Tag Archives: Spaceneedles

King Khan & The Shrines

King Khan & The Shrines
King Khan & The Shrines
Hell Shovel

King Khan & The Shrines (Photo: Dusty Henry)

King Khan & The Shrines (Photo: Dusty Henry)

King Khan & The Shrines (Photo: Dusty Henry)

King Khan & The Shrines (Photo: Dusty Henry)

Hell Shovel (Photo: Dusty Henry)

King Khan and The Shrines incited the crowd into what can only be described as a pandemic of feverish head bobbing and shoulder dancing at Neumos on Oct. 16. Dressed in a silver sports coat with a bone necklace, Khan and his band delivered an onslaught of hyped up, soulful, classic sounding R&B songs. The energy kicked off high and didn’t relent throughout the entire set.

Within the first few songs, Khan’s guitarist and bassist jumped into the crowd with their instruments. At a King Khan and The Shrines show, the stakes are always being raised. They don’t start slow and work their way up; they start with as much energy as they can, and see how they can top it.

As a true showman, Khan offered insightful quips between his belting.

“Take out the trash, mother fuckers,” Khan said at one point. “This one’s for all you super heroes out there,” he’d say later.

A bit darker in comparison, Hell Shovel and Spaceneedles opened the evening set. Hell Shovel’s dissonant, twangy punk rock saw the band glooming under specifically requested red lights. Spaceneedles aggressive grunge set felt like homage in spirit to gunge groups of yesteryear like Green River and Screaming Trees.

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King Khan and The Shrines, Tomorrow at Neumos

King Khan by Tiger Lilly

Photo Credit: Eric Luc

Photo Credit: Matias Corral

Photo Credit: Tiger Lilly

Tomorrow, October 16th, catch King Khan and The Shrines at Neumos (8 p.m., $15, 21+).

The word “performance” is thrown around a lot when talking about bands. All bands perform on stage, but King Kahn and The Shrines are the type of group that put on a full-blown performance. Tomorrow, Oct. 16 at Neumos, King Khan and The Shrines will make you dance, sweat, and sweaty dance all over the place.

Though lead singer King Khan’s attire sometimes looks close to Gwar’s casual attire with horns and capes, the band’s sound is far from that level of metal brutality. Think less Charles Manson and more Charles Bradley. These are soulful jams paying homage to 60s R&B. On the band’s latest album, Idle No More, the band goes from helter-skelter horn freak outs (album opener “Born to Die”) to smoky ballads (like the aptly named track “Darkness”).

Though the band has been around since 1999, their recent signing to Merge Records suggests that King Khan and The Shrines are at their prime. Those who caught the band at Bumbershoot 2012 can attest to the band’s ferocity and unrelenting energy. While Idle No More has fairly nice production value, the songs clearly sound ready and written for the stage.

This is a full big band-meets-rock-and-roll experience. Fuzz guitar freak outs and saxophone jams abound. If Otis Redding had any punk sensibilities, they’d likely sound like what King Khan has put together here. A King Kahn and The Shrines show is prime opportunity for musical escapism. Forget that it’s halfway through the workweek, get over the fact that summer festivals are over, and get dancing.

Lo-fi, avant-garde folk act Hell Shovel will be opening, alongside local grunge disciples Spaceneedles.

Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for even more music coverage, and read more from Dusty over at his blog on all the joys the Northwest music scene has to offer, PreAmp.