The first and last time I saw King’s X live was back in 1994 at Mississippi Nights in my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. I was 19 years old and thought I knew what amazing musicianship looked like, but I was wrong. Doug Pinnick and company were touring in support of their landmark album Dogman, and it was one of the most incredible musical spectacles I’ve ever seen. These guys make a hell of a lot of noise for a three-piece, but furthermore, their musicianship is unmatched.
Pinnick is known for playing a 12 string bass live. If you’ve never heard one of these beasts live, it pummels your chest and rattles your soul, laying the groundwork for one of the most precise (and animated) drummers on the planet, Jerry Gaskill. The rest comes to life by Ty Tabor’s vivid calm-to-roar style guitar playing. It’s the type of music that the metal heads love as well as the prog folks—and even the Beatle-maniacs.
So why was it the band never broke through to the mainstream? I haven’t a clue, and neither do the majority of critics and fans alike. Eddie Trunk takes a stab at solving this mystery on his radio show which you can listen to here. The pieces were all lined up many times over, but while lightning certainly did strike on stage, it never equally struck the charts.
But none of that mattered last week in London when King’s X made their triumphant return to their self-proclaimed favorite place to play. This time it was at the Islington Assembly Hall during a “heatwave” in the UK. The place was jam-packed and hotter than hell. Coming out guns a-blazing, the power trio opened with the juggernaut “Groove Machine” from 1998’s under-celebrated Tapehead record. Up next was “The World Around Me” from the 1992 self-titled, dark masterpiece followed by “Pillow” from Dogman.
Then it was time to slow it down for a bit for another gem from Dogman, the lesser known “Flies and Blue Skies.” Then into “Cigarette” which in my opinion is the band at it’s finest. The storytelling through brilliant lyrics, backed by the trio’s harmonies syncing together perfectly and powerfully brings an emotional connection to the audience that never gets old.
The rest of the set was a cornucopia of greatness pulled from a terribly under-celebrated catalog. The only thing that was missing from my account was “It’s Love,” but it seems that it was replaced by “Cigarette,” so I’ll take that any day of the week.
Bottom line: These guys sounded spectacular, just as good if not a bit tighter than when I saw them more than 20 years ago. I even convinced my wife who’s never heard of King’s X to come to the show with me and she was equally blown away.
Maybe the magic bullet has always been the live show and the record labels over the years never quite figured out how to capture the magic on a record? Either way, I think they have several good years of touring in them to continue to spread the love. Oh, and how in the f*ck is Doug Pinnick 66 years old? He looks so good for his age he could probably give fitness tips to Sting. Well done sir.
Check out hi-res shots from the show in the gallery here.
