Interview with King Of The Dead
Interview with King Of The Dead
What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?
We cursed ones in King of the Dead have always been in music to some degree throughout our lives. So much so that it’s hard to imagine what else we would do.
What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?
Spreading malevolence through villainy and misdeeds. Very often we are hanging out in various torture chambers and think, “This would make a great basis for a song”. I believe that was also the method for the band Aqua.
How long has your band been around?
This band has been around since time immemorial and manifests in different groups of people across different ages. The current physical beings have only been able to channel the cursed sounds for the last two years.
Where are you based and how did that influence your music?
We are based in the caverns of the darkest depths of the corners of society. These pits of filth all happen to be in the UK. The perpetual greyness suits our collective demeanor. Not seeing the sun for months on end definitely has a huge effect on our music.
How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?
King of the Dead is a reference to a malicious thread that runs between the fabric of existence. An indifferent force that guides us all to our inevitable end.
Tell me about your most memorable shows.
Previous cursed ones have played a few shows but have always had the worst luck. The debut show was on Mount Vesuvius in 79AD. It was a sell out, but there were no survivors. The next attempt was in London on 2nd September 1666, but poor wiring led to the set being cut extremely short and a weeklong fire.
What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?
There's something really special about playing at Brixton Academy, a few of the cursed ones have played there in previous projects. We would love to bring King of the Dead there one day.
If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?
We cursed souls are big fans of theatrical rock music. A band that we all love is Seikima II, they are the perfect combination of so many kinds of music and they have huge melodies. The other bands on the bill would be KISS and AFI.
What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?
Have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously.
If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?
Trust your intuition.
Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?
Each of the songs have their own meaning. They are all based on a concept but with tinges of real-life bleeding through. The song Damned from our debut EP, The Summoning, is one of our favourites. It’s a song about regret and being in a state where you are almost bargaining with yourself wishing that things are different.
Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?
Any song from our upcoming EP, Perdition. They’re all still really fresh and the cursed ones have moved in a new direction with this new crop of songs. One of our favourites is our new single, When It All Comes Down, which is a love letter to 70s radio rock with our own dark twist. A favourite of our listeners is the cover we did of the Sting song, Shape Of My Heart.
What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?
The cursed ones enter a deep meditative state, like a trance, to speak with deities in long-forgotten languages. They share ideas and stories with the cursed ones, who then rip them off relentlessly.
What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?
There’s no one single message in the music so we are able to cover a lot of different ideas. We have licence through writing music with a concept to be able to go a bit further with an idea and push it to extremes. Our new EP, Perdition, is narratively a juxtaposition between a simultaneous rise and fall of three different characters that takes place across millennia.
Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?
We are a band of generally disagreeable people, so disagreements are frequent! They’re often solved by gaslighting each other or tantrums. When it’s all said and done we can get back to our normal state of sitting in silence with each other.
What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?
We have a new single, When It All Comes Down, out on 2nd December. This is the first single from our new EP, Perdition, which will be released in June 2023.