King Parrot are an Australian

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme metal, extreme fusion genre of heavy metal music, heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, e ...

band formed in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 2010. They have released four studio albums: ''Bite Your Head Off'' (2012), ''Dead Set'' (2015), ''Ugly Produce'' (2017) and ''A Young Persons' Guide to King Parrot'' (2025).

History

King Parrot formed in Melbourne in 2010 with the original line-up of Matt Young (vocals), Ed Lacey and Ari White (guitar), Slatts Everday (bass) and drummer Matt Rizzo. White, Rizzo and Lacey had come directly from their previous band Watchdog Discipline, Slatts Everday was a member of

Warrnambool Warrnambool (; Eastern Maar, Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the Census in Australia#2021, 2021 census, Warrnambool had a populati ...

rock band Cockfight Shootout. Lacey had also been a member of

The Berzerker The Berzerker are an Australian/British industrial death metal band from Melbourne formed in 1995. The band's music, heavily influenced by older death metal and grindcore bands such as Carcass, Obituary, and Napalm Death, can be characteris ...

for several years and Rizzo was formerly with

Blood Duster Blood Duster are an Australian grindcore/stoner rock band from Melbourne. Their name comes from the song "Blood Duster" by John Zorn, from the 1990 album '' Naked City''. History Formation The band was formed in 1991 by Jason Fuller (aka Jaso ...

. After the release of ''The Stench of Hardcore Pub Trash'' EP in 2011, Lacey left King Parrot and was replaced by Andrew Livingstone-Squires, formerly of Dreadnaught and Cemetery Urn. The group recorded and independently released their debut full-length album ''Bite Your Head Off'' in 2012, which was picked up by UK based metal label

Candlelight Records Candlelight Records is a British record label based in London, founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bass guitarist Lee Barrett in 1993. The record label originally specialized in black metal, but quickly expanded to various other forms of hea ...

in 2013 for worldwide release. Shortly after the album's release Rizzo was replaced by

Matt "Skitz" Sanders Matt "Skitz" Sanders (born 19 December 1972) is an Australian extreme metal drummer and musician. In 1989 he founded a "hatecore" band, Damaged. He has played with many Australian heavy metal bands including King Parrot, Blood Duster, Abramel ...

, formerly of Damaged but the band's heavy touring schedule meant he was replaced on overseas dates by Rob Brens of Alarum. King Parrot had by now established themselves as intense live act, and their unsettling sense of humour, most notably in their music video "Shit on the Liver", which was a finalist in the 2013 Australian Music Video Awards. After extensive touring within Australia, supporting

Obituary An obituary (wikt:obit#Etymology 2, obit for short) is an Article (publishing), article about a recently death, deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as Article (publishing), news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on p ...

Carcass Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to: * Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc. *Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being, also c ...

and

Thy Art Is Murder Thy Art Is Murder is an Australian deathcore band from Blacktown, Sydney, that formed in 2006. The band consists of vocalist Tyler Miller, guitarists Sean Delander and Andy Marsh, bassist Kevin Butler and drummer Jesse Beahler. Thy Art Is Murde ...

, King Parrot were invited to play a number of prominent music festivals including an appearance at the 2013 Hammersonic Jakarta International Metal Festival in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, Australia's Soundwave Festival and the 2014

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, which was part of a 45-date North American tour. They later signed a management deal with Extreme Management Group in New York.

Pantera Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...

and Down vocalist

Phil Anselmo Philip Hansen Anselmo (born June 30, 1968) is an American musician best known as the lead singer for groove metal band Pantera, southern metal supergroup Down (band), Down, and Hardcore punk, hardcore band Superjoint, amongst other musical proj ...

personally interviewed them on his

Housecore Records Philip Hansen Anselmo (born June 30, 1968) is an American musician best known as the lead singer for groove metal band Pantera, southern metal supergroup Down (band), Down, and Hardcore punk, hardcore band Superjoint, amongst other musical proj ...

