Well, hi there! Who are we chatting with and what do you do in Palace of the King?
Hi. My name is Leigh Maden, I play guitar, harmonica and drive the van in Palace of the King.
Give the uninitiated a brief history lesson in Palace of the King.
We’ve been together for three years now and it’s flown by. We have six members in our band and originally, three of us were jamming ideas and making demos after other musical projects we had running wound down. It was all guitars and drums at this point, and we were looking for other people to play with and create a full band. We emailed these little lo-fi demos around to heaps of people, mostly looking to find a vocalist. Somehow, they ended up with the bloke who’s now our frontman, Tim. Initially, we thought he could help us find someone but he liked what he heard so much he put his hand up for the gig instead. He recorded some rough vocals over the instrumental tracks and emailed them back to us to see if we were all on the same page and just like that, without ever having met the guy, we had a three track demo ready to go. Later on, we all got in a room and added keys and bass and the current incarnation of Palace of the King was born. Since then, we’ve been flat out and have released two EPs, a full length vinyl, recorded an album (it’s out in April) and been to most corners of Australia. They say time flies when you’re having fun and that seems to apply to us right now.
What’s in store for punters at Rock The Bay this year?
The punters are going to love Rock The Bay this year. Firstly, you’ve got Rook and Hinge reforming one-off shows that shouldn’t be missed. The setup of this event is awesome as well. Every stage at The Espy has music going from mid-afternoon until the early hours of the next morning. It’s going to be a like an early 2000’s Big Day Out, except when you want to change stages and check out what’s happening in another elsewhere, you won’t have to undertake a Burke & Wills-style expedition in 35+ degree heat or buy beer using a token system that’s akin to Great Depression era food stamps. Instead, just walk down the hallway from the Front Bar to the Gershwin Room, grab a Melbourne Bitter as you approach the front of the stage and enjoy.
