Interview

Doug Pinnick is an enigma. Multitalented and multifacited he has achieved critical acclaim from everyone and everywhere imaginable. Worldwide fame however has been illusive. His voice and his music defy catagorization and his ideas and musical vision are boundless. In this two part interview Doug talks about his solo projects as well as KIngs X. The first part took place during his spring tour with Poundhound.The second in mid summer to gear up for the release of Kings X next release.

Troy Wells: First of all I am a huge fan. I have seen you as far back as 1988 when you opened for hurricane. Do you remember that?

Doug Pinnick: Oh God! Yeah I remember that plain as day! That was the nightmare tour. They were just mean to us. They would set there drum set up which was as big as the room we played in and would not tear them down. We would half way set up on the floor sometimes. They were just such California assholes.When we watched them play we knew that was their last tour. ( laughs) That whole mentality of the late eighties.

T: On the VH1 special Ritchie Blackmore said that he had approached you about joining Deep Purple, what other bands have given you similar offers?

D: Kerry Livgren from Kansas asked me. I have been offered to sing on alot of tribute albums and stuff like that. Crosby Stills and Nash made a joke one time. I met them and Stephen stills walked up to me and said "I know who you are. you're the guy who won't sing in our band because you've already got one!" Then the whole band just cracked up laughing and we hung out for a while. That was very flattering. They were one of my favorite groups.

T: So what did you tell Blackmore. Did he call you?

D: Well, he called the management. Honestly I didn't know about it until way later. Sam Taylor talked to him and told him "no".

T: Are you a Purple fan.

D: Yeah! Geez! I learned how to play bass on Machine Head. Highway Star - I know every lick. Singin' too.

T: Would you have considered that offer?

D: No. Only because I would have to sing all those Ian Gillan songs and I think he's fantastic but I can't sing that high. Same thing with Kansas when they asked me to join. I can't sing as high as Steve Walsh.

T: If there was one band that you could pick, that would be your dream band to either join or jam with who would it be?

D: There is a band I would have been in but they broke up. They were called Dag. They were like this funk rock band. They were totally different. The music was just so moving. I went to see them one night, they were getting so into it. They're kind of "gospely" sounding, but they were a bunch of white guys playing rock music. They got this church vibe going and I got so excited that I wanted to jump on stage and start yelling and I never want to get on stage and do that! I told them I said " if you ever want a singer in your band call me!" They all laughed cause they knew I was half way joking. That is one band..... I mean they changed my whole attitude in alot of ways. You should go get the first Dag album. The singer kind of reminds me of Sly and Marvin Gaye and plays bass. It's raw funk. It's like... go back to Sly and Stevie Wonder in Talking Book era. Great stuff.That's the band I would join if I had to.

T: You have always received critcal acclaim from everyone but have never quite gotten past a certain point of commercial success. Have you finally found peace of mind and accepted that?

D: Yeah. It was very frustrating in the early days but now I look back and go "wow". Why should I complain now? We made a good thing here. I think alot of the music of the '90s was influenced by us. I can't knock that. We're the musicians musicians band they say so I can't knock that. And since we have not sold alot of records we will never be has beens! People still want me to do music for them so I am ready to go.

T: Are you a Glenn Hughes fan?

D: Glenn Hughes is one of my favorite singers and bass players. The first couple Trapeze records were just amazing. I still remember them and I still sometimes think about him when I'm thinking up bass parts. Glenn hughes wants to be Stevie Wonder, so I think he's great. If there is anybody famous that I want to meet that are peers of mine it would be Sly and Stevie Wonder.

T: How about Freddie Mercury?

D: You know, I appreciate everything that he did. Everything. I appreciate everything about him. The whole thing where he came out in leathers, basically came like the village people and nobody got it! His whole aura and everything about him. He was a rich man born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he took it to the stage and did it royally. He carried it across the stage like a king. I loved it. And seeing Queen live, everybody sings everything, he just stands and directs the crowd and they just sing every song. Which tells me that .. when you've got the lyrics and the melodies that people can sing along they've got ya'. Freddie Mercury was great. The whole band was great. I saw them live and I loved it. The early records were my favorite.

T: Is there going to be a "Now" video to go with the "Then" video.

D: Yeah. In fact they're editing it right now.

T: All the song writing credits for Kings X are usually split between the three of you, what is your writing process?

D: I think all the way up to Ear Candy Ty and I wrote demo's and brought them in and pick the songs that we liked. I wrote more than Ty because i write more. Basically Ty and I wrote all the songs. The last two records Tape Head and Mr. Bulbous we sat down with nothing in our brains and tried a new fresh approach. We know how to write a Kings X song and how not to write a Kings X song. We'll probably always write like that now because I don't want to write another Kings X song. I'll just write for Poundhound. Ty will write for his side project. When we get together for Kings X we'll just sit down and make stuff up.

T: Do you still get tagged as a "christian" band?

D: You get pigeon holed and that's what they call us, but I don't even believe in God anymore. I went through a whole period in my life where I kind of got away from it. You never know I might come back to it if someone can convince me. At this point I just want to have a good time and live my life...be a sinner (laughs) Life's just too short then you die so I wont waste my life following some fucking rule book that somebody made up when they don't even know if its true or not. If it can't be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt then I can't follow it. Why waste my time on something I'm not sure of.

T: Where do you find your solace.

