King Khan & BBQ Show Page 2

KK: That’s when I met my wife, that’s how actually I fell in love with my wife because we--she loved to record stuff. She went to Mexico, and like I met her when I was twenty two, and like she played me all these recordings that she did on this little tape recorder of like little Mexican kids singing, it was really beautiful. I was like shit you know, that’s the only way you should record, one or two mics. And she loved Elvis and all this crap and I kinda brought black rock & roll into her life, she’s a German and I love her like crazy. We’ve been married for seven years and it’s been fucking amazing. She’s the greatest woman I have ever met and I’m very happy that I met her. Any ways Moon Studios started when me and Lil Mama, Lil Mama Khan, God bless her soul, and we started recording stuff in our living room. I would be recording and doing like the engineering kind of shit and she would be cooking the best food ever, and that’s why the Black Lips did their last record at my house because they were unsatisfied with the recording they did in California and then Moon Studios saved their asses. And that’s kinda like what stated the Death Cult and everything, it all spiraled from like just the spirit of making rock & roll really good and saving rock & roll from the pathetic piece of shit that it had become. In 90’s I think the Devil Dogs put all the jocks back in their fuckin’ place.

(Khan actually started Moon Studios in Berlin, Germany in 1999, link: myspace.com/moonstudiosberlin)

FB: What bands are part of the Death Cult? I have heard you mention the Spits, the Black Lips, yourselves....
KK: The newest band that joined the Death Cult is Live Fast Die, those guys are in the Death Cult. Demon’s Claws have always been a Death Cult (band), Spits, Black Lips, us, Gris Gris, my Shrines, and I guess that’s pretty much it for now. You know what I never wanted this Death Cult to like go out of proportion and be like, “Oh, Death Cult fanzine”, and all this bullshit. It’s basically the idea of a Death Cult is that like you know I was really saved by rock & roll like two or three years ago when I heard the Black Lips and Gris Gris, and all these bands, Spits, and all that shit, like I was living lonely in fucking Germany and I missed all my friends so much. You know I moved over when I was 22, that’s when I had my first baby, and I was like really missing all my brothers and when I heard these records of these bands I was like, “Fuck, you know rock & roll is alive again”, I was so proud and happy. When we came to America and we toured with the Black Lips I was telling them I want these people in the Death Cult and like we had all these little magical rituals that we started, and they really work. I won’t divulge any information because that would be unsacred. But every one that I wanted in the Death Cult is now in the Death Cult and we are the ultimate people to decide who is in the Death Cult. And I think that by joining these people--and In The Red Records also, well Larry tells me he wants to sign every Death Cult band. So I have a little bit of control now and I think the Death Cult is gonna change the fuckin’ world.

FB: Did you do both the King Khan & BBQ albums at Moon?
KK: No, the first one was recorded at--DM Bob, our friend in Hamburg, he’s like a New Orleans expatriate, actually no he’s from Baton Rouge. He’s got the got the greatest record collection ever man, like he’s got all the soul shit that you could ever imagine from Louisiana, like he’s just got everything religiously packed away in his walls. He’s a great person and we record the first album, we did six songs the first session, the first album was done in two years, like in two separate sessions, six songs, six songs. Actually we did more than that, we’re gonna re-release it on an official release on In The Red in a couple of months, like of the first album with all the out takes and shit and a DVD also. That shit is like, it was really funny because me and Mark, actually after we recorded the first six songs, we got into a huge fight and like we didn’t want to talk to each other any more and I was like “Fuck you”, and he was like, “Fuck you”, and we split because he lived with me for two months and my family and everything, and it got really sour and shit. And then my wife was listening to these six songs that we had recorded and she was like, “Shit, that’s the best shit you have ever done. You should keep doing that. Make up with Mark and like fix all that shit.”. So in a lot of ways my wife actually saved the King Khan & BBQ Show, and that’s why I love her so much.

FB: What can we expect on the DVD?
KK: A lot of fucking crazy shit. Unfortunately I lost all the footage that I had from like the first Death Cult tour. I have a lot of pictures actually that you’ll see on that from the Death Cult tour, like in New Orleans and shit, before Katrina and stuff. But basically the DVD is to show you that America is a fuckin’ beautiful, beautiful, beautiful wasteland of like wonderful people and we are one percent of the like the chosen ones, and the chosen ones will always dominate over the fucking idiot, and wear a dress and teabag jocks.

FB: When are the Shrines going to record again? Your last LP was 2004?
KK: Yeah, yeah, we got a new album coming out. Actually Greg Ashley from the Gris Gris is gonna produce the next one and In The Red is gonna put it out like some time next year. But I wanna take my time with this one, you know? The second one that we recorded we did it really way too fast and it was for like--because of business reasons. You should never try to make an album for a tour, ‘cause that’s fucking bullshit, you should just make an album because it’s an album and not like because your in stress. So this next album with the Shrines is gonna be more garage and more punk and more psychedelic and less funk I guess and more just soul, it’s gonna be good.

