Kyng is a band that I feel that I have literally watched grow up. From the first time I ever met these guys in 2011 while opening for Black Stone Cherry to a direct support slot on Megadeth’s “Countdown To Extinction Anniversary” tour, Kyng has always been awesome about keeping in touch and remember little old me. It was a total pleasure to get the opportunity to interview Kyng drummer Pepe Clarke after an amazing performance at the Tabernacle here in Atlanta.
Pepe is a really hilarious guy and one of my favorite peeps. After their set we sat backstage and over a few beers we talked about this love for jazz music, his musical journey as a drummer, and what it was like being handpicked by Metallica to perform at the Orion Music Festival and Dave Mustaine to open their most recent tour. This was a really fun interview and I hope you all will dig getting to know a little more about Kyng’s drummer Mr. Pepe Clarke. Horns up y’all!
Pepe, thanks for doing this today man.
Of course man. No problem.
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I feel like I’ve literally watched Kyng grow up and to see you guys really taking off is great. And you still remember me!
[laughs] Thanks. Well, we still have a long way to go. We’ll forget you eventually [laughs].
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How much longer before you forget me?
Well, when we at least get 100 people coming to our shows [laughs].
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So looking back to the beginning of the band and now being on a tour with such an influential band as Megadeth, do you look at it like it’s a surreal thing or do you feel more like, “We deserve this”?
It’s incredibly surreal. We were honestly not sure what we were going to do for the last few months of the year. We had the Seether tour and while Seether is a big band and all, none of us grew up listening to Seether. It’s a different type of music and not what we listen to. It was an awesome tour to be on and everyone was really excited for us but to suddenly get the Megadeth tour was amazing. This tour is about the same size as the Seether tour and we’re playing the same venues but it’s Megadeth! It’s incredibly surreal. I grew up listening to Megadeth and they’re a big influence on my playing. Nick Menza (former Megadeth drummer) was a huge influence on me. It’s not that we don’t work hard and that we don’t deserve it but it’s not something I think, “Yes. We should be here!”
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It’s hard enough being a support act on a tour but being the only direct support for a band like Megadeth can be brutal. How have the fans been taking to you guys?
It’s been great. We’ve been getting really great responses from everyone. I love it so many people are discovering us for the first time. We have 45 minutes to play and we have an opportunity to really put on a show. Mustaine even Tweeted about us a few times which was awesome. People listen to what he says so I know a lot of people have checked us out because of him. People have really been giving us a chance and try to bring it every night with as much energy as possible. We haven’t had a bad show on this tour.
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You guys have definitely been turning some heads because in almost every review I’ve read on this tour, Kyng gets a paragraph or so where the reviewer talks about how much they were blown away by you guys.
Yeah, it’s been great. We were talking to Dave Mustaine and he told us that his fans are very open. I really feel that his fans are very open and they’ve been incredibly accepting. I don’t if it’s just our age or something but the people have to know that we are Megadeth fans. We’re one of them. I feel like that maybe they identify with that as well.
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So did Dave Mustaine actually hand pick Kyng to open this tour?
He really did. Megadeth actually reached out to us which is incredible. We have some friends like Jose from Sirius XM, the people from Dean Guitars and D Drum apparently played our stuff for him and he liked it so he invited us out. It’s awesome.
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I can only imagine how awesome that is. I mean, that would be like if Dave called me up and said, “Don. I want you to come out and blog on stage before we play every night.”
[laughs] Yeah.
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Dave Mustaine has really been in a press quite a bit for saying some pretty crazy stuff. What are your thoughts on some what he’s been saying?
I don’t really agree with what he says but I totally believe that he has the right to think and say the things he does. He’s got a lot of balls to say the things he says. It’s just that he says things that most people don’t think a heavy metal musician would be saying.
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Just since we first met nearly two years ago when you were touring with Black Stone Cherry, Kyng has shared the stage with some pretty big names including a coveted invite to play at Metallica’s Orion Music Festival. Are you beginning to see an increase in your fan base since doing all these amazing shows?
Honestly, I really don’t know. We try not to do headline shows because we just don’t feel that we’re there yet. We have done headlining shows but in all honesty I don’t know. I know that our base has grown in that people that come to a show like Megadeth will say, “I saw you guys before with so and so” and they are into the band that way. I don’t know if they’d actually come out to a show just to see us. We really haven’t had an opportunity to experiment with a tour on our own. We are definitely seeing people singing along at shows so yeah; I guess it has in a way.
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Is there a particular band you’d like to see you guys touring with that you haven’t already?
As an opening band?
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As an opening band or a headliner.
