By Salt 106.5 TeamTuesday 14 May 2024The Long Lunch with SteveMusicReading Time: 3 minutes

For King and Country’s Luke Smallbone caught up with Salt 106.5’s Steve D to chat about their upcoming Aussie tour.

Key points

• Luke was originally inspired by Switchfoot’s ‘The Beautiful Letdown’ album.
• He hopes his music helps people feel less lonely.
• Learn more about The Homecoming Tour and book tickets here.

And it turns out that Luke wasn’t even planning on going into music. If it wasn’t for a high school basketball injury, For King and Country may have never existed!

“I wanted to play sport originally,” Luke told Steve D.

“I tore my ACL playing basketball in my junior year of high school (year 11) and there was an album that came out that year, ‘The Beautiful Letdown’ by Switchfoot and that was probably… the first time that I remember thinking, I wonder if I could make music like these guys?

“This music, it made me think, it moved me, it impacted me.”

Since the early days, Luke has found that writing the songs he needs to hear, is much more effective than trying to write what he thinks others might want to hear.

Luke says he hopes his music helps people feel less lonely.

“I remember trying to write music when I was much younger,” he said.

“When I was writing the music that I thought that other people wanted to hear, I was very not successful.

“Then I started writing songs that were really just impacting me, and started thinking through – what do I actually need to hear in a song?

“That’s when it all flipped.”

Luke says he hopes his music helps people feel less lonely.

“My hope is that this music, it encourages others and makes other people feel less lonely because they might say, Well, if Joel or Luke wrote this song, that’s kind of what I’m going through,” he explained.

“But in return, the gift is, it actually makes me feel less lonely as well because it makes me realise that there are other people that are going through similar things as me.”

In their first trip to home soil since 2019, For King and Country are looking forward to catching up with friends and family – as well as, according to Luke – “the best coffee in the world and then also to have that accompanied by a vanilla slice!”

Learn more about The Homecoming Tour and book tickets here.

Unsung Hero

As if a homecoming tour isn’t enough, For King and Country are also releasing a movie this month. ‘Unsung Hero’ is the story of the Smallbone family.

“The hope is that it would always be encouraging,” Luke said.

“I believe in the power of family.

“Family is more powerful and potent today than it ever has been in the history of the world.

“My hope is that around the world, that these will be the discussions, that people will talk about the value of what it means to pour into and invest in your family.”

‘Unsung Hero’ releases around Australia on May 30.

Feature image: Photo supplied