Uncivil rites

King Khan & the Shrines blow some minds

PAGAN POTENTATE: King Khan

If you aren’t yet aligned with the Shrine grind, fronted by Berlin-based Montrealer King Khan, then get hep, sucker. This bunch of beautiful bastards bang out hip-shaking, corpse-waking, no-faking dynamite psych-soul jams, sweet as honey and tough as the hide of a warthog what got beat by its mama with a twice-as-ugly stick. The Mirror reached King Khan by mental telepathy.

Mirror: Tell us a bit about your latest LP, The Supreme Genius of... It’s a retrospective, no? What were the criteria for selecting tunes for it?

King Khan: A scientific experiment—after putting all the songs in a jukebox, we played them all at random to a room full of rabbits and monkeys. The songs which generated the most orgasmic responses were selected for the record. This record is dedicated to the sexual climax of the animal kingdom, and the tribe of rabbit-monkeys riding a river of jism.

M: As a best-of, it’s a great place for people unfamiliar with King Khan & the Shrines to start. What words of wisdom or warning would you have for such virgins?

KK: K.I.S.S.—keep it simple, stupid. Also, foreplay plus wisdom equals “oops!”

M: What’s up with the band? Any line-up changes since you were here last?

KK: No, same line-up. The band is not a band, it’s a family, and adoption is expensive so we stick with what we got and love.

M: How are things going in Europe? Play any fucked up shows recently?

KK: The last Demons Claws show in Berlin turned into a late-night psychedelic pagan ritual campfire where we tapped into the spirit of St-Laurent and bathed in his fiery tears, then ended up sharing that experience with 40 students and one overzealous teacher who wanted to know what the secret of rock ’n’ roll was about.

M: Got anything going on aside from the Shrines? Projects of your own?

KK: New King Khan & BBQ for 2009, a best-of-Moon Studios compilation with Black Lips, Cocobeurre, Deerhunter, Demons Claws and more on In the Red, Black Jaspers 10-inch on Die Slaughterhaus, new Saba Lou single on Voodoo Rhythm. Always something cookin’.

With the Sunday Sinners and Icy
Demons at la Sala Rossa on
Friday, July 25, 9 p.m., $12