BORN FREE WITH LATER ALLIGATOR
BORN FREE WITH LATER ALLIGATOR
Crowd fav's and all round fun guys, the Later Alligator boys have certainly made name for themselves. I met theses cool dudes a good year and a half to two years ago and immediately decided, then and there, that the gators are amongst some of my top ranking favourites! And this decicision was made for two reasons. 1) Nate had the coolest pair of pants on ..so cool that I went out and bought myself a pair and 2) They demonstrate the greatest of stage persona, epic syncronisity and ooze all round funness! and now...I can add Born Free to that list.
I was lucky enough to conduct a Q&A with the Later Alligator guys on their first single, Born free, who and what the gators are all about and what we can expect from them in the near future. Enjoy!
1. Q: Who are the Gators... on and off stage?
A: We’re Later Alligator — four guys who genuinely love rock ’n’ roll and probably spend way too much time talking about guitars, old records and what we’re going to do at the next show.
On stage, we’re loud, energetic and all about putting on a proper rock ’n’ roll show. Off stage, we’re just mates. There’s a lot of laughing, messing around, arguing about music and probably the occasional questionable decision.
2.Q: When was Later Alligator formed, and by who?
A: Later Alligator started in 2024 with myself, Nathan and Connor. The idea was pretty simple — get together and make the kind of rock music we all grew up loving, but give it our own modern identity.
Since then the band has evolved, and we've brought Jamie and JP into the lineup, but the original idea has stayed the same: write good songs, play them loud and have a bloody good time doing it.
3. Q: Introduce your band. Who does what?
A: I’m Keagan Kirsch — lead vocals and guitar, and I write the majority of the Demos of the songs.
Nathan Mcawlay is on bass. He brings that low-end groove and a serious love for the old-school rock ’n’ roll attitude.
Jamie Porteous is behind the drums. He’s the engine of the band and gives everything that punch and energy it needs live.
And JP Parking is on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. He and I go way back, so there’s a really natural musical connection between us.
Together, we’re Later Alligator.
4. Q: How/when and where did your musical journey start? Or were you all just born rock stars?
A: Definitely not born rock stars. We’re still waiting for that part! For me, music started with guitar. I was fascinated by the instrument and by the characters behind the music the guitarists, frontmen and bands who looked like they were having the time of their lives on stage.
The more I got into music, the deeper I went into classic rock, blues and everything from the late ’60s and ’70s. Eventually playing guitar became writing songs, writing songs became performing, and here we are.
5. Q: What inspires Gators?
A: Life, mostly.
Relationships, heartbreak, getting older, going out, meeting strange people, good nights, bad nights, being angry, being hopeful all the stuff that happens between waking up and going to bed.
Musically, we’re inspired by the greats: The Rolling Stones, T. Rex, The Darkness, Kings of Leon, Rival Sons, Shadowclub and a whole lot of old-school rock ’n’ roll. We like music that has swagger, attitude and a bit of dirt under its fingernails.
6. Q: Who wrote your originals? And what does your creative process look like?
A: I write the majority of the Later Alligator material. Usually a song starts with a guitar riff, a chord progression or just a line that gets stuck in my head.
From there I’ll start building around it ,melody, lyrics, arrangement and eventually the full band comes into the picture.
Sometimes the song comes together in an hour. Sometimes you can spend weeks fighting with one bloody chorus.
The best songs are usually the ones where you stop overthinking and just let the song tell you what it wants to be.
7. Q: What is your favourite sound unrelated to music?
A: Probably the sound of a proper thunderstorm. There’s something about sitting somewhere safe while the sky is absolutely losing its mind that I really enjoy.
8. Q: Do you sing in the shower? If so, what songs?
A: Absolutely. And unfortunately for anyone within earshot, I don't think I sing quietly. It changes all the time, but there's usually some classic rock involved. Anything from The Stones to Aerosmith to whatever song has been stuck in my head that week.
9. Q: If your instrument suddenly developed the ability to talk... what would it say?
A: “Mate, you've played that riff about 400 times today. Please stop.”
And then probably: “But that last take was actually pretty good.”
10. Q: A word of advice for new aspiring musos?
A: Play because you love it. Don’t spend your whole life worrying about whether you're good enough, whether people are watching or whether you're going to “make it.”
Get better. Write songs. Play shows. Meet people. Make mistakes. Keep going.
And learn how to be reliable. Talent is great, but being the person who shows up, knows the songs and gives a damn will take you surprisingly far.
11.Q: If you had the chance, who would you most like to collaborate with?
A: Jack White would be pretty high on the list.
I love the way he approaches guitar, songwriting and production. He has this ability to take something raw and stripped-back and make it sound massive.
I'd also love to work with someone like Mick Jagger or Steven Tyler just to experience what happens when that kind of frontman energy enters the room.
12. Q: If you could open a show for any artist, who would it be?
A: The Rolling Stones. That would be the ultimate one. Walking onto a stage in front of that crowd, knowing you're about to open for the band that basically helped define the language of rock ’n’ roll that's the stuff of dreams.
13. Q: What is one message you would give your fans?
A: Thank you for giving us a chance. We're still building this thing from the ground up, and every person who comes to a show, streams a song, shares something or tells a friend about us genuinely helps. And hopefully our music reminds people to get out there and actually live a little.
14.Q: What is the most trouble you've ever gotten into?
A: I think I'll plead the fifth on that one.
Let's just say there have been a few nights where the story sounded considerably better the next morning than it did at the time.
15.Q: What is the best advice you've been given?
A: “Just keep going.”
It sounds almost too simple, but it's true. There are going to be plenty of times when you feel like nothing is happening. The temptation is to stop. But if you keep writing, keep playing, keep learning and keep putting yourself out there, eventually things start moving.
16.Q: If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
A: 'd love to see more value placed on actual musicianship and songwriting rather than just numbers.
Everything is so focused on streams, followers, algorithms and content now that sometimes the actual music gets lost underneath everything.
I think there should always be room for a band to walk into a venue, plug in four instruments and absolutely blow the roof off the place.
17. Q: How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
A: It's completely changed it both for better and worse.
As an independent band, you can now reach people anywhere in the world without needing a major label behind you. That's incredible. But there's also an insane amount of music and content being thrown at people every second, so getting someone's attention has become much harder. You don't just have to make good music anymore. You have to figure out how to get people to actually hear it.
18. Q: What is your favourite song to perform?
A: At the moment, probably Born Free.
It's our first single, so there's something really special about playing it. The song is about getting through the darker parts of life and choosing to keep going and when you're standing on stage and singing that chorus with a crowd, it takes on a whole different meaning.
19. Q: What is the most useless talent you have?
A: I can probably recognise far too many songs from ridiculously short guitar clips. Give me two seconds of a riff and I'll probably tell you what it is. Completely useless in everyday life. Potentially useful at a pub quiz.
20. Q: Bragging rights go here... Along with what's next for Later Alligator?
A: We've already shared stages with some incredible South African bands that we genuinely look up to, including Shadowclub, Black Cat Bones, Medicine Dolls and Wonderboom. But honestly, our biggest bragging right is that we're still here and we're only getting started.
We've released our first single, Born Free, on 18 September, and that's the beginning of a much bigger plan. We've got more original music coming, more shows, more content and we're working towards releasing a run of singles and eventually putting the whole body of work together.
The goal is simple: keep growing, keep writing better songs and get Later Alligator in front of as many people as possible. We want to build a band that people don't just listen to they want to come and see live. And we're going to have a bloody good time doing it.
Comments
Post a Comment
Got something to share or add? We would love to hear from you!