Admission with MusicfestNW Wristband or $15 at the door. Doors open at 8pm.
Who is this manic Master of Ceremonies who openly confesses to the two grand black bohemians said to be lunatic Sun Ra and George Clinton, and whose antics certainly remind us of a young Herman Sonny Blount and his Solar Arkestra?
King Khan & The Shrines have been spreading their love like peanut butter since 1999. A youngblood King Khan on his royal buddhistic journey decides to sow some wild oats in Germany, he finds true love and fulfills his life long dream of leading a super bad ass 10 piece soul inferno!!!!
“I didn’t just want the audience to have an aural orgasm… I wanted an EYEGASM too!!!” – King Khan.
The line-up includes 60 year-old Chicago-born, Ron Streeter (the live-percussionist of Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, and many other Soul-Legends), a horn section consisting of Simon Wojan (the mastermind behind Kranky Records recording artists Cloudland Canyon), Ben Ra (Germany’s John Coltrane), and famous French rockabilly saxophonist Big Fred Rollercoaster. The rhythm section of the Sensational Shrines has been called “a German/French version of the Freak Brothers”.
Their first album THREE HAIRS & YOU’RE MINE was produced by Liam Watson recorded in the legendary Toe Rag Studios in London, England and released in 2002. A second full-length, MR. SUPERNATURAL, followed in 2004. King Khan & the Shrines became an all-star international movement. Numerous gigs followed all across Europe with the Black Lips, Enon, Demolition Dollrods, Mr.Quintron & Ms. Pussycat, an after-party for 50 Cent in Norway. They headlined Toronto’s NXNE festival 2006 playing three nights in a row and even had a member of the Sun Ra Arkestra join their brass section….
In 2007 King Khan made the soundtrack and film score for “Schwarze Schafe” a major motion picture in Germany. The soundtrack included music from The Black Lips, The Spits, Gris Gris, Quintron and more.
In 2007, King Khan also released WHAT IS?! which received critical acclaim from all over the world, landing at #33 on Pitchfork’s Top Albums of 2007 while their track “Welfare Bread” landed at #66 on Pitchfork’s Top 100 Songs of 2007.
Now comes 2008 and for the first time ever this musical dynamite is widely available the U.S. of A. for the very first time. A greatest hits of his greatest hits, the cream of a very creamy crop – this is the Supreme Genius of King Khan and The Shrines at their absolutely very best. The entire 11-person psychedelic-soul big band revue will be raving up stages for the first time through North America the summer of 2008, leaving behind them a colorful spell of amazement and wonder.
THE HISTORY
King Khan is born in Montreal in 1977, being the son of immigrants from India. The Khan siblings (his majesty, Lil’ Brother Gumbo and Sister Cocobutter) inherit far more than mere musical talent: “My great grandfather was the Johnny Thunders of the sitar. He played but never recorded anything and became a serious opium addict. My father tried to play sitar but chose the fast life over that and wound up down and out and addicted to cocaine. My mother can play harp like Bob Dylan.”
The Khan parents’ house, Canada’s predominantly Christian influence, a vivid admiration of horror movies and the mother’s and grandmother’s affinity to the occult draw the first outlines of the disposition that will much later condense to a holistic utopia, enhanced by elementary encounters and events in between tarot shamanism and Brahmandom, in between native American mythology and hallucinogenic transcendence, in between string-theory and the metaphysics of Sun Ra. “You don´t have to be from Louisiana to practice voodoo, I learned much from my mother and grandmother. I began seriously practicing voodoo to fulfil my infinite sexual fantasies and when the mojo started working I figured “hey, why not put this to music?”
In 1995 Khan leaves the frosty soil of the Canadian province of Montreal playing the bass for the International-Underground-Legends THE SPACESHITS. The band is produced by Mike Mariconda with special guest appearances from the Fabulous Andy G (Devil Dogs) and Candy Del Mar (The Cramps). Khan founds the secret lodge of the KUKAMONGAS. The most important contacts of this period are Allen Ginsberg, Sophie Crumb, Billy Childish, Dickie Peterson and the defunct magician “The great Antonio”.
