King Stingray

About King Stingray:

On King Stingray’s self-titled debut, across 10 tracks, the NT band have announced their mission statement – to open the eyes of a nation while simultaneously rocking its socks off.

King Stingray’s self-titled debut album is a revelation. An awakening. But at the same time, it’s everything the world has come to love from this five-piece Yolŋu surf rock combo, who have been ripping Australian stages and airwaves apart since 2020. Hailing from the Northern Territory and Queensland, the tight-knit crew of Yolŋu (Aboriginal people of northeast Arnhem Land) and balanda (non-Indigenous) musicians have produced 2 studio albums. Think Warumpi Band’s Big Name, No Blankets. Tame Impala’s Innerspeaker. The Chats’ High Risk Behaviour. Then add an ancient tradition of manikay (song/songlines) that dates back tens of thousands of years, and a profound love of country and Mother Earth, and there sits King Stingray. Raw, wild and free. A roadtrip into northeast Arnhem Land, stringybark trees flying past the window, surrounded by mates and with the stereo blasting.

King Stingray’s do-it-yourself ethos and connection to home and family resonates through every song, from the funk-laden joy of Milkumana, to the soaring Malk Mirri Wayin, the sweet melancholy of triple j favourite Get Me Out, the boppy fun of Camp Dog, the punk rock thrash of Raypirri. Recorded and produced between the NT, Brisbane and the Byron Bay hinterland, King Stingray rocks vibrant and colourful like a great glowing djäpana (sunset) through the East Arnhem Land sky. The album is a vital entry to Australian music and cements the band’s status as one of the most exciting acts to burst out of the NT in years.

A lot has happened for King Stingray since they released their 2022 debut self-titled album, which took the group from what guitarist/producer Roy Kellaway calls “a pretty sleepy, rural lifestyle in the bush” to one of epic touring and the excitement of being a band on the rise.

Not surprisingly, those experiences inform the new album. For The Dreams is a joyous celebration of life and the planet on which we live that oozes optimism from its every note.

But where some of the songs on the debut dated as far back as high school in the Northern Territory, where the band began, For The Dreams is a snapshot of the past few years in the members’ lives.