We’d love to tour with Down. We’d love to tour with Graveyard. We’d love to tour with Orange Goblin. There’s a ton of bands we’d love to tour. I’d really love to tour with Testament or Anthrax. We’d also love to tour with bands like Soundgarden or Alice in Chains. You know, some of the more alternative stuff.
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Kyng definitely has that hybrid kind of sound that would totally work well with bands like that. I could see you guys doing songs like “Porcelain” and what not. Speaking of, that’s my favorite song right now and you guys should be doing it.
[laughs] Yeah? Well we do that one when we have more time.
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Well I say you need to go back out there now and tell Dave that you have to play this song for me.
[laughs] Alright we’ll do it. “Dave. Stop countdown. We have to play this song for Don.” [laughs]
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Kyng has been touring the hell out of the debut Trampled Sun. We heard two new songs tonight so when can we expect to hear a new album from Kyng?
Well, I don’t know when it will be released but we’re hoping to record at the beginning of next year. I’m assuming that it’ll come out spring or summer of next year. I’m not sure how record cycles work or what the best time to release an album is.
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Actually, you’ll put it out when I tell you to put it out.
Oh, ok. We’ll record it, get the product, and then we’ll call you and figure it out then. [laughs]
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So you guys actually haven’t recorded anything yet?
Well, we recorded the two new ones we played tonight (Used as a Fool and Burn the Serum) as demos to try out some things but we haven’t actually started the album process yet.
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So was the new material actually written while on the road?
Yeah, some of it was. Eddie’s got a lot of ideas and riffs. We jam out in the hotel rooms sometimes and we arrange stuff while in the van.
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2012 has been a pretty amazing year for Kyng. What would you say has been your personal highlight?
Playing the Orion Festival was definitely a highlight. Megadeth. We loved touring with Clutch. Um, yeah, I can’t really just pick one but those were highlights for me personally.
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Man, my personal highlights were watching you guys do all of that!
[laughs] That’s awesome.
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Speaking of Orion, Kyng was actually introduced by James Hetfield. How was that and did he have any words to share with you guys?
Apparently he’s fan. Each member of Metallica chose bands to play and we were a Hetfield band. He picked us. We also ran into Lars in the hotel hallway. We were walking towards each other and I was wearing a Metallica t-shirt and he was totally trying to avoid us [laughs]. We stopped him and just said, “Sorry to bother you. We’re Kyng and we wanted to thank you for having us. “His whole demeanor completely changed and told us that he really liked us and wanted to make sure we were treated well. He was really cool. I mean, I basically learned how to play along with Lars.
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Pepe, let’s get to know about you. At what point did you know you wanted to be a musician?
Well I was always interested in drums. I remember being 16 and making that decision that I wanted to be a drummer as my career choice. I was thinking about colleges and what I wanted to do with my life and I decided that I wanted to be a drummer. I remember having that conversation with my parents and it was just a realization. I’ve never looked back. I feel like this is what I was always meant to do. Obviously my parents wanted me to get a real degree and pursue music. They wanted me to have a Plan B in case music didn’t work but I didn’t want to live in Plan B. Plan B is for somebody who is going to settle. I want to live in Plan A.
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Did you have any formal lessons or training?
I did. I took a few drum lessons here and there growing up. Basically I taught myself by listening to thrash albums. I would learn drum parts. I went to the Musicians Institute for college and then I went to Berkeley. I didn’t get my degree. I only went for two years but I grew a lot and I learned a lot about myself. When I was in Berkeley all I wanted to do was study and play jazz. I realized that I was never going to be a good jazz drummer so I focused on rock but I definitely incorporate some of the jazz stuff I know in Kyng.
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I can totally see that especially after your drum solo tonight. It’s kind of like Bill Ward from Black Sabbath. I mean, he was mainly a jazz drummer playing in a rock band.
Exactly. I still listen to jazz and practice to it. I’m by no means a jazz drummer though.
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What song do you feel best encapsulates everything that Kyng is about?
Sometimes I feel “Trails in Veins” is that song. It has that southern kind of stuff but some very metal parts to it, some harmonies, and it has that little jazzy breakdown. We always sound check with that song because I feel like the sound guy is going to get all our needs from that song. It covers most of the dynamics.
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What is going through your mind while you are performing live?
Oh man. I have a lot of various feelings and thoughts. I am very aware of the crowd so I definitely try and gage the crowd at that moment. I look at all the faces and I think, “Is this going to be a good show?” I really don’t think about music very much though. I can’t really turn off my brain. I’ll be thinking about things like load out or like, “I wonder if so and so got their tickets.” [laughs] I’m very scatterbrained when I’m playing which is bad but it hasn’t really hurt anything [laughs].