FB: Any chance that your stuff will come out in the U.S. and be more accessible?
KK: Yeah, In The Red’s gonna put out the next Shrines record for sure but we’re just gonna take our time to record it and I really want to get Greg Ashley to record it because I think he’s got one of the best ears in rock & roll right now, and he does everything real simple. My little sister used to always say, “Keep it simple, stupid”, that’s like the most important thing in rock & roll. So K.I.S.S., keep it simple stupid, although I never kiss my sister, but I did kiss Mark’s Mother.

FB: Any more Mind Controls stuff coming out?
BBQ: I was supposed to record with them a few weeks ago but I broke this wrist and it’s just healing now.
KK: Mind Controls are fucking awesome, and there’s a live on the radio thing that’s amazing that will hopefully come out.

FB: Any more solo BBQ stuff coming out?
BBQ: Yeah, I’ve got a new Mark Sultan thing.
KK: He’s gonna do an album with Barry Manilow, it’s called MANilow, MAN capital letters.
BBQ: No, I’ve got an album on In The Red called the Sultanic Versus coming out in....

FB: You did an album for Rip Off, a band called the Black Jaspers...
KK: Oh, you heard that? How’d you get it?

FB: I never heard it, but I have heard of it though.
KK: No way, that’s awesome. Actually Larry really loved it, from In The Red. You know what I’m a fuckin’ lazy motherfucker and I don’t send that shit out to any one, I sent that out to one person and he’s like a rock-a-billy motherfucker, and I love him but like he’s not into punk shit. Actually Rip Off was supposed to put it out at first and he was all over it and then he was like, “I don’t have any money, I have to put out the ughh...”, then he got plastic surgery and fuckin’ ruined his reputation. (Laughter) So fuck that motherfucker. That’s gonna come out because In The Red’s gonna do a compilation, a three record compilation it’s called The Best Of Moon Studios, and there’s gonna be some Black Lips on it, hopefully some Spits, Demon’s Claws, and like a bunch of bands. I’m gonna record it--I’ve recorded already about like half of it, but I’ve got to record the next in the next year and that’s gonna come out in a three record box set. It’s for the Death Cult.

FB: What can we expect for future releases and tours?
KK: You know what I think the next album is gonna be way better than even the new album that we did. I love the new album that we did but unfortunately, because of the circumstances, like we didn’t get to jam as much as we did. Like the first album was really you know two years of work that we used to jam in this Nazi bunker all the time and drink tons of beer together and write songs like "Fish Fight" and like, there was a lot of collaboration. I think the best songs that we do are collaborations, you know? The second record is a lot more like I do more of the punky kind of stuff and then BBQ does the great ballads, "Why Aren’t You Lying" (Why Don't You Lie? --ed) is like a collaboration. We want to have more time and just like, like the last album was basically like we worked maybe three or four weeks on it rather than like two years. So we’ll take more time and make it more psychedelic and more beautiful and more doo wop, and anything that will piss off all the internet geeks that are complaining about the album.

FB: You’re coming back next year to tour the States?
KK: Hell yeah, you know what actually it’s kind of a secret but like The Cramps actually like really love What’s For Dinner and like so they called Larry up and said they listened to it over and over again so they want, well hopefully they’re gonna want us to tour with them on the next tour, and the next tour is gonna be awesome because the Cramps got like the girl from White Zombie is gonna play guitar with them. They’re actually releasing rare stuff from like the Gravest Hits, like the old Cramps shit like Alex Chilton recordings that have never been released, so the next tour they’re gonna do is like strictly old songs from the like the first few records and so we’re hopefully gonna be lucky enough to support that. If that happens then fuck, I’m gonna be the happiest motherfucker ever, I’m gonna wear Poison Ivy stalkings.

KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW LINKS:

