Q AND A With King King

Published:

King King frontman Alan Nimmo on their new album, touring and dreaming of playing with Paul Rodgers

First of all, thank you for answering these questions. I sincerely appreciate it.

To start with, an obvious one:

  • How are you……?
    I’m well thank you, I’m working hard on recovering my voice properly and using the time to work on fitness and health and a little bit of writing too!

Now if we could, a couple on the album:

  • Whilst you’ve always been a band with a rock influence, this one feels even more rock than blues. Was that an aim or did it just happen organically?

It was never something we purposely thought about when we were working on the album, it’s as always just a natural progression from the previous work we’ve done! I think the more relaxed I get in song writing the more that all of my early influences in musical taste comes to the surface!

  • To pick a specific track: “Tear It All Up?” deals with playing Wembley with Thunder. Seems a very special time for you? (I’d been at the Nottingham show, sitting not too far from you and your brother and I could see how much you were enjoying it!)Of course it was special! I got to play at Wembley Arena and I also got to meet and tour with one of my all-time favourite bands! I was like a kid in a sweet shop! Ha ha! Seriously though, it was such an amazing experience and opportunity for us to get to play our music in front of a huge crowd and thanks to Thunder and that tour. We gained so many new fans and that’s when things really started to change for us.
  • How has the new “more classic rock” feel been received so far?
    We’ll so far we’ve had nothing but a positive response from everyone! The new stuff seems to be going down well with the media and with the few people who have heard it too so fingers crossed that it continues!

Now a couple on the band as a whole:

  • Having seen you live on many, many occasions, the guys seem to have a real camaraderie, how did you all get together, given your geographical differences?
    Well it’s such a long boring story, so I’ll keep it short if I can! Basically Lindsay and I are old friends and had worked together in the “Nimmo Brothers” many years ago! We stayed good friends and always talked about putting something together in the future! We knew Wayne for a long time too just from us all working on the same blues scene for many years! We went through a number of Keyboard players over the years until we stumbled across Bob at a show we were doing in Holland and he was in the support band! We took it from there!
  • Tell us a little, if you could about the songwriting process? Is it you with the lyrics and the other guys pitching in with ideas?
    I am the main writer in the band and I’ll bring a song in basic form to the guys and then together we will work on arrangements, parts and piece it together that way.. I’m always happy to have input from the guys as it helps to have a different perspective on things to help improve the song.

Moving on to live shows:

  • It’s noticeable that you have a punishing schedule – you must play live more than any other band! – was that always the plan?
    First of all, we love to play live and we thrive on being on the road doing our thing but I honestly think that having a gruelling schedule of touring is just the way the music business is nowadays! Bands have to tour more and more now than ever before.
  • Playing India must have been special? – if I recall at that Nottingham gig I mentioned you had landed from India that morning
    One of the best things about this job is that you do get to travel to some amazing places but for us to get to India was beyond our expectations. It was such a beautiful place and so very different to anything we’d seen before in our lives! We are so lucky to have had the privilege of being there! It’s an experience I’ll never forget and we hope to return one day!
  • You’ve played with some of the real greats, and on your own shows have given up and coming acts the chance to open. Again, was that a plan to help newer bands (thinking of Bad Touch and Broken Witt Rebels and bands like that)
    Yes, we have been lucky enough to play along with some musical greats – the likes of Thunder, John Mayall, Taj Mahal, Keb Mo and Joss Stone playing with and touring with these people was amazing! I wasn’t really our intention to become the band that helped new bands get a decent start. It kind of just happened that way but we’re glad of it! We pride ourselves on giving a great show and we want people to get value for their money so it’s important to us that whoever supports us are a good band and a good fit too!

Lastly the future:

    • Is there an act or band that you have on your Wishlist to play with?
      Ha ha… I have a huge list but we’d be here all day discussing it! I would love to stand on stage with Paul Rodgers and play guitar while he sang a “Free” song! That. Would be beyond fantastic for me!
    • And finally, if we did this in a year, how would you want people to view this 12 months?
      I think that I would want people simply to have had a great experience when they came to see us and that they can still play a King King album from start to finish without skipping a bunch of songs! Hopefully they’ll be looking forward to the next time they get to see us as much as this time!

King King’s new album “Exile & Grace” is released by Manhaton Records on 6th October 2017. Their UK tour kicks off at London Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Wednesday 17th January 2018.

Tickets: www.kingking.co.uk/tour

 

Tour dates –

 

London, Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Wednesday 17th January 2018
24 Hour Box Office: 0844 478 0898
Ticketmaster Box office: 0844 477 2000
Book Online: 
www.thegigcartel.comwww.ticketweb.co.uk
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Shepherd’s Bush Green, London, W12 8TT
www.academymusicgroup.com/o2shepherdsbushempire 

Birmingham, Town Hall
Thursday 18th January 2018
24 Hour Box Office: 0844 478 0898
Venue Box Office: 0121 780 4949
Book Online: 
www.thegigcartel.comwww.thsh.co.uk 
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Spotify 
Victoria Square, Birmingham, B3 3DQ
www.thsh.co.uk

Bath, Forum
Saturday 20th January 2018
24 Hour Box Office: 0844 478 0898
Venue Box Office: 0844 888 9991
Book Online: 
www.thegigcartel.com
https://bathforum.ticketline.co.uk 
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
1a Forum Buildings, St James Parade, Bath, BA1 1UG

www.bathforum.co.uk

Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall
Friday 26th January 2018
24 Hour Box Office: 0844 478 0898
Venue Box Office: 0131 668 2019
Book Online: 
www.thegigcartel.com
 
https://boxoffice.thequeenshall.net
Facebook / Twitter
85 – 89 Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG
www.thequeenshall.net

Sheffield, Leadmill
Saturday 27th January 2018
24 Hour Box Office: 0844 478 0898
Venue Box Office: 0114 2727 040
Book online: 
www.thegigcartel.com
http://leadmill.co.uk
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
6 Leadmill Rd, Sheffield S1 4SE
http://leadmill.co.uk

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