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Acid King
As part of our coverage of this year’s Hellfest we programmed a few interviews and set up contacts with labels and managers to be able to chat a bit with some of those playing in Clisson.
Some worked out OK and some didn’t sadly, and as such some interviews which were supposed to have happened there were put on hold. So after returning and putting everything in place we decided to reconnect with those missed opportunities in order to get some answers to the already written interviews, and such was the case with Acid King. I want to thank the band, and in particular Joey Osbourne, for taking the time to reply to our emailed questions. Below you’ll find some interesting answers and some news that might leave you salivating. So enjoy the chat we’ve had with Acid King!
She has always kept things going even when I took a break from the band. As well, there have been tours and shows that I wasn’t able to make and Lori got another drummer to fill in for me. That said, I’ve always been the drummer for Acid King and on all the studio recordings. The other thing that Lori contributes is her ability to be incredibly realistic about what the band can and should do. We’ve never had any illusions of becoming big rock stars and so have made decisions based on that reality. That includes prioritizing our lives before the band. So I think our pacing has helped us to survive this long.The tour you’ve just completed seems to be the confirmation of a certain cult status that the band has, with a few headlining shows and others opening for giants Saint Vitus. How has it been to be back on stage and more so as headliners?
We’ve been very fortunate over the years and do think our tenacity has paid off. We definitely are enjoying the shows and the tours have been getting better and better as we go along. We were even honored to have James Hettfield show up at our Copenhagen show. Playing with Saint Vitus was especially nice as I was a fan back in the 80’s. It was a great honor. We’ve known Wino for some time and had the fortune to play with many of his projects over the years. Even one of our past bass players, Guy, plays in the Obsessed. It was good to see Guy again at Hellfest. He hasn’t changed one bit. I had known Henry a couple years but it was nice to finally meet the whole crew. Good peoples.
The show on Hellfest was the last date of your European tour, and the festival is known for having a lot of stoner and doom metal bands in the bill. How is it for you to have played there, in what is one of the biggest summer festivals in Europe?
It is hard to describe how amazing playing this festival has felt but we had really been wanting to play it for some time. To have played with so many amazing bands and friends was unbelievable. A total blast.
This is also your first tour in two years after an Australian tour in 2010. Before that you played a few dates in the US in 2009 and then we have to go back to 2007 to find more live shows. Why so little live appearances, even in the US?
It has gotten more difficult to tour the states over the years but we have played some shows here. We recently played Portland and New Mexico. We’re going to play a show with Yob in San Francisco in September that we are really looking forward to playing. We still want to and will tour the states but most likely will do it when we have finished recording the next album.
We also decided to focus our tour efforts on other parts of the world.
Speaking a bit of the history behind the band, is it safe to say that if the book “Say You Love Satan” wasn’t made the band would have never existed? Or that at least Acid King wouldn’t be the band we know? There are countless references to that book in the band’s biography…
Although Ricky has been great material over the years, I’m not sure if he’ll get more air time or not. I think Acid King has generally been more influenced by other heavy metal, hard rock and psychedelic bands than Ricky, so would think we’d still have turned out pretty much the same.
Has the book been explored to its full potential or is it still possible to squeeze a bit more juice from it? I guess what I’m really asking here is if there’s any realistic chance that we might see a new Acid King album in the near future?
I do think you’ll be hearing some new Acid King material. We’ve been writing with Mark for a while now and are pretty close to finishing the song writing. We’ve been playing some of that material on the past few tours. We even have tried out some of the newest songs in sound checks and were pretty happy with how they sounded over a really good p.a. system.
Since we’re on the topic, how about the band’s future? Do you plan to keep Acid King active for a while, maybe do more live shows?
Oh you’ll definitely be hearing more from Acid King especially with all the great things that have been happening.