King Khan & BBQ Show Myspace

King Khan & The Shrines Myspace

Mark Sultan website

Mark Sultan Myspace

BBQ interview on FB

Mind Controls Myspace

Moon Studios Myspace


	Page Two

			FB: Tell me about Tina. BBQ: She’s special. KK: (in crazy voice) You wanna know about Tina? You wanna know about Tina? Tina is real special, the original Tina was Martina, because I used to wear a tennis dress and pretend to be Martina Navratilova because we were in Germany when we started that shit. So we thought it would be funny if I was like this lesbian tennis player. And it’s funny that you mentioned the Wild Weekend because that weekend there was like ten Spanish guys and girls dressed like a tennis team and they were like flipping out at me. They were like, (in Spanish accent) “Ah, King Khan, King Khan, please let me take picture with you”. BBQ: Why are you Japanese all of a sudden? KK: Well Spanish and Japanese are like, Janish? But a--Tina came out because like since I was a kid I always liked to dress up like a girl. I mean I’m not a fuckin’ gay motherfucker, I got two kids and a wife that I love very much. But I love the fact that these fuckin’ Rock-a-billy pieces of shit come to our fuckin’ show and they’re really big fans of ours and they’re like, “Oh, I love you guys”, and then they see me dressed up like a fuckin’ chick and I teabag one of them and like they start crying and I spit in their face and kick them and then they’re like clapping in the next two seconds. I think it’s good to mix up the sexualities because that’s the problem with America, everyone is fucking jaded and no one’s got a finger up their ass. Just try it, put a finger up your ass, if you don’t like it then fucking call me and fuckin’ complain. BBQ: Money back guarantee. KK: Money back fuckin’ guarantee. FB: When did you start Moon Studios?

