Talking to Kieran Ryan isn’t the easiest thing to do. As he and cousin Kishore embark on their nationwide tour (“and our first as headliners,” Kieran proudly quips) the Melbourne-based duo are busier than ever. When I manage to find some time he sounds, as my Mum would say, run off his feet. “Yeah, it’s been pretty hectic lately, but it’s been really good,” he agrees. “The last six months in particular have just been huge for us. We’ve been doing it for a few years but up until last year we’d never even played outside of Melbourne. It was only after we made the album that our stuff got picked up and started to get played on the radio and we started doing tours around the place.”
The release of their self-titled debut suddenly found a lot of attention and praise being sent their way. The rolling drums of Kishore are met perfectly with the gentle lilt of Kieran’s voice, and tracks like A Landslide Coming Down were instant hits for the radio. Before heading into the studio, Kieran had been working his way around Australia, while Kishore worked on other projects (Seagull, Where Were You At Lunch) and it wasn’t until Kieran’s return that KID SAM really started to exist.
“As kids we didn’t really see each other that much growing up. We lived nine hours apart and only saw each other once or twice a year. We only had a couple of jams together growing up but I was living in Melbourne and doing music things and when he moved to Melbourne I just asked him to work with me and here we are. We were just playing a lot of little gigs and eventually we decided we should do an album, even if it was just for ourselves,” Kieran says. “We were making it with all of our own money, really just to make it. But then after making it we didn’t really want to look at it. You become so involved with making an album and there’s so much thought and work that goes into it that it becomes really difficult to remove yourself from that. After making it I just didn’t want to look at it, you know? I was happy for it to lie around for a while.”
But looking to the end of the stint, Kieran says with slight relief that there will be a break. “I’ve got to have surgery on my shoulder. I did it ages ago when I was a teenager. I was jumping the fence to get into a music festival actually,” he says with a laugh. “Even though there were no pass outs I managed to get one and walked all the way to the hospital. After I got it fixed up I thought I might as well go back and see the bands. It ended up being a really good show too.”
Catch Kid Sam live at the Front Gallery on Sunday March 28, along with Seagull and Deep Sea Arcade. Tickets are $15 on the door.
