Tag Archives: mark sultan
BBQ
“To call BBQ just a one-man band would be like calling his influences just rock’n roll. BBQ is the perfect mix of the most primitive blues, rock’n roll, garage, R&B, and rockabilly sounds lightly assaulted with soul and a punk aesthetic.
BBQ, the one-man band, is actually ‘Mark Sultan’, ex-singer of the legendary Spaceshits and singer/drummer for the world-renown Sexareenos. This is a young man who lives by his own rules: no home, no job, no cares – just a beat-up guitar, his wits and a need to drink. A young man who was born parentless in the gutters of Montreal with a bevy of women to serve his every whim. A young man who didn’t need any more talent when dealing with the devil, so instead opted for a good meal – just for kicks! An unassuming drifter who lives only for the moment, armed with the gift of unorthodox charisma and the eyes of a wise man. He has managed to capture the sound of a very soulful but simple band on just his two feet, a guitar and a golden voice. This is the real shit: no-nonsense, timeless and rollickin’.
In less than two years time, BBQ has honed his show into an apocalyptic mojo bag full of ear-scorchers, playing shows here and abroad, alone and with acts like Bob Log III, King Khan and His Sensational Shrines, Les Sexareenos, The Deadly Snakes, The Woggles, The Ponys, Mr. Airplane Man, Nathaniel Mayer & The Shanks, The Cool Jerks, The Del-Gators, Scat Rag Boosters, The Mystery Girls, The Come-Ons, The Soledad Brothers, etc…, converting people who hadn’t expected the potency of this depraved one-man gang. Most recently, BBQ did a tour of Brazil and Argentina, complete with TV and radio spots – the works!! The kids went bonkers! Search Google for reviews, etc… using some keywords mentioned here, and good luck with the Portuguese! Just before that, BBQ toured Europe 4 times (including a gig at ‘The Wild Weekend’) in a 4 month stretch of uncompromised pillage to incredibly enthused, appreciative fanatics and stunned critics alike. He has received international praise in print and online, and his experience in other bands has made fans out of legendary artists while allowing him to play with famous bands all over the world.”-http://www.marksultan.com/bbq.html
Can’t wait to see him again, since I didn’t really appreciate his solo act the first time around.
Chris
Mark Sultan Not To Tour W/ Black Lips
Too bad. Maybe a U.S tour with the Shrines again? Please?
Bobby Ubangi Montage
RIP
P.S. I dig the badass song, “Threw My Girl A Party” by BBQ aka Mark Sultan.
Chris
KK BBQ Show Set + Interview
This is a pretty new one that has in it Leo Chips (the SHOW in King Khan & BBQ Show). They play four songs and then do a little interview after. It’s all good!
BUT…you kind of have to skip some of it to get to the good stuff. Not to say that the first band/interview isn’t great, but come on now.
KK+Shrines March U.S Tour!
No dates or anything, but the magic words were uttered by King in this video:
Sultan To Tour W/ Black Lips?!
Read this very fun and informative blurb from our boy Mark Sultan that tells us many things.
Oh the humanity! I’m back in Montreal from another tour! It was a lot of fun, aside from overstated shit. Great to play with Those Darlins and Dum Dum Girls. Sometimes prefab hype caught up with us and people who don’t care about music judged us for not being ‘crazy’ enough – glad you don’t like it. Sometimes we were just bummed and tired, though. I wanna thank everyone for supporting us and having fun. The shit that went down in KY really put us through the ringer financially, as friends and as a band and happened not as you think, no matter what you read from whomever’s lips or fingers. Really. I’m mostly sad not everyone saw us play with entertainer, ‘Leo Chips’. That was fun and just starting to work. The ‘show’ was finally starting to come together (hence the name, ‘The King Khan & BBQ SHOW’). Oh well. But there is good news – a lot of people enjoy the new KKBBQ album, ‘Invisible Girl’. Thanks so much! We’ll try to tour again or make up lost dates sometime in the future. My new album, entitled ‘$’ is coming out sometime soon. No idea when. Or how, at this point, but I do know that there was one song from it – Nobody But You – floating around… Maybe the In The Red myspace page? Speaking of In The Red, they put out a new single of mine a few weeks back: ‘I Am The End’ b/w ‘Catastrophe’. These are non-LP versions. The new Bloodshot Bill & Mark Sultan album is done! It took a while to iron out the last mixes or whatever,more than a year in the making, but it will be out soon on Norton Records. Tours: The King Khan & BBQ Show will be in Europe in February. Dates coming soon. The Almighty Defenders will be playing sporadically at festivals in both the US and Europe from now until the summer, and both bands will tour together with Black Lips in around May for one fun European jaunt. Keep your eyes peeled. I will also be on tour, hopefully, in the US opening for the Black Lips. With my new band. Standing and singing the whole time. More rockers and dancers. I think that’s it for now! MARK SULTAN
Yeeeee that probably means a March or April Black Lips/Mark Sultan US tour.
Quote of the Day
Mark Sultan On People That Go To KK+BBQ Shows:
Sure, there’s the jock with the 8-foot thick Mohawk on his head, wearing some shitty Billabong shirt and head-butting a girl because he can’t get it up, and he’s looking in the mirror and hating himself because he’s secretly gay and all his friends hate him. Sure, that guy is there, and I hate him. He sucks. He’s the worst faker in the world. And he’s mouthing along to songs that we’re not even playing because he’s just trying to look like someone else that likes the music and he’s there for the wrong reasons. But that guy is going to disappear, because the music doesn’t mean anything to him. The people that do love the music will always come to the show, and it will always have a special place in their hearts.