	KK: That’s when I met my wife, that’s how actually I fell in love with my wife because we--she loved to record stuff. She went to Mexico, and like I met her when I was twenty two, and like she played me all these recordings that she did on this little tape recorder of like little Mexican kids singing, it was really beautiful. I was like shit you know, that’s the only way you should record, one or two mics. And she loved Elvis and all this crap and I kinda brought black rock & roll into her life, she’s a German and I love her like crazy. We’ve been married for seven years and it’s been fucking amazing. She’s the greatest woman I have ever met and I’m very happy that I met her. Any ways Moon Studios started when me and Lil Mama, Lil Mama Khan, God bless her soul, and we started recording stuff in our living room. I would be recording and doing like the engineering kind of shit and she would be cooking the best food ever, and that’s why the Black Lips did their last record at my house because they were unsatisfied with the recording they did in California and then Moon Studios saved their asses. And that’s kinda like what stated the Death Cult and everything, it all spiraled from like just the spirit of making rock & roll really good and saving rock & roll from the pathetic piece of shit that it had become. In 90’s I think the Devil Dogs put all the jocks back in their fuckin’ place. (Khan actually started Moon Studios in Berlin, Germany in 1999, link: myspace.com/moonstudiosberlin) FB: What bands are part of the Death Cult? I have heard you mention the Spits, the Black Lips, yourselves.... KK: The newest band that joined the Death Cult is Live Fast Die, those guys are in the Death Cult. Demon’s Claws have always been a Death Cult (band), Spits, Black Lips, us, Gris Gris, my Shrines, and I guess that’s pretty much it for now. You know what I never wanted this Death Cult to like go out of proportion and be like, “Oh, Death Cult fanzine”, and all this bullshit. It’s basically the idea of a Death Cult is that like you know I was really saved by rock & roll like two or three years ago when I heard the Black Lips and Gris Gris, and all these bands, Spits, and all that shit, like I was living lonely in fucking Germany and I missed all my friends so much. You know I moved over when I was 22, that’s when I had my first baby, and I was like really missing all my brothers and when I heard these records of these bands I was like, “Fuck, you know rock & roll is alive again”, I was so proud and happy. When we came to America and we toured with the Black Lips I was telling them I want these people in the Death Cult and like we had all these little magical rituals that we started, and they really work. I won’t divulge any information because that would be unsacred. But every one that I wanted in the Death Cult is now in the Death Cult and we are the ultimate people to decide who is in the Death Cult. And I think that by joining these people--and In The Red Records also, well Larry tells me he wants to sign every Death Cult band. So I have a little bit of control now and I think the Death Cult is gonna change the fuckin’ world. FB: Did you do both the King Khan & BBQ albums at Moon? KK: No, the first one was recorded at--DM Bob, our friend in Hamburg, he’s like a New Orleans expatriate, actually no he’s from Baton Rouge. He’s got the got the greatest record collection ever man, like he’s got all the soul shit that you could ever imagine from Louisiana, like he’s just got everything religiously packed away in his walls. He’s a great person and we record the first album, we did six songs the first session, the first album was done in two years, like in two separate sessions, six songs, six songs. Actually we did more than that, we’re gonna re-release it on an official release on In The Red in a couple of months, like of the first album with all the out takes and shit and a DVD also. That shit is like, it was really funny because me and Mark, actually after we recorded the first six songs, we got into a huge fight and like we didn’t want to talk to each other any more and I was like “Fuck you”, and he was like, “Fuck you”, and we split because he lived with me for two months and my family and everything, and it got really sour and shit. And then my wife was listening to these six songs that we had recorded and she was like, “Shit, that’s the best shit you have ever done. You should keep doing that. Make up with Mark and like fix all that shit.”. So in a lot of ways my wife actually saved the King Khan & BBQ Show, and that’s why I love her so much. FB: What can we expect on the DVD? KK: A lot of fucking crazy shit. Unfortunately I lost all the footage that I had from like the first Death Cult tour. I have a lot of pictures actually that you’ll see on that from the Death Cult tour, like in New Orleans and shit, before Katrina and stuff. But basically the DVD is to show you that America is a fuckin’ beautiful, beautiful, beautiful wasteland of like wonderful people and we are one percent of the like the chosen ones, and the chosen ones will always dominate over the fucking idiot, and wear a dress and teabag jocks. FB: When are the Shrines going to record again? Your last LP was 2004? KK: Yeah, yeah, we got a new album coming out. Actually Greg Ashley from the Gris Gris is gonna produce the next one and In The Red is gonna put it out like some time next year. But I wanna take my time with this one, you know? The second one that we recorded we did it really way too fast and it was for like--because of business reasons. You should never try to make an album for a tour, ‘cause that’s fucking bullshit, you should just make an album because it’s an album and not like because your in stress. So this next album with the Shrines is gonna be more garage and more punk and more psychedelic and less funk I guess and more just soul, it’s gonna be good. FB: Any chance that your stuff will come out in the U.S. and be more accessible? KK: Yeah, In The Red’s gonna put out the next Shrines record for sure but we’re just gonna take our time to record it and I really want to get Greg Ashley to record it because I think he’s got one of the best ears in rock & roll right now, and he does everything real simple. My little sister used to always say, “Keep it simple, stupid”, that’s like the most important thing in rock & roll. So K.I.S.S., keep it simple stupid, although I never kiss my sister, but I did kiss Mark’s Mother. FB: Any more Mind Controls stuff coming out? BBQ: I was supposed to record with them a few weeks ago but I broke this wrist and it’s just healing now. KK: Mind Controls are fucking awesome, and there’s a live on the radio thing that’s amazing that will hopefully come out. FB: Any more solo BBQ stuff coming out? BBQ: Yeah, I’ve got a new Mark Sultan thing. KK: He’s gonna do an album with Barry Manilow, it’s called MANilow, MAN capital letters. BBQ: No, I’ve got an album on In The Red called the Sultanic Versus coming out in.... FB: You did an album for Rip Off, a band called the Black Jaspers... KK: Oh, you heard that? How’d you get it? FB: I never heard it, but I have heard of it though. KK: No way, that’s awesome. Actually Larry really loved it, from In The Red. You know what I’m a fuckin’ lazy motherfucker and I don’t send that shit out to any one, I sent that out to one person and he’s like a rock-a-billy motherfucker, and I love him but like he’s not into punk shit. Actually Rip Off was supposed to put it out at first and he was all over it and then he was like, “I don’t have any money, I have to put out the ughh...”, then he got plastic surgery and fuckin’ ruined his reputation. (Laughter) So fuck that motherfucker. That’s gonna come out because In The Red’s gonna do a compilation, a three record compilation it’s called The Best Of Moon Studios, and there’s gonna be some Black Lips on it, hopefully some Spits, Demon’s Claws, and like a bunch of bands. I’m gonna record it--I’ve recorded already about like half of it, but I’ve got to record the next in the next year and that’s gonna come out in a three record box set. It’s for the Death Cult. FB: What can we expect for future releases and tours? KK: You know what I think the next album is gonna be way better than even the new album that we did. I love the new album that we did but unfortunately, because of the circumstances, like we didn’t get to jam as much as we did. Like the first album was really you know two years of work that we used to jam in this Nazi bunker all the time and drink tons of beer together and write songs like "Fish Fight" and like, there was a lot of collaboration. I think the best songs that we do are collaborations, you know? The second record is a lot more like I do more of the punky kind of stuff and then BBQ does the great ballads, "Why Aren’t You Lying" (Why Don't You Lie? --ed) is like a collaboration. We want to have more time and just like, like the last album was basically like we worked maybe three or four weeks on it rather than like two years. So we’ll take more time and make it more psychedelic and more beautiful and more doo wop, and anything that will piss off all the internet geeks that are complaining about the album. FB: You’re coming back next year to tour the States? KK: Hell yeah, you know what actually it’s kind of a secret but like The Cramps actually like really love What’s For Dinner and like so they called Larry up and said they listened to it over and over again so they want, well hopefully they’re gonna want us to tour with them on the next tour, and the next tour is gonna be awesome because the Cramps got like the girl from White Zombie is gonna play guitar with them. They’re actually releasing rare stuff from like the Gravest Hits, like the old Cramps shit like Alex Chilton recordings that have never been released, so the next tour they’re gonna do is like strictly old songs from the like the first few records and so we’re hopefully gonna be lucky enough to support that. If that happens then fuck, I’m gonna be the happiest motherfucker ever, I’m gonna wear Poison Ivy stalkings. KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW LINKS: King Khan & BBQ Show Myspace King Khan & The Shrines Myspace Mark Sultan website Mark Sultan Myspace BBQ interview on FB Mind Controls Myspace Moon Studios Myspace