Who are these guys? They are the band Kingshifter! Per their bio, they “play hard-ass-rock m*therf**ker! End of story.” This band is unique, self-guided, and if they had wanted any lip from you, they would pull down their pants! These guys are the rock and roll lifestyle that you’ve read about and wish you’d lived! All hail to the king! KINGSHIFTER! We got Sprout, Kink, Derek, & David …all of Kingshifter on the phone, and it was a lively conversation!
Hey guys! I know you were out playing a few shows throughout the Midwest a few months ago, took a well deserved break, and are now celebrating the release of your record in September, 26 Tons.
Sprout/KS: Yes, we took a short break, I had some things to take care of at home, and then we have some other things to take care of business before the release of our new record 26 Tons which was released on September 3rd. We had our release party in Wichita, KS at the Lizard Lounge on Saturday, September 7th, and it was unreal!
Hellz yes it was! I was there! Good times! Let’s dig in a little bit before going into that record. What was the first record you remember buying?
Sprout/KS: The first rock record of any kind that I ever bought was (queue the suspense!) The cover looked cool to me, I was six years old, and I asked my mother if I could get this cassette tape, and it happened to be The Clash’s Combat Rock for six cents. So my mom was like, “well whatever,” so I listened to it, and I liked it. I’ve been into rock n’ roll, and the heavy stuff ever since.
Very cool that you got your start with The Clash! Very nice! Now, you guys just recently inked a deal with “Pavement Entertainment.” How did that all come about, and how did you decide they were the right home label for Kingshifter?
Kink/KS: We were on Facebook, and we happened to see a post from Pavement Records asking about “who are the bands we should be checking out?” and we noticed that someone had mentioned Kingshifter. Next thing we knew, they had “liked” our band’s Facebook page, and we thought, “that’s pretty cool. They might be checking us out.” Next thing we know, we got a message from the CEO of Pavement Records, asking about the status for our next record, and we just had happened to finish recording it a week prior. So that’s where that all started.
Let’s dig a little further into this new record you guys dropped on September 3rd, called 26 Tons. Explain to me what it’s all about.
Sprout/KS: “26 Tons” is basically a collection of songs that we’ve been working on. We’ve played a couple of them live recently, and the record was just the next step in the evolution of Kingshifter’s style. Our drummer, David Steinbach, has been with us now for almost a year, and he’s fit in well and we’re happy to have him with us. Writing the new stuff, it was just like business as usual. We get together, and we worked out the bugs in certain songs, and there it goes. Content and lyric-wise, it’s a little bit different, and a little more intense than our EP Woes Of The Abysmal. For instance, we have a lot of songs pertaining to social commentary. I wanted to write some different kind of stuff – expressing different things that people might go through at times, as far as celebrating the good times, or even how to deal with the bad ones. Also, I wrote about how to shake off things that bother people, because in the grand scheme of things, there is worse that could happen.
What is the meaning behind the title 26 Tons?
Sprout/KS: 26 Tons is the amount of force upon impact inflicted by a tomahawk cruise missile.
Okay I was wondering how that title came about! That’s interesting. What relevance does that have behind the album? Is it a representation of anything you were writing?
Sprout/KS: Well, I’m not really good at writing in poetry, but lyrically I like writing about things that make an impact. I like to be very direct – I don’t like writing in riddles. I’ve done years playing in hardcore, grind-core, and deathmetal bands, but I’ve managed to do things differently with Kingshifter. The best way to get the reality to people is to just to tell it blatantly.
What are some of the largest differences and evolutionary steps between 26 Tons and the previous EPs and recordings?
Kink/KS: I would say the EP came together so fast for us that it was basically like, “Lets hurry up and write some songs, and get a product out there!” because we didn’t want to play a full show without the product to back it up. It just turned out better than we thought it would. Now over two years later, like you said it was natural progression of evolution to me. It’s a little more cohesive, but you’re just going to have to hear the record, but it’s still very Kingshifter. I’ll tell you that it has a lot of the same grooves, but it’s a little more refined, but still outrageous. If you visit both SoundCloud, and Pavement Entertainment we have a song streaming called “Unbroken.” Check that out right now. Recently a video came out very for our first single from 26 Tons called “Peace Of Mind.”
“Peace of Mind” by KingShifter from the album “26 Tons”
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Sprout, you live in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the rest of the band live in Wichita, Kansas. How does this affect the writing process?
Sprout/KS: I miss being on the road with all three of these guys. There’s nothing that compares to that when you’re in a band. There’s nothing better in a band than being together, and being able to hash it out, but unfortunately it can’t be that way. Basically, it’s just the same thing, except we’re not all in the jam room together. Kevin and David will probably be hashing out song ideas. Then I’ll get the email and take a listen to it, and I’ll come up with lyric patterns. I do still spend a lot of time in Wichita, so that helps. So whenever I’m in town, we get together and practice, and we do spend a lot of time playing shows and that helpful too. Whatever bugs need to be worked out, and whatever changes need to be made are almost always minor, so things get worked out pretty quickly. We figured out the music could be just as awesome doing it this way. It’ll be proven on the record.
