For those who haven’t heard of Australia’s McAlister Kemp yet, here’s your introduction.
The duo McAlister Kemp, made up of Drew McAlister & Troy Kemp, are often referred to as Australia’s answer to Brooks and Dunn. 2011 has been amazing for these two talented men. In addition to several number one songs from their debut album and winning two awards, they also had the privilege of touring with Alan Jackson. While 2011 has been a great year for them, they are already looking forward to a great 2012!
TheCountrySite.com’s Marloes Lucy Duizer caught up with Drew and Troy in this exclusive interview for The Country Site network.
1. When and how did your love for writing music and playing the guitar start?
Troy: For my 8th birthday, my Nan bought me a KISS album. The first time I heard “I Was Made For Loving You” I decided then and there that I wanted to be a musician and that I wanted to play guitar. My dad is a guitarist, and he got me started, but I really got serious about it when I started high school at age 13.
Drew: I wouldn’t call myself a guitar player as such..haha! I started to learn when I was 13, because I wanted to learn how to write songs. I didn’t really pick it up again until I was 16, and then I started to play a lot in my early 20’s. The guitar has been my song writing buddy ever since.
2. The two of you met when both of you were cast to play in a Johnny Cash tribute show. When was this and how did this come about?
Troy: It was early 2008. It was actually “Aussies Walk the Line”, a tribute to Cash and The Highwaymen. Drew was already a part of the show and I was cast to replace Jake Nickolai and play the part of Waylon Jennings, after doing some “solo” demo tracks in Nashville. At the time, Michael Carr and Nick Kingswell were also a part of the show.
3. How did you go from being on the show to playing together?
Drew: We were touring a lot, and we started to write songs together in our down time in hotel rooms. We found that we got along really well and our voices blended great right from the get go. One thing led to another and our mate Adam Brand got us a record deal with ABC Music.
4. How soon after deciding to play together did your debut album ‘All Kinds of Tough’ come out?
Troy: We played our first show together in Oct 2008 as the opening act for Adam Brand at the Hexham Bowling Club. That night Adam enjoyed our show to the point that he decided to take us under his wing and help us get our career off the ground. He took us out on tour the next year, and he helped us land a recording deal with ABC Music. ’All Kinds of Tough’ was released in January 2010 at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
5. What was the process of writing and recording your first album like?
Drew: It was a fun process! We would drive to each other’s house in Sydney and Newcastle once a week and crank out a song. Before long we had some songs that we knew would really work, and it felt great when we played them with just two acoustic guitars.
6. Tell us about your new album ‘ Country Proud’. It will be released during the CMC Rocks the Hunter Festival on March 16th correct?
Troy: ’Country Proud’ is an album that we feel shows us evolving as an act. It still maintains the everyday, real life, core themes that we as MK like to write about, and like our first album, it was recorded at Love Hz Studios by Golden Guitar winning producer Matt Fell. It is an album with a little bit for everybody. It’s serious. It’s quirky. It’s got rockin’ fast songs, mid tempo songs, ballads, and it also goes a little left of center with a reggae style track just to confuse everybody. Haha!! We really hope that people enjoy this album as much as ‘All Kinds Of Tough’. And yes, ‘Country Proud’ will be released during the CMC Rocks the Hunter Festival on March 16. We are playing all the new songs on the main-stage Friday night and the B-stage on Sunday night. Be there!!
7. What are your songs about? Do you approach them from a specific angle?
Drew: Our songs are simply about people and our observations on life really. We try to write songs that the average person can relate to and that we love to play. There is a mix of good time songs like ‘Hell Yeah’ and then the songs that really make you think like ‘It Don’t Buy You Love’.
8. 2011 has been an amazing year for you with number ones for ‘All kinds of tough’, ‘Hell yeah’ and ‘Hard work’, a CMC music award for ‘New Oz artist of the year’ and a CMA of Australia award for ‘Best new talent’. What are your highlights? And why?
Troy: The highlights are all the things you’ve just listed. We have worked and toured very hard to earn our place in the Australian country music scene. To win awards and have number one songs is recognition and acceptance from our peers and from our fans. For that, we feel very lucky and we’re very appreciative. It’s the best feeling in the world, and we don’t take a minute of it for granted. We are just scratching the surface as an act. There’s a lot more hard work to come, and we’re looking forward to it!!
9. You toured with Alan Jackson in March. What was that like? What did you learn from watching him?
Drew: It was just the coolest thing we have done as an act! We got to do the one thing we dreamt of doing when we were kids – play our songs to a stadium full of people! To this day, we still get people coming up to us after our shows and saying “we saw you on the Alan Jackson tour!” That tour did so much to raise our profile, and we will be forever grateful for the chance! Watching Alan Jackson perform live taught us that the song must come first. It’s not all about jumping around the stage. The song is king if you’re trying to build a career!
10. This summer you also played the CMA Global Artist Party during the CMA music festival in Nashville. How did you get picked for this event and what was it like for you to play over there?
Troy: Each year, a large radio company in Melbourne called NA2R chooses one act from many different music genres to support and help further those particular acts’ careers. We were lucky enough to be chosen by NA2R as the Country act they wanted to support. They helped finance our trip to Nashville in June where we performed at the Global Artist Showcase Party. Being the CMA of Australia’s Golden Guitar award winners for ‘best new talent’ helped us land our spot at the event. To play our music in front of industry people, country music fans and the other bands that had been chosen from around the world at a very cool venue called The Stage, on Broadway was an incredible experience, a lot of fun and something we will never forget.
11. Do you plan to come back and play in Nashville (or anywhere else in the US) again?
Drew: Yeah man. We would like nothing more than to come back and write and do some shows. We just have to see what the next album brings, and hopefully we’ll be back real soon!
12. You’re scheduled to play the CMC Rocks The Hunter Festival at the beginning of 2012. What else can we expect from McAlister Kemp in the new year?
Troy: 2012 sees MK at ‘Jamm For Genes’, Jan 7th and at The Blazes Showroom, Wests Leagues Club in Tamworth, Jan 26th at 2pm during the Festival. Then, we’re on the road with Adam Brand and The Sunny Cowgirls for the Country Thunder Tour in February before CMC Rocks The Hunter Festival in March. If all goes as planned, our second single from ‘Country Proud’ should be released in February. The rest of the year we’ll be playing as many festivals as possible and touring as much as we can. We’re also hitting the high seas and playing on a Country Music Cruise in November which is going to be an absolute party!
Watch the video for McAlister Kemp’s latest single Country Proud below:
Click here to view the embedded video.
For more information on McAlister Kemp go to:
Facebook.com/McalisterKempMusic
Myspace.com/McalisterKempMusic
Like what you see here?
How about following us on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
Also, if you’re on Twitter, please join us for @JessicaNorthey’s Country Music Chat, aka #CMchat at CMChat.net every Monday night at 6pm PST/9pm EST. Thanks!