King King - Reaching For The Light
- ️@bluesmagazine
- ️Fri Oct 14 2016
King King – Reaching For The Light
KING KING
REACHING FOR THE LIGHT
The New Album
04 May 2015
1. Hurricane
2. You Stopped The Rain
3. I’m Waking Up
4. Rush Hour
5. Crazy
6. Lay With Me
7. Just A Little Lie
8 Take A Look
9. Stranger To Love
There’s a definite buzz surrounding King King’s highly anticipated third studio album, Reaching For The Light. At a time when the shuffled playlist holds sway, along come nine hot tracks that defy you to press skip.In 2015, “Reaching For The Light” is the main event. Released May 5th on Manhaton Records, this third studio album is set to rubber-stamp King King’s status as the boldest creative force in the game, and dashes the hopes of rivals out to take their crown.
Don’t call it a comeback. King King has never been away. Two years may have passed since the Glasgow outfit’s all-conquering second album, Standing In The Shadows, established them as pack-leaders of the British scene, but Alan Nimmo (vocals/guitar), Lindsay Coulson (bass), Wayne Proctor (drums) and Bob Fridzema (keyboards) have barely cooled their heels or left the headlines.
There were the five triumphs at the 2014 British Blues Awards (including gongs for ‘Best Album’ and ‘Best Band’). The nods came from top media tastemakers, from DJ Paul Jones to the Classic Rock: Blues Magazine. The blood and thunder of their international headline tours, and recent support slots with John Mayall gave the British blues-boom godfather a tough act to follow.
Opening with a gunshot drum fill, a stinging funk-blues guitar riff and a rabble-rousing opening gambit – “I’m in trouble!” – King King’s third album bursts out of the blocks and raises the bar.
Indeed, Hurricane sets the tone for an album that hits hard. “I’d say there’s a natural progression from Standing In The Shadows,” explains Alan, “but on this album, we were delving more into a classic rock style. I grew up listening to bands like Free, Bad Company, early Whitesnake and Thunder. The influences were starting to show duringStanding In The Shadows and now they’re really coming through. We’ve always had tunes that were smoldering and soulful. Now, there’s stuff that’s a bit faster-paced, too.”
This new album is no one-trick pony. Tracking at the Superfly Studios in Nottinghamshire, snatching days between tour commitments, the band’s group songwriting ran the gamut, from the gospel-inflected beauty of Lay With Me to the funk-rock flavours of Crazy.
The dynamic musicianship, meanwhile, is bolstered by lyrics that are heartfelt and raw.
Hurricane is about when someone comes in to your life and leaves again, leaving you feeling like you’ve been bulldozed and you want more! You Stopped The Rain is a sadder story: I wrote the lyrics when my brother had cancer in his throat a few years back, and had an operation. The worry that came with that for everyone was distressing. Obviously, you find a way to ease things, and luckily enough, I get to write about these things through songs.”
In 2015, with so many bands seemingly content to settle for transient throwaway pop, Reaching For The Light is real music: an album to soundtrack the good times and soothe you during the bad. Of course, King King will take all the plaudits, sales and awards statuettes you care to sling their way – but that’s not the objective.