The Brag

Hungry Kids Of Hungary
The Great Escapade
By Jonno Seidler

It might be time to institute a stamped coffee-card system for Brisbane quintet Hungry Kids Of Hungary. They’ve lapped the country so many times in the past year that they’re starting to recognise the regulars. “Melbourne, Adelaide – all of the capital cities, really. We’ve been there so many times that we sort of get to know people who come to the shows,” says the band’s frontman, the humble Dean McGrath. “Naturally from seeing them all the time, there are people in places like Sydney who’ve almost become mates,” he says. “You know their names, you say hello; it’s cool in that way.”

Having just finished the first leg of their month-long, chock-a-block ‘The Final Escapade’ tour, McGrath is at home stretching his legs before heading back out on the road. Following last year’s album launch tour, this will be the Kids’ last jaunt around the Australian coastline with the Escapades LP before they hunker down to work on some new tunes. And for ‘The Final Escapade’, Hungry Kids are doing things a little differently. “We’ve been doing the plane thing for ages, it’s usually our norm. But for this tour we’ve got this massive 12-seater rock van with the TV and the curtains and the whole bit – we thought we’d try that so we could take our own backline with us this time.”

For a band who spend as much time on stage as these guys, they’ve come to know what they want from their live performance, and they’re not apologetic about it. “We wanted to be a little more meticulous in the sound aspect of things; [we wanted to use] our own amps, our drum kit,” explains Dean. “And there’s also the lure of doing something a little bit different. Planes may be a quicker journey, but it’s not necessarily the less stressful or the easier way. We’ve gotten to the point where we’re kind of sick of airports – so the prospect of the drive seemed pretty appealing.”

That is, until someone had to do all the driving… With five players in the Hungry Kids Love Bus the work should be split relatively easily, but McGrath concedes that their tour manager ends up with a lot of the longer stints. “And Ben [Dalton], our bass player, is always amazing with it too. He’s the guy who consistently puts his hand up and gets behind the wheel for longer stretches.” The shows are so stacked that when Hungry Kids aren’t cruising down some highway, they’re on stage: the initial leg they’ve just returned from saw them play Wagga Wagga, Ballarat, Adelaide and Melbourne over four consecutive nights.

So it’s a good thing they’ve brought along such great company. With Perth band The Chemist, Daniel Lee Kendall and long-time buddy Andy Bull in support, the Hungry Kids’ live show is starting to look a bit like a mini-festival. “In terms of the lineup, from start to finish, we’ve really nailed it. These bands have just been blowing our minds every show. It’s more enjoyable for us; we get to enjoy the acts who are on before us, rather than, you know, sitting at the bar and waiting for our turn to play,” says McGrath. The acts join Deep Sea Arcade, The Holidays, Ball Park Music and Boy & Bear in what must now be the ultimate support gig for any local outfit worth their salt – but Dean’s just happy to have them there. “We’ve had amazing support bands in the past, and we’ve been incredibly lucky to have this calibre of acts on board. When Boy & Bear came on tour with us we were just like ‘Yep, we want them’ – and we were lucky enough that they were available.” Aren’t they playing Lollapalooza this year? “Yeah, they’ve totally eclipsed us now!”

Hungry Kids Of Hungary don’t just haul their friends on the road with them – they record with them, too. While on tour with the band, Andy Bull will be touting his latest single, ‘Last Waltz’, which just so happens to feature his gracious hosts… “We did that track with him on his last EP and we’ve always wanted to get him on a tour, but it’s been a matter of getting him at the right time,” says McGrath. “Of course it gives us a really good opportunity to do that [track] with him live, and it’s been getting such an amazing response.”

The underfed European children have been getting enthusiastic responses across the pond, too, where they recently completed a USA tour that was comprehensive enough to include both the South by Southwest Music Conference and Canadian Music Week. “Everything went really well, it was all massive fun,” says Dean. “You sort of have that picture in your mind of what stuff like SxSW is going to be like, and then you get over there and it’s even bigger. It’s nuts.” Similarly nuts is how popular their music is on television: they’ve had ‘Scattered Diamonds’ featured on Grey’s Anatomy, and even been on the soundtrack of that, errr, prestigious documentary series, Cougar Town… “We’re probably at the stage now where we can be a little more selective,” McGrath laughs. “There’s things that we’d never have said yes to…” Damn – looks like the producers of The Enforcers will have to find other music to dramatise the issuing of parking tickets…

No fines for Hungry Kids, though: they never stop in one place long enough. They’ve even been writing some new tunes on the road. “At this stage there’s about ten or eleven of them,” says Dean. “Once this tour’s over and we have a bit of time, we’ll try and book some studio time and at the very least knock out a few songs and a single.” Attendees of ‘The Final Escapade’ will get the chance to hear some of these new gems in their prime. “We’re road-testing a few of them,” McGrath says. “It’s nice to get up there and bang out some songs people haven’t heard before, songs that we haven’t been playing for ages.” Maybe hearing brand-new stuff equals two stamps on your Hungry Kids Card? They’re a much better buzz than coffee, anyway.

What: Escapades is out on EMI
With: The Chemist, Daniel Lee Kendall and Andy Bull
Where: The Metro Theatre
When: Saturday May 21, all ages
More: Also playing at Splendour In The Grass from July 29 – 31 at Woodfordia, Queensland, with Coldplay, Pulp, Kanye West, The Hives and loads more.