Kings of Cough Syrup

Kings of Cough Syrup

Having both honed their talents over the years in other bands, Kings of Cough Syrup is Hamish and Nick, two friends from the suburbs of Melbourne.

Kings of Cough Syrup has no beginning; it has probably always been there. It has very little to do with music, whilst being all about music. Kings of Cough Syrup is really just about Nick and Hamish; a snap shot, capturing a brief moment, of a life long journey, which continues. 

Hamish explains 'Nick was the first person I shared music with; before Nick, there was only me in a bedroom, fumbling a few chords on one of my dad's guitars. We would have only been 13 or 14 years old; even then Nick, as he has always done, and continues to do, brought a uniting vision. It was obvious immediately; Nick's talent dwarfed mine, and that of anyone else we played with. Nick could hear things no one else could hear, play things no one else could play, though most importantly; he was the one who was able to arrange any musical rabble into something inspiring. And, so it has been through out our lives; Kings of Cough Syrup is no different."

Kings of Cough Syrup is the sound of two friends in a moment; starting from a point of nothingness, willing to see where the sounds would lead. There was some vocal melodies, however beyond that, things simply evolved guided by two simple principles: stay away from instruments of comfort, and, any sound which can be recorded or created is musical.

Each track was a journey; they went this way and that way, hitting dead ends, or finding something exciting, which would distract for hours, before finally landing in a place where they knew, it had arrived and was finished.

As had generally been the case through their writing together over the years, Nick was the one who knew when something was ready; the one who knew when to tinker, or when to keep playing, the one who was able to conceive a song from a single sound. Whilst Hamish is the unmistakable voice behind the songs.

Nick explains 'The roles we learnt as teens are still in our nature. Hamish singing and me jangling along, proudly standing beside his stupendous voice. It was fun to work without guitar and its associated band sound, working every which way with whatever sparkled out of Hamish's labyrinthine music brain. We followed ourselves around in circles a fair bit, but they were fun circles."

The songs as they now exist, are the point that best captures whatever it is Kings of Cough Syrup is about. They are the sound of their lives; the absence of a starting point, a considered concept or purpose, they have revealed and delivered an honest, undistorted expression of the pair.

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