To Kill A King are a five piece hailing from Leeds and consist of Ralph Pelleymounter (vocals/acoustic guitar), Josh Platman (bass), Jon Willoughby (drums), Ian Dudfield (electric guitar), Ben Jackson (synths and keys).Taking their name from a British film about the English Civil War, Leeds natives To Kill A King wear their emotions heavily upon their shirt sleeves. Frontman and prime songwriter Ralph Pelleymounter formed the skeletal frame of To Kill A King at university in Leeds with friends Ian Dudfield and Josh Platman before completing the current line-up when they moved down to London at the tail end of 2009. Ralph and To Kill A King wanted to make music that mattered. Citing literary greats such as Dylan Thomas and the NYC beat-poet era of Allen Ginsberg alongside musical reference points like Grizzly Bear and Mystery Jets, the band place equal emphasis on both melody and lyrics. Blogged about almost as soon as they had started layering songs to 8-track, there’s an immediacy and melodrama to these first recordings that shoots straight for the heart.Their first single, “Fictional State”, was released on 29 May 2011 and their first EP, My Crooked Saint was released on 16 October 2011.Â
Between April and July 2012, To Kill A King uploaded videos for the songs “Funeral”, “Let It Die” and “Rays”, which were videos that they had made during rehearsals of the tracks. The Word Of Mouth EP was released on 23 July 2012. The band signed with Xtra Mile Recordings in August 2013 and re-released their debut album Cannibals With Cutlery as a deluxe version adding 4 additional tracks which reached number thirteen in the Official Record Store Chart. In September 2013 the band had another change in line-up as Ian Dudfield and Jonathan Willoughby left. Grant McNeill (electric guitar) and Joshua Taffel (drums) stepped up in their places.