Nu Rave Brain Wave

Stop the mother effing presses, y’all! Our buddies at Rollo & Grady just broke the news that King Khan, Demon Claws‘ Jeff Clarke and his girlfriend Emily, the Spits‘ Sean Wood, and the Sadies are forming a Kukamonga Death Cult country western band and record an album. KhanWood Clarke is the official name of this band, and I know that this will be awesome. Of course, they’re gonna need some help to do it. They’ve got a Kickstarter going and it’s probably in the best interest of all if we all donate. If you donate $10, you get 6 shit hot country songs; if you donate $20, you get the songs & a phone call from one of KhanWood Clarke as a thank you; and if you donate $100, you get a custom song with your name in it! Woah. They’ve given two new demos out and ‘Dirtiest Girl‘ is a super gem. Quiet and finger-picked, it tells the story of some slut with a golden heart who always returns to her man, even after fucking every man in a 65 mile radius or whatever. It fucking rules though, as does pretty much everything King Khan touches. So, donate, or listen, or whatever you can and let us all hope this gets off the ground.

mp3: KhanWood Clarke – Dirtiest Girl

Just browsing Twitter earlier, and I saw a link to a blog post entitled, “The Implosion of King Khan & The BBQ Show” on Obscure Sound. I was immediately saddened, if this is actually going to stick, but here’s some choice quotes:

“This happened back in Australia,” said Sultan. “I mean, I patched things up there and thought we could make it until the end of the tour.” (Side note: the band’s three Korean dates in Daegu, Busan and Seoul were the very end of the tour anyway.) “But he’s really just an alcoholic,” and “I’m sick of the abuse. We’re not finishing the tour.” When I asked what would happen to the last two tour dates in Busan and Seoul, Sultan assured me that “I can play those shows myself. I write [and perform] 99% of the music.” Throughout our conversation, Sultan was completely relaxed and calm. He reiterated a few times that “I’m fine. I’m alright.”

I was witness the the implosion of a phenomenal garage rock duo whom I truly enjoyed. Khan and Sultan have been friends since the mid-90s, playing together since then, as well. Though it seems like this break-up is quite final, there’s always a chance things will work out between these two artists. Near the end of our conversation, Sultan explained that “Speaking as a friend, I just hope [Khan] gets the help he needs.”

What the hell? Find out the whole situation below, but this is awful: KK & The BBQ have their hands in many of my favorite bands and their friendship and working relationship was always something I loved but if BBQ is right, we here at NRBW hope Khan takes care of his shit so we can see him and his bands ASAP.

READ MORE OVER AT OBSCURE SOUND.

mp3 | King Khan & The BBQ Show - Too Much In Love

The King Khan Cooking Show
King Khan

Hahahahha, yeah, that’s all you need to know.

Possibly one of my favorite ever live bands and one of the most fun to photograph have announced a new US tour culminating in an appearance at Coachella. While this makes me weep, I am genuinely considering going to the hellhole that is San Francisco to see them. Catch them, SERIOUSLY, catch them.

Sat 3/27 The Earl Atlanta GA
Mon 3/29 Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, NC
Tue 3/30 Orange Peel Asheville, NC
Wed 3/31 JJ’s Bohemia Chattanooga, TN
Thu 4/1 Exit/In Nashville, TN
Fri 4/2 Hi-Tone Cafe Memphis TN
Sat 4/3 Bottletree Birmingham AL
Mon 4/5 Emo’s Austin, TX
Tue 4/6 Sons Of Hermann Dallas, TX
Thu 4/8 Bluebird Theater Denver, CO
Fri 4/9 Urban Lounge Salt Lake City, UT
Sat 4/10 Neurolux Boise ID
Sun 4/11 Wonder Ballroom Portland, OR
Mon 4/12 Venue Vancouver, BC
Tue 4/13 Neumo’s Seattle, WA
Thu 4/15 Bimbo’s 365 Club San Francisco, CA
Sun 4/18 Coachella Indio, CA

mp3 | King Khan & The Shrines – Land of the Freak (Live at Amoeba)

The King Khan & BBQ Show were nowhere to be found when it came time for them to take the stage at Off Broadway in St. Louis last night. The garage-rock act “missed its early evening soundcheck and were MIA and incommunicado throughout the night,” according to a Riverfront Times blog post, which offers a full chronicle of the concert.

According to King Khan & BBQ Show’s publicist, the duo “have had some kind of hold up in [Tennessee] and are missing tonight’s and possibly all shows this weekend.” Pretty vague.

The Riverfront Times reports that show promoter Joey O’Farrell and Off Broadway owner Steve Pohlman claimed Arish “King” Khan and Mark “BBQ Show” Sultan were allegedly arrested on drug possession charges, though that has not been confirmed yet.

UPDATE: The Kansas City Pitch reports that King Khan & BBQ Show’s booking agent has confirmed that the band was indeed arrested in Hopkinsville, Kentucky yesterday. However, there is no information about what charges were brought against them. The band is currently out on bail, but their tour manager is still behind bars. Tonight’s show in Lawrence, Kansas has been cancelled.

UPDATE: According to the Pitch, openers Those Darlins and Spook Lights are still scheduled to play tonight in Kansas City.

According to the Riverfront Times, tour manager Kristin Klein was charged with driving with a suspended license and possession of a controlled substance.