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Do you get nervous before you go on stage?
I always feel anxious. Once that first note is played I’ll know if it’s going to be a good show or not. I’m just always anxious wondering what’s in store for us for the next 30 or 40 minutes. Is it going to be hell or is it going to be cool? It always feels good though when we’re hitting it and it feels right and it sounds right. That’s when I’m just like, “This is going to be a great show.”
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What was the first concert you ever went to?
I grew up in Mexico so it was this thing called the Guateques tour. It was a lot of Mexican bands that came through where I grew up. That was my first show. It was part of that whole En Español movement that was happening so it was a lot of bands singing in Spanish. It was just bands from Latin America.
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What was your first metal show?
My first metal show was Sepultura in 1998. I was 18 and had just left home and moved to L.A. I was there for like two days and saw that Sepultura was playing at the House of Blues. I went by myself and it was awesome. Derek Green was in the band but Igor (Cavalera; drums) was still in the band.
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This has been a pretty busy year and lots of van tours for you guys. How do three guys live in a van for so long and not kill each other?
Thankfully we get along really well. We have our moments and drive each other crazy at some point. We’re kind of witty and we make fun of each other a lot so it becomes fun… after a while [laughs].
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What is your favorite road trip/tour junk food?
You know those Snyders Honey Mustard pretzel things? I love those things [laughs]. I’m gonna say that.
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If you could drum for any band of any era for just one night, who and why?
Oh man, who would it be? That’s a loaded question Don [laughs]. What if I said Kyng? Would that be lame?
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That would suck and I would not print that. Actually, I will print that.
[laughs] I’m going to say Death. They have such a history of amazing drummers so it would be kind of cool to be in that line.
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Who is, in your mind, the ultimate metal drummer?
I would have to say I’m pretty blown away by Tomas Haake from Meshuggah. He’s definitely phenomenal. He’s insane.
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If you could have a 30 minute drum lesson with any drummer, who would it be?
Abe Laboriel Jr. He plays with Paul McCartney now. When I first moved here and went to school everyone talked about “groove.” “You gotta have groove.” Nobody could really explain to you what groove is and nobody can really teach you groove. You either groove or you don’t. There are so many amazing drummers out there that I feel don’t groove. The first time understood what groove meant was when I saw Abe Laboriel Jr. playing with Larry Carlton. I’ve always just admired him because of his feel. I would just love to pick his brain.
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Well, speaking of jazz, arre there any artists or type of music I’d be surprised to hear you were into?
I love Bill Stewart who’s a jazz drummer and I think he’s phenomenal. The way he plays just blows my mind. I listen to Mexican folk music and some of that drumming is very intricate. I like some Latin and Caribbean music.
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I love hearing stuff like this. I ask this of all metal friends and it seems that metal musicians and fans are some of the most open minded music listeners.
You kind of have to be when you play this kind of music. I’ve noticed than when we’re on tour, if I’m driving the van and I play metal music, it won’t wake me up. I’ll play something like Mad Season and I’ll wake up. I guess it’s because it’s so different from what I do every night.
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In your opinion, what is the ultimate metal album that EVERY person should own?
I think Metallica’s Master of Puppets. It’s not my favorite album but I think it’s the ultimate metal album. The riffs, the speed, and even the sound and production of it. That riff from “Master of Puppets” always takes me back to this amusement park where there was this ride where they always played metal.
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Do you have any advice for anyone out there with a dream of playing music?
No [laughs]. I mean, in all honesty, just keep doing it. We’re still climbing that ladder ourselves so I wouldn’t really know what else to say than to keep doing it. Don’t try to make music that’s going to make you money. Don’t think about it as money. Just do what you love to do and hope that people will get into it. You can set yourself up to play music that is going to make you money but it doesn’t mean you will make money. You might never get anywhere and you’re playing music that you don’t really like anyway. If most likely nothing is going to happen, you might as well do something that you love.
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Bassist Tony Casteneda walks in:
(Tony) “What is this? Fucking 60 Minutes or what?” [laughs] and hands me a Dave Mustaine guitar pick.
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Tony, you can get in on this one too. Pepe, what do you want for Christmas?
A new wallet [laughs]. That’s what I want.
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Tony, what do you want for Christmas?
(Tony) Money for my old wallet [laughs]. Man, I’ve got all I really need right now. I’m really fucking content with my life.
(Pepe) That’s a cliché answer. Don’t lie [laughs].
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Y’all are my boys. Thanks so much for taking the time out to do this Pepe.
Fuck yeah brother. It’s always awesome seeing you man.
Thanks to Pepe (and Tony) for that fun interview. For more on Kyng go to: https://www.facebook.com/KyngRocks
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