I discovered how easy it was to record on my Mac (garageband) in 2010 and started re-recording my old songs from my first metal band. Back in the day (late 80s, early 90s) we never brought our songs to their full potential, so that was my goal with re-recording them. I showed the new recordings to Scott, our bass player, and he immediately said, "Let's get a drummer!". So a few people were recommended and Corky Crossler turned out to be a good dude and a great drummer. From there, Corky suggested his friend (and former band-mate) Doggie, who just fit in perfectly. We tried a few other guitar players out, but Corky and Doggie were set on their friend (also a former band-mate!) Kent Varty. Kent finally became available, and everything really fell into place once the five of us were together.
We all grew up in the San Francisco bay area thrash scene in the 80s and 90s in the North Bay and that was a huge influence
on us, and still is.
We are all full time working dudes, so touring has eluded us so far! We try to play at least once a month, either in our home town or in the bay area (Oakland, Vallejo, Etc.). We do a lot of on-line promotion and our CD is on iTunes, Amazon, CDBabay and Spotify. Right now our biggest show for this year is at the Metro Opera House in Oakland, opening for DRI in August.
No plans to head to Canada yet, that might a stretch for us!
I would love to have someone else manage us, but it's a money issue. We just can't pay anyone to do it yet, so we try to split up the work if possible; I do day to day financial stuff, plus artwork, merch and some booking. But everyone keeps their ears open for possible gigs and helps with technical & web stuff, the Reverbnation page, and we all pitch in for financial things when they come up.
We were pretty excited to get second place after hearing the bands that were in the contest! Personally, an art competition seems a little weird to me, since everyone will have their own opinions about what they're seeing and hearing, but we were very excited to be part of it and to place so high.
A second album for sure. It would be nice to have someone else (a label??) handle distribution, but we're ok with the DIY situation thatwe've been doing so far. We would like to play further away from our home base, so we're thinking about heading out to Reno, Boise, Portland and places a little further from where we usually play.
LIke I said, we grew up in the bay area thrash metal scene, so for me it's Death Angel, Testament, OLD Metallica, Exodus, Anthrax, Megadeth…but my first metal and rock bands that really made me want to play music were Van Halen, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Y&T, Ozzy, even old Quiet Riot & Ratt were big influences on me!
Yes, I'm a full-time music video director and have been doing this for about 17 years. I do behind the scenes documentaries too, and some corporate/educational work as well. I work freelance, but I run most of my jobs through a friends' production company, Roaring Mouse Productions. I've done several videos for Machine Head, plus Testament, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Spiral Arms, American Head Charge, Hatriot and countless bands from all around California. Most of my work is on my web site: www.mikesloat.com
Go to live shows as much as possible, connect with bands and fans and keep your scene going! Even if you just hit the "like" button on a band's page, they will very much appreciate it, every little action goes a long way for unsigned bands.
Contact me if you'd like a kick-ass music video done (www.mikesloat.com, mike@mikesloat.com) for a reasonable price too!
Cheers to you, Mike. I am also a fan of TKMD and wish you and the band much success. And of course I must stress how much I want to see you come to Toronto, Ontario, Canada! EH!? \\,,// More on The King Must Die: www.facebook.com/TKMDband the-king-must-die.myshopify.com/ www.youtube.com/user/TKMDbandtwitter.com/TKMDband |
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