King Khan

King Khan has built a far-reaching name for himself in underground rock by concocting an unruly blend of jubilant rhythm & blues, far-out psychedelia, and defiant garage rock while maintaining a reputation as one of its most unrestrained live performers. He first gained notice as a member of the irreverent garage-punk group the Spaceshits before forming a prolific partnership with Mark Sultan (aka BBQ) that yielded the loose yet fervent LPs What's for Dinner? in 2006 and Bad News Boys in 2015. Fronting the Shrines allowed him to pursue a grander, more robust approach reminiscent of a frenzied global R&B revue fueled by spiked punch, as heard on the 2007 release What Is?!. His initial solo outing, Murderburgers from 2017, proved he could tighten arrangements and streamline his attack while retaining vigor and playfulness, and he explored jazz-tinged instrumental territory on The Infinite Ones in 2020 and The Nature of Things in 2023.

Arish Ahmad Khan, born and raised in Montreal’s suburbs within a household of Indian émigrés, first attracted attention on the Canadian music circuit in 1996 upon joining the frenetic garage-punk band the Spaceshits, where he handled bass under the alias Blacksnake. The Spaceshits issued three full-length albums along with several 7"s, yet after nearly four years Khan chose to venture independently and moved to Germany after completing a European tour. Adopting the moniker King Khan, he launched a solo project while continuing to record and perform with ex-Spaceshits singer Mark Sultan (also known as Bridge Mixture and BBQ), resulting in two albums under the King Khan & BBQ Show banner. King Khan & His Sensational Shrines, whose “Sensational” designation appears and disappears freely, first appeared on record via a 2001 split single alongside Reverend Beat-Man & the Nonbelievers, then followed with the EP Spread Your Love Like Peanut Butter and the album Three Hairs and You're Mine.

The Shrines steadily expanded to incorporate distinctive figures such as percussionist Ron Streeter, who had toured extensively with Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder; German saxophonist Ben Ra, devoted to the legacies of John Coltrane and Sun Ra; French organist Freddy Rococo, previously known for leading a one-man band while in drag; and Bamboorella, the group’s dedicated go-go dancer. Following a split LP with the Dirtbombs titled Billiards at Nine Thirty, Khan and the Shrines delivered their second album, Mr. Supernatural, in 2004, which prompted extensive international touring and preceded the third full-length What Is?! in 2007. Vice Records secured an American deal with King Khan & the Shrines in 2008 and commemorated it by issuing The Supreme Genius of King Khan & the Shrines, a retrospective drawing primarily from Mr. Supernatural and What Is?!.

Several years passed before Khan reconvened the Shrines for the more psychedelic Idle No More, released on Merge Records in 2013. He rejoined BBQ for the 2015 duo album Bad News Boys and, in 2017, undertook a distinctive endeavor by crafting fresh music to frame William S. Burroughs’s readings from Naked Lunch; that project emerged as Let Me Hang You on Khannibalism Records. Murderburgers, presented by Khan as his debut solo album, also appeared in 2017 with backing from the Gris Gris under the production of Greg Ashley. The hedonistic nocturnal atmosphere of France and Germany prompted Turkey Ride in 2018, credited to the King Khan Experience. Khan shifted toward jazz-inspired material on The Infinite Ones in 2020, which featured longtime Sun Ra associates Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott plus John Convertino and Martin Wenk of Calexico. He followed with another jazz-oriented effort, The Nature of Things, in 2023, again enlisting John Convertino alongside Torben Wesche of the Shrines, Davide Zolli of the Mojomatics, Brontez Purnell of Younger Lovers, and Alex White of Fat White Family. Named after the long-running Canadian television program hosted by David Suzuki, the album was introduced by the track “Snarlin’ Lil Malcolm,” a tribute to activist Malcolm X that drew particular inspiration from the statement “When the 'I' is replaced by 'We,' even 'illness' becomes 'wellness.'”