Ok, I want to see y’all raise your hands if you love seeing a totally new band live? Maybe one that isn’t even from your town or state, one that perhaps you might never have seen if it wasn’t for that one thing that brought you to the venue when you saw them…are you following me here? See, I had the honor and pleasure of covering COMMON KINGS earlier this month on tour with MATISYAHU and ORPHAN [Gas Monkey Live, Dallas, Texas].
Now, if I go and connect the dots backwards to how I came to cover this show, I can trace it back to covering DIRTY HEADS, SLIGHTLY STOOPID and 311 this summer. These are three bands that as a fan, I dig and while they’re out of my normal genre that I regularly cover, I was able to do a few write ups and photograph their shows. And had I not covered them I probably wouldn’t have covered COMMON KINGS! I know, I know, it’s not that big of coincidence and I’m not saying it is. What I’m saying is that music gives us a path to follow – sometimes we can see it, like the example above and sometimes we can’t see it at all.
With either one, these paths that we travel on with our love of music – no matter what genre it is – takes us to some pretty awesome places and gives us the chance to meet and see some of the coolest bands on the planet!
COMMON KINGS is a five piece out of Costa Mesa, California and have been amazingly successful as an independent band or unsigned band with their current record, “Lost In Paradise”. The record is fantastic and has a good mixture of rock, reggae, pop, some smooth grooves, and little swinging swagger of R & B swirled up in there that made me a fan of the band just at the first listen.
What made me a FFL (Fan For Life), is their live show: energetic, loud, danceable, bounceable and a little bit of head boppin’, bootie shakin’, all around great time! The crowd was engaged, responsive, and hung on every note the band played for their almost hour set before MATISYAHU closed the show. I loved the ability of the band to gel together onstage behind singer, JR King and as a whole for the fans in the audience.
If you’re a fan of rock, reggae, beach music or hell, if you love music that has soul, feeling, emotion and a beat that you can’t get out of your head long after the CD is over and you haven’t listened to COMMON KINGS, you need to check them out right now, OK? I promise, you’ll dig the hell outta them!! Follow them on Facebook here.
Here’s the interactive interview that Uncle Lui filled out while on the road! Enjoy!!
Travelling to different cities every day or every other day, is there something special you look forward to in each town?
Uncle Lui: It’s always an awesome feeling to meet people who see and hear us for the first time and become fans for life. Listening to their stories of how our music gave them hope or helped them through tough times is truly a humbling experience.
Name one “ritual” you do before going on stage:
Uncle Lui: We always pray and thank God for the opportunity to do what we love for those that we love dearly!!
You’re touring with MATISYAHU, tell me one of the things you love about this artist:
Uncle Lui: From the first day we met Matisyahu, he treated us like family which has created such a dope vibe off the stage. On stage, I would have to say the highlight jumping back on Matis’s set to perform or collaborative single “Broken Crown.” We are also learning a lot on this tour from Matisyahu’s band Dub Trio!! Incredible musicians and humans!!
Thinking back to your first national tour, overall would you go back and do things differently? What are some of the things that you do differently now?
Uncle Lui: I would have hired a driver!!!!! For some ridiculous reason I am the only Common Kings member who can stay awake for longer than an hour!!! Hahaha!
Haha!! I can see how the lull of the road could be like a tranquilizer going from one city to the next…zzzzzz….
In terms of your career, how has the influx of social media boosted your career? How would you tell a new band how to handle their social media presence?
Uncle Lui: Well next to our manager, we owe the start of our career to Social Media. YouTube essentially launched our career with the release of our first single “Alcoholic”. Social media has also allowed us to connect with our fans in ways that wasn’t possible before. We do our best to respond to ALL our fans and their requests, whether it be a birthday shout out or a wedding song. For new bands, I suppose the best way that we’ve discovered is to not be afraid of being ourselves on Social Media. Fans want to get to know who you are whether it be serious or funny, what your interests are outside of music etc.
Best thing that happened at your last show.
Uncle Lui: We played at a country bar in Ft. Meyers and saw men in big cowboy hats and boots two stepping with their ladies to our music!! That was pretty cool!
Is it me, or does anyone else feel like this is an odd statement – like I could see that happen from a show in Texas, but it’s bizarre to think that y’all played a country bar, with two stepping dancing going on from a California beach-reggae band…in a bar in Florida. See, the crazy paths music takes us on??
How does music help change the world?
Uncle Lui: Because music has no filter and is able to cut straight through to the heart and soul of a human, it has the ability to Inspire, Heal, Motivate, Comfort, and out right make you move in ways you never thought possible.
As a kid, what is one song that when you hear it now, you’re instantly taken back to that time and place where you heard it?
Uncle Lui: “California Love” by Tupac and Dr. Dre…
Thing you would change about yourself right this minute.
Uncle Lui: Get more sleep!
What is a bad habit that you have on tour that you don’t have when you get home?
Uncle Lui: Not sleeping!
What is the craziest thing you’ve seen on tour?
Uncle Lui: I think the craziest thing was a female fan jumping on stage and trying to tackle our lead singer from behind! We were so caught off guard, we just stood there watching our lead singer get assaulted with kisses while he screamed for help!! Haha!
I totally laughed out loud picturing JR King on the ground, hollerin’ for help and the rest of the band just trying not to miss a beat! Haha!!
When I speak to artists about touring, we often talk about how it can get lonely on the road. Does it get lonely for you? How do you combat this while on tour?
Uncle Lui: It does get lonely, we all have families we leave behind so FaceTime has become our best friend! It also helps that we book a lot of back to back shows with hardly any days off, so keeping super busy while on the road helps combat missing our families.
What’s your favorite thing about touring?
Uncle Lui: Besides meeting new fans from all walks of life and learning about the history of each different town or city we’re in, experiencing different foods and finding our favorite spots that we always go back to when we are back in the area is one of cool things about touring.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Uncle Lui: On a permanent vacation with my family
Tell me one thing you’re looking forward to when you come to Dallas.
Uncle Lui: Seeing good friends and family we haven’t seen in awhile that just moved to Dallas!!
List any other deets we may need/want to know.
Uncle Lui: In case you don’t already have them, here is the link to all our upcoming shows across the country; https://commonkings.com/live.
We have new music dropping soon, an EP and our 2nd Full Length album to follow…2018 is looking really good right now!!
