28-year-old Noah and 31-year-old Matthew Jones, grew up in Charlotte, NC, where they were young composers at their parents church.
“Me and Matthew were the two main musicians from elementary to middle school. Matthew was the keyboardist and I was the drummer,” Noah says. “We also sang. We moved to different churches through the years, but we stayed in the roles as musicians and only sang when needed.”
The Progression
Although the high spirited young people weren’t classically trained, they still learned the fundamentals in a majestic atmosphere that paved a way to their placement now as artist. Nevertheless, they had an interesting journey. Matthew didn’t get gutsy with his vocals until he hit 11th grade.
“I was really introverted with my gifts. I didn’t start singing until high school,” Matthew explained. “I performed at a talent show, and ever since that, people wanted me to be in that next show and musical. They wanted me to sing at the football games, and it went from there. It collimated to me graduating, and when I graduated, they voted me the most talented in school."
The artsy overachievers performed at local talent shows and although they had a slight gap in age, that didn’t stop them from supporting each other’s aspirations as entertainers. “We participated in concert chorus, which is a traveling chorus class that entered into competitions. Matthew and I were asked to do solos and stuff for the class.”
Noah and Matthew were more like the Jackson 5, minus 3. There wasn’t one thing that the boys couldn’t do proficiently.
Mathew attended college in Tennessee through a musical program, with a major in music and a minor in vocals. He sang on the choir, but became more enthralled with the band. During second semester he switched it up and joined the band and coincidentally becoming the music director.
Noah’s experience was a little different. He attended the University of South Carolina majoring in business. He switched to psychology with a major in criminal justice. Noah and his brother had completely different career paths in mind until they teamed up and started making beats and lyrics.
Labor Day Music Showcase 2018
The fellas spark melodious R&B with heavy emphasis on Neo Soul, which best describes their sound. Noah’s voice is blithe while Matthew is more of a raspy alto. When both vocals unite, it’s synchronizing rhythmic annotations.
“We put everything we have into this. It’s all or nothing,” Noah remarked about their passionate journey.
Family hustle
“Music is one of those things that I’ve tried to put on the back burner time and time again. I’ve tried to sleep on it and put it out of sight. It comes back like a calling and yearning that wakes you up in the middle of the night. We’re definitely destined to do this together,” Matthew shared.
The brothers said that it’s easier having a working relationship as sibs, considering they function like the twins that never were. They finish each others sentences and bounce ideas off each other. Whatever Noah lacks, Matthew is there to back him up. “We used to be nicknamed the twin tillers,” laughed Noah. “That was almost our group name. We bounced a couple ideas off each other, and then we became “King Again."
King Again— The name derives from African history where rulers were celebrated for their beautiful melanin skin. “I think the name is appropriate for our people,” says Matthew. “It can be cross cultural, too. If we start being men, and treat our women like queens, and our women treat men like kings—If we treat our daughters and sons like princess and princes, then we’re going to create a better future for our country.”
King Again released newest album October Plight. They did an EP listening session October 19, 2018 at 143 E Main St, Rock Hill, SC.
The generous ballads embark on life experiences that’s relevant in any generation.
“We have a project coming out early 2019 called Dear Scarlet. The songs are written and recorded, but we’re deciding what we are going to put on that. Before that, we plan to release a single in early November called Next Girl. The song is executive written mostly by Matthew.”
Their songs resonate in a provocative way with underlying missives that sting the soul by using frank odes to get their messages decoded. The fellas agree that their life experiences chronicle break-up-to make up's as well as their dilemmas in the entertainment business.
Dope Vibes
Matthew said that he and Noah have triumphant moments in the studio, which is a sector of his home. Meetups are easier and they get things done without constriants. “If the song comes together, the beat and the lyrics, we look at each other like, ‘That’s a hit.’ There’s nothing that can describe that emotion, but it’s awesome. We’ve experienced that this year, and it was great. I’m happy to say that,” Matthew declared.
Although they have fiery studio sessions, the entertainers still run across a few snafu’s here and there. For instance, while recording the cut for “That One,” Noah asked a friend to come in and sing the riff, and after the 50th take, for three different sections, they realized the sound wasn’t on. Noah admitted that it was probably one of the best sessions he’s had.
The imperfect and yet gratifying balance
KING Again is certified on Spotify, and that’s something many indie artist aren’t able to pull off. However, the lyricist believes that having clarity gives them more leverage in the music industry. They own and operate an expert tree business, where they deliver top notch service to residence of Charlotte. They apply the same philosophies from that business to their music. “It’s definitely a juggling act being businessmen as well as entertainers. As we said, music is our passion. The tree service was passed down from our dad and we just took the family business and ran with it. The scripture tells us to all things as you’re doing it unto God. So, when we’re doing the tree service,” explains Matthew, “We’re doing it in a spirit of excellence as well. It’s difficult because our passion is the music, but we balance the time.”
“On the flip-side of that,” chimed Noah, “We used to work in a corporate world. So, running our own business gives us more flexibility to be able to do things with music.”
Protecting the brand
Both men agree that their mother is supportive of their music. She protects them from sharks and janky promoters looking to make bank from their talents.
"The main thing is that our mom prays for us. You’re not going to have a manager that wakes up in the middle of the morning and pray for you,” shared Matthew proudly.
“Our momtrepreneur does, and that covers us when we go out. Having her around keeps us accountable to how she raised us. It keeps us truthful. When we write a song, we got to run it by our momtrepreneur first. We don’t curse. Our music is respectable and still relatable.”
Noah elaborated that their wholesome liberation's help to protect the brand…
"KING Again promotes well-being, family values and love in itself. The way we carry ourselves and the content of our music, all has to do within the brand of who we are. Having our mom as a manager, definitely helps with that, and having family behind you, that helps. At the same time, we want our music relevant. It would be easy for us to make music that has a lot of cursing, which is what new music is. In my opinion, we wouldn’t take the easy way out just to make music that’s already selling. To me, that would be equivalent of drawing stick figures, but we are painting murals. We’re taking the long road,” Matthew reiterated.
The vocalist incorporate clean and summarizing hip hop verses, to complement their variation of conscious music. They’ve patent the brand, KING AGAIN LLC., to make it official. They plan to bring other artist under their umbrella of symbolic R&B.
There are wavy benefits to working with Noah and Matthew. They write, produce and record their own music. Everything they do is in-house. They are the muscle that’s assembling the hits.
If they can share the stage with any artist
“I’d like to perform with Stevie Wonder,” said Matthew.
“I would love to perform with Kendrick Lamar or Drake. To be honest, I have a newfound respect for up-and-coming artist. There’s some new artist that have come out, and I’ve listened to their music. Some of them have signed to different labels, but they’re still fresh and new, trying to get their name out there. I would rather share the stage with people like that, people who are putting in the fresh hard work, that haven’t made it yet. That way, 10 years down the road, we can look back and reflect,” Noah stated.
Both artist aspire to use their platform to get more millennial's involved with the voting processes, especially for the teen and almost adult voters. King Again would do a call for action and ban together as a whole. “Do your own research,” Matthew urged. “Put people in office that you can leave your kids with.”
On that discerning note, make sure to check for King Again. New projects coming soon!