YouTube channel. In June 2014, at the end of their Australian tour with Carcass, it was announced that Todd Hansen, formerly of The Berzerker and Headkase, would be taking over from Sanders. In late 2014 King Parrot recorded their second album ''Dead Set'' at Anselmo's studio in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. It was released in May 2015 and peaked on the

Australian albums chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

at #21. ''Dead Set'' was nominated for an

ARIA Award for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album The ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Music Award for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Australians, Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. ...

that year but lost to

Northlane Northlane are an Australian metalcore band from Blacktown, formed in 2009. The band comprises guitarists Jon Deiley and Josh Smith, drummer Nic Pettersen and vocalist Marcus Bridge. Northlane have released six studio albums: '' Discoveries'' ( ...

's ''

Node In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics * Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines ...

''. King Parrot toured Australia with

Psycroptic Psycroptic are an Australian technical death metal band formed in Hobart, Tasmania in 1999. Mainstay members are the Haley brothers, drummer Dave Haley, Dave and guitarist Joe. Their lead vocalist, Jason Peppiatt, joined in 2004. In 2008 they ...

and

Revocation Revocation is the act of wikt:recall, recall or annulment. It is the cancelling of an act, the recalling of a grant or privilege, or the making void (law), void of some deed previously existing. A temporary revocation of a grant or privilege is c ...

in early 2017, following which the band recorded their third album in Melbourne. ''Ugly Produce'' was released on 22 September and reached #21 on the ARIA chart. During October, the band toured the US with

Superjoint Superjoint, formerly known as Superjoint Ritual, was an American metal/ hardcore band formed in the 1990s and fronted by Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo. History The band was formed by Phil Anselmo, Joe Fazzio, and Jimmy Bower in the early 1990s ...

and

DevilDriver DevilDriver is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara, California, formed in 2002, consisting of vocalist Dez Fafara, bassist Jon Miller, guitarist Alex Lee and drummer Davier Pérez. The b ...

. The singles "Banished, Flawed then Docile" and "Nor is Yours" - the second featuring Anselmo on vocals - were released in 2020 while the band was unable to tour due to COVID restrictions. The EP ''Holed Up in the Lair'' appeared in October of that year. A tour 10th anniversary Australian tour was postponed and rescheduled several times in 2021. During 2023 King Parrot toured extensively throughout Australia and the US once again and in March 2024 they were the opening band at Knotfest Australia.

Members

Current

* Matthew "Youngy" Young – lead vocals (2010–present) * Ari "Mr. White" White – lead guitar (2010–present) * Wayne "Auntie Slatts" Slattery – bass, backing vocals (2010–present) * Andrew "Squiz" Livingstone-Squires – rhythm guitar (2011–present) * Max Dangerfield - drums (2025–present)

Former

* Ed Lacey – rhythm guitar (2010–2011) * Matt Rizzo – drums (2010–2012) *

– drums (2013–2014) * Todd "Toddy" Hansen – drums (2014–2025)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Extended Plays

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

are a set of annual ceremonies presented by

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the

music of Australia The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, , ''Dead Set'', , rowspan="2", Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album , , , , rowspan="2", ARIA Award previous winners. , - ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , ''Ugly Produce'' , ,

Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards

, - , 2015 , , King Parrot , , Best New Band , ,

Music Victoria Awards

The

Music Victoria Awards The Music Victoria Awards (previously known as The Age EG Awards and The Age Music Victoria Awards) are an annual awards night celebrating music from the Australian state of Victoria. They commenced in 2006 and are awarded in Melbourne Music W ...

are an annual awards night celebrating Victorian music. They commenced in 2006. ! , - ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, ''Bite Your Head Off'' , Best Heavy Album , , rowspan="4", , - ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, King Parrot , Best Live Band , , - ,

, ''Dead Set'' , Best Heavy Album , , - ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, King Parrot , Best Live Band , , -

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control Australian hardcore punk groups Deathwish Inc. artists Musical groups established in 2010 Musical groups from Melbourne Australian musical quintets 2010 establishments in Australia