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KING KHAN ...and the shrines / Mr. Supernatural
Blazing brass levitating over a bubbling witches brew of raw scintillating Rhythm.n’Blues and deep fried rock n’soul. Like a rabid hurricane the SHRINES boost their audience - a heterogeneous batch of punks and junks, nerds and maniacs, of the brothers and sisters of Rock and Soul, of toad-lickers, of the apostles of the new Eros, pill-spinners and mushroom-lovers, of anarchists and sectarians, of freaks and “normal” people - into a fiery inferno of Soul and R&B, Cajun and Boogaloo.
KING KHAN is convulsively quivering with a staring gaze, the wooden sceptre in his hand, voodoo-baton with totem-skull, as he reigns over the nine-headed Hydra-band. Enmeshed by Bamboorella’s ritual go-go-dance, the Master’s scar-covered bare torso suggests that the “Maharadscha of Soul” himself had ripped the fangs of his alligator-neck-lace out of the gaping jaws of a swamp-reptile lacking any sense of humour. Concerts resembling spirituals, alike occult consecrations have founded the Legend of the Indo-Canadian Voodoo-Priest,
who is said to have provoked an earthquake in the French city of Colmar by a single stroke of his Baton. On the other hand it is an undisputable fact that KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES have rediscovered the lost traditions of Stax and Motown, and that they have spiked them with a sordid dose of insubordination and psychedelic soul power, carrying Soul music back into the garages and bringing Punk back into snobby parlours all across Europe. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Bo Diddley, The mighty Hannibal, Curtis Mayfield and James Brown stood godfather to this just as Stiv Bators,
Jello Biafra, Johnny Thunders or Joey Ramone did. MR. SUPERNATURAL is KING KHAN’s second album-vinyl-gravure. It invites you to a sultry jungle-séance inside the Swamp-Cosmodrome, where Hougan King Khan gets his mojo working to the sounds of pure blood curdling Soul and R&B with a touch of that sweer New Orleans Funk to make all them Voodoo-dolls seize the dancefloor and shimmey all their blues away..
Who is this manic Master of Ceremonies who openly confesses to the two grand black bohemians said to be lunatic Sun Ra and George Clinton, and whose stagings certainly remind us of a young Herman Sonny Blount and his Solar Arkestra?
King Khan is born in Montreal in 1977, being the son of immigrants from India. The Khan siblings (his majesty, Lil’ Brother Gumbo and Sister Cocobutter) inherit far more than mere musical talent: “My great grandfather was the Johnny Thunders of the sitar. He played but never recorded anything and became a serious opium addict. My father tried to play sitar but chose the fast life over that and wound up down and out and addicted to cocaine. My mother can play harp like Bob Dylan.”
The Khan parents’ house, Canada’s predominantly Christian influence, a vivid admiration of horror movies and the mother’s and grandmother’s affinity to the occult draw the first outlines of the disposition that will much later condense to a holistic utopia, enhanced by elementary encounters and events in between tarot shamanism and Brahmandom, in between native American mythology and hallucinogenic transcendence, in between string-theory and the metaphysics of Sun Ra. “You don´t have to be from Louisiana to practice voodoo, I learned much from my mother and grandmother. I began seriously practicing voodoo to fulfil my infinite sexual fantasies and when the mojo started working I figured “hey, why not put this to music?”
In 1995 Khan leaves the frosty soil of the Canadian province of Montreal playing the bass for the International-Underground-Legends THE SPACESHITS. The band is produced by Mike Mariconda with special guest appearances from the Fabulous Andy G (Devil Dogs) and Candy Del Mar (The Cramps). Khan founds the secret lodge of the KUKAMONGAS. The most important contacts of this period are Allen Ginsberg, Sophie Crumb, Billy Childish, Dickie Peterson and the defunct magician “The great Antonio”.
