J-Ok..whats
your least favorite song..or your just not happy with the way it turned out?
K-Well I look back..and all my influences growing up were like T-Rex…english
glam bands..Bowie.. and then I liked New York Dolls….but its so wierd what
happened with us..I have like total 70's influence and I've been doing glam rock
down here (Florida) since before glam was really national. And the people down
here were like "what the fuck are these guys..some kind of transvestites." They
didn't know what we were doing.Nobody down here..Im speaking generalization…no
one knew who the New York Dolls were. So I'm doing that thing..when all the
sudden there is bands on the national scene making tons of money..that had a
similar look..but I feel no where near a similar sound.I guarantee we benefited
from the look that was popular at the time…that may have been why we got
signed..but i've never associated myself with any of those 80's bands..and now I
get the backlash…
J-Well I understand..cause Im looking at all these pictures while I'm getting
ready for this interview and they are not comparable w/the glam bands out
then..and that leads to the next question..how important was the look back in
the hair band days?
K-It was important, I mean..things now are the way the music was originally
meant to be .Now I'm a lot more musically savvy..ya know..10 years later.. when
I started it was like I'd write the lyrics..and put them to somebody elses
music..now Im writing the music.. and I had guitar players like Wade Hayes who
was a monster ripper..like that 80's style at the time, and we may have
benefited from him.Im sure that was an ingredient to the sound too..but I always
felt like those guys were pulling my sound in a different direction. But I
wasn't in control at the time..to inexperienced..to pull it back in..like when I
wrote a song like "Ball in Chain" it was meant to be way more front porch..
J-Do you ever look back at the
pictures and think "What was I thinking?"
K-No. I was proud of them…I think I look cool as shit. if I must say so my self.
Im not embarrassed one bit.Im not the guy who comes out with a 3 octive voice
range..but image is my forte'. My whole band..I put them together..I even
dressed those guys. Our look stands out.I look at some of these guys..all
fat,hairy..and stuffed in spandex looking like their grandma or something..or
like a wierd hairy drag queen. See that's what killed us..or the big corporate
machine..that latches on to whatevers selling..pump the shit out of it..over
saturate the market with it..till no one can stand it anymore, then they move
onto the next thing..also what killed glam.All these bands Poison,Motley
Crue,whoever, go platinun success..and were all over Mtv. Soon every
motherfucker in the world was glam..and had hair extentions. And it got
rediculous..and Im not braggin this is just facts,Ive earned this much after all
these years. you've got to have the look to carry it off..
You have to find a look that's right for you..that line up in particular..("Things
You've Never Done Before") we
carried that look..and Im not embarrassed about it at all..now if I looked back
and saw my gut hangin out..all hairy I would be…..we knew what we were
doing....now if I looked back and saw my gut hangin out..all hairy…..we knew
what we were doing..
J-Ya I still see bands
doing it..and its just not working for them..at all..
K-Well first of all,people keep coming up to me saying I've toned down…you just
saw us at Carlies..the other night.(Click
here to see pictures from that night),I
mean really how toned down was I? With my leoperd hat,my braids,
sunglasses..people bug the shit out of me about that old stuff……that's what I
did ten years ago..but I've been writing..and playing,and everything for 10
years, and yes we still do a couple of those songs, for the crowd that come to
see them..but people ask why did you tone your look down?…well because I'm 10
years older…I'm not an idiot and goes way past how old hes supposed to be..I
mean like Jagger 10 years ago didn't wear what he wears now..
J-Well you gotta fit…the
way you guys look right now..fits the music.when you guys were up there..the
music has changed, to me anyway,its much bluesier…but you guys play like you
look..
K-Right..well now that I have things under control..now the look fits the music
perfectly. And when you asked what song I don't like..I'd have to say now , a
song like "Live Fast,Die Young"…and I don't even mean looking back..I remember
when the album came out..I was into Steven Tyler…Jagger…R&B..based rock
bands…then I'd hear "Live Fast,Die Young"…and I was like geeezz…Steven Tyler
would never do a song like this..