The Montreal born musician Arish Ahmad Khan is best known as King Khan, notorious frontman of King Khan & The Shrines as well as The King Khan & BBQ Show. With the latter he was invited by Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson to perform with them at The Opera House in Sydney in 2010. Mostly based in Berlin/ Germany, King Khan & The Shrines has sold out clubs all across North America, Europe and Australia, gracing the stages of some of the finest festivals out there, leaving behind a colorful spell of amazement and wonder wherever they go. They are more than a psychedelic soul band with a spectacle of a stage show. They are a cult musical phenomenon and simply one of the most entertaining groups the world has seen and heard since the days of Ike + Tina.
Facts
Nothing is true
Everything is Bullshit
I will never know anything
Questions
What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
The transformation of suffering into joy.
How and when did you get into making music?
Music can be immortality and when I realized this it was already too late.
What are your 5 favourite albums of all time?
The Mighty Hannibal, Sun Ra, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Hieronymus Bosch
What do you associate with Berlin?
Doners and boners.
What’s your favourite place in your town?
I love Neukölln.
If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
I would cook, mime, master tai chi, and lead a revolution.
What was the last record you bought?
Connan Mockasin “Caramel”
Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Rummelsnuff
What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
Watching Nelson Mand ela speak in Montreal shortly after he was released from prison. I was about 13 years old.
How important is technology to your creative process?
Technology has very little to do with my creative process, I do enjoy how easy it is to make ideas come true and am glad that this is accesible to almost everyone in the world.
Do you have siblings and are they proud or jealous of you?
A mix of both, my little brother always wants his face on the cover of my records. He is a doctor and saves lives and changes policies in the way HIV patients with TB are treated. He has put out zero records. My sister has a musical project called Cocobeurre and is constantly putting out stuff. We are a musical family.
Our Favourites:
King Khan & The Shrines – Bite my tongue
King Khan & The Shrines – Darkness
Links: Soundcloud | kingkhanmusic.com | Facebook
Photo credit:
Megan Cullen | megancullenphoto.com
| Interview with King Khan / Arish A. Khan by Digital in Berlin
