Uncertainty, Podcasters and Pumpkins

If you would have asked me in January where I would be living in May, I would have replied, "Much closer to my bandmates." Well, things haven't quite worked out and I'm still two and a half hours away. My big plans for King Never in 2011 have been delayed, but I'm still hopeful!

I've been using this period of uncertainty to refine my guitar rig and work on new material. So far, I've finished one new song and am close to finishing a second - I just need to finish those pesky lyrics. I'm pleased with the direction of the new material and look forward to fleshing out the arrangements with the band.

In other news, did you know you can download any (or all) of King Never's albums for "name your price"? It's true. Pay nothing or pay something. Go on over to music.kingnever.com to start downloading.

Oh. I would be remiss not to thank the wonderful Nick Tann for playing King Never on episode 80 of his excellent Is This Thing On? Podcast. Give it a listen. Nick plays some great indie music and is a very entertaining host.

Interestingly, Nick compares our song Sorrow to the Smashing Pumpkins. He is the second podcaster to make this reference, so there must be something to it! Ironically, I've never been a fan of the Pumpkins and have been known to use Billy Corgan as an example of a singer with poor vocal quality. You know what they say about kharma!

Thanks for your continued support and interest in King Never!

Rathole Radio Podcast

Thanks to the Rathole Radio Podcast for playing our song Sorrow on episode 48! Give it a listen and learn why Billy Corgan was mentioned in the same sentence as King Never. Intrigued?

AMPed New Music Weekly Podcast

Thanks to the Association of Music Podcasting (AMPed) for playing our song Sorrow on episode 273 of their New Music Weekly Podcast. Good stuff.

Sonic Dissonance Review

I'm not sure when this review from Sonic Dissonance was published, but here you go.

King Never - Possibilities

After days of internal debate, I came to this conclusion about King Never's new album, Possibilities. For me, it's like a Bomb Pop.

Seems to me there are two basic types of Bomb Pop eaters. Of course there's those that are die-hard with red-white-blue colored treats, they love every last bit of the popsickle. Then there's people like me that may only really prefer one of the three flavors. It's not that I won't eat the white or blue parts, I'd just rather have more of the red.

Occasionally, I'll run into similar feelings toward an album. Enter King Never.

As a whole, Possibilities will make a lot of people happy. The rhythms and grooves are smooth, the lyrics are quotable and Matt McCabe's vocals are fluid enough to garner some well-deserved attention. The die-hards (not unlike die-hards for any other band) will quickly become engrossed in the new songs, possibly proclaiming them to be King Never's best work to date.

As a King Never newbie, I can't attest to the difference between Possibilities and any of King Never's prior work dating back about 15 years. I can, however, tell you that the guitar work on Possibilities is my cherry end of the Bomb Pop. McCabe does a solid job of drilling out some electric work. For me, it's that electric work, with some semblance of ambient rhythms that keeps me listening.

Much like the frozen treat, I'll continue to listen and enjoy on some level the rest of the album. I just can't find myself engrossed in the rest of Possibilities. It's easy to recognize the talent and understand how and why the songs fit together, but it falls just short of personal intrigue.

What does it all mean? It means that McCabe and King Never have won me over enough to keep listening, even if it is sporadically just to get a guitar fix. Much like the Bomb Pop, I'll continue to open my ears to King Never's work even if the album as a whole isn't necessarily the best flavor for my personal soundtrack.

Recommended if you like The Fixx, Brian Eno, Porcupine Tree.

- Sonic Dissonance

King Never Podcast #21 - Merry Christmas

Just a quick podcast about our new Christmas single, We Three Kings. Get a bit of background about how and why we chose the song, hear a clip of us practicing, and finally, hear the finished product!

Merry Christmas and thanks for your support of King Never.

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