Kid Confucius - feet first into their national tour

Jumping feet first into a national tour is nothing new for Kid Confucius.

On the back of their second album Stripes, the boys have set off on the Street Corner Soul Tour. Rooted in the Soul movement of the 60s and 70s but powered by the audacity and spirit of Australia’s hard-edged rock scene, the guys will be bringing the show to street corners across the country, with impromptu jams on footpaths and public streets, at selected destinations, on the afternoon of the band’s gig dates.

Kristy Wandmaker sits down with Drummer Bart for a brief chat about their latest release 'Stripes'.

Why the title Stripes for your sophomore release? “Some say ‘Stripes’ stands for the stripes of colour that we paint everyday. Stripes of musical colour, ethnic colour, emotional colour, stripes of sexual colour, spiritual colour - the stripes that we slather down in all different directions and struggle to align, out of the struggles come life… then, some say it’s called stripes because the artwork had stripes on it, who knows?”

There’s a maturity not evident in their self titled debut album which has seeped through into this recording, yet taken nothing away from the energy and horn-spanking goodness at the Kid Confucius core. They even sent it offshore for that authentic Eastern touch, provided only by legendary producer The Dragon (an authentic Eastern American). Yet, again they were happy to jump headlong into the unknown.

“When a guy has a monster portfolio like The Dragon does (The Roots, Erykah Badu, D’Angelo et al) all that we were feeling was excitement. So many of the sonic references we used for this album were from records that he’d engineered and mixed, and we felt like it was in pretty safe hands - and those tracks that he mixed ('Closer' and 'Make Up Your Mind') have come out the other side with a real international heavyweight signature on them”, a signature that wasn’t in their collective consciousness while recording the debut effort.

Stripes is very, very different. Like the difference between making a great meal from leftovers in the fridge at 1am and cooking for a whole weekend in preparation of a Sunday night dinner party. Both are great; with 1 am leftovers you grab a chop and some salad from here, beans and pasta from there, - put them all onto one plate and into the microwave. It reminds you of meals-gone-past. In that particular time and place it ends up being the best food you could imagine eating.

Catch Kid Confucius on their Street Corner Soul Tour at a venue near you this October / November. Hit the links below for show details.

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