If you like what you hear then go tell somebody... As mentioned and requested in another thread, here begins what I hope becomes a long a fruitful discussion of everything King's X. Unlike many, I have not been a fan since Out Of The Silent Planet. I DO recall seeing magazine ads for the album when I was still entrenched in my Metal Years however. I fell hard for the band when I heard 'It's Love' on MTV in 1990. I was a sophomore in college and had just started dating the young woman who would become my wife. While we were apart for winter break I made her stay up late watching MTV because they said 'It's Love' was scheduled. She did so and it was at that moment I knew we were meant for each other...ok, I knew before that, but it sounds good here. The following year I won tickets to see them at The Channel in Boston. We had to take the bus from Keene, NH to get to the show, but it was worth it. That show would later be released digitally as Burning Down Boston to raise money for drummer Jerry Gaskill's medical bills following a heart attack. Since 1991 I have seen them more than 40 times, had formal interviews with dUg and Ty and been witness to an exclusive solo acoustic interview/performance for Sirius Radio that was recorded but never broadcast. More than any other band, King's X means something special to my wife and I. It goes way beyond music. Please share YOUR King's X story and then we'll get on with the Songs.
I shared this in another thread, but I first heard "Over My Head" on a college station in '89. Loved it, but didn't know who it was. A year later I head off to college. My roommate is a KX fan, playing FHL constantly. I go out and find all their first 3 albums on cd. I saw them open for Pearl Jam in '94 behind the Dogman tour. Saw them again later at a club in Nashville on the Ear Candy tour. They were at one point my all time band. They are still in my top 5, mixing in with Rush, Yes and Van Halen. Gretchen is my favorite album.
First heard them on WSOU 89.5 in 1988 and never looked back. One of my biggest regrets is never seeing them live despite dozens and dozens of opportunities to do so. Love those first four records and the live albums a lot. The rest is mostly OK too.
The first time I heard King's X was at a 21 Guns show at a club in Manhattan. The video for Over My Head came on one of the TVs in the place, and I made a mental note to pick up one of their albums. Gretchen Goes To Nebraska was that album, and I stuck with them up through Tape Head.
By the early 90's, I had had enough of hair metal and its endless iterations that just seemed to be bands copping riffs from each other, and seeing who could whip their hair around during the solos...when I stumbled upon a cut-out bargain bin at Walmart (one of those "everything is $5" deals), and spotted 3 different King's X CDs...Dogman, self-titled, and Faith-Hope-Love...I had heard of the band, but didn't remember anything specific...at $5 a pop, I didn't see the risk in checking them out...well, apparently the risk was that I would get hooked on this band and have to get everything in their catalog...I've yet to see them live, and their sporadic touring makes that a challenge, particularly where I live...if I had to pick a favorite album, it would either be Ear Candy or Tape Head (let the flaming begin)...I just love a good, chunky guitar tone...and blissful harmonies...sidebar: I also really dig Galactic Cowboys and Atomic Opera as well...
I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since the last King’s X album. I’m down with a song by song or album by album thread. Get it going!!!!
Everyone has committed to doing a new album...they just need to figure out when and how. I don't know if they plan on bringing in completed demos or banging writing it on the fly. They've done both in the past, depends where their heads are at the time.
