After months of dropping hints to their fans, the mighty King Stingray today announce their highly anticipated second album, ‘For the Dreams’.
The 12-track album will be released on Friday 8th November, and includes singles Through the Trees, Looking Out, Best Bits, as well as the band’s “first ever love song” Cat 5 (Cyclone) which they have shared today.
A lot has happened for King Stingray since they released their 2022 debut self-titled album, which took the group from what guitarist/producer Roy Kellaway calls “a pretty sleepy, rural lifestyle in the bush” to one of epic touring and the excitement of being a band on the rise.
Not surprisingly, those experiences inform the new album. Don’t, however, expect a weary account of the rigours of life on the road – as with their debut, ‘For The Dreams’ is a joyous celebration of life and the planet on which we live that oozes optimism from its every note.
But where some of the songs on the debut dated as far back as high school in the Northern Territory, where the band began, ‘For The Dreams’ is a snapshot of the past few years in the members’ lives.
“Nothing’s changed in the sense that we’re still who we are, we’re still playing music and enjoying things. But what I think is different about this one is there’s a little bit more lived experience…”
That lived experience is represented in several recurring themes throughout the album – the golden glow of nostalgia amidst the rush of life; the joy of simple living in a digital age; the bliss of slowing down and returning home to Country; and finding optimism in challenging times.
The group’s mantra when recording ‘For The Dreams’ was “Yaka Muckaround!”, meaning “We’re not mucking around!” Studio sessions were booked around Australia so that any downtime between gigs could be used to harness their live energy. The songwriting goals were to “level up” rather than reinvent the group’s sound. “We wanted a lot of singalong moments… We were thinking a little bit more about getting everyone in on the party.”
King Stingray’s debut album earned them five ARIA nominations and won them the Breakthrough Artist gong; took out the Australian Music Prize and won the Album of the Year and Best Independent Rock Album at the 2023 AIR Awards. Impressive for a band that have stayed true to themselves, blending raucous rock’n’roll and the ancient Indigenous tradition of manikay (song/songlines), organically building a fanbase until the momentum became unstoppable.
As the band sing in new song Southerly, “We were just a couple of kids/With a couple of big ideas”. With ‘For The Dreams’, those ideas are only getting bigger.
Listen to Cat 5 (Cyclone) HERE
Thanks to Sony Music