Khan + Sultan Arrested!
Updated: 7:51 PM
Mark Sultan advised a would-be concert goer yesterday at 1:34 PM to “bring some friends who aren’t wearing jack johnson shirts, please.” He was referring to the King Khan & BBQ Show gig that was supposed to be held in St. Louis at the Off Broadway. Well, Sultan and my boy Arish “King” Khan never played that gig. They missed an early evening sound check and frankly never made an appearance at the venue at all. They somehow got arrested on their way to St. Louis in Oak Grove, Kentucky (home of really cheap gas). Their booking agent inquired that perhaps they stopped to take a piss. For all we know, a trooper may have noticed them and they are now sex offenders. They are out on bail, but their tour manager, Kristin Klein (above right), apparently is still in jail. She’s been driving the boys around on a suspended license. Tonight’s show has obviously been cancelled. As of 7:51 PM, Kristin is out of jail! The suspected drug found in the vehicle is mushrooms. That’s because Kristin foolishly posted a photo on her flickr of King Khan and Leo Chips with the caption “on mushrooms.”
Keep checking here for more information!
CD Review: Sultanic Verses
Artist: Mark Sultan
Full Title: The Sultanic Verses
Label: In the Red
Year: 2007
Rating: A/ 9.3/10
Fun Fact: Mastered by Jay Reatard!
1) Beautiful Girl- 9.4- Ahh here we go BBQ here we go! A strong opener about Sultan’s fine lady. I dig the little bell sounds and the lyrics are really catchy. Typical BBQ guitar/drum work.
2) 100 Little Women- 9.2- Sounds great to me! Sultan effectively utilizes the start/stop technique (get your mind out of the gutter Glen!) in which he sings and plays the music then suddenly stops then starts again. Highly reminiscent of late 50s/early 60s rock and roll, like Chuck Berry. Good poppy rocker.
3) Cursed World- 9.5- Introduces the spooky/bizarre theme to this album, which appears from here on frequently. This could be the soundtrack to an old school horror flick, like zombies and shit or Scooby Doo haha. The old school cartoon, not the modern shitty versions. Which now makes me want to watch that show. Anyway, I love how he pronounces cursed as KER SED. Like the first couple tracks this has strong hooks and the BBQ’s vocals are so exquisite it feels like you are taking a stroll through this KER SED World with him. The ending has this cool, noisy, feedback to it. I dig.
4) Spinning Ceiling- 9.3- A real rocker for this album; heavier and more in your face than the previous tracks. This song is more akin to King Khan & BBQ tracks such as “Treat Me Like A Dog” and “Hold Me Tight.” Solid stuff.
5) Two Left Feet- 9.3- In addition to 100 Little Women and Spinning Ceilings, we now come across gals with Two Left Feet. In this catchy, love number, the BBQ describes his love for his double left footed baby. I can imagine this track being great live (I wonder if he played it last May when I saw him?) because it’s a real feel good dance track in the neighborhood of “Shake Real Low.” (of course, not with the same caliber, but still great) and I can picture Sultan getting the crowd goin when he shouts, “everybody clap your hands.” It almost seems funny that that line is in a studio album Haha, well I guess you and your normal footed woman can have fun at home too.
6) Je Ne Savais Pas- 9.0- Sultan pays tribute to his Montreal roots and properly pronounces the phrase at that! Good tune, catchy, only weakness: reminds me of French class :(. P.S. you also think this song is over like three times before it actually is haha.
7) Mortal Man- 9.6- I really dig this rocker! Great guitar and pumping drums. I can picture people pogoing/moshing to this live, I know I can’t stay still when it comes on. His vocals really stand out on this track and demonstrates his (somewhat) range: straight up BBQ vocals to rawer, screaming vocals.
8) Something Wrong- 9.7- My favorite track! It’s a simple little diddy and technically doesn’t sound unique or different from any of his other material, it just works really well. Brings me back to the 1960s Garage Rock era, back in my past life. Shit simply sticks in my head like gum sticks to mah shoes. Just won’t go away.
9) Warpath- 9.1- Fast rocker and as the title indicates Sultan is on a warpath in this track. I dig the pile driver drum work here
10) We’re Sinking- 9.5- The bell noise I dug before has returned! This is a classic and is one of the album’s catchier tracks. Lyrically it describes people who are sinking, but don’t give a damn cause they are in love. Perhaps the poor lads on the Titanic sang this as they were going down….
11) Unicorn Rainbow Odyssey- 9.5-Dayemm this came outta nowhere. Can you say a EPIC CLOSER. When you have a title like Unicorn Rainbow Odyssey, you better live up to it and the Captain certainly does so. The drums sound like hearts beating as I’m sure this was the intention a la “Heroin” by The Velvet Underground. The vocals sound like early 60s doo wop/soul sisters of the Motown persuasion, such as The Supremes. The finale is this pulsing noise; he must have recorded that part at the Lowell Cotton Mills.
Overall, one of my favorite albums and certainly worthy of it’s high grade. I will admit it’s not the same without King, but Mark still delivers. For y’all who bought The Satanic Verses, you’re wasting your time. The real Sinister, Supreme, Supreme Genius lies in The Sultanic Verses.
Chris
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 