 – a hip-hop album.
But for now, he’s taking the inspiration found in the 50-degree heat of the Californian desert and the rock music that resulted and bringing it to the Smash stage. It’s shaping up to be a night to remember.
“We’re going to leave it all out on the stage.”
Marika Hodgson (bass), Treye Liu (guitar),Troy Kingi (vocals and guitar) and Ezra Simmons (vocals and guitar) will perform the final show of Leatherman & the Mojave Green Tour at Smash Palace in Gisborne on September 22.
