The King Khan & BBQ Show (www.myspace.com/ thekingkhanbbqshow) has quite a reputation to uphold. Their back story sounds like something straight out of “Behind the Music,” Letters to Penthouse and your local police blotter all rolled into one neat little package of live pandemonium. Nuggets of info floating in cyberspace make claims of excessive and debaucherous exploits that might rival even the best scenes of Tinto Brass’ Caligula, mostly while living and playing in Europe, but ambitious nonetheless. Fortunately, our friends at the fine local radio station WUAG 103.1 FM gave us all the opportunity to test the truthiness of their reputation by booking the duo at the notorious Square One. It’s the Monday just before a long Thanksgiving weekend and the venue is perfect for even the hardest thrashers to really let their hair down. Square One itself looks a bit like a place where one might retreat in the event of a nuclear holocaust, if the “underground” connotation were more than figurative, that is to say. If I saw Michael Gross and Reba McEntire there, I’d expect graboids to burst through the wall at any moment. Its bare, utilitarian walls have all the personality of John Hodgman in the “Get a Mac” ad campaign, minus the innocent charm, and it smells a lot like a trailer dug out of the post-Katrina Ninth Ward. It’s still instant fun with music, however, just add alcohol.
Fortunately, the place has a highly forgiving (though responsibly administered) BYOB policy that leaves plenty of latitude in terms of acceptability. If beer is okay, then bring on the malt liquor. Got my 40 of Old E (in a brown bag, of course)? I got your fifth of Old Crow. It’s a classic anti-establishment hangout with little promotional fanfare, just balls-to-the-wall aural freak-outs with the occasional band practice on the side. Though the Hollow Stars were originally billed to open the show, somehow they were replaced with the Jacuzzi Boys (www.myspace.com/jacuzziboys) out of Miami. I’m not really sure anyone noticed, or even cared for that matter. Fronted by a young Charlie Mansonlookalike, the Jacuzzi Boys somehow managed to cast a sense of malaise over the previously-excitable audience. There were a few heshers in the front banging away to the lo-fi garage sound, though I’m not sure they stopped even when the house speakers came on between sets. The rest of the crowd just seemed to bop their shoulders and shuffle their feet indifferently, as the guitarist rarely changed chord and the drummer seldom found use for fills.
Finally, as King Khan himself took the forefront with his good man BBQ, the attendees mingling outside began to rush the already tightly packed front. Wanton apathy toward the space of others is fundamental condition of any decent punk scene and Square One had all the symptoms: beer can throwing, shoving for better spots and a general disregard for everyone around you. Conditions were optimal to see the classic King Khan that has been called “one of the best live shows in the world,” as the unsourced citation in their bio claims.
Khan is well known for his outlandish performance outfits, though his gold chainmail must have been at the dry cleaners this time around. It’s the duo’s sound, however, that has earned them the real notoriety, and deservedly so. It’s a unique blend of stabbing punk riffs, smooth R&B and earsplitting psychedelia. Yet, it still took a good five songs before most of the crowd was shaken out of the coma induced by the thoroughly-unremarkable Jacuzzi Boys. But once it got rolling, it was like a runaway 18-wheeler with no escape ramp in sight. Khan and BBQ’s musical mayhem was only aided by the front row being so intoxicated that most could barely stand, with the momentum created by random collisions keeping them all afoot.
The band threw out an interesting combination of styles, ranging from the thrashing and angry “Zombie” to the soft-core doo-wop of encore “Why Don’t You Lie.” Somehow, it is throwback and contemporary at the same time — a renaissance of both oldschool punk and older-school rhythm and blues. Khan eventually threw himself about three rows deep and created a shockwave of bodies that toppled over like dominos, though this would be by far the most extreme moment of the evening. Nothing would come close to the claims made in their online bio, but that’s not to say it’s bogus by any means. They’re selling statements and no more, though this duo does possess a style all its own. Still, I expected a little something more from a band carrying the weight of those “best live show” statements, which were exaggerations at best.
To comment on this story e-mail Ryan Snyder at Ryan@yesweekly.com.
