Locals Only: Kurralta Park
Packed with an Australiana grunge rock punch, Kurralta Park’s debut album Powell Place seeps authenticity. Here, frontman Bindi McCallum talks tequila-fuelled recording sessions, Daybed Records’ Live in Lincoln Festival, and the village it takes to make it all happen.
Interview Millah Hansberry // Image Tom Redden
You released your debut album Powell Place in August. How does it feel to finally have this record out in the world?
It’s awesome. It’s really good to have felt so many heavy emotions over two years and then release them. Then maybe other people can feel something at the same time. It feels good.
Powell Place was recorded in five days in Stirling, which you’ve described as “the most beautiful experience I’ve had within the music industry.” What made this experience so special?
I recorded it with my friend Eli Biles, who I grew up with. I’m originally from Melrose in the Flinders Rangers. He thought I was a big, scary bastard because I was a little bit taller when we were growing up playing footy against each other. But after moving to Adelaide, we connected over music and grown closer and closer. It was just five days of catching up in Stirling, hanging out for 20 hours a day, getting not much sleep and then waking up with a shot of tequila and going again. Just so much fun. The landscapes around there are so beautiful, up in the hills. I love that area so much.
Why do you think you find yourselves leaning towards that raw, grungy rock emotional music?
When I was younger, I did a SoundCloud rap thing, which has been wiped off the internet. Doing the rap thing for a couple of years living in the country, I figured out early what I felt comfortable with people in my community seeing represent me as a person. I realised that people were going to hear me talking about stuff that didn’t make sense for who I was, and who I am. The thing that feels most comfortable for me is to talk about more human experiences.
You grew up in the Flinders Ranges and moved to Adelaide at 18. Do you think bringing music out of the city to regional places is important?
I think it’s really important. There’s a band called The Pretty Littles, and the singer Jack Parson, does something called “Guts Touring” where they do regional tours throughout Australia. It’s so sick. I wish that I could win the lottery to set up something like that. I think it’s really important for young people from the country that might not be exposed to the arts to see it. I just know that when I saw my friend play guitar when I was 10, that was enough to get me excited to pursue music. If you put bands in front of some of these kids, they’d go bonkers.
Kurralta Park takes “it takes a village” so seriously with everything that you do. You’ve posted countless “thank yous” on your social media pages to everyone who assisted or supported this album’s creation and promotion. How important is community to you?
It’s super important to me because when I moved to Adelaide from as an 18/19-year-old, no one in the Southern scene had to give a fuck about me. For me to just blow in and have all these people care so much and pour in so much time is crazy. Like Jack, he’s in Ethanol Blend and Stork which have been so inspirational to so many people. For him to pour in so much time through Daybed Records with Tom into this project just blows my mind. And then there’s John who will spend days on days entertaining my ridiculous ideas for video clips and Mark Tickle entertaining my ridiculous ideas for promotion. There’s just so many cogs that sort of prop up something that appears DIY. I’ve got Marcus down the road who’s been mixing our music for two years. There’s just a million people that care in this Southern part of the scene that really makes the music world spin in my eyes.
You’re heading to the Eyre Peninsula for Daybed Records’ Live in Lincoln on December 6, a brand new grass roots regional fest. What should we expect from your set?
With the new album out, I’m super excited because it’s all new for us to play. I feel super connected emotionally to it. I’m so excited. It’s going to be great.
Catch Kurralta Park at Live in Lincoln on December 6 with BAD DREEMS, Gyroscope, Magic Dirt and more. Tickets on sale now via humanitix.com.
