Category Archives: King Khan and the Shrines

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MTV Iggy Attempts to Explain “Garage Punk”

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kingkhan
King Khan at Eurockeennes Festival at Malsaucy on July 3, 2009 in Belfort, France. (Photo by Gary Wolstenholme/Redferns)

This article discusses the very things KLYAM has been fixated on for the past four years. HOW A RETROGRADE STRAIN OF WEIRD, FUN PUNK STAYS ALIVE IN THE UNDERGROUND, OR: ARE YOU BORED WITH ANIMAL COLLECTIVE YET? By Beverly Bryan. http://www.mtviggy.com/articles/please-explain-garage-punk/
I hate the title, but it has some funny descriptions such as this: “Some audience members are bored enough to glance down and see a man’s legs wrapped in shredded pantyhose and shod in a pair of fuck-me pumps scrooching across the club’s sticky floor, headed for the stage. Nobunny has arrived, albeit on all fours.” Heh heh.

Art, Bent Shapes, Best Of 2012, Fat Creeps, Honorary KLAYMERS, Hunx and His Punx, Kids Like You and Me, King Khan, King Khan and the Shrines, Lists, Local Music, Music, New Highway Hymnal, Nice Guys, No Age, Nobunny, pictures, Punk, reviews, SKIMASK, Slimers, Smith Westerns, The Electric Street Queens, The Migs, The Strange Boys, Ty Segall, Ty Segall Band, White Fence, Yankee Power

My Top Shows Of Twenty-Twelve

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I saw more shows this year than any other (47 total) and all of them were FUN . The following is a list of my top ten (most fun) shows all year:

10) The New Highway Hymnal, Creaturos, Leamers, The Migs, Nice Guys @ Big Stink (10/6/12)
Damn, this was a solid night. I mean with the bands on this bill, how could it not be? Going in to this show I only knew NHH and The Migs, but I came out a fan of local stalwurts, Creaturos and Nice Guys, and our neighbors to the North, Montréal’s Leamers. Kids bashing and bopping around like they ought to. I’ll link you up to the KLYAM review: https://klyam.com/2012/10/09/concert-review-nice-guys-the-migs-leamers-creaturos-new-highway-hymnal-big-stink-10612/

9) The Migs, Nice Guys, Cult Fluorescent, Slimers, Chillcity Icon @ Wilder Zangcraft (11/24/12)
Best Migs show I’ve seen! Nice Guys played a sick set of Coachwhips covers and it was great to see the experimental one mon band Cult Fluorescent again. This show was also my introduction to the mighty Migsian two piece, Slimers and the twisted no wave/noise duo, Chillcity Icon. https://klyam.com/2012/12/06/concert-review-the-migs-nice-guys-cult-fluorescent-slimers-chillcity-icon-wilder-zangcraft-112412/


8) Hunx and His Punx, Heavy Cream, Radio Control @ Great Scott (4/2/12)
I’m a Hunx freak, so words can’t describe my excitement for this show. Having missed the past two Hunx Boston gigs :( I’ve waited for two and a half years to see the band live again. The first time back in October ’09 was opening for Jay Reatard and this served as my intro to Hunx. This time around was even better because I actually knew and loved all of the songs. Throw in Infinity Cat noise makers, Heavy Cream and Somerville rockers, Radio Control and you have one of the finest shows all year. https://klyam.com/2012/04/04/concert-review-hunx-and-his-punx-great-scott-4212/


7) Fat Creeps, Earthquake Party, Fedavees, Fagettes Halloween Show @ Rosebud (10/13/12)
2012 very well could be called the year of the Fat Creeps, especially on this site. We’ve seen a dozen Creeps shows this year, more than any other artist. In fact, I think I’ve seen them more than any other band I’ve seen. Every show has had its own special quality, but for Halloween they played a set of Ramones covers and the crowd ate it up. It was the marriage of two of my favorite bands, and on top of that there were stellar sets from Earthquake Party! (Nirvana), Fedavees (The Wipers), and The Fagettes (Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood).
https://klyam.com/2012/10/16/concert-review-halloween-show-featuring-fat-creeps-earthquake-party-fedavees-fagettes-rosebud-101312/


6) On Broadway Fest 2008 @ Dirty Douglas/Ant Cellar (5/5/12)
I haven’t been to any music festivals, except this one, well and the first On Broadway Fest, but I arrived at night for that one. Therefore, this show was a unique experience. It was a blast seeing 15 or so bands all in one day, especially with memorable performaces from Fat History Month, Big Mess, The New Highway Hymnal (shit water yay!), and Guerilla Toss – I literally felt the Guerilla Toss, woooo. https://klyam.com/2012/06/08/concert-review-onbroadway-fest-2008-5512/