During the oncoming years Khan tours across the States. Detroit, New Orleans, New York City, LA, San Francisco, Dallas, Tijuana etc. He lives for a short while with the Mohawk-Indians in the Kahnawake reservation. “I learned lots about being a punk from my two best Mohawk friends Leborgne and Beserker. We used to get drunk, smash cars, go hunting for white women.”
Khan doesn’t return from the first Spaceshits-Europe-Tour in summer of 1999.
In Germany the Canadian founds the Soul-Big-Band THE SHRINES. The first line-up includes bass-player Volker Zander, who will eventually leave the band to join the US-Combo Calexico, and Ron Streeter, live-percussionist of Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Al Jarreau and other Soul-Legends. The Shrine’s first concert in London is suspended by the police. The band escapes through the back-door. Numerous Gigs will follow all across Europe, among others with Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Beck.
After several short-players the Shrines record their first album in the Toe Rag Studio in London. THREE HAIRS & YOU’RE MINE is being produced by Liam Watson, producer of the White Stripes.
In 2003 Khan encounters the Hazelwood-producers-team Gordon “Two Horses” Friedrich and Wolfgang “Kaneoka One” Gottlieb (Sacharine Trust, Universal Congress Of, Mardi Gras bb., Kool Ade Acid Test, and others), who stage the second longplayer MR. SUPERNATURAL in the beginning of 2004, digging itself knee deep into the suds of the Seventies.
In 2007, King Khan’s inquires platonically WHAT IS?! and snatches the master question right out of the astonished community’s mouth. This album reaches at least one decade further back and decorates the garage with psychedelic iridescent wallpaper composed of uninhibited multi-colored dazzling sixties fragments. Between clashing, clanking Keith, Lou and Iggy flirtatious guitar psychodelica, the MAHARAJA OF SOUL unexpectedly mutates into the RAJA OF SONG and spits out fourteen manically affected unforgettables into the airwaves, singalongs like monoliths – stoic, bewitching, unmistakable.
Now comes 2008 and for the first time ever this musical dynamite is widely available the U.S. of A. for the very first time. A greatest hits of his greatest hits, the cream of a very creamy crop – this is King Khan and The Shrines at their absolutely very best. The entire 11-person psychedelic-soul big band revue will be raving up stages through North America in the summer of 2008, leaving behind them a colorful spell of amazement and wonder.
ESSAY BY JARED SWILLEY FROM THE BLACK LIPS
The first time I crossed paths with King Khan and the Shrines was on a cold foggy day in London. The gloomy weather was fitting as I’d lost my passport, money, and most of my personal effects at the previous night’s concert. My spirits were down and I was in desperate need of salvation. As I sat wallowing in sorrow outside of the club I suddenly felt a supernatural calling that drew me in like a rat following the Pied Piper. What followed was to this day one of the best shows I have ever witnessed. The scene inside was nothing short of insanity. Horns were blaring that could have taken down the walls of Jericho, the drums pounding a rhythm deep into my heart, guitars, bass and organ wailing and King Khan at the epicenter of it all commanding the stage like a soul-soaked shaman. I was spellbound, moved, shaken, stirred and cured – not unlike what I hear religious experiences are like. I left the show a saved and converted man. I had experienced Supreme Genius.
INTRODUCING THE SHRINES
Mr. Speedfinger: guitar Original member of the Shrines. He owns a bar in Kassel and hasn’t charged Khan for a drink in five years.
Riddiman: bass Gypsy-punk and truck-driver. He found his bass in the garbage and plays it up to the very day. Member of the Anarchist-Elektro-Punk-Band EGOTRONIC.
John Boy Adonis: drums Even though he looks like a bizarre mixture between Jesus Christ and Charlie Manson, no kinship could be proven. Member of the Experimental-Sub-Underground-Band INCLUB EXPLOSIVO.
Ron Streeter: percussion Percussionist of countless soul-legends. Khan slid a paper with his phone-number under the toilet-door, with one simple plea “don’t wipe your ass with it”. Two days later Ron played with the shrines.
Freddy “Mr. Ovitch” Rococo: lead organ and piano Khan had organized a show for the French one-man-band FREDOVITCH. Freddie performed in a silver go-go dress with a matching cowboy-hat and full beard. Two weeks later the shrines had him flown into the London studio.
Sam Fransisco: trumpet Plays in numerous noise-bands with long artful names. After his girlfriend left him, Sam hurled himself into excessive drug abuse
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