Hello Rockstars! Today’s Article is on the brand new EP by Alternative Rock Band King Fossil!
I’ve been a big fan for a while of their music, and I think this new EP is a brilliant progression of their music and their artistry and definitely needs to be heard by everyone! I asked them a couple of questions about their beginnings, their music, and what the future holds for King Fossil. Enjoy! 🙂
All Photo’s Courtesy of King Fossil!
Black and White photo Of Whole Band Courtesy of Carlos Daniel Herrera.
Color photo of Band Performing courtesy of Mariposa Music!
*interview done by Jeremy Shaw – guitars/vocals*
VMS:
Tell me about the beginnings of King Fossil.
King Fossil:
We *King Fossil drummer Cameron Winters* met in middle school advanced guitar class and bonded quickly over obscure old Simpsons references; this organically makes you allies for life. He acquired a practice room a few years back and got captivated by playing drums. I came over with a batch of songs and it just went from there. We probably would have been hanging out anyway, actually. Our only goals were to quickly record an EP rather hastily of the table scraps he learned drums over and play at least one show. We had no idea what we were really doing, I practiced singing vocals over the guitar parts the afternoon before we played our first show. It made just enough sense to not make any sense.
VMS:
Who are your biggest Inspirations music wise.
King Fossil:
Pavement is easily my favorite of all time, so I won’t proceed about that. Polvo is obvious, maybe too much so, but it’s in my DNA. Other key inspirations are Built To Spill, Swirlies, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Unwound and early Swervedriver.
VMS:
I absolutely love this new EP! I think it’s a wonderful progression artistically for you guys!
Can you tell me the story behind each song, or the process of writing each song.
King Fossil:
Thank you; we, too, like to believe it is a major improvement in every way over the last one. That’s a tough listen. Hmmm, this is challenging, but let’s see what I recollect.
1) Green S: You’re waiting around knowing something massive is passing you by. You’re wasting time until something – someone – changes your life. Had some of these riffs forever; Cameron seemed to like it so we kept it around. Title is a very specific Earthbound reference.
Listen to “Green Swirl (Flash)” on Bandcamp!
2) Me. Chain II: Standing close to someone you connect to but you perceive the moment and mood differently; you wonder after how they’ll remember it until you’re cut from it completely. Fun ending noise section. Verse guitars came out panned well.
Listen to “Memory Chain II” on Bandcamp!
3) Could/Sun: An unease for people to see it like you do when they’re so close. What’s important to you is just another passing couple of forgettable moments to them; you realize there might always be a disconnect there. It was an older song I had kicking around. The warbly delayed bits during the middle riffs along that droning bending chord is one of our better bag of tricks we pull from.
Listen to “Could Almost See The Sun” on Bandcamp!
4) Not a Light: Wandering around knowing there’s a life existing around you. Nothing better to do than drive around, following a neon light; maybe it’ll stop time enough to not have to focus. It’s a pattern, and it has to change. People seem to like this one. It’s two easy riffs done twice. We both really enjoy the noise section giving us a chance to get wacky.
Listen to “Not a Light” on Bandcamp!
5) Flower Crown What’s your soul worth to pawn, and at what point do you see it as an equal trade-off? Sell off family heirlooms inherited from family you’ve never met, to profit some pocket change you’ll forget what you even gained from it in less than a year. Probably my favorite song on the record. Came out exactly as a mellow mock noise dream pop song with some warped parts. The ending wall of sound warbling and solo is my personal favorite guitar work I’ve recorded so far, to be self-indulgent.
Listen to “Flower Crown” on Bandcamp!
6) Tone Sucker: Just a lot of random words. You’re looking for a release, and in those droning moments you see life from a different angle. A lot of sections remind me of Unwound. Cameron devised thrashing on the ending riff for a while and that elevated it to something much more than a throwaway and gave us room to really improvise, which is always a highlight for us.
Listen to “Tone Sucker” on Bandcamp!
VMS:
It’s been roughly two years since your last album, how has that time made you both grow artistically and how have the last two years been for both of you in general.
King Fossil:
After recording that Scrap Metal album, and playing some shows, we had such a clearer vision on what we were aiming for and really improved on our dynamics, and especially adding embellishments to the new songs we were coming up.
Cameron had some pretty significantly lengthy tours as an LED video wall contractor, so that obviously limited the time we could properly focus on too much King Fossil wise. The plus side for that time of way is it was an effective way for me to drink far too much coffee and write a ton of songs, fragments and lines, so we were still staying fairly active in some regard or another.
VMS:
What does the future hold for King Fossil.
King Fossil:
We have four of five songs of outtakes between the last EP and the new one we’re sorting through. They didn’t fit on either collection, so we’re recording them as a quick throwaway to get them off our brains so we can really lock in to our next zany collection of songs. Between all that, we’re thirsty for some live shows to test out the Two Moons songs again and the new ones. Shirts before the next one, maybe some other items. Good quality vinyls take a while and are a bit more of an investment. We’d love to plan a quick west coast tour across some regional states to both a) lose money and b) feel that dopamine rush and travel to some cool places.
VMS:
Is there anything you would like the fans to know about this new EP.
King Fossil:
It was done entirely between two best friends, often late at night, doing it for the fun because we didn’t have a whole lot of better things to do. We had the means to test different techniques and guitar layering and went for it. No interest in an algorithm, streaming views, anything. We kept it simple and the music complex.We hoped that “who cares? That sounded fun, let’s run with it” was part of the charm.
Very few second thoughts, lyrics were primarily assembled a couple days before recording and almost all of the guitar takes were first or second runs. I like that spontaneity and then layering more guitars over with some EQ tweaking. I don’t particularly like being seen as a gear band; a couple Jaguars were the only ones used, an old 80s solid state Yamaha was the only amp and four (maybe five) pedals were the only extras. Use what you have around and be surprised.
VMS:
How would you like people to feel and experience your live shows.
King Fossil:
Perplexity, enjoyment and personal enlightenment. Mostly, though, we hope we just don’t suck and I don’t break a string between switching tunings.
VMS:
Any last words, thoughts, ideas or anything else you would like to add?
King Fossil:
Just have fun. Don’t worry about an idea sounding too much/not enough like a band you’re into. Just screw around, listen to a lot of music (especially albums and genres you might normally gravitate towards) and do it to show your passion to anyone, big or more small, interested. Why charge a $20 premium in this economy so people curious to check you out have to potentially arrange those variables. Do it for the love and the enthrallment; building the local scene is free.
For More Information about King Fossil, please check out their social media! 😉
—VMS 🙂