"I want to make an eye-gasm": An Interview with King Khan and the Shrine

Based in Germany, King Khan and the Shrine have dazzled audiences with their huge stage presence, complete with go-go dancers and pom-poms. We interviewed the band as they were traveling on tour from Montreal to the United States. They will play at Terrace on Thursday. Described as “berserking Maniacs” and “soul and punk fanatics” on their own biography page, the band is definitely one the more colorful bands we’ve seen.

Q: You guys are a psychedelic big band, so how would you describe your sound? What influences are you channeling?

A: I guess psychedelic soul pretty much says it. But also a lot of R&B with psychedelic elements. Our influences…there’s too many to pinpoint. But a lot of R&B and soul, psychedelic music, punk music.

Q: From several sources, it seems that you guys are pretty wild and visually arresting on stage. What do you want to accomplish with the visual part of your performance?

A: As I describe it, I want to make an eye-gasm. I guess I want to continue to bring back the whole tradition of a nicely dressed soul band

Q: You guys are traveling right now on tour right? How is that going?

A: So far, most of the shows have been really good. We just came back from Montreal. It’s been going well.

Q: Can you describe your songwriting process? Where do you get your inspirations?

A: There are three main songwriters, basically come up with stuff. They teach everyone else in the band.

Q: Do you guys rehearse a lot together?

A: No, not really. Everyone lives in different cities. But everyone is kind of centralizing in Berlin. For the past 10 years, we’ve all been living in different cities.

Q: So how did the band come together?

A: We all played together in 1999. I moved to Germany, I wanted to do that. I found people all over, from traveling and such, and just put everyone together. We’ve been pretty much the same line-up since.

Q: Do you guys value your interaction with the crowd?

A: Yeah, definitely. We try to incorporate the crowd frequently.

Q: If you could go on tour with any band right now, who would it be?

A: Well, we’re gonna be playing a couple of show with Red Nash, who’s based in Montreal

Q: What can we look forward to at Terrace Club this Thursday?

A: Hopefully a gospel, kind of erotic rock. A lot of dancing, definitely

Interview conducted, condensed, and edited by Grace Ma ‘14