King's X - Raw interview with Ty Tabor on Black Like Sunday
King's X is in an enviable position. While they've never sold either Gold or Platinum, they are selling enough with each release to continue putting out their art. So why are they working so hard? The past two years has seen them gigging as hard as any up-and-coming new act, building a new audience by playing in front of other band's fans (Dio, Fishbone, Hammerfall, Dream Theater, to name a few). Their new album, Black Like Sunday, is another non-traditional act for a veteran band of their stature to take. They formed their own label (Brop!) and went back to old pre-King's X demo tapes (when they were called The Edge and Sneak Preview) and re-recorded them without reshaping the original feel too much. Thus, the band wears its pop saturated Police and U2 influence on its sleeve as much as their early lyrics reflect their younger faith. "These songs are from our first seven years as a band (most between 80-83). We did one record back then, but we didn't like it at all and weren't involved in the mixing. We gave copies away at shows because we didn't want it sold in stores!" Unlike those thin-sounding recordings, Black Like Sunday is something the band collectively feels great about this time.
Raw Quotes from Ty Tabor interview (by Doug Van Pelt):
D: So, do you have several interviews set up - thirty minutes back to back to back?
T: yeah, 17 in a row.
D: Awesome. Whoa ...so right in the middle...
T: Yeah, pretty much. Actually, this one I only have 20 because I have an on air radio thing at 4:20.
D: No problem not planning on keep you long anyways. I know the stories of your life and all that. Well just a little bit of catch up how things going?
T: it's going good. its been probably the most busy I have been my entire life.
D: That's what you said last year. [haha]
T: it's only escalated. it's a lot more involved because I'm running a record label and everything. which I wanted to talk to you about because I wanted to place an ad in your magazine because I'm sort of doing all of the ads for King?s X for this next record right now. We decided to take things in our own hands and that's some of the most basic things to do, publicity of a record..
D: Right
T: We have the same distribution and Metal Blade is still working with us but we actually own the label now. And I'm doing all of the ads and I definitely wanted to do one in your magazine, if it's ok.
D: For sure.. So you fulfilled your deal with Metal Blade, got your own label ,and any other changes? Are you self managed?
T: Yeah we have been for about 4-5 years. that's just part of it. You know, getting more things in our hands. We?re open to other ideas, other management stuff, right now we?re just doing the best with what we have though.
D: Good deal. I got some great quotes about Black Like Sunday from your bio but I like to have slightly different quotes. So what was your inspiration behind wanting to go back to these sold songs and re-record them?
T: Umm... I really don't know... where the first seed came from that made us start thinking about it... I really don't know. I've racked my brain through to try and remember that but I don't know. I just know that we all three just seemed to be on the same page at the same time and were real open to the idea to see what those old songs would sound like playing them now, the way we play and with the sound we have now and stuff. And just the fact there?s so many songs from that first seven years of the band that were peoples', you know, just absolute core favorite songs, that they begged us to do forever. I guess we have been away from them long enough to be able to see them for songs that we really still do believe in and think are good songs so we felt like, I don't know, I guess that we had been away from them long enough that it would be a shame not to record them and we just did it.
D: Wow, cool. Kind of a fun idea. Listen, I got some cassette tapes...I guess of a demo, I guess called the 'Edge demo,' I don?t know who calls it that , and I picked up one song where I could here the intro guitar lines from "Picture," and I have it written down in the other office and I could reference if I ran in there and got it, but can't remember the name of the song.... but I noticed they had a little piece of a song that you may have grabbed a hold of to inspire "Pictures..."
T: We have done that with some songs along the way, like taken early ideas and then wrote a new song around it or change lyrics. But the difference is, that these songs are actually in their actual state, their real form of how they were written and for when they were written to see how some of them stand up now even still, that it just, we got really excited about it. The songs kind of came back to life to us, you know.
D: That's cool
T: And there's a lot more to it to. What we sent out was seven songs but there were 14 on the record, and it even goes into the more "out there" areas.
D: I know one of the things I thought about that I wanted to ask you about... I noticed from one of those old demo tapes, the song "Working Man" was there, and uh, some of the lyrics look like they have been reworked a little bit . Like on "Working Man"... "the curse can be reversed" and "...get on your knees and pray" ... on the cd that I've got it says "...the curse He wants reversed..."
T: Right
D: Umm...what was sort of the thinking behind that and how many lyrics were changed and for what reasons?
T: That's like one of the few songs where Doug made a slight tweak of it to be more honest with where he?s at now. But he tried to still keep it within... I'm sorry, one second Doug...
D: Sure..
[coughing]
T: I'm getting into that "cough talk" part of the day...
D: [haha]
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