New Music | King of the Travellers – Trenches

Let me begin by saying you should feel really lucky about the hacky joke I spared you about Perth’s King of the Travellers. Instead of a dad-level attempt at humor, you can instead find out what it would sound like if you filtered Gogol Bordello through Australia. Give a listen to King of the Travellers’ “Trenches” – about a bunch of soldiers left behind after the war’s passed them by. It’s a drinking song, obviously.

This is not the first band I’ve heard try to capture that same “gypsy punk” weirdness, stay true to their own sound, and also incorporate Eastern European, Romani, and folk traditions… but they’re the first ones I’ve heard do it right. Maybe because the “staying true to their own sound” part involves singer Nathan Hull’s chesty hollers.

I can just bet these guys put on a huge party of a live show. I don’t know if they’re going to swing through this way – Australia is far, in case you didn’t know, and Perth is even far from the rest of Australia (geography lesson! You’re welcome!) – but if they do, your plans for the evening are already made.