If you could sum Kingshifter up in a motto, what would it say?
Sprout/KS: Pounding booze, and raising hell!
Just the answer I was looking for. “Pounding booze and raising hell, Kingshifter coming to a city near you! Last year, Kingshifter recorded a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Hole In The Sky”, how was that received and has it helped you guys enlarge your fanbase?
Sprout/KS: It’s helped us get our name out there a little bit, it hasn’t hurt us, and a lot of people do like listening to Black Sabbath. Every now and then a group has the guts to go out there and perform a Black Sabbath tune, and we’re one of them. We’re no Black Sabbath, but we do appreciate people diggin’ the tune. We covered it for an Ozzy Osbourne tribute record, and we were one of the bands selected to be a part of it, so that song “Hole In The Sky” in particular relates to our style so well, we could’ve wrote it, but we didn’t.
Are there any plans for a full national tour in support of “26 tons”?
Kink/KS: Currently we’re in the early stages of booking a Midwest tour, so it’s really too early to talk much about that, but we’re trying to get out there as far as we can now that the record dropped.
If there happens to be any promoters out there reading this, who do they need to get a hold of for booking Kingshifter?
Sprout/KS: KenyrdSkynrd! Or aka Kenny Ballinger of “Fine Swine Productions.” You can find him on Facebook. Or email us at Kingshifter316@gmail.com
The band has only been around since 2010. What have been some of your career highlights?
Sprout/KS: Well, it’s pretty interesting to say the least that we wanted to play Rocklahoma and we achieved that. So we’re just going to keep working towards doing bigger things and playing larger shows. We’ve already started seeing the results.
Is there a particular band that you guys would collectively love to tour with?
All/KS: Motorhead would be a fun tour to go out on! The Rolling Stones, Iron Maiden all would be great to go out with.
What about on a club circuit tour?
Kink/KS: We’d love to go out on tour with The Sword. A lot of Texas Hippie Coalition fans, are Kingshifter fans, so it would be nice to go out on the road with them perhaps. We’ve always been down for anything really.
Sprout, this question is directly geared for you: it’s not secret in your photos that you’re much taller than the rest of the members in the band. To the people out there who have never personally met you, exactly how tall are you, and what’s your secret? Was it eating spinach, veggies, or tons of sleep?
[All start laughing]
Sprout/KS: Well, I’m 6 feet 7 inches tall! I was born tiny, and now I’m very, very big. In my eyes it’s a blessing, but it can be a curse as well. Sometimes I’m just a tall guy and some things are just not meant for me physically, like chairs. I want a couch against a poll-vault to sit on, and bigger furniture.
Derek/KS: It’s funny because he is 6’7” tall, but if you’re just seeing photos of him in other peoples mind I always imagined that they just think the rest of us are at least 4’3”. We all look like little fuckin’ midgets, you know?
[All start laughing again]
David/KS: On the road, he has to ride on top of the van!
Sprout/KS: I enjoy being tall, but it gets really tough to find clothes, shoes etc.
Derek/KS: Luckily for Sprout he’s a people person. He’s very sociable. If he had wanted to go incognito it would be impossible because his head is above everyone in a crowd.
What are some of the bands that you guys have individually played in previously, and how did you guys come together to form Kingshifter?
Derek/KS: Actually, myself, Sprout, and Kink, all played in a band called Torque previously. My friend Jeremy and I were jamming, and he’s a singer, and we were actually ran into Sprout at a bar. Sprout dug what we were doing, and then he came onboard, and then later on we decided to add another guitar player. The three of us have been together for five or six years now, and we just decided to drop some dead weight and evolve, and that’s how we picked up Kingshifter.
David, on a side note, you run a business called “Kustom Breed Leather Designs.” What is your business all about? I hear you’ve designed specific items for other notable musicians in other bands. Can you say who?
David/KS: I’ve done stuff for a lot of people. I made some things for the members of the Sex Slaves, I made some stuff for the Sevendust guys. I hear the Bret Michaels band might be interested in having some stuff made as well. So there’s some things coming up, and I’m just looking forward to getting that out to those people.
You make a wide array of leather product I noticed, guitar straps, bracelets, belt buckles, etc. If someone wishes to check out your leather designs, where can they find more information?
David/KS: You can find my business on Facebook: Kustom Breed Leather Designs.
Where can people listen to the tracks and keep-up-to-date with Kingshifter?
Sprout/KS: You can find us on Reverbnation, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Kink: “26 Tons” is available now at Best Buy, FYE, Hastings, Amazon, or Pavement Entertainment.com.
Kingshifter is ‘Sprout’ (vocals), ‘Kink’ (guitar), Derek Iudewick (bass), David Steinbach (drums)
By: Bradford Worthington Skelley, Journalist/Photographer
WEB | FACEBOOK | TWITTER |REVERBNATION
