No Slowing Down Ambrose Kenny-Smith: Amby Talks New Murlocs Album & Balancing King Gizzard & His Other Band (INTERVIEW)

Photo by Izzie Austin

Imagine you play a vital role in the most prolific band on earth that has just announced its third, fourth, and fifth albums of 2022, yet you have another band that has been doing it almost as long. Take Ambrose Kenny-Smith of The Murlocs who fits this welcomingly vital musical role.

Yes, that “Amby” the harmonica and keyboard ace of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard has been leading the Melbourne-based band since 2011, that also features fellow Gizz member Cook Craig on bass guitar along with Cal Shortal on guitar, Tim Karmouche on keyboards, and Matt Blach on drums. Shortal plays guitar in ORB, and Karmouche and Blach are frontmen for Crepes and Beans, respectively.

The band’s new studio album, Rapscallion, was just released today on ATO Records and follows in the ’60s-influenced garage rock of earlier efforts and for those in the Gizzverse- fans of the band’s “earlier” material (Willoughby Beach, 12 Bar Bruise, Float Along Fill Your Lungs) will find The Murlocs’ sound a kindred spirit. Led by Kenny-Smith’s raspy soulful vocals and vital harmonica chops, the band explores fuzzy guitar riffs and shimmy-shaking rhythms that conjure up the 13th Floor Elevator’s proto-psych sound.

Self-produced by the band in the early stages of the pandemic, Rapscallion was recorded remotely in the home studios of Kenny-Smith. The wildly squalid odyssey populated by an outrageous cast of misfit characters — teenage vagabonds and small-time criminals, junkyard dwellers and truck-stop transients — is partly inspired by Kenny-Smith’s own adolescence as a nomadic skate kid. Glide had a chance to talk to “Amby” about his Murlocs endeavors and growing up a skate kid.

 It has been written that a lot of The Murlocs’ creative inspiration was inspired by your adolescence as a nomadic skate kid. Were you considered an accomplished skater and what type of music as a youngster infiltrated your ears?

I started skateboarding when I was bout 6 years old. It’s been a big part of my life. I was sponsored from when I was 10 all the way up until I was in my early twenties or so when the music started to take up more of my time. Having grown up in the skate community was definitely a wonderful character-building experience and I am forever grateful for that. Watching skate videos every day also introduced me to a lot of great music in all types of genres. I would be skating down the street with my walkman listening to hip hop and RnB whilst wearing a sex pistols shirt.

What stands out amongst The Murlocs’ tune is your role as lead singer and your defined chops on the harp. You display a credible sense of soul and blues that many don’t hone. Do you have any relationship with blues music or soul in general and how do you think you developed your vocal style over time?

When I was little I used to fall asleep listening to blues and soul music. I was beyond obsessed with it from an early age. I used to go and busk at every Sunday market and festival I could find then take all my earnings straight to the cd stall. I’ve always felt connected to the style of heartfelt emotion with some grit. It makes my spine tingle and calms me down, it’s ingrained in my veins.

Is serving as lead vocals on every song a challenge for you considering in your other band you only sing on a few songs per album or performance?  Who are some of your favorite vocalists?

Singing 90% or so in a Murlocs set definitely takes it out of me. It’s very hard to keep on top of your game when you’re trying to sing and play your instrument at your absolute best. It’s one thing to do it well and another thing to pull that off whilst also entertaining and engaging with the audience with enough energy. Some of my all-time favorites are Van Morrison, Eric Burden, Etta James, and Otis Redding.

You play with Cook in both bands- describe your musical relationship with him and what do you guys take from your experiences with Gizzard to The Murlocs?

We have been good friends since we were in our mid-teens. We played in different bands throughout high school. Most weekends these bands would play together at different venues around Geelong and Melbourne. When Stu started Gizz though that was when we all came together as one unit. The Murlocs started at the same time then Cook joined Murlocs a few years later. Naturally, we are both into the same music so it’s quite easy to work together on songs when we both know what direction each other wants to take them in. Being in Gizz has taught us a lot about how to operate a band and work around the industry as well as everything else on the music side of things too. We take that back to Murlocs all the time which helps us navigate things better. 

