You put a band on the cover of your magazine, then they bugger off for a bit. That’s what happened with King Nun, after they took half our new year issue at the start of 2018.
Holed up in their big indie pop bunker, testing out all manner of explosive ideas, they’re finally back with a brand new song and – unnecessary spoiler alert – it’s a banger.
‘Chinese Medicine’ sees the band not just shifting up a gear, but swinging straight into the fast lane. Two minutes and forty five seconds of firecracker action, it’s a show of potential realised with a promise of more to come.
We caught up with the lads a few weeks ago at Live At Leeds to talk about future plans. You can read that chat, and check out ‘Chinese Medicine’, below.
King Nun, where have you been?
Nathan: We’ve been working hard, rehearsing, making new songs. We’ve been busy. It’s all for the best. We feel like it’ll be worth the wait.
Theo: We recognise how long our absence has been, but it’s in the pursuit of something better than we’ve had before,
There’s a new EP, right? What inspired it? Tell us secrets.
Theo: We wrote this song, called ‘I Have Love’, which we played for the first time today (back at Live at Leeds in May, ‘FYI’ – Ed). It’s a song about love in the world, despite what it’s like. It’s really important for punk bands to say that because you get a lot of wallowing in misery. We’re trying to turn that around. Then there’s this whole visual shebang. We’re trying to get this lightness/darkness thing involved. It’s beautiful, and it’s sad, and it’s violent, and it’s fucking funny.
James: I like the fact that at this stage, it’s hard to gauge where it’s going. What comes next is more cohesive and will be more of an impact. It’s a step in a further direction. It’s more of an establishment of what the King Nun name means. Rather than good music, it’s good King Nun music.
How much do you hate waiting to share your music?
Caius: We want to be ominous, but we’re not very ominous people. It’s almost like an exercise in restraint. We care very hard. We’ve already started the next, next thing.
James: The important thing is that it comes out right. It feels like a new phase for us, and if we get that wrong… well, it has to be perfect.
Caius: We’re all perfectionists. 99% just won’t do, that 1% will piss us off until the end of time.
James: We’re still hungry. We want to progress to the next stage. I feel like we can hit that real soon. I’m excited about the future, I’m proud of the past, and the present is here.
Pick up our King Nun and Pale Waves issue from the start of the year below.