Great idea for a thread - I hope this one picks up steam. I became a big fan by accident. My buddy was a huge fan. His friend was supposed to go with him to the 1989 Lamour's show in Brooklyn, but his father fell ill and he had to cancel last minute. He called me up in a panic, begging me to go and the ticket was on him - free. I was indifferent. We got there early and hung out front, by the tour bus. Some local kids were playing hacky sack in the street, so we approached them and made small talk. They told us about their hardcore band who was playing locally and we should come see them. I asked them the name of their band. It was Biohazard. I learned later that I was talking to Bobby Hambel and Evan Seinfeld. A little bit later Dug Pinnick emerged from the tour bus and we talked to him for a bit. He was super cool and gave us posters. We met Jerry and Ty at the bar later, prior to the opening act (Galactic Cowboys.) This is all wonderful but I still couldn't give a flying hoot about this show! Well that would change fast. I recall being struck by the huge sound coming from just three guys. The pitch perfect harmony vocals. The amazing songs. In particular, it was the song "Send A Message" that really moved me. I knew that the very next day, I needed to purchase their albums and totally immerse. I was converted. I saw them numerous times after the Lamour show and purchased all the albums up to Ear Candy. After that, it gets a little fuzzy for me. Perhaps this thread can help enlighten which of those latter works are worth checking out. Shout out to @Jeff Kent for a great thread! JQ
King’s X came onto my radar when I saw the King video on MTV and I absolutely loved the song. For some reason I didn’t go out right away and buy their first album though. It wasn’t until Gretchen came out and I bought the cassette and really fell in love with them then. I didn’t end up seeing them live however until the Tapehead tour at the Birch Hill in Old Bridge NJ which was such an incredible show. I’ll never forget the crowd singing Goldilox back to the band. Incredible band who deserved more. Hope to help with this thread.
Thanks to this forum I decided to finally check out Kings X. I had caught them live before - supporting AC/DC - I'm not a huge DC fan, but not many gigs came to Belfast in those days so you just had to go to catch such a big band even if they weren't really your thing. A friend also lured me to a trip to Scotland for football and more AC/DC - so that was twice seeing Kings X a week apart - but they are a band I think you need to really chew on for a while and that live intro to them didn't impress me to check them out further (sadly that is now a huge regret). One cool moment was when one idiot in the crowd threw a can at the band - it may have hit Doug but without batting an eyelid he carried on the song, bent over and picked up the can and used it as a plectrum for the rest of the tune. Quality. Fast forward around 30 years and after looking through a few Kings X threads here - as I always had a few friends that loved them - so with the info you get on this forum, its a great source for checking out a band. All the threads seem to favour the debut to around the Ear Candy era and then a decline. Using ebay I picked up those first 6 albums but sat on them until I had all 6 bought (took a few months as I was purely bargain hunting). Then the listening began. Loved all 6 albums and regretted not finding them sooner! Now I have inched into latter day just this last month picking up Black Like Sunday and Tapehead. Tapehead is up there with the first 6 I feel - maybe as a newbie and not having timeline drag and years of waiting for a new album I'm taking it on board better? Black Like Sunday isn't as instant but its growing on me slowly - but clearly the weakest album of the bunch so far. So I think I'm still 3-4 studio albums short and keen to get thoughts on them from threads like this - so bring it on it please - as this thread seemed to have parked.
Ear Candy is truly fantastic -- I enjoy Tape Head as well, though I wish there was a bit more sonic variety in the latter album.
Black Like Sunday are early songs by the band before they became King’s X. They reworked and re-recorded them and released them. Glad you finally came on board. They’re a great band that more people need to discover.
As a big Rush fan I don't know why Kings X left me cold on that live introduction. But I'm on board now and just texted my mate to say lets go see Kings X live - which will require them to hit the UK ASAP. I'll be hunting down the albums I don't have either - decided its just time to have the whole lot.
I've still never seen 'em ..... they come no where close to me .... but I became a fan in 1991 when a friend mailed me a cassette of Faith Hope Love. I loved it immediately, and soon got mailed a tape of the first two, and then I was onboard with them for a few years through Dogman. .... I know I have Ear Candy and Tapehead but I honestly don't know those ones nearly as well .... it's been many years. but .... just listened to Gretchen though --- that's why I'm here !
