07/21/08
Text: Anthony Layser
Photographers: Rebecca Smeyne
Most of the families eating at the South Street Seaport's Pizzeria Uno seem genuinely taken aback by the large Indian gentleman announcing from a nearby stage that his sound engineer looks like a "foreskin with ears." It's to be expected. Tourists visiting New York City's Pier 17 shopping area really have no reason to expect such things while enjoying a deep dish on a humid June afternoon.
It's obvious that the joker, King Khan, takes delight in publicly joshing with the engineer and keeping his backing band, the Shrines, nice and loose during the sound check for this, the first date of their inaugural headlining tour of America. Meanwhile, Khan's the charismatic type, so he doesn't hesitate when he sees that he's got the attention of the random onlookers and passersby. He tells the engineer they're going to round out the pre-show prep by playing a song. The hard-charging, "Outta Harm's Way" comes first, followed by the soul boogie, "Land of the Freak" for good measure. A small crowd has gathered by the time they wrap, and Khan's plan has worked. "We're King Khan and the Shrines and there will be more where that came from tonight at seven," he says before leaving the stage.
Sizable but not towering with a paunch, Khan barrels into the backstage tent and grabs a Heineken seconds later. He's agitated. Two songs are not enough. The band seems ready to play all 20 tracks of their recently released album, The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines. The Canadian-raised frontman paces when answering a question about what fuels the band's brand of soul and garage rock. "I want to create the feeling of going to a bar and seeing a badass 12-piece band and making love to some girl under a table," says Khan with all the earnestness in the world. "America needs that, because everybody's got so much stress over how to make money and keep a family and there's no release. We've been doing this for ten years and in Europe the audiences look at it like it's the acupuncture of the soul."
Currently, America seems to be catching on to what Khan claims Europeans have known for nearly a decade. Accounts of recent shows are popping up in local papers and on the blogs of alternative weeklies replete with words like "manic," "high-energy" and "frenzied." The San Francisco Weekly blog, All Shook Down, even accompanied their review post with a photo of a sweaty bare-chested blond who rushed the stage for an impromptu duet with Khan.
Those in attendance at the opening South Street Seaport date could've probably guessed word would spread fast. KK&Ss' 60s revivalist sonics induced the sort of dancing and musical mayhem that might beg for the adjective "frenzied" if it weren't already overused when it comes to describing this band.
"We're not purists. We try to mix all the inspirations we have. Obviously, New Orleans music, funk, Professor Longhair—all that kind of stuff is a huge influence," says Khan. "But there's also a lot of psychedelic 60s stuff like Captain Beefheart. There's lots of '77 punk. So we try to mix it up and make something new out of it."
After the tour, Khan will begin work on a new King Khan and BBQ show album with friend and longtime collaborator Mark Sultan. A tour is planned for the fall.