5) No Age, Make It Up @ Chum’s Coffeehouse (3/10/12)
KLYAM and No Age go way back, way back before there even was a KLYAM. The first show we saw at Middle East was No Age, and that took place in 2008. They were one of the first of our beloved, HONORARY KLYAMERS. As popular as No Age is, they still carve out their own DIY aesthetic and playing a little Coffeehouse in Waltham is a testament to that. Some of the best moshing/crowd surfing I’ve seen all year! https://klyam.com/2012/03/12/concert-review-no-age-chums-brandeis/


4) Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, K-Holes @ The Well (9/22/12)
This is one of the few shows I have seen outdoors. I need to experience more of these! Outside on a rainy night in Brooklyn with a thousand or more bodies. I usually prefer smaller gigs, but Ty Segall’s music is so gigantic it feels right in this setting. Of course, this show is also special because this marks my first and only experience with Thee Oh Sees, one of America’s greatest live bands. Can’t wait for the next NYC trip and/or Ty/Oh Sees show. K-Holes, stay solid. https://klyam.com/2012/09/23/concert-review-ty-segall-thee-oh-sees-k-holes-the-well-92212/

3) Ty Segall, White Fence, Strange Boys @ Space Gallery (5/14/12)
Ty it is again! You just can’t stop this guy from popping up on our year end lists. Ahh, our first Ty Segall show ever! An event in heavy anticipation for nearly two years. The Space Gallery is one of the finer venues in the New England area that I have attended: larger capacity without that corporate rock feel, art gallery, steady rock ‘n’ roll, and two dollar PBRs! Yeah, so if the show above at the Well felt like a big time House of Blues event, then this Space Gallery show was more akin to a rowdy, packed Black Lips show at the Mid East Downstairs. And of course, Strange Boys were better than ever!
https://klyam.com/2012/05/15/concert-review-ty-segall-white-fence-strange-boys/


2) King Khan & The Shrines, Hector’s Pets @ Brighton Music Hall (7/23/12)
As far as showmen go, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone that competes with King Khan. We were blessed this year to catch Khan and all the classic Shrines at a sweaty, fun filled show this past July. It’s just one big party y’all. https://klyam.com/2012/07/25/concert-review-king-khan-the-shrines-brighton-music-hall/

Who will be number 1?…..

NO NO NO NO NO!!!
NobunnyTyOhSeesNYCSep2012 009
NOBUNNY!!!!

1) Nobunny, Bad Sports, Xray Eyeballs, Liquor Store @ Living Bread (9/21/12)
For the past three years, the almighty Black Lips have filled the number one slot in this category. Alas, we did not see them this year, they had bigger plans – touring the Middle East. Beautiful, those kids need em’ more. Fortunately, we witnessed somebunny else on stage, this bunny we’ve also consistently seen the past 3-4 years, and he’s never let us down. 5 Nobunny shows deep and this was the best. I felt like I was watching Darby Crash or Keith Morris, but singing bubblegum and garage. I love that feeling, when you look up at a bunnyman in his underwear and say to yourself “this is the only kind of rock ‘n’ roll that matters.” https://klyam.com/2012/09/24/concert-review-nobunny-bad-sports-xray-eyeballs-liquor-store-living-bread-92112/

Ahh what a year, 2012, the best I’d say. In this year I saw the following exceptional/favorite bands for the first time (some of which I noted above): SKIMASK, Bleached, Smith Westerns, Dirty Virgins,  Fat Creeps, The Migs,  Ty Segall, Beach Boys,  Bent Shapes (as Bent Shapes), Colleen Green (two nights in a row!), Thee Oh Sees, Nice Guys, The Fagettes, The Electric Street Queens, Yankee Power.

And now I’m off to bring in 2013 with Fat Creeps,  The New Highway Hymnal, Color Channel, and Yale, MA at Great Scott. Peace.

Adam Green, Art, Atlantic Thrills, Bent Shapes, Best Coast, Best Of 2012, Black Lips, Bradford Cox, Cole Alexander, Cumstain, Dangeresque, Diamond Rugs, Entertainment, Fat Creeps, Gangbang Gordon, Ghetto Cross, Gravys Drop, Honorary KLAYMERS, Ian St. Pe, King Khan, King Khan and the Shrines, Lists, Maine Coons, Music, Natural Child, New Highway Hymnal, Nobunny, Peach Kelli Pop, pictures, Punk, Saba Lou, Shannon and The Clams, SKIMASK, The Barbaras, The Electric Street Queens, The Fagettes, The Migs, The Orwells, Ty Segall, Yankee Power

Chris’s Top Songs Of Twenty-Twelve

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The Barbaras – these dudes created some of my favorite songs released in 2012

As with every year, I’m listing off my favorite songs (in alphabetical order) and keeping to a three song maximum per band, because there’s just way too many to list all of them! And we’re off.

