Acid-soul revivalist King Khan is the man with the big bag of tricks and if you’re hurting, loaded or losing your mind, he’s got just the fix! Like some angel-dusted James Brown from outer space, Khan dishes up the sexual chocolate like it was a holy sacrament in his “church of psychedelic eroticness”!CONTINUE READING
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VIDEO: King Khan & the Shrines @ Neumos in Seattle [mov + 42.1mb]
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VIDEO: King Khan & the Shrines @ Neumos in Seattle [mov + 78mb]
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WANT MORE COOL King Khan and Spaceshits STUFF? YOU GOT IT!
Spaceshits On Montreal TV
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King Khan & the Shrines “Land of the Freak” Music Video
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The King Khan story begins in the frigid, teenage wasteland that was Montreal of the last century, oh say 1995 or so, when a couple down-and-out punks took refuge in an old flying saucer they found in a friend’s garage. Thus was born the Spaceshits, a Gun Club x The Sonics revival of all things garage, with doses of a ragged, punk rock kind of Soul thrown in to belie the band’s young age. Khan, then eighteen, born in Montreal but of Indian heritage, was playing bass and performing under the name Blacksnake. The Spaceshits began writing songs after recruiting Powersquats’ Mark Sultan (Les Sexareenos, BBQ, etc.), and would be soon joined by Blacksnake on bass. The band became known for short, unruley shows that finally resulted in the Spaceshits being banned from a number of Montreal venues. Short-lived but powerful, the band would go onto tour Europe, before Blacksnakes permanent stop in Berlin would prove too much for the band to continue. The Spaceshits broke-up upon return from Europe with members like Mark Sultan continuing to play in a bunch of bands, as well as solo under the name BBQ.
In Germany, in 1999, Blacksnake would under-go a spiritual revival taking the name King Khan, and assembling his “Psychedelic-Soul-Big-Band”, The Sensational Shrines. The initial incarnation would include Ron Streeter, live percussionist for soul legends like Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder, as well as a horn section of “rowdy teenagers”. Just before recording their second full-length in 2001, Three Hairs and Your Mine, for Switzerland’s Voodoo Rhythm Records, the band would also add Fredovitch, “Bordeaux’s wildest organ player”, to round out this troop of free acid, love gypsies. Sixties-style, guitar-driven, garage rock was now taking even deeper revivalist tones with these infusions of horns and hammond organ, and the party was in full force with Khan’s larger than life Empresario of High Jinx persona. Often costumed, hooded, half naked, or in a dress singing about wanting to be a girl, it is King Khan’s killer voice, whiskey soaked with soul, that steals the show!
King Khan and the Shrines have a number of great releases to check out like, Billiards at Nine Thirty, a split LP with Detroit’s Dirtbombs, as well as a couple on Vice Records, 2007’s What Is?!, and the 2008 compilation, The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines. Khan also continues to perform and tour with his soul-brother Mark Sultan as King Khan and the BBQ Show, a two-piece, doo-wop, punk smash-up. In addition, Khan and BBQ join the guys in The Black Lips to form The Almighty Defenders whose self-titled LP on Vice Records last year included the speaker ripping, late-night sing-a-long “Bow Down and Die”. And if that isn’t enough, King Khan’s analogue equipped Moon Studio in Berlin has seen recordings by friends like Deerhunter and Demon’s Claws…King Khan & the Shrines were recorded live in in Seattle, WA at Neumos!
