A Dirty Dozen with MATT YOUNG from KING PARROT – April 2025

Photo Credit: Metal Dave Media

According to a recent press release: “Look Away I’m Hideous” is the latest single from Australia’s KING PARROT. The track comes by way of the band’s forthcoming new full-length, A Young Person’s Guide To King Parrot, set for release on June 6th via Housecore Records in North America. The song is accompanied by a disturbingly grotesque, yet brutally entertaining video. The band joined forces with renowned Australian artist, The Art Of Fox, to create a sensory overload that delves into the world of modern-day body modification disasters. Applying a similar approach to the writing process of their previous records, which has been historically organic and old-school, KING PARROT adopted a new approach to the studio process. Pulling the new record together was a meticulously creative endeavour and the final product is the most complete, aggressive, and urgent the band has ever sounded.” We get singer Matt to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Our new album is called A Young Person’s Guide To King Parrot, it’s a tip of the hat to the old King Crimson album with a similar title. I feel like this is our most comprehensive release, and most definitely our tightest. We took some extra measures in the production to ensure it was polished as we’ve ever sounded while retaining the trademark King Parrot sound. We’ve always prided ourselves on outing little twists and turns in the guitar riffs and bridges as well as having lots of vocal hooks, I feel like we have gotten better at all of that stuff on this record.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

There was no one particular moment, but most definitely loved performing since I was a small child. Later on being inspired by metal bands from the glam rock era, through to discovering thrash and death meta, going to my first shows, some of my earliest memories as a teenager were seeing bands like Cannibal Corpse, Pantera and Slayer as well as a plethora of underground Aussie bands at all ages shows in Melbourne.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

No specific one again, but early on I was introduced to AC/DC and Black Sabbath and that definitely shaped the future for me. My Dad had the Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap album on vinyl and I really grew up with that and the artwork I always thought was super cool.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Maybe I would call in Bon Scott, even though it’s impossible, I would just love to see the way he wrote and put songs together, I love every aspect of his style.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

I like to watch Australian Rules Football and NBA, I drink a lot of coffee and I like making proper barista coffee myself, frothing the milk and all that stuff. Other than that just hanging at home or with friends, eating out, just the usual stuff.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Someone recently said to me that we sound like the extreme metal version of AC/DC and I was totally happy with that. People have compared my vocals to Brian Johnson so I think that is the best compliment I could ask for. As for what other people think, well… that’s none of my business.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

It’s safe to say none of us really like cooking, maybe Mr. White if anyone, but we’ll most likely be eating out. Slatts’ is probably getting the drinks and most likely Squiz on the guitar.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

We recently toured with Pantera in Europe and a lot of famous people were out there at those shows, but the person that starstruck me the most was Bill Steer from Carcass, just because I love that band. He was a great guy and I got to chat to him for a while after the show.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

The best part is getting to tour and travel and do what you love to do everyday when on the road. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to do this. My other dream job is to work with drug addicts and alcoholics and help them to get clean and sober. I do this when I’m not on the road.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

Honestly, I don’t really care. I’m happy to answer anything and still just feel grateful that I get the opportunity to do interviews and people want to ask me questions. The one thing I will say is it can be frustrating doing an interview with someone that is unprepared, doesn’t care about the band and is just doing for some unknown weird reason. I always find that strange, its only happened a handful of times, but its blatantly obvious when they know nothing about the band.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Yeah there is some moments in the recording processes over the years that I would definitely like another chance at, but at the same time I appreciate that they are called ‘Records’ for a reason.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

I think it’d be cool to be there for Slayer Season’s in The Abyss, I think that’s a fucking brilliant album and was when they took a big step forward as a band in terms of production. As a kid, that was the first album I’d heard of theirs when I was 11 or 12 years old and it really blew my mind.

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Category: Interviews