A:

Adam Green & Binki Shapiro– “Here I Am”
Atlantic Thrills– “Foreign Lands” “Acid Rain” “Give It Back”

B:

The Barbaras– “Breathing Underwater” “How Many Times” “Only One”
Bent Shapes– “Bites and Scratches” “Leave It Till You Need It”
Best Coast– “The Only Place”

C:

Cumstain– “Ghost Love” “Rollin Wrong” “Sit and Twist”

D:

Dangeresque– “Walking Dead”
Diamond Rugs– “Blue Mountains”
Dirty Virgins– “Cheap Talk”

E:

The Electric Street Queens– “Beefcake Baby” “She’s Gotta Bruise” “Doncha Wanna Work At the Brewary”

F:

Fagettes– “If I See Him Again” “On Drugs”
Fat Creeps– “700 Parts” “Nancy Drew” “Secrets”

G:

Gangbang Gordon– “Life At the ABC” “QMI Fatties”
Ghetto Cross– “Still”
Gravys Drop– “Made to Love” “Runaway” “Happy Birthday”

H:

Hunx– “Private Room” “Always Forever” “I’m Not The One You’re Looking For”

J:

Jacques Le Coque– “Grow Up”

K:

King Khan & The Shrines– “Bite My Tongue”

M:

Maine Coons– “Ghetto Queen” “Tired and Inspired” “Uniform Choice”
The Migs– “You and Me” “Fuzzy Son” “Take Take Take”

N:

Natural Child– “Faces of Death”
The New Highway Hymnal– “Hey Kid (Gotta Run)” “More” “Blackend Hands”
Nobunny– “Assholes” “At the Mall”

O:

The Orwells– “Halloween All Year” “Mallrats (La La La)”

P

Peach Kelli Pop– “Panchito Blues II” “Dreamphone”

S:

Saba Lou– “Until The End”
Shannon and the Clams– “Angel Baby”
SKIMASK– “Get U Back” “Fine China”
Slimers– “Spaghetti Ann”
Squall– “Repulsor” “No Life Here”

T:

Ty Segall– “Thank God For Sinners” “You’re The Doctor”
Ty Segall Band– “Wave Goodbye”

Y:

Yankee Power– “Stray” “Adopted Love Doll” “Real Folk”

Art, Honorary KLAYMERS, King Khan, King Khan and the Shrines, Music, music video, Video

NEW Moon Duo- “Sleepwalker” Music Vid Feat. King Khan & Simon Says

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Moon Duo comprises of DJ Ripley Johnson and DJ Sanae Yamada and they enlisted the one and only King Khan and everyone’s favorite Shrine, Simon Says for their latest music video “Sleep Walker,” a humorous, bizarre take on the 1980s culture, specifically it’s obsession with aerobics. More info here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2012/09/05/160534240/first-watch-moon-duo-sleepwalker

Art, concert review, Gentleman Jesse and His Men, Honorary KLAYMERS, King Khan, King Khan and the Shrines, Music, pictures, Punk, reviews, Video

Concert Review: King Khan & The Shrines & Hector’s Pets @ Brighton Music Hall (7/23/12)

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Bands: King Khan & The Shrines, Hector’s Pets
Venue: Brighton Music Hall (Brighton, MA)
Date: Monday, July 23, 2012

Act One:Hector’s Pets – Hector’s Pets is an exciting five piece rock and roll band. Excitement comes in many forms, but with Hector’s Pets, my major source comes from the oddity of the group. They are an interesting visual: a front-man singing and clapping with a tambourine, a surfer-type dude on vocals and guitar, a Ty Segall look-a-like on bass, a ’70s glam rocker on lead guitar, and a cool as an autumn breeze drummer with sunglasses. Those are rough descriptions; I am not trying to aesthetically diss the guys. Musically, I recognize one song towards the end of their set. I am surprised that I recall it, because I only saw a few clips of the band weeks before the show. The song is “Station Wagon“. It’s good. The rest of the songs — I couldn’t quite get into them as much as I wanted to. I’m not incredibly hard to please so this was surprising, but they seemed in a bit of a rock and roll middle ground; heavier than stand-still groups like Real Estate, but considerably slower than an all-out blitz a la Jay Reatard. On an optimistic front, maybe they will become a 2012 Brighton Music Hall version of 2009’s Box Elders at the old Harpers Ferry. By that I mean to say I found myself more curious about the band’s on-stage persona than the music itself. I came around to the Elders and I was hooked by the time I saw them for a second time opening for Black Lips at Middle East Downstairs in March 2010. I keenly anticipate listening to more of Hector’s Pets.