D: In myself. I accept myself for who I am. I'm learning to love myself. I still hate myself pretty much but I'm learning that I'm o.k. and I look inside myself for inspiration,strength and enlightenment. Even when I was a Christian.... everything in the Bible that I could get out was talking about your inner self.....If He is the God they say he is then He should understand why I feel the way I feel and how I got here, and it's his fault. If you believe in God, believe in Him. But if you don't, don't worry about it it's your life. This is my life.....you spend your whole life trying to "fix" yourself because everyone says you need to be this way or that way, and you fail miserably and then you're miserable about it. You wake up one day and go "what am I doing this for". And I realized there's somethings you can't change. It's o.k. I'm quirky, I talk a lot, I change my mind a lot, you know, all those little things that you want to fix, I realize-that's who I am.... I am going to enjoy myself in all my weirdness-why not! Be yourself.

T:Whats the name of the new Kings X album?

D: Manic Moonlight.

T: Are you particularly excited about it?

D: Yes I am. The biggest thing about it for me was I made the bass parts up and the vocals and then I went on a Poundhound tour and left. Ty and Gerry finished the record. I came back to hear a record that I had never heard before and I didn't remember the songs. When I put the vocal tracks down and wrote the lyrics and the bass parts, in the evening I would go rehearse my Poundhound band to go on tour. I was juggling back and forth so I wasn't paying attention to the Kings X music. I knew my part, I was excited about it, and I put my heart into it but I let them do what they wanted to. I said "whatever you want to do with what I'm doing here just do it." They were pissed at me for one reason: they said "you get to come back and hear us without any preconceived ideas." I'm going "yeah I got to hear my band for the first time!" I LOVED it! I got goose bumps. I was thinking "this is the baddest shit I've heard in a long time."

T: Could you name your top three Kings X albums?

D: I don't know if I could do that. I mean I don't hate them but I don't love them. I'm proud of Dogman. I think it really made a statement. It showed the world that we could be as heavy as we want to be. And our first record, as much as I can't deal with listening to it and I hate it, I think it was a record that woke up the music community. It changed alot of peoples way of thinking. In the sounds of the '90's I think we really helped influence those people from that record. So I'm proud of that record. As for my favorites I'm too close to them. I just like what they did. I like Ear Candy only because to me it didn't sound like a Kings X record. I wrote most of the songs on that record to not sound like Kings X. I knew what we sounded like. I was trying to find something else for that record. We had to write good pop tunes and get a big hit which never happened. I mean Mississippi Moon, and Looking For Love, songs like that I thought " these are good pop songs. We could make a hit out of these." Nothing ever happened. That was when I decided no more pop tunes. I'm going to write exactly what I want, what I feel, and fuck it.

T: Dogman is in my top three and the standard favorite: Gretchen...

D: Everyone loves Gretchen. That's my least favorite.

T: Really!? Why is that?

D: I think it's because we worked so hard on it. We obsessed on it completely to the point to where I can't do it. I've got all these feelings in it. The thing is, when you make music you throw it out there for people and they do what they do with it. You don't have to like your stuff after you get done with it. It's a nice thing to like it. You're torn between the two. I've seen somebody who says "I love my record" and I'm thinking "you think really highly of yourself." Somebody else comes along and says "I hate my record" and I'm thinking "why did you put it out then?" So there is no real balance there.

T: In reference to Ritchie Blackmore asking you join to join Deep Purple: if he called you up today and said "hey, let's do something" would you do it?

D: Yes! In a heart beat! I would. Yes sir!

T: Is there anyone else you would like to do something with?

D: Glenn Hughes called me and said he wanted to get together and do something. I am going to get together with Dimebag from Pantera and do something. Mike from Queensryche we're going to get together one of these days and do something too. Jeff from Pearl Jam too. I am going to do an album with him.

T: Do you ever get inspired by a particular song to the point where you get an idea while you're actually listening to the song and then sit down and start writing?

D: All the time.

T: Do you have any Kings X examples?

D: Looking For Love. I was listening to Nirvana a lot. It doesn't sound like Nirvana but it really effected me. Smells like teen spirit-just the simple chords, the simplicity of it. Great melody, I thought what a great fucking song. It's like a classic song. It just hooked me the day I heard it. I know on the new album Manic Moonlight there's a few bass lines that I completely stole from Larry Graham from Sly and The Family Stone. I mean I STOLE them. (laughs) I mean thats all I do. Thats all anybody does is imitate people, imitate the things that we've heard and seen. We put our flavor on it which maybe makes it original but bottom line is thats all everybody does.

T: Now that you have been going back and forth from bass to guitar with Kings X and Poundhound, which instrument do you compose with.

D: I always compose on guitar. Every song I wrote for Kings X I wrote on guitar.

T: Do you usually start with a riff or do you get melodies first?

D: Always riff. Usually a drum beat. I'll go "how do I feel today?" So I'll sit down and get my drum machine and start programming a drum beat. Then I'll grab a guitar and start making up guitar parts. Or I'll sit down with a guitar and just come up with a couple riffs, then put the guitar down and find a drum beat that will match the guitar riff, and then I'll put the bass on later. Then I'll sit there and freak out because I gotta put lyrics on it, and that's where the work comes! Everything else comes easy. I can come up with riffs all day long. When it comes to lyrics I am real limited. My life is in a box. I don't have a lot to draw from but my own feelings, and my own feelings are pretty limited. It's just depressed and I hate myself, and everything sucks. And it's stupid. I get tired of writing about that. On the new album I tried to get away from that a little bit. Branch out. My friends laugh at me all the time because I am the most miserable person who has everything! They always say "look at you. you're doing what we all want to do!" They always say "fuck you!"

And I go "o.k." (laughs)