I wonder what this means for the Visas…. They are both Canadian and now Khan resides in Berlin…. Hope this doesn’t threaten anything

The Almighty Defenders – Self Titled Debut

So the very premise of The Almighty Defenders in all likelihood is going to split the world’s constituents into two categories. The first will probably be pissing themselves thinking the amount of talent contained in the members: King Khan himself, the BBQ aka Mark Sultan, and the entirety of the Black Lips. It’s like a match made in a disgusting Berlin garage. Oh wait… The second group will probably be rolling their eyes in disgust that the kings of the current garage revival all got together after the purported international incident where Black Lips got kicked out of India and recorded and album. I happen to be of the first persuasion. By that I mean, I was waiting on the edge of my seat until this album got released, and finally it’s here.

So the story goes that Black Lips went to India, got their cocks out and got kicked out of the country under threat of jail time. They were not heard from for a few days until “word” got back to Vice that they were holed up with King Khan and BBQ in a studio in Berlin, where Khan lives with the Shrines. Whether or not that whole incident was a plea for more publicity matters not, for the Almighty Defenders came out of it – a pairing which was made in Heaven (yes, the nightclub in London) and which many people were clamoring for long before Black Lips had even made a name for themselves. So it is with great pleasure and a fair amount of liquor, weed, and dirt under their fingernails that King Khan, BBQ and the Black Lips bring to you the Almighty Defenders debut.

‘Bow Down and Die’, although one of the first tracks released to promote this album, never gets old. It’s straight up hand clapping gospel Sunday morning tune with Cole’s dirty vocals and enough “harmonizing” to make it seem like a cat dying, this tune is grade A. But more importantly, I love how each song in its own way showcases the amazing things about each member of the band – things that may not necessarily get such a showcasing whilst they play in their day job bands. ‘Cone of Light’ showcases the elements that BBQ (Mark Sultan), Joe (Black Lips), and Ian (Black Lips) do quite well respectively: BBQ belts it out, making him currently the only singer in garage rock who can actually fucking sing; Joe is a machine behind the drums, urgent as ever; and Ian is rock solid on guitar, sneaking up on you making you think he’s a messy guitarist but actually working some type of magic. The Ghost With The Most is swampy sounding, with Jared getting to show his vocal muscles with a fair amount of reverb, “It takes a wicked man to blindly lead the blind”, sounds most like a Black Lips song probably due to Ian’s most underappreciated guitar line taking the back seat to Jared’s wailing. I’m Coming Home unites all their talents into a ‘love tune’ about a man coming home from war, syrupy bass line drives the tune forward with Cole, Joe, King Khan and BBQ taking scratchy vocal duties over a fairly blues guitar line. Gospel is not forgotten with everyone shouting, “I’m coming home, oh yeah!”

But make no mistake, this record is not polished. It’s cohesive in its almost otherworldly, saintly in a dirty way, gospel garage heavenly feel, but it’s still a product of those who make up the band. And what I mean by that is that these men are ridiculous, crazy, and like to fuck around and this record does have a few WTFuck moments, as we all knew it would. ‘Death Cult Soup ‘N Salad’ consists solely of weird noises (most I’m assuming made by Cole and Joe) over some pretty heavy, and by heavy I mean distorted and rudimentary, riffing that together make up this delectably titled song. ‘The Great Defender’…. All I can assume about this song is that crack was a main component in it’s creation.

So what remains to be seen is whether or not the material will play out live. The group has played less than a handful of shows, including the Sell Out Festival, oh excuse me, Scion Garage Fest in Portland. But with the busy touring schedule each band keeps, with Khan and BBQ touring America in the fall, Black Lips touring the world for ever and ever, Mark Sultan coming out with a new album and the Shrines supposedly coming out with a new album soon – it doesn’t look good for the Defenders live show, but performances like the aforementioned CMJ prove that I may not know what the fuck I’m talking about. ‘Mon the Almighty Defenders world tour of 2010.

8/10

I am going to ignore the fact that this is a complete corporate sell out for all the bands involved, but hey, Jay/Black Lips/King Khan are a little older now, they don’t shit and spit (well…) on each other that much more these days, and HEY, it can’t be cheap paying for an apartment that you never live in, but regardless, the best bands in the world will be playing the free Scion Garage Fest, coming to Portland, Oregon on October 17.

The festival will go down at four venues: Satyricon, Berbati’s Pan, Someday Lounge, and Dante’s. Roky Erickson, the former 13th Floor Elevators frontman and general all-around psych-rock O.G., will headline. The bill also includes Black Lips, Jay Reatard, the King Khan and BBQ Show, the Almighty Defenders (the supergroup featuring the Black Lips, King Khan, and Mark Sultan), the Dirtbombs, the Deadly Snakes (reunited!), Simply Saucer, the Dutchess and the Duke, Harlem, Box Elders, the Beets, Fresh & Onlys, the Coathangers, and many others.

http://www.scion.com/garagefest/

Is anyone in the world more interesting than the Almighty Defenders right now?

Uh, no.

mp3 | CONE OF LIGHT by the ALMIGHTY DEFENDERS

We Have Signal: The King Khan & BBQ Show from We Have Signal on Vimeo.

Here’s a list of things that I, Brianna, will never say when made to listen to King Khan & BBQ or asked to go to their live show:
“No”.