Most 13 year olds aren’t balancing schoolwork with screaming alongside some of heavy music’s biggest bands, Kage Archer isn’t exactly following the standard teenage timetable.
Wichita, Kansas vocalist Kage Archer has already appeared onstage with Motionless In White, I Prevail, Alpha Wolf, Fit For A King and From Ashes To New.
Now, after building his audience through covers, Archer is beginning the harder part: establishing exactly what Kage Archer sounds like, speaking to us for his first Australian interview, Archer makes the whole trajectory sound remarkably normal.
Kage Archer ‘Bonded By Blood’
How it started
His path into heavy music actually started behind a drum kit, Twenty One Pilots initially sparked that obsession before a Beartooth drum video sent him deeper down the rabbit hole.
‘I started drums at a very young age, I was like two, and that was because of 21 Pilots,’ he explains. ‘And so, a few years later, when I was about six, that led me to a video of Bear Tooth drummer because I was so into drums and I was just always watching drum videos on YouTube.’
Eventually, Asking Alexandria entered the picture and by eight or nine, Archer wanted to know how those voices were made.
His solution was wonderfully straightforward: YouTube tutorials.
‘I just found a video that I kind of watched over and over and over.’
From Viral Covers To Massive Stages
That practice eventually collided with the internet, Aa cover of Motionless In White’s ‘Slaughterhouse’ went viral, ultimately putting Archer onstage with the band at just 10 years old in front of more than 6,000 people.
Chris Motionless reportedly described the performance as a ‘Top-10 career moment’. Archer only recently discovered that.
‘I just figured that out, and yes, it does,’ he says when asked whether hearing that blows his mind.
He’s since become strangely accustomed to stepping onto stages with bands most aspiring musicians would be nervous simply meeting.
The nerves haven’t disappeared. Archer has just learned what happens when the lights come up.
‘The nerves are there before the whole like you wake up that day and you’re like this is gonna be so awesome right after that right after that thought is gone it’s oh god what if this happens and you’re just going through it all day,’ he says.
Then he walks onstage.
‘All the nerves are gone. It’s just fun from there.’
More importantly, Archer says the attention isn’t why he’s doing it.
‘I honestly don’t really do this as just for like like money or like fame or popularity. It’s just fun to do, like meeting people is so cool after shows.’
‘Carry The Weight’ Changes The Conversation
Covers opened doors, but Archer is now walking through them with his own material.
His debut single ‘Carry the Weight’ features Taylor Barber of Left To Suffer and arrives as Archer signs with The Artery Foundation. The track digs into the envy created when people see the polished version of somebody’s life online without seeing the work behind it.
Kage Archer ft. Taylor Barber ‘Carry The Weight’ video
For Archer, releasing originals also means finally showing listeners what exists beyond his interpretations of other bands.
‘I kind of take it as a way to showcase what I like my own stuff can sound like on my own, and because obviously covers and original music two different things, so I can kind of also take influences from some of my favorite bands and throw it into a song, which I love.’
There’s already a plan for what comes next.
Rather than rushing into an album, Archer wants another one or two singles before turning his attention towards an EP.
‘I don’t think I’d go straight for an album first,’ he says.
Interestingly, that isn’t just youthful impatience. Archer is already thinking about how people consume music.
‘EPs they’re shorter and less overwhelming for people to see.’
Heavy Music, Homework And Being 13
Touring is the big goal before Archer turns 18, and school doesn’t necessarily stand in its way. He studies online, meaning the classroom can theoretically follow him onto the road.
‘They’re my school is very like fine with anybody traveling. They just as long as I take my laptop with me wherever I go, and I get work done every day. Nobody really cares.’
There are still reminders that behind the monstrous vocals and rapidly growing career is a kid who likes SpongeBob, pizza, ‘Elden Ring’, ‘Dark Souls III’ and the ‘Terrifier’ films.
His current favourite band is Zero 9 36. If he’s screaming along to something, it’s probably Boundaries. His favourite concert? Australia’s own Parkway Drive.
Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes sits at the top of his dream heavy collaboration list, while outside the genre he’d choose the late Juice WRLD.
And Australia itself? Archer might need some convincing after learning more about our spiders.
‘If I see one in my room, I’m not sleeping here for another month.’
Strip everything else away, though, and Archer’s answer about what people misunderstand about him might be the most revealing part of the conversation.
‘Probably that I’m the same as everybody else my age.’
People might see the stages, viral clips and opportunities and assume his life exists somewhere outside ordinary teenage reality.
Archer doesn’t.
‘No, I’m just a normal kid.’
Maybe that’s what makes his story interesting. Heavy music has seen plenty of young viral sensations. Turning that attention into an identity of your own is another thing entirely.
Kage Archer is only beginning that part.
As for what comes next?
‘Just more music.’
Keep up to date with Kage right here.
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