King's X - Readers' response to coverage
Such is the battlecry of a few HM readers. With the prolific rate at which they or their band members are releasing albums, though, it's hard not to cover this creative band -- especially with the spiritual influence found in their art. Since we had already had Ty Tabor on the cover of last year's March/April issue, and a five-page article on Doug Pinnick's Poundhound project in the July/August issue, we thought it was time to talk to the third member of the band -- drummer Jerry Gaskill.
In the long and challenging road that King's X has traveled, Jerry has arguably had the most difficult circumstances surrounding his life. He almost lost his wife to a car accident during the recording of the Ear Candy album, then did "lose" his wife to divorce, and then had a police-reported attempt on his life. But the man behind the five-piece kit for King's X is coping and carrying on. One of the reasons for this current ability to cope might be the ease with which the latest album, Tape Head, was recorded.
"I found that to be very pressure-less, very free, and very fun. We had talked about getting together and just writing songs for a long time, and after doing that, I wondered why we hadn't done this sooner. I can remember back in the early days, we wrote `Wonder' together, for the first record. That may be the only song that we've actually written together as a band. This is the only way to make King's X records, in my opinion; and hopefully, from now on, that's the way we will make King's X records, writing songs together as a band. It was pressure-less because what I played felt like the right things to play, because I was coming up with it, and not trying to figure out what the other guy was feeling when he wrote the song."
The environment was somewhat helpful for Jerry on a personal level, too. He had just gone through the finalization of a divorce and broke up with a new girlfriend the day they started recording. "That whole thing caused me to enter into the lowest point of my entire life, feeling as worthless as I've ever felt as a human being. What helped me make those decisions was encouragement from Ty and Doug. They said, `Yeah, you've gotta do this; this is more important than the record. The record can wait. You've got to deal with your life.' And I just felt terribly, terribly low, and worthless. Like, `Golly, I'm just a stupid idiot! I get myself involved in situations and I have no insight or wisdom into anything, and I just screw everything up!' I just felt totally and utterly worthless in my life. And that's how I felt during the whole making of the Tape Head record. But somehow pushed through it and played, and felt really good about what I played, and the songs that we wrote together, and the whole outcome of the project. I thought it was great. But the way I felt inside, I was dying, like there was a vacuum in my heart, just sucking the life right outta me -- constantly. And I'm still feeling the effects of it, like I've got to get something new in my life. I've got to do something, I've gotta make a solo record, or just something to bring myself back to a place where I feel like I have any worth at all."
Jerry seemed relaxed and fully "coped" during my interaction with him, which took place between the band's sound check and their Austin performance time. Maybe it's the routine of being on the road or the fact that he's not as depressed as he described; or maybe haven written several songs for his solo album has provided the "therapy" he needed. Nevertheless, he's moving on.
"It's hard to describe them (the songs he's written). I've got a tape that I did on a four-track, and that's all I have right now, and it's basically me playing acoustic guitar and singing. I have a lot of ideas that I couldn't do just on acoustic guitar. So I don't know how to describe the music I write. I could say it's kind of in the vein of Bob Dylan somewhat, but at the same time, it's not, really; the Beatles, but it's not that either, to me." Turning to Monty Colvin, who was just getting ready to go on stage, he asked, "How do you describe your music, Monty? Do you find it as hard as I do to put into words?" To which the experienced musician replied, "Yeah, it's almost impossible."
Who knows if Jerry will follow the same route to solo albumhood as his bandmates, but I'm sure the band's label will at least be interested in keeping all the solo releases in "the family" at Metal Blade. These solo ventures by each member are not hinting at the end of the group, however. It's probably working at much the opposite direction, as the band seems more invigorated than usual these days. "With the Tape Head record, things are new in many ways. (It's) kind of like a new beginning in a way. I feel like, in some ways, it almost feels like the early days, when things were first starting to happen for us. And at the same time, I know that there are so many other directions that can be gone into. But in the early days, it was just King's X. And I feel like this is a type of new beginning for King's X, but at the same time, that involves all these other things that we could possibly be, because of all the other years of King's X, that have gotten us to the position that we're in. We did have some kind of respect somewhere, and it makes it easier for us to be able to do things, as opposed to when we first started. So we had that, along with a new record that I feel is... it feels new, kinda, maybe, sorta."
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