King Khan: Rock n' Roll Soul

“I think this career choice was a lot smarter than boxing,” says Arish “King” Khan, formerly known as Blacksnake.  King Khan is the frontman of the retro soul-punk outfit King Khan & the Shrines.  “I definitely chose a better type of brain damage,” he says.  Besides playing with the Shrines, King Khan also plays alongside good friend Mark Sultan (aka BBQ) in the two-piece, doo-wop punk band The King Khan & BBQ Show, and recently hooked up with Black Lips to record an album.

Newcomers to King Khan and his music will be surprised, shocked and possibly moved.  When I first heard King Khan’s music, I felt like I’d found something I’d been looking for all along: true rock and roll.  There’s nothing gimmicky, false or over-hyped about The Shrines or his music with BBQ.  I could immediately tell it came from a deep-rooted passion, almost as if they were playing in a certain vein of music not because the times were changing, but rather because a man like King Khan was answering a calling to pay homage and continue to create the type of music that makes so many of us continue to fall in love with records time and time again.

Take Arthur Lee from Love, mix him with dashes of Bo Diddley, James Brown, Sun Ra and the punk rock of The Cramps, throw in a few scandalous Bollywood characters and you still won’t have even half the sum of who King Khan is on stage.

King Khan and the Shrines, who play here at Urban Lounge on April 9, are currently storming through the States on tour, bringing their soul-infused rock to needy individuals as if it were gospel.  They met through personal ads placed in the German magazine Happy Weekend.  They’ve been playing chaotic, fervent rock ever since, spreading their madness like disease.

King Khan opted to stay behind in Germany after a tour with his former Montreal-based band The Spaceshits, a band which was notoriously banned from most venues in Montreal. Germany is where King Khan still resides, operating his own Moon Studios, which he and his wife built in their living room and where they have recorded countless records, including the last King Khan & BBQ Show album, Invisible Girl, as well as Black Lips’ Let It Bloom, Georgiana Starlington and Demon’s Claws.  “People like to be entertained, and entertaining is what I do best,” he says about his live show, which is filled with often notorious exploits.

The Shrines boast a variety of talent and a collage of influences (including some members having worked with Ike and Tina, Bo Diddley and Curtis Mayfield), and says their approach to music, while it may not sound like it, is to “keep it stupid simple.”

King Khan approaches each show with a sense of spirituality, blending it with a certain mix of turmoil and soul.  “My spirituality has a lot to do with chaos and firing up a bunch of bodies, whether it be through humor, pure psychedelic frenzy or music,” he says.  His stage antics are matched by his outfits (which his loving wife creates) and energy.  “It’s a question of soul-power and how to light a candle under the collective ass.”

Apart from being a manic rock n’ roll soul preacher, many might not know that King Khan is a father of two and a loving family man. “I got married when I was 22 and we had our first baby a week after the wedding,” he says. “Being a dad is the best thing ever and was the best inspiration to work hard and spread the rock n’ roll love I have burning in my loins.” King Khan also supports his sister’s musical endeavors, who resides in Shanghai with her kids, and is helping her release her debut LP, after having been in the garage rock band The Del-Gators and Cocobeurre.

King Khan’s passion for music and life seems to pour out of him, and his dedication to his trade shows. He released three albums in just the last year and was part of numerous tours, including a tour with BBQ that was unfortunately cut short, thanks in part to the Oak Grove, Kentucky police department. Later this year, King Khan and BBQ will play numerous North American festivals, which includes time as Almighty Defenders. King Khan is also going to collaborate with GZA, working on his next album and touring in support of him.

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Comments on this article

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Austin

Great show good article! Thanks!!

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