Being the huge KX fan that I am I don't know how I missed this thread (?). I used to travel around a bit to see them and caught many a show in the glory days (Ear Candy and earlier). Have many stories to relate but no time for them all. Will say they are all great guys and very friendly towards the fans. Doug especially will talk the ears off of anyone that wants to hang out & gab after a show. OK a few quick stories....am waiting for something to cool off now from the oven that I have to bring in to work tomorrow for lunch...so... I got into them when the first album came out. Used to hang out in a little CD store near where I work, on Friday nights especially it kind of became a gathering place. Became friends with the owners. They used to let me take chances on anything I was curious about and if I didn't like it I could return it (don't remember returning much). They had that CD on sale for $8.99 and I was intrigued by the cover art. I had heard of them (in KERRANG! magazine) but never heard them. Became a KX maniac after picking that album up though. What a great album. The owner actually gave me a pre-release cassette of their 4th album a few years later that he got from the record label, but I digress... First time I saw them was with another music fan into heavy rock like me (name of Mike) that also hung out at that CD store. After the show we wanted to meet them, get autographs etc. The tourbus was in front of the venue and had around 50-100 fans hanging around it waiting for them to come out. So we went around to the back alley instead where the loadins/outs were being done. There was nobody back there but a truck that was pulled up to the stage door for their gear. We climbed up on the platform of the venue in front of the truck and who should walk out of the venue carrying his bass right then but Doug! We stood there talking for a couple minutes and it started raining so he herded us into the back of the truck to get out the rain and we just sat down and talked for awhile. I went to a bunch of KX shows with Mike over the years. One really funny story was at a show the night b4 their Woodstock '94 appearance. The club was packed. It was hot & sweaty. Either Doug or Ty threw a pick out in the crowd at some point. People were scrambling around looking for it, including us. Didn't see it on the floor. Then I realized that it was STUCK to Mike's forehead (guess his sweat was sticky). He didn't know it was there, I had to point it out. Never saw anything like that b4 or since. Oh and b4 that show I ran into Doug on the street outside (this was downtown Philly in a happening part of town, South Street, many bars & restaurants) and had a quick word. He was on his way to grab some pizza at a place a few doors down from the club they were playing at as a pre-gig meal. I used to tape shows in those days on DAT with concealed mics and since by that time Doug kind of knew me from all the shows I went to I felt comfortable about telling him I was a taper and I asked if he could get me a patch into the soundboard. Man I never saw anybody squirm so much at that point. He wanted to allow it but he said something like sorry but Ty wouldn't be happy about that and that Ty tapes every show (?) anyways. Then he said to give him my address and he would send me some tapes. I wrote it down in a pack of matches if I remember right. Doug put that in his pocket. I never thought he would ever follow up on that but a couple weeks/months later I got a package from him with a cool Dogman postcard in it on which he wrote "Jon, Here's some bootlegs, I'll send more later, Have a good day, Doug P". I know those are the exact words because I just looked at the postcard (have it hanging up on a kitchen cabinet where I used to put all kinds of postcards). He sent me some cassettes of some really cool stuff and in his own handwriting on the cassette j-cards he even wrote down every song! Who does that for some fan they barely know?? And I know other people with similar stories.
Sucks for me, they play my local venue now all the time, and are coming back again soon (or maybe were just here) but I'm working that day and no way I can make it (or I already missed it). I used to travel around to see them and now I can see them practically in my backyard but I've missed them like 4 or 5 times out of the last 6 or 7 years because of work. Even though I think their studio output has declined in quality over the years the live shows are still killer. Looking fwd to the new album coming out soon (I 4get the details).
Saw them last night and they were really good. My friend was having a conversation with their photographer and she said that this may be the last tour for them as they are losing the passion for touring. Dug is (or going to be) 69, Jerry has had health issues, so it almost makes sense. Here's me (on left) and my friend with them after the show.
Great band. I listened to the first 3 albums religiously back in the day (pun intended), but lost track of them after that. I loved the trio format and mix of hard rock/ and classic pop harmonies. I also found their positive outlook a refreshing perspective. I know it’s a stretch, but as a Yes fan, I always likened them in this way. They were a beacon of light.
Bummer if they are giving up touring but I can definitely understand it. They were just here last Friday but I could not go because of work :-(
Longest gap in a song by song thread in, like, ever? Of course, you need a song to start with to even have a gap ....
That would be a very tall order. Off top of my head I think Ty's been involved in at least 12-13 solo or other band collaborations & Doug probably around the same (?). I can only think of two for Jerry though.
For those who might be unaware Ty has recently set up a patreon page while the band is not touring & to help keep Alien Beans studio ticking over. This may not be something for the causal fan but for the King’s X obsessive there are already a handful of videos including guitar lessons (turns out I’ve been playing Lost In Germany wrong for years!), studio tips etc.
