King Parrot bring their unrelenting, gleefully filthy brand of Australian extreme metal to Auckland’s Whammy Bar on 18 July 2026. Ahead of the show I caught up with the band’s singer Matt “Youngy” Young to talk touring mishaps, dark-comedy videos, green-room reality and the future of one of the loudest and funniest bands in metal.
What have you lost on tour that you can’t replace? (Can be a physical object or metaphysical concept.)
Well… there’s a few ways we could answer that question, but I’ll go the PG version for the sake of your publication. We’ve definitely lost equipment and things like that. The most annoying thing we left behind is the backdrop, that’s been left behind a few times at venues and we have to get it shipped ahead to a venue a few days/weeks down the track. That’s super annoying…
Your videos stand out for their dark Australian humour but also the band’s acting skills, who’s the best actor in the band?
Historically it’s probably been Slatts, but I also believe our guitarist Squiz has some excellent acting skills, see the video for Home Is Where The Gutter Is and also our latest vid Fuck You And The Horse You Rode In On. It’s kind of obvious who is comfortable doing it and who isn’t, so the ones less comfortable get the lesser roles.
What’s your go-to track ATM? What are you playing as your gym workout?
Most recently I’ve been revisiting a little bit of old school Soilent Green seeing as though they are back out and playing live. Other stuff I’ve been listening to lately includes Hard-Ons, Torche, Conan, Midnight and old Sepultura.
If you had to pick one of your songs to illustrate the band’s sound, what song would that be?
I quite like the song Fuck You And The Horse You Rode In On as a good solid representation of everything the band does, it has all of the elements that make a good King Parrot track and it has become a staple in the bands live set for sure.
What is the most mundane un-Rock’n’roll experience you have had in a green room?
Pretty much every night when I’m in there on my own drinking herbal “Throat Coat” tea trying to shut the fuck up and look after my voice. People have this wild perception of what backstage looks like and I can assure you most of the time it is nothing like that.
Who would you like to tour with in the future?
There’s definitely a few bands that we haven’t had the chance to do a proper full tour with yet and those would include Napalm Death, Municipal Waste, Carcass, Terrorizer and if we got greedy I would just say Metallica cos that would be insane. That all being said, having toured with Pantera the last few years has been mind-blowing and beyond any goal we ever set for ourselves.
What is your personal favourite merch item you’re selling this tour?
I’m really happy that we have our debut record Bite Your Head Off repressed for its 14th anniversary and we have a new clear vinyl version, plus cassette and digipack CD too.
What is the last record you purchased?
Corrosion of Conformity – Good God/Baad Man
The band released A Young Person’s Guide To King Parrot in June 2025 after a five-year full-length album hiatus. Will we see the band heading back into the studio any time soon?
I think it will be sooner rather than later. We don’t want to wait like we did between the last records, but that was all due to the Covid bullshit, so I’m going to say it will be much sooner. I got my thinking cap on already.
Tickets for King Parrot are avalable from UNDERTHERADAR.CO.NZ
Phoebe Gilmour
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