Knights of the Fire Kingdom – Church of the Retarded from Jeoaf Johnson on Vimeo.
Today we feature “Knights of the Fire Kingdom” and its safe to say, it’s time for some rock ‘n’ roll. They’re going to be featured on SWS ( Vol. 1) Some Weird Sin Records and SW is doing a live album cassette for them for International Cassette STORE Day. – See more at:
Cassette Store Day Releases (October 17th, 2015)
Hi, our name is….
Knights of the Fire Kingdom
Our sound is……
Jeoaf: Pretty straightforward rock and roll. We’ve been compared to bands like early Weezer, the Replacements, Rocket from the Crypt, Afghan Wigs, Foo Fighters, Drive Like Jehu, the Stooges…the comparisons kinda span the entire spectrum of rock, which we’re pretty cool with.
We are…
Jeoaf: I’m Jeoaf and I sing and play guitar.
Dave: Dave Noske, I play bass.
We are from…….
Jeoaf: Houston, Texas.
Who are some artists that have an influence on you?
Dave: Superdrag, Dinosaur Jr., Ultramagg….lots of bands inspire me.
Jeoaf: I was about 12 or 13 when I started really getting into music and the bands I felt like I discovered on my own — outside of the influence of, like, my parents or whoever — were Nirvana and Rocket from the Crypt, so those are the two big ones for me. But I get inspired by tons of stuff, though, whether or not it may directly influence what we do in Knights. Stuff like Radiohead or the Locust or even some of John Williams’ film scores I find to be really inspiring for a ton of different reasons, even though I think its probably tough to hear those influences on our record.
How old were all of you when you started to play and who plays what in the band?
Dave: 17. I play bass and sing a little.
Jeoaf: The first “band” I was ever in was when I was about 5 years old. It wasn’t anything real, obviously, but I had a little toy drum kit that a few of my friends and I took out to my parents’ garage with an old boombox and made a bunch of noise and recorded it. It wasn’t any sort of real band, but the seed was there. I made tons of dumb tapes when I was a kid, but I the first real-ish band where we got real instruments, would get together and write songs and practice and stuff was when I was around 14. I played drums from then til we started Knights. I sing and play guitar now. Then we have Chris who also plays guitar and Matt who plays drums.
Can you tell us about the process you use, from writing the songs all the way through getting the songs out?
Dave: Some of the songs are written together and some we individually bring in.
Jeoaf: Yeah, it varies. It seems like lately, someone will bring in an idea or a riff or a part and we’ll all learn that and then expand on it from there. There were a couple of songs that were written together that ended up on the record, but mainly when we first started, we were throwing nearly completed songs that we’d been building up on our own over the years, so it was just a matter of putting our stamp on them and refining things. There wasn’t really anything left after that, so its largely been starting from scratch since then, which is kinda cool.
What are some of the challenges you face as musicians and how have you overcome those challenges?
Dave: Stupid work getting in the way of what’s really important. Which is writing and rocking.
Jeoaf: Yeah, the biggest challenge is definitely time constraints. We all have lives and stuff, so its hard to put in as much time on anything as we’d like to—band included. You really just have to get good at budgeting your time. I think that the things that really matter naturally are given the most time, but you have to be aware of responsibilities, too, or else everything will go to shit around you. Once things get to that point, its tough to enjoy even the things that you love doing. Its all about balance.
1st rock concert you went to and age….
Dave: Ultramagg and Race Car Riot when I was 17.
Jeoaf: The Monkees at the Nebraska State Fair when I was 5. They came out and completely destroyed a turntable that was playing their theme song before they even picked up their guitars or anything. It blew my little mind.
Coolest band t-shirt you ever bought…
Dave: Mine was a Braid shirt. Simple blue shirt with a simple logo. I wore it to threads.
Jeoaf: I got a shirt from the final Rocket from the Crypt show on Halloween 2005. Its just a black shirt with the Rocket logo wrapped in mummy bandages. I think Pushead did the art for it and its just really fucking cool.
The most insane concert you ever went to or were a part of….
Jeoaf: The first time I went to see GWAR, I was supposed to meet up with a friend that ended up getting arrested on the way there, so I was there all by myself. I didn’t find that out what had happened to him until later, so I was still pretty irritated going into it. But then once the show started and Oderus came out and they started doing their thing, I completely forgot about being irked and was able to get any remaining frustration out in the pit. It was one of the moist insane shows I’ve seen to this day. And it was the first time I had to confront the idea that I’m probably past my mosh pit heyday cuz I was SO sore for days after that, hahaha!
If you could open for any band right now who would that be and why?
Dave: Dinosaur Jr. They special.
Jeoaf: Man, I dunno. I’m not sure that there’s really any band that I pine to open for. We’ve opened shows for Man or Astro-man?, Andrew WK, Har Mar Superstar and a some others and they’ve all been pretty cool. But as far as a dream opening slot, I’d be hard-pressed to really think of one. Maybe Foo Fighters? It’d be a trip to play some gigantic stadium with them somewhere. Or maybe someone super shitty, so that we could go on, totally destroy the place and then make them follow us. That might be better.
My youngest son is 13 and in a band, what advice would you offer him?
Dave: Fuck the status quo and write what feels right, write for yourself and not an audience. Strive to impress yourself and realize that once you do, the gate opens and you have much further to go.
Jeoaf: Totally. Go with your gut, don’t worry about what someone else is gonna think of what you’re doing. Your art is your art and if you’re happy with it, that’s all that matters. Even if its just a little demo thing that you do by yourself on your phone or something at home, if you’re pleased with the result, then fuckin’ A, man, look what you just did! And honestly, beyond that, it only stands to reason that if you’ve got something that you really like and are into, then the odds are almost guaranteed that there are other people out there on the same wavelength that are gonna dig it, too. So in that regard, don’t be afraid to put in out there and share it with people. The only way to find your tribe is to look around, put yourself out there and slowly gravitate toward each other. It’ll never happen if you don’t just go and do it. Its that simple.
Your thoughts on the state of rock ‘n’ roll in 2015…..
Jeoaf: On a mainstream level, its looking kinda bleak. I can completely understand why the Spin magazines and Rolling Stone magazines of the world have been leaning toward the “Rock is Dead” mentality. I’m sure it probably looks very much that way from their perspective when the Taylor Swifts and the Kanye’s are all that anyone wants to talk about. But there’s always gonna be an underground and that’s where the cool stuff tends to pop up anyway. I’m not worried.
Our plans for the rest of 2015…..
Dave: Push ups, sit ups…
Jeoaf: And Brazilian Butt-Lifts.