I think the first question that comes to mind is that your big band King Gizzard is one of the most prolific bands ever – why or how would you possibly want to add more to your plate?

For a while, King Gizzard felt like it was more Stu’s project I guess. He has always been accepting of us to be involved but that was just how it felt at times maybe. Over the years it has become more and more collaborative for sure. Keeping Murlocs going has proven at times to be quite hard but that’s what also makes it all the more rewarding when we get things done. I’m super lucky to be able to have the best of both worlds. One band to lead and one band to take more of the backseat. The guys in Murlocs and Gizz are all my brothers and family. No matter what happens in my life I hope we can keep both flames alive forever.

Do you have certain songs that fit Murlocs and certain that fit Gizz and what is the process on what songs go where?

Gizz songs are usually pretty mapped out I guess. They also happen in lots of different ways, sometimes it’s mainly three people and sometimes it’s all in but that all just depends on what the idea is going to be from the start. There are always a few album projects going on with Gizz so you know when an idea is going to suit something or not. I’m trying to do that more with Murlocs too so it’s more conceptualized and thought out before we all start trying to mismatch our random different songs together to make a whole. Murlocs have struggled in the past to piece albums together when the songs don’t really go together. That’s why I am so proud of ‘Rapscallion’ at the moment because it feels like it ticks all the boxes of being a seamless record from start to finish.

If you had to provide a one-word name to describe Rapscallion as an album -what would you call it?

It’s definitely our first proper ‘concept’ record. Each track was written lyrically in sequence from start to finish. It begins with the main protagonist who’s an outcast in a small coastal town with a golden child twin brother. He decides to run away from home in search of a fresh start. If I was to sum it all up in one word I’d say ‘feral’.

“Bellarine Ballerina” is a straight-ahead rocker under four minutes – there seems to be a mix of proto garage – how did that song come about?

Cal is the most pleasant yet scuzziest of us all and that’s why we love him. It must of came from deep within his beautiful scallywag nature and listening to a lot of Country Teasers. He also grew up on a lot more heavier music than us from having played in metal bands before starting The Murlocs with me. It seemed fitting to write about hitchhiking and the strange characters you meet along the road. We used to go to great lengths back in the day to get to where we needed to go. Not much has changed.

“Bowlegged Beautiful” is a catchy 60s garage song with pronounced keyboards – was that tune influenced by anything in general and are vintage keyboards something you strive for with the Murlocs?

When I first heard it I was immediately transcended into a city-slicking cissy strut. The song captures the moment when our beloved Rapscallion sets his eyes on Peggy Mae and its love at first sight. The bass line reminds me of ‘Rowland S Howard – Pop Crimes’, the perfect mix of sounding dirty and mysterious with class. It was originally just a stripped-back jam in 6/8 but our man Tim Karmouche had other ideas. Cal and I had a lot of fun cheering on Tim when he was recording his key parts for this one. I hope we can get our hands on some real vintage key things one day rather than using plug-ins from the internet.

You have a lengthy tour coming up here in the states- what type of shows can we expect and will you be mixing up the setlist each night?

Can’t bloody wait to play some shows in the states again! We had an absolute ball last time.

We will be rehearsing a bunch for the next month up until we leave. Cook and I will be touring with Gizz in the states for all of October so the other three Murls will be rocking up to meet us at Levitation in Austin to play without any time to rehearse before that so I’m a bit scared about having a good month or so break in between. For those first three shows with Gizz we might have to play it safe til we get in the swing of things. We have two albums to play for y’all so there will be plenty of new stuff plus a bunch of all the old classics and maybe even a few rare ones if we’re feeling lucky.

How do you see yourself balancing both bands in 2023 and beyond and should we expect any big surprises in the Gizzverse soon?

We have a few tour plans for Murls in the pipeline for next year. I’m just waiting for Gizz to lock in all our dates first before I can sort out the Murls ones properly. The next Murls record is done too and I’m working on that artwork atm.  I’m really excited for that one as well so I want to be able to have enough time to tour that properly if we can. So yeah there are no signs of the constant juggle between both bands slowing down any time soon!

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