Odds are you've read about this on a bunch of other blogs and are on you're way over right now, but just as a final heads up, King Khan and the Shrines, Deerhunter, the Black Lips, and Tall Firs are doing one of those free McCarren Pool shows in roughly 30 or so minutes. If you don't know who any of these bands are, read this, this, this, and the below interview Jim McHugh of Dark Meat did with King Khan and get a move on.Vice: Yo Khan, first thing I gotta ask, coming off a 2 month tour with Dark Meat, is what are you guys travelling in?
King Khan: Well, there’s 14 people in all, so we’re in a—you know those handicapped-people busses? Not a full-size schoolbus, but kind of a minibus?
You’re in a shortbus.
Yeah—it’s orange, and it’s even got one of those doorhandles that the driver pushes to open.
I was excited that our bus had one of those, too. How did you guys hook up with Ron Streeter, Curtis Mayfield’s old percussionist?
It was really late and I was really drunk and I’d never been to this bar, so I walk in and there’s Ron playing percussion with this DJ—it’s this latin DJ doing regular DJ stuff, and Ron playing along to it. His set-up was so amazing: all these spoons and maracas and bongo. He had one of those big red trucker hats, and he just looked really funny. This was in Kassel, the small town I lived in before I moved to Berlin, and I wasn’t sure if he was African or German or spoke any English, so I went up to him and I started talking to him like this: "HELL-O! I PLAY RITH-THIM AND BLUES MUS-IC!" and he’s looking at me like I’m a total idiot and he says gruffly: "Shit, I gotta go to the bathroom." He’s in there for like 15 minutes and I’m drunk and totally impatient, so finally I write my number on this napkin and I walk in the bathroom and go "HELL-O! ARE YOU STILL HEE-UR?" and I hear him go "Got-damn it!" and I say "HERE IS MY PHONE NUM-BER! PLEASE DON’T WIPE YOUR ASS WITH IT!" He starts laughing, and that’s when I asked him if he spoke English. Through the stall door, he goes "Motherfucker, I grew up in San Francisco! I play rhythm and blues!" It was like God gave me this person! That’s amazing. Can you tell me about your great granddad, the sitar-player?
He lived in Mogasudai, which some people call the "Anus of India." It’s right next to an old train junction that was hundreds of years old. There’s a saying in India that goes "it takes ten men to be one man from Mogasudai," because the place was really tough. My great grandad was this deadbeat guy who played sitar all day and was addicted to opium, which is a pretty vicious combination! Can you imagine? Getting up in the morning and just starting in with the WAAAAUUURRRRNRNNGGG! So I have a heavy psychedelic connection to Indian music. My father collected Indian classical music when he was a kid. He would travel the trains for free because his father was a conductor, and he found all this amazing music from around the country. Supposedly when I was in my mom’s belly, they would put headphones on the womb and blast Indian classical sitar in there! I always thought that had to have had a heavy effect on my brain. Imagine if you’re incubating and you’re surrounded by this WAAAUURRRHNNNGGG! I’ve probably got special folds; paisleys in my brain!INTERVIEW BY JIM MCHUGH
King Khan: Well, there’s 14 people in all, so we’re in a—you know those handicapped-people busses? Not a full-size schoolbus, but kind of a minibus?
You’re in a shortbus.
Yeah—it’s orange, and it’s even got one of those doorhandles that the driver pushes to open.
I was excited that our bus had one of those, too. How did you guys hook up with Ron Streeter, Curtis Mayfield’s old percussionist?
It was really late and I was really drunk and I’d never been to this bar, so I walk in and there’s Ron playing percussion with this DJ—it’s this latin DJ doing regular DJ stuff, and Ron playing along to it. His set-up was so amazing: all these spoons and maracas and bongo. He had one of those big red trucker hats, and he just looked really funny. This was in Kassel, the small town I lived in before I moved to Berlin, and I wasn’t sure if he was African or German or spoke any English, so I went up to him and I started talking to him like this: "HELL-O! I PLAY RITH-THIM AND BLUES MUS-IC!" and he’s looking at me like I’m a total idiot and he says gruffly: "Shit, I gotta go to the bathroom." He’s in there for like 15 minutes and I’m drunk and totally impatient, so finally I write my number on this napkin and I walk in the bathroom and go "HELL-O! ARE YOU STILL HEE-UR?" and I hear him go "Got-damn it!" and I say "HERE IS MY PHONE NUM-BER! PLEASE DON’T WIPE YOUR ASS WITH IT!" He starts laughing, and that’s when I asked him if he spoke English. Through the stall door, he goes "Motherfucker, I grew up in San Francisco! I play rhythm and blues!" It was like God gave me this person! That’s amazing. Can you tell me about your great granddad, the sitar-player?
He lived in Mogasudai, which some people call the "Anus of India." It’s right next to an old train junction that was hundreds of years old. There’s a saying in India that goes "it takes ten men to be one man from Mogasudai," because the place was really tough. My great grandad was this deadbeat guy who played sitar all day and was addicted to opium, which is a pretty vicious combination! Can you imagine? Getting up in the morning and just starting in with the WAAAAUUURRRRNRNNGGG! So I have a heavy psychedelic connection to Indian music. My father collected Indian classical music when he was a kid. He would travel the trains for free because his father was a conductor, and he found all this amazing music from around the country. Supposedly when I was in my mom’s belly, they would put headphones on the womb and blast Indian classical sitar in there! I always thought that had to have had a heavy effect on my brain. Imagine if you’re incubating and you’re surrounded by this WAAAUURRRHNNNGGG! I’ve probably got special folds; paisleys in my brain!INTERVIEW BY JIM MCHUGH