The Final Act: King Khan and the Shrines – It sure is humorous to recall the mysticism surrounding the first time I saw King Khan and the Shrines. Reading about Jared Swilley’s premier experience was a bit like cracking open Fear and Loathing — there’s a bunch of vivid imagery about wild times, but it’s hard to make sense of them until they’ve happened to you. Needless to say, Khan and crew clicked on all levels that very May night at the Paradise Rock Club – their biggest Boston gig by far at that time. The sound was superb, the crowd went extra crazy, and the Shrines still had Bamboorella as their lead dancer. Fast forward a little more than a year to October 2010. The Shrines are back in Boston, this time at the Royale. The event is undersold, but features a fantastic opening line-up of Red Mass and Gentleman Jesse and His Men. The show is a great one, but it’s a toned down event, in sound and in performance. Now, it’s July 2012 at the Brighton Music Hall. Upon announcement, the choice of venue is surprising given the past two much larger locales, but with a lot of college kids gone for summer, it makes more sense for the Shrines to play Brighton. As the days draw closer to the event, I smirk as I do before all shows involving my favorite bands. An incredible time is ahead! And it was quite the show! No Bamboorella, one less man on horns, one less man on guitar. These are just some minor things I noticed. The sound wasn’t quite as solid as it was during the previous two shows. Opener “(How Can I Keep You)” felt less ‘complete’ this time around for sure. But what suffered in sound was made up for in practically every facet of the performance. You could tell King Khan was especially grateful for the audience’s reaction of singing along, dancing crazy, jumping up and down, etc. He did his part as well, especially in the encore as he wrapped the front-row in his cape and high-fived several people. Others in the band leaped into the crowd at various junctures, sometimes playing their instruments, sometimes just soaking in the fun. I remember thinking to myself, “wow, they keep playing hit after hit,” at one point and then thinking the same thing a couple of songs later. Great. A good chunk of the band’s live material was taken from Supreme Genius and What Is?!, but there was a nice bit of new and old — the old being “Stoned Soup” (for example) and the new being “So Wild” (a tribute to Jay Reatard) and “Bite My Tongue,” both of which will be released on an upcoming LP. The classics for me (and for others..judging by reaction) were “Took My Lady To Dinner,” “Welfare Bread,” and “I Wanna Be A Girl”. It was nice to see a lot of familiar faces having loads of fun. A moment of weirdness came after the band finished playing. An older gentleman with a saxophone in his hand climbed on stage and started playing solo. Most people were confused, but we seemed to embrace this peculiar occurrence. His performance lasted five or so minutes longer than I would have liked if I had a choice, but I did not. He kept playing. Eventually and fortunately, the Shrines made their way back on stage (thanks to percussionist Ron Streeter, who is a master of bringing the band out of the green room) and ripped into a few more tunes. There was hope for a second encore after several moments of silence and darkness and pleas from Streeter, but the PA music came back on and the show was officially over. The Shrines will be back soon. I was assured of this after the show by Shrines trumpet player Simon Says. Just when… we’ll see!

All Photos courtesy of KLYAM’s soul brother Glenn Delrossi. Thanks buddy!

Art, Fat Creeps, Honorary KLAYMERS, King Khan, King Khan and the Shrines, Local Music, Music, pictures, Punk

KLYAM Show Recs For Tonight (7/23/12)

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TONIGHT!!!

King Khan & The Shrines @ Brighton Music Hall w/ Hector’s Pets!

&

WFNX Funeral Party Night 1 featuring Viva Viva, Ribs, Earthquake Party and KLYAM faves, FAT CREEPS @ Great Scott!

King Khan, King Khan and the Shrines, Mark Sultan, Music

Three Years Ago Today: The Shrines & Mark Sultan @ Paradise

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If the time-machine took me back to 8:20 PM on Thursday May 7th 2009, I’d be standing in front of the Paradise Rock Club’s stage waiting in anticipation for the show to start. I had not yet seen King Khan and the Shrines or Mark Sultan in the flesh. But I had waited patiently for my own Jared Swilley moment (refer to the Supreme Genius LP/CD if you don’t get the reference) and yes it happened!

Read a review that Chris and I wrote following that very performance: https://klyam.com/2010/10/13/memory-2-classic-concert-review-shrines-paradise/

On a very related note, both King Khan and the Shrines (July 23, Brighton Music Hall) and Mark Sultan (this SATURDAY, May 12, PA’s Lounge) will be coming back to town.