Interview Jerry Gaskill King's X

Lineup Doug Pinnick - Vocals, Guitar Ty Tabor - Bass Jerry Gaskill - Drums

10/16/05 Interviewer: Sharita Lumpkin

"King’s X is one of those bands that you don’t put into a genre, King’s X is the genre."

That was the answer that drummer Jerry Gaskill gave me when I asked him about all the different genre's and sub-genres since King's X hit the scene. For a little over twenty-five years, King's X has built a cult following here in the United States and around the world. From their debut album under a different name called The Edge, to their latest album under the King's X moniker, Ogre Tones, this band has gave both fans and critics music to believe in.

Doug, Ty, and Jerry have done King's X as well as done solo projects over this time span and have gained a lot of respect from journalists and peers. They are one of those bands that is widely known, but doesn't get the accolades that other bands receive. Join me in a conversation with Jerry as we discuss King's X history, his solo album, as well as his son's band Geek.

Sharita: First of all Jerry, thanks for calling and doing the interview I really appreciate it.

Jerry: No problem.

Sharita: Ok, first of all I know that what I am about to say sounds so cliché but I am a big fan of Kings X all the way back to Gretchen Goes To Nebraska. In fact I just had it on and it reminded me of how much I enjoyed your music. It is an honor to speak with you.

Jerry: Well thank you and it’s great that you are listening to that.

Sharita: So, the history of King’s X is spanning over 20 years is that correct?

Jerry: Yeah, over twenty years, twenty-five next month actually.

Sharita: Wow, that’s awesome. Just out of curiosity, I looked over some of the previous interviews, I noticed that a lot of them were conducted with Ty and Doug is there a reason for that?

Jerry: I don’t know if there’s a real reason other than I’m just a drummer I guess. (Laughs)

Sharita: (Laughs) Well, you’re more than just a drummer Jerry.

Jerry: I know. (Chuckles)

Sharita: When the band first started, why did you call yourselves The Edge?

Jerry: Well, that’s something that Doug came up with, he felt that we were on the edge of doing what we were doing and felt like we were on the edge of something so I guess he thought, “Hey, The Edge would be a cool name.” So we all thought, “Yeah, The Edge, that’s cool. (Laughs)

Sharita: Did it have anything to do with the fact that you were doing U2 covers then?

Jerry:  Actually, we called ourselves The Edge before we knew of U2 and then when U2 came out and we saw that one of the guitarists [had the same name] we thought, “Aw man, we can’t be the Edge anymore.”

Sharita: (Laughs) Ok, then after that you named yourselves Sneak Preview, any particular reason for that name?

Jerry: I don’t know what was up with that name. (Chuckles) We were trying to come up with a new name for the new era in our lives. We had two guitar players and at one point he had left. That is when we decided to be a three piece and we thought everything has to be new, new music and a new name. For some stupid reason we came up with Sneak Preview. (Laughs)

Sharita: Interesting. No particular reason for the name you just went with it. (Laughs)

Jerry: Yeah, we just kind of went with that. [It] doesn’t have any deep meaning or any meaning, it is what it is.

Sharita: Alright, let’s fast-forward to 1998 when you put out the album Tapehead and Metal Blade signed you. This basically happened after you left Atlantic records and split with longtime manager Sam Taylor. During this time you went on a two-year tour, which had to be exhausting, tell me about that.

Jerry: Well, we had to live and that was the only way for us to do that.

Sharita: For two years though?

Jerry: Well, we took a little break here and there. (Chuckles) 

Sharita: And during this tour you did mostly Europe and the United States or did you go pretty much anywhere to play?

Jerry: Mostly the US, Europe, and Canada. We also did a short little stint in Japan at one point, three shows.

Sharita: Great, I wanted to ask you about the Mr. Bulbous album which was leaked on the net six months prior to it’s release back in 2000. Did this incident make you opposed to downloading or do you feel it can still help an artist out in the long run?

Jerry: Well, I think you can look at it either way. I guess in one sense, downloading is a good thing because people get to hear the music more readily and more easily but if it’s done illegally, then that takes away the life’s blood of the people making the music, you know. So, you have to look at it both ways I think, does that make sense?

Sharita: Yeah, I feel that it’s a great way for new and more established artists to get their material out there however, I’ve always said if you like the album enough or the band then buy their CD’s or merchandise.

Jerry: Yeah, that’s what I’m saying the downloading is great. I think it exposes the music to the people like I said but, there has to be a way for it to be done legally and financially because that’s how people make their living.

Sharita: Exactly.

Jerry: I think it’s a wonderful and great thing but then [again], it’s always been that way. Before downloading there were people bootlegging records. That’s just the way of the world and it’s going to be that way whatever medium we have to work with.

Sharita: Right, now just as a side question, do you think it’s fair for the RIAA to go after say fifteen year old kids or families and sue them for downloading songs?

Jerry: Well, it gets really crazy when you start talking about what’s right and wrong and how the government does things or things along those lines. That’s a very difficult thing to do because people are doing the things they do for [specific reasons] that we may or may not understand.

I believe a fifteen year old kid downloading or doing whatever it is he’s doing, I mean that’s what kids do, they’re gonna do things. You’re gonna have to accept certain things in life, that’s just the way it is. I mean there’s times that we accept the way things are and then there’s times that they enforce certain things in life and it’s just a crazy swirling world of yes and no and right and wrong. Does that make sense?

Sharita: Yes, it does Jerry, I agree and let me stress that adults download just like kids do. (Laughs)

Jerry: Yeah, that’s why things are enforced or not and again it’s just a crazy, vicious, cycle that we have to find our own balance in I think.