- During the oncoming years Khan tours across the States. Detroit, New Orleans, New York City, LA, San Francisco, Dallas, Tijuana etc. He lives for a short while with the Mohawk-Indians in the Kahnawake reservation. “I learned lots about being a punk from my two best Mohawk friends Leborgne and Beseker. We used to get drunk, smash cars, go hunting for white women.”
- Khan doesn’t return from the first Spaceshits-Europe-Tour in summer of 1999.
- In Germany the Canadian founds the Soul-Big-Band THE SHRINES. The first line-up includes bass-player Volker Zander, who will eventually leave the band to join the US-Combo CALEXICO, and Ron Streeter, live-percussionist of Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Al Jarreau and other Soul-Legends.
- The Shrine’s first concert in London is suspended by the police. The band escapes through the back-door. Numerous Gigs will follow all across Europe, among others with Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Beck.
- After several short-players the Shrines record their first album in the Toe Rag Studio in London. THREE HAIRS & YOU’RE MINE is being produced by Liam Watson, producer of the White Stripes.
- In 2003 Khan encounters the Hazelwood-producers-team Gordon “Two Horses” Friedrich and Wolfgang “Amadeus” Gottlieb (Sacharine Trust, Universal Congress Of, Mardi Gras bb., Kool Ade Acid Test, and others), who stage the second longplayer MR. SUPERNATURAL in the beginning of 2004.
Shrines are:
Mr. Speedfinger: guitar
Original member of the Shrines. He owns a bar in Kassel and hasn’t charged Khan for a drink in five years.
Riddiman: bass
Gypsy-punk and truck-driver. He found his bass in the garbage and plays it up to the very day. Member of the Anarchist-Elektro-Punk-Band EGOTRONIC.
John Boy Adonis: drums
Even though he looks like a bizarre mixture between Jesus Christ and Charlie Manson, no kinship could be proven. Member of the Experimental-Sub-Underground-Band INCLUB EXPLOSIVO.
Ron Streeter: percussion
Percussionist of countless soul-legends. Khan slid a paper with his phone-number under the toilet-door, with one simple plea “don’t wipe your ass with it”. Two days later Ron played with the shrines.
Freddy “Mr. Ovitch” Rococo: lead organ and piano
Khan had organized a show for the French one-man-band FREDOVITCH. Freddie performed in a silver go-go dress with a matching cowboy-hat and full beard. Two weeks later the shrines had him flown into the London studio.
Sam Fransisco: trumpet
Plays in numerous noise-bands with long artful names. After his girlfriend left him, Sam hurled himself into excessive drug abuse, a circumstance that bestowed a heap of good songs upon the Shrines and musical immortality for himself
Ben Ra: tenor saxophone
Plays in the 60’s-Garage-Punk-Band HARAKEEREES. His idols are John Coltrane, Sun Ra and the Sonics. Nevertheless Ben Ra perambulates the universe with his go-go-girl-friend and is easily irritable.
Bid Fred Rollercoaster: baritone saxophone
Plays with the French Trash-Rockabilly-Band BDK & THE ROLLERCOASTERS. Big Fred has got the longest fingers in all of France and has no problem in using them.
Bamboorella: go-go-dance
The appearance of the Japanese go-go-dancer conceals the notorious Rock’n’roll-DJ KITTY ATOMIC. Bamboorella traded a life of crime, sex and drugs for a life of rock’n’roll, sex and drugs. With her salacious dances she enthuses both men and women alike.
Discographie: King Khan and the Shrines:
TORTURE - 7” (Kunte Kinte Records 2000)
SPREAD YOUR LOVE LIKE PEANUT BUTTER - 10” (Sounds of Subterannia 2000)
THREE HAIRS & YOU’RE MINE - LP/CD (Voodoo Rhythm 2002)
ONE U LUV b/w I SEE THE LIGHT - 7” (Sounds of Subterannia 2002)
SMASH HITS! - 10“ CD (Vicious Circle 2003)
MR.SUPERNATURAL - LP/CD (Hazelwood Vinyl Plastics 2004)
Coming soon: Split-LP/CD King Khan and the Shrines / The Dirtbombs (Herbst 04)
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