W: Jean Genie. I: Lakeesha Wallia

“Lambs are constantly sacrificed and bled out, in this industry you have to be sentimental and emotional to make art and I think the industry will beat the shit out of you…”

LAMB was released after the band’s progression to support slots with the Foo Fighters, Black Flag and Nothing But Thieves. Experiencing life as a touring band has seemingly inspired them to create the kind of music that’s going to sound right at home crashing out of a stadium’s sound system. LAMB rocks hard live and on record. Listeners along for the journey with King Nun will feel the soul of the band has maybe hardened compared to their earlier releases such as Bug’s playful poppy indie. The nature of the band has now naturally evolved artistically and internally.  King Nun are displaying the muscle in their music that was always latent under the surface. The three guitar line up now triple teaming  for a brasher, beefier sound that’s matched with a darker and heavier twist on the lyrics, exposing nerves and tumbling down philosophical rabbit holes.

Anything but woolly, LAMB’s soft looking coat is laced with razor blades. I pressed Lead singer Theo to spill the sauce on what was mint by the mysterious naming of LAMB 

“Lambs are constantly sacrificed and bled out, in this industry you have to be sentimental and emotional to make art and I think the industry will beat the shit out of you. We are flawed and we are going to get beaten with a stick...that Achilles’ heel is a beautiful part of us.” Theo explains adding “Don’t let the world crush that part of you.” 

There’s LAMB’s message in a nutshell, music that, like a modern day audio equivalent of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, explores how we relate to each other as humans and updates the message to an ever more rapidly paced reality. How do we navigate our own internal industrial revolutions?

 This sentiment is present in the lyrics to the deceptively bouncy “Golden Age” that hides a deep sense of pathos in the lyrics. 'Golden Age is about feeling damned by the normalcy of life around you” contemplates the front man. “It's about trying to have fun and break away from the mundane too. There is so much about modern life that feels unnatural, or that things could have happened differently, so the humour lightens things up a bit in an anti-defeatist way.”

“LAMB is about vulnerability,” continues enigmatic front man Theo. “It’s about being true to yourself. It’s about retaining the part of you that is naive and optimistic and trusting, in the face of a world that will turn you into a fucking android if you give it even an inch.” 

“So, LAMB is a metaphor…the part of you that is susceptible to trauma, emotional pain… all of these things,” he expands. “That’s the thing that rises to the occasion and is the most beautiful part of us… I think that, actually, if we all just tried to retain a bit of humanity, we’d probably make a better future.”

And it’s clear that the band are living by this message during the ASBO photoshoot the lads were raucous and hyperactive climbing amongst the trees and totems as well as each other and just larking about in the sun. I ask the band about the meaning behind “But We Live On The Beach” – Theo broke down the song “In direct contrast to how bright and optimistic the song sounds, lyrically, this is one of our bleakest songs.” remarks Theo.  “It was based on a particular part of my life where everyone I knew seemed to have some sort of substance issue, and I was literally living between parties that I didn’t even want to be at," he says. 

 “It's about being surrounded by friends who are all developing substance issues, when you come home to a 24/7 rager that goes on for weeks on end. In this song; ‘the beach’ is an analogy for a party. The chorus is a desperate plea which is to say; "No, I don't want any part of this, we LIVE on the beach, this isn't a holiday anymore, it's become habit, the novelty is gone and it's getting scary now." "so the song is voicing this incredible frustration I had about how do I get through this part of my life - how do I look out for my friends and myself in equal measure."

Checkout their music - special mention for their songs:  “Golden Age”, “Selfish” and “But We Live On The Beach.”

Perhaps LAMB is King Nun’s response to the call of the depth, something within their souls  pushing them to seek more. To seek more than the superficiality that is so readily offered by the “spirit of the times”. The rejection of “Pound shop” or “Dollar store temptations" show a maturing of King Nun’s that’s present throughout LAMB.   LAMB is out now on Marshall Records. 

Socials: @king_nun and www.kingnun.com. JG