LA Rock Band, KING SHELTER Discuss Their “Salad Rock” Sound And More!

Meet LA rock band King Shelter! The band has been making waves on the west coast and is gearing up for an even bigger 2017 – starting with the premiere of their brand new single “Gholy Host.”

Crafting a genre that the band has coined “Salad Rock,” King Shelter creates a healthy mixture of rock that consists of surf, grunge, alternative, and anything in between. With the obvious layers of intertwining genres (or ingredients, like a salad) creating a unique sound, they also bring their complex lyrics and ideas to remind listeners to think for themselves and that no one person is better than another—in other words, it’s music made for the people, by the people.

Learn more about the group in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time! Now that 2016 is over, what are some words you would use to describe the year for the band? What were some of the highlights for you all? What are you most excited about for 2017?

2016 was a huge year for us. Before we sound like we are bragging, we are in utter disbelief and stupidly humbled. We are losers, but intentional and determined losers, at best. We went from 500 monthly listeners to over 40,000. We went from our top song at 2k streams, to our top song having over 200k streams. We got an agent, management, we went on a sold out tour with Sticky Fingers, how the hell !? – 2017 brings some new goals and challenges. I am most exited for the recording and release of our new EP this Fall. That’s the main goal for me this year. But we wanna tour more ! Hoobastank, email us back……jerks

How was King Shelter first formed? Can you remember the moment when you all thought you could be in a band together? Was it difficult to come up with your name? What other names were you considering?

I (Sleezy T), had coined the name in south Florida before I moved to LA. I made a low-fi EP in a dorm room, put that janky bizz on soundcloud and asked kids to listen to my mixtape on campus. I ended up getting requests for shows, so I kind of recruited David, Adam and John. But after playing together, we realized it was something real good. Sumthin real tasty. I knew after like 2 or 3 shows that I wasn’t King Shelter, the four of us are. And that is incredibly important to me.

I’ve read that you call your genre of music “Salad Rock.” What does that mean exactly and how did you come up with that? 

We don’t have a collective influence. And I’m not ever going to try and make us all aim for the same musical influence. We make music the way WE make music. We’re just lame humans. But we are intentional. This is our sound: INTENTIONAL and INCLUSIVE. The word salad has no significance. Some punk ass dude at Venice skatepark cussed Dave and Adam out and Ad’s response was “Geez, what a salad-noob”. I mean, if that’s not symbolism, than sue me.

Let’s talk about you newest single, “Gholy Host.” Where did the inspiration for this song come from? How did it come together?

“Gholy Host” is actually a reboot of a song on our first EP together as a 4 piece, Holy Ghost. I wrote the song in 2015, when I realized that literally every single person is wrong. I’ve always had a struggle with picking a side, not because I am uninformed, but because I strive to see every single person’s perspective and the scenarios that lead people to their views or actions. Understanding one another leads to compassion and understanding. If we constantly fight the other side simply because they stand opposed to you, than what are we accomplishing? I mean, this applies to anything, any view.

This recent election is a great example. If you chose either side, you are gravely confused and you are missing the main problem here. UNDERSTAND both sides. UNDERSTAND all views. Maybe then we can all display more compassion and potentially collaborate minds from all places to make a better world.

https://soundcloud.com/kingshelter/gholyghost

How excited are you to be celebrating the release of “Gholy Host” in your hometown at The Echo? Do you have more shows planned for this year?

We are STOKED. We <3456 The Echo. It’s our first hometown show since our Fall tour with Sticky Fingers, so…it’s been a long time coming. Currently, we don’t have anything set in stone, but we cookin in the kitchen.

When do you think you will release more music and even an EP and an entire album? Are you guys constantly writing new material?

We will smack yall nerds with one more single this Spring. But this Fall, our goal is to release an EP. I will be going into the studio very soon to get things rolling, but this is the one for us. We are beyond stoked and proud of this. I think this new EP, Sophophilic EP, will be the true introduction to Salad. It’s time for eclectic sounds and less boundaries.

Who are you all listening to these days? What do you think of rock music today? What artists have continued to inspire you all and your music?

Ab-Soul, A$AP Rocky and Colour Revolt have been spinnin’ in my iPhone headphones non-stop for the last couple months. Radiohead is a constant as well, always being a huge contribution to sparking creativity. I think rock sucks right now. Everyone ran out of ideas so they’re all just revamping old sounds, bleh. I’ve heard it. But not to say that we are guilty as af too. That is why we are very ready for our new EP. I finally feel like we are creating our own sound. Something NEW. Not a revamp, not a Nirvana sounding rock or the same ol punk sound. It’s time we make something NEW.

When you aren’t in the studio, performing or working on new material, what do you all like to do for fun? 

Ad and T skate and surf when they just JCing. This is where they bond, where the spirits within each of their own bodys intertwine, therefore creating one. Dave usually Gin-a-tonics in his free time and John goes on middle-class lavish dates and cardio exercises (for shows).

At the end of the day, what do you hope your fans, new and old, continue to take away from your music? What do you hope is the message of your songs?

I eventually want us to be looked at as a creative collective. King Shelter is no person and it has no bounds. We most importantly want to impact. We want to push the beauty of the middle ground, the beauty of understand all sides, helping us to learn compassion. That doesn’t necessarily have to be music. We want to CREATE collectively with people. Yes, we are a band, but why stop there? King Shelter is the people. You guys can be the kings; we’ll be the shelter for now.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers about yourselves and your music?

Quit looking at your neighbor with that condescending, sociopolitical grimace. I can’t help but think about how small we are on the inter-galactic scale. We are all homo sapiens floating through an infinite space.  Let’s all get back on track and get back out into outer space, that’s where the real knowledge and progression is going to come from. I hope that one day we can look back at all this sociopolitical blizz and laugh at it’s insignificance.