April 13 Feature – Joe King
KING. Joe King.
If anyone still harbors doubt about Colorado’s stellar music scene, they’re in for yet another reality check.
We Coloradans have always known there is something mystical about our soil, so we just keep producing mad musical talent. The latest local to grab the music scene by the proverbial balls is KING, also known as Joe King. The name may or may not ring an immediate bell, but Google it, and everything will fall into place.
King is, for the moment, best known as the guitarist for the Fray. But remove the man from the band, and it won’t be long before KING is established as his own thriving solo-artist entity. KING’s debut CD, Breaking, is set to drop on April 23, followed by four shows in Colorado. Still a virgin to performing solo, KING will perform his first show as a solo-artist at the Bluebird Theatre on April 25. “It’s important to me [to have the first show in Denver],” says King. “I want to play here first, [with] friends and family, it’s my hometown. Whatever Denver bands that are touring right now, if they’re in town, if they want to come out, and come on stage . . .”
Since releasing the first single, “Need a Woman by Friday,” on March 5, (available on iTunes), King has been preparing for the release of the video this Friday on VH-1, as well as an appearance next week on the Big Morning Buzz Live Show. “I’ve been doing a lot of hustling,” says King, “which is fun, because it’s definitely getting into the roots of the music business and why I do it. Just the fact that, instead of you having to connect through eight people at a label, it’s nice to say, ‘I’ll meet you on Monday.’ I find it’s actually refreshing for the industry as well, when they get to work with independent artists. They’re excited that we can create fresh ideas, and it’s not like going through a label.”
Not that having “people” and being on a major label is bad . . . “Yeah, I’ve been on the major label thing, which is necessary, you know. It’s nice, but also, you get really disconnected from people, which is okay if all you want to do is write music; everybody else does everything for you. That’s a beautiful thing, and I love that aspect of it. But I also love connecting, like, ‘I’m going to send this song to this guy over here, and maybe we’ll do something.’”
A “sheltered kid who [wasn’t supposed to] see R-rated movies or listen to Dr. Dre,” King was raised chiefly in Aurora and Arvada, with a family heavily involved in the church. “My dad was a pastor,” he says, “which is probably why I turned out to be a musician.” Driven by classic teenage angst, King found himself in trouble growing up, “but I was smart about it,” he says. “My parents didn’t know what I was up to–until I came home in a police car.”
“Need a Woman by Friday,” the first release off of Breaking stemmed from being single around his birthday. “It was my birthday, having a party that Friday, and I had a feeling that I wish I had a woman–wish she was there waiting for me, so yeah, that came out of wants or desires.” I can’t imagine it’s hard for King to find dates. “It’s not a bad place to be, in a band, when you’re single,” he says. “Those things are helpful, but it can be extremely caustic.”
However, he has two daughters who keep him on his toes. “I’m the hero right now, they want to hang out still. I know it’s going to change a couple years from now. Unless I can introduce them to the next Justin Bieber at that time . . .”
Everyone starts somewhere, and King claims that before the Fray, he was in a couple of bands that played, “really bad, bad music.” And as for advice to those just starting out? “Just starting out, I don’t envy that. But I also feel the same way right now. I feel like a new artist because if you hear ‘KING,’ or the song, you have no clue, unless you read a backstory about it,” says King. “I think it takes a lot more hustle now than it did back in the day when I started [with the Fray in 2002]. Obviously, connecting through social media, [and] I just started that. I literally just signed up for a Twitter account a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s usually the ‘left-field’ things that break you. It’s not usually what you’d expect. Even for the Fray, we were chugging away, we had our single out, we were starting to tour, the first single was doing well—
at least put us on the map—we’re selling records, and then we got a call about some TV show, (“Grey’s Anatomy”), and that was a complete left-field thing.”
On deciding to go for a solo album, King says, “In all ways of my life, I was ready for fresh, ready for innovation, ready to change the way I’ve always done things; my perspective, relationships, how I approached songwriting, or how I approached the production of songwriting. So everything changed. One of the quotes that was resonating in me was, “You either innovate or you die.” I think that’s true for a relationship or your songs. If you continue to copy yourself, like, ‘It worked last time,’ and you just keep doing it again and again, it gets boring.
“I feel like, for a couple of years, I was drifting into the ocean. Like things were taking me to spots, and I didn’t have any control, not that I really want control. I feel like if you try to control your life, it only ends up in more frustration. So for several years, I felt like I was drifting in some ways, which was great, and then, you know, I drifted to some islands, and it was like, ‘Yay, stay at the island for awhile,’ then get off and go to another one. And I feel like I’m ashore to a new plan, to whatever that is right now, like I’m just venturing out into this somewhat of a new world, which is exciting.”
Collaborating with locals Matt Morris, Patrick Meese, and even a cameo on a track by Bethany Kelly from Churchill, this CD is loaded with goodness. The six songs on Breaking are very different from one another, each one tapping into a different emotion. I tried to think of who I would compare the sound to, (some people feel more comfortable having that comparison before they listen), but all I kept coming back to is, ‘It sounds like Joe King.’ Refreshingly upbeat tracks surround sometimes-personal lyrics, and delve into emotions everyone can relate to. Says King, “Coming out of a long-term marriage—when that ended, it was scary. But it felt good to be liked again, and then just falling very quickly, and learning what girls are right, but may not be right for me. But some songs, I just channeled something that was going on, not necessarily from a specific experience.
“I love what Quentin Tarantino said, ‘You’re not really writing unless the people around you are uncomfortable.’ I love that. Not that you should try to write to make people uncomfortable because then it just feels contrived. You don’t want the response [to what you write] to be what’s expected; you want the response to be shock, and that people don’t really know what to think at first.”
Best compliment you’ve ever received? “It was kind of a compliment/bubble-bursting thing from my daughter. We [Fray] were opening for U2, and she didn’t know who U2 was. We’re at the show, she sees daddy’s set, this massive stage, stadium—and she’s seen shows before, so it’s normal for her. So we get off the stage, it’s like this incredible high; lifetime experience, they’re one of the biggest bands in the world. And it’s our time to go out and see the show. So I take my girl out to the front of the house, she’s on my shoulders, people are screaming, lights and lasers and sunglasses—rock stars, like the biggest rock stars. And she leans down half way through the set and yells in my ear, ‘Daddy, why is U2 so much cooler than the Fray?’ So, I consider that one of my greatest compliments, and also one of the most humbling. Brutal honesty.”
I wish I could . . . “I wish I could speak any language in the world at any time.”
And while King loves to travel, “After awhile you’re in your own little bubble, not grounded to normal, domestic life. I start craving making eggs, or something, pulling weeds, or shoveling snow. It’s so therapeutic to shovel snow. These are the domestic things you miss when you’re on the road.” Also therapeutic to King is Ping-Pong. (Just don’t crack the Ping-Pong ball. Especially if it’s the last one. He doesn’t like that.)
Lucky for us, KING has four Colorado dates in April. You’ll want to capture his local shows now, before the rest of the world recognizes his remarkable talent, and he hits the road. Joining King, locally, are Patrick Meese on keys, and Jeff Linsenmaier on drums. Tickets are available at joekingoffficial.com, and at only $16, you should be there.
Shows: April 25 @ the Bluebird Theatre in Denver, April 26 @ the Aggie in Fort Collins, April 27 @ Black Sheep in Colorado Springs, April 28 @ Fox Theater in Boulder.
Twitter: @joekingofficial
by Jenn Cohen
Photo Credit: Jenn Cohen
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