Sharita: There you go. I just want to point out how King’s X has some very loyal fans and there are so many fan sites dedicated to the band you can really tell how much you guys are appreciated. However, because of the untimely death of Dimebag Darrell, are you concerned about playing live?  

Jerry: Well we’ve thought about it before. I know that people can get crazy in their love for somebody or whatever it is they feel but what are you gonna do? You have to live your life. I mean, when that happened to Dime that was a shock to us all, I mean that was something nobody had ever experienced. I think it made us all think certain things that we’d never thought before but like I said what are you going to do, we have to live the rest of our lives. I guess if someone wants to shoot me, I guess they’re gonna do that aren’t they? That’s just the fate that I would have to deal with.

Sharita: Ok, changing the subject a little Jerry talk about your own solo album, Come Somewhere, what’s up with the naked girl on the cover?

Jerry: That’s just the vision I had for this. You know it’s just a naked girl, an attractive naked girl, not sexual, kinda sexy but not a sexual thing. Just sitting with her knees up in a corner of a room, looking lonely and passive and all that kind of stuff. It just seems to be what I wanted to portray this record as being, a naked girl on a cover, because that’s a good thing to me.

Sharita: (Laughs) Ok.  Let’s talk about King’s X latest release Ogre Tones, are there any major differences with writing style or production with this album as opposed to the previous ones?

Jerry:  I think this record is one that we’ve needed to make for a long time now and we did approach it quite differently this time. For a while during the Metal Blade years, we we’re just all writing songs just completely together, we’d come into the studio with nothing and just write songs from scratch together, that’s how those other records were made.

This time, we all decided to bring in songs and work on them that way plus we worked with Michael Waggoner, the producer, something we hadn’t done in a few years either. All those elements brought about newness and a freedom for us to make what we thought would be a really good record and I think it came out all right.

Sharita: Great, what is your favorite track on Ogre Tones?

Jerry: Oh, I dunno, (Laughs) they’ve all gotta be my favorite track at one point or else they wouldn’t be on the record. That’s a hard thing to say because it changes from minute to minute.

Sharita: Understood, are there any interesting things that happened during the recording of Ogre Tones that you’d like to share with the audience?

Jerry: No, nothing interesting. (Laughs) All boring and blah.

Sharita:  (Laughs) Ok, when you mentioned coming in with songs, how many did each of you come in with on average?

Jerry: Well, we all have tons of songs. Doug has many songs, some that he doesn’t even play for us because he thinks that they’re crap and when he does we go, “Aw man Doug, we have to do that one.” We have stockpiles of songs that we can pick and choose from, so they just seem to be endless.

Sharita: Cool, I had read about your son playing…

Jerry: None of this is true; I’m making it all up. (Laughs) Go ahead, next question.

Sharita: (Laughs) I read about your sons being musicians as well…

Jerry: Yeah, my two oldest songs had a band called Geek and they made two records with Doug.

Sharita: Ok, and did they appear on your solo album?

Jerry: No, but they did go on tour with Doug. Geek opened for Doug on his solo tour. I loved their band. Also, one of my sons who was the drummer in Geek, played on Doug’s last solo album too. I’ve jammed with my kids but we’ve never actually made a record together.

Sharita: Would you like to eventually do a solo album with your kids?

Jerry: I dunno, I haven’t actually thought about it but yeah I think I’d love to be involved in some kind of recording with my kids.

Sharita: That would be great if you did something with your sons. Changing gears a little, I wanted to talk about genres. There’s a million genres and sub-genres out there, what genre do you feel King’s X would fit into?

Jerry: I actually talked bout this with a friend of mine yesterday and what he said was that King’s X is one of those bands that you don’t put into a genre, King’s X is the genre.

Sharita: Well, there you go, that’s a good answer.

Jerry: I’ll take that one. (Chuckles) 

Sharita: That’s awesome. What has kept King’s X going for twenty-five years and do you see the band going even longer?

Jerry: Hmm, well what has kept King’s X going so long…(Chuckles) I dunno I guess because we believe in each other, care, and love each other and all that bullsh….crap. (Laughs) We love the music that we make together I think that’s what it boils down to. We’ve just stuck it all these years through the good and bad times. Yeah, I think well continue on as long as we can.

Sharita: Ok and what about touring, I see you have some shows lined up, any shows in Chicago?

Jerry: Yeah, I think we have a Chicago show. I dunno what’s going on as far as the tour dates. It’s some places you can find some dates and not the others, then there’s other places you can find certain dates that are not on the website. [However], I have heard that there is definitely a Chicago show.

Sharita: Well, when I come through hopefully I’ll be able to catch you guys.

Jerry: Definitely, you should come see us.

Sharita: I will try; my final question is any of today’s bands that you like?

Jerry: Today’s bands? There’s a lot of good music out there. I love Deftones and GlassJaw, Head Automatica. Just last night I watched Franz Ferdinand on MTV.  Badass shit right there.

Sharita: Oh you’re a fan of theirs? I kind of like them too.

Jerry: Cool, yeah I really like a lot of stuff I don’t listen to just one kind of music.

Sharita: Right, gotta branch off every once in a while. Ok, Jerry it has been a pleasure talking to you, I really appreciated you calling and I hope to see you guys when you come through.

Jerry: Definitely, that would be good.

Sharita: Wish Ty and Doug well and here’s to another twenty-five years for King’s X.

Jerry: Yeah ok, sure. (Laughs)

Sharita: (Laughs) We’ll see. Take Jerry.

Jerry: Thanks very much, have a good day.


Thanks to Jerry and Eric Corbin from Inside Out for setting it up.