With The Red Blooded Years, aKING returns to the SA music scene with an album that is fresh and infused with new energy. Recorded at Bellville Studios and produced by acclaimed music producer Theo Crous, the album is still unmistakably aKING, but the sonic influences of new member, Andrew Davenport, is impossible to ignore.

“The title refers to our experience of growing up. I suppose it’s the themes of youth which chronicles our coming of age, as a band and as individuals.” – Jaco “Snakehead” Venter

“Having a new member in the band allowed for new sounds and influences to creep in.” – Hennie Van Halen

More than a year in the making, The Red Blooded Years with its diverse content, testifies to aKING ‘s artistic journey. The shift in focus is clearly noticeable from the first note on the first track ,and as the album progresses they pull out all the stops until finally coming to a close with an instrumental, which is a first for the band.

“Lines from books, thoughts, snatches of conversation, I guess our lyrics kind of represent our bands’ collective consciousness.” – Laudo Liebenberg

The mixture of inspiration, influences and musical sensibilities vary from new wave electronic to soulful country rock, to down-and-dirty rock ‘n’ roll. The Red Blooded Years stands out as a young rock band’s coming of age. With their mounting maturity and growing confidence, aKING now emerges from the safety of the old and trusted, while departing on an exploration of uncharted and mysterious territory – that of musical evolution.

“It was an intense but fantastic experience,” says Hennie. “For those weeks of recording, there was another member in our band, which brought a whole new dynamic to the way we create music.” “Also, having more time to record, all the shared experiences, and the luxury of time to live through them, had a major impact on how we wrote and recorded this album,” adds Laudo.

The first music video from the album, The Runaround, features the band venturing into a mystical marine world created and produced by Louis Minnaar, known for his high-quality conceptual work with a number of top local bands. Catch Alight, the second single off the album with its catchy lyrics and poppy synths , was accompanied with a video produced by Am-I-Collective and directed by Kevin Fitzgerald. In the video you see the band busting through a wall and beating eachother up violently, while a young woman is entertaining an older man a in run-down dusty motel room. This all in a beautifully cinematic slow- motion.

"We're very proud of this album and we want to use this momentum, that's why we've already started working on the next one." Laudo Liebenberg