A 'Blast From The Past': Legendary King’s X guitarist/vocalist Ty Tabor, always a man of many words or interesting stories, was kind enough to take a break from his decidedly hectic schedule to speak with us regarding, among many other things, the release of the long-running group’s latest ‘instant classic’ Ogre Tones…

Todd: What inspired the title Ogre Tones?  All things considered, I would imagine there’s a story behind it…

Ty Tabor: “It was actually a joke while we were in the studio.  We didn’t have a real title and we started thinking of stuff that was actually sort of stupid and Ogre Tones was one of them.  We had this board where everything that we were doing was written down.  As a joke we had Ogre Tones written down on it.  …Anything that didn’t have a title, we would call ‘…Ogre Something…’.  When it came time to come up for a title for the album, we thought that everything that we came up with sucked very badly, so we went back to Ogre Tones, which was the original working title.  That’s how most of our titles happen anyway.”

Todd: So the genesis of the name is similar to that of Gretchen Goes To Nebraska and Please Come Home…Mr. Bulbous?

Ty: “That one started as a joke, totally.  Our very first record, which I don’t usually even like to talk about, was released a few years before Out Of The Silent Planet.  It was really pitiful, just horrible.  When we got it back from being pressed, we said ‘We can’t sell this thing’, so we just started giving them away at shows.  One of our crew members, as a joke, started saying ‘Why don’t we just call ourselves ‘We Suck’?’.  We were just joking about it when someone else said ‘Yeah, why don’t you call the next one Gretchen Goes To Nebraska?’  …That’s where it actually came from.  Then, (drummer) Jerry (Gaskill) decided to write a story around it and all of a sudden the title had this whole meaning to it.  Most everything we do comes out of something that was funny to us.  If there is ever a decision to me made and something makes us laugh, that’s usually the way we end up going.  …I think it’s hard to play in life and have fun if you’re too uptight about it.  We just try to make sure we enjoy playing together and enjoy the band, ya know?  We had a blast doin’ this one.  It’s by far my favorite recording in the entire history of the band.  I really enjoyed it.”

Todd: In regards to the album that was released prior to Out Of The Silent Planet.  Were you referring to the album the group released under the moniker Sneak Preview?

Ty: “Yes.”

Todd:  Is there any chance that it will ever be officially re-issued?

Ty: “I sure hope not.”

Todd: Do you know where I can find a non-bootlegged copy?  It seems as if it’s become the group’s proverbial ‘…Holy Grail…’ over the years…

Ty: “I know where you can find a copy, but I’m not tellin’ (laughs).  I’m keepin’ the ones that I have just so no one ever gets a chance to her ‘em.  …Sneak Preview was the name of the band at the time.  We’ve had three different names over the years, but it’s been the same band since 1980.  We three have been in the band since 1980 and we’re all founding members of the band.  The firs two years that we were together, we had two other guitarists that came in and out of the band.  We were a four piece for the first two years.  …Dan McCollam and Kirk Henderson were also members during the period of 1980 to 1981.  We went to being a three piece in the very beginning of 1982 and have been a three piece ever since.  Me, Doug and Jerry have officially been in the band together since 1980.”

Todd: What was the main motivation behind the group’s transition from a quartet to a trio?  Was there a specific situation that brought that on or was it influenced by a general lack of chemistry with Dan and Kirk?

Ty: “It’s amazing that we ever stayed as a three piece because our first gig as a three piece (laughs) was one of the most horrible gigs any of us has even bee involved with.  It was just unbelievable.  We were tryin’ all sorts of new stuff and tryin’ to be different and we all fell completely flat on our faces.  Doug was singin’ some lyrics that were so ridiculous (laughs) that what he was sayin’ didn’t even make any sense.  We had built a following during the first two years of the band that was really growin’ all the time.  We were thinking that we were really on our way to doin’ something.  When Kirk Henderson left and the three of us were stuck with gigs that still needed to be played, so we changed the name of the band and went out and tried to sound different and everything.  Our fans (laughs)…they all came out to see us.  The look on their faces and the lack of response they gave us…  We all had the idea that it was pretty much all over at that point (laughs).  It was an extreme low moment for the band.  After that gig, we went back and just kept on practicing our stuff and all of a sudden we tapped into something.  We all looked at each other and said ‘Hey, this is workin’’.  As soon as that happened, it was like a light bulb goin’ off.  A lot of it had to do with me never having played in a three piece before.  I had always played in bands where I wasn’t supposed to be filling up the sound.  I was only supposed to play parts here and there, so that’s how I though about the guitar.  I didn’t have a clue about how to cover it.  It just sounded wrong, ya know?  There was just this one day where it kinda clicked and I realized that I had to fill up those gaps with suggestions and play in a different way.  As soon as I tapped into that, we all three felt a lot more comfortable.  I think I had been the weak point until that moment.  When that happened, we all looked at each other and realized that we didn’t want anyone else in the band.  We felt that we had found something that we had been lookin’ for all along.  We said ‘Let’s leave this alone and leave it just like this’.  We went forward from there and things got a lot better all of a sudden.”

Todd: When Out Of The Silent Planet was initially released, a lot of people, myself most definitely included, described the group’s overall sound as ‘…Black Sabbath meets the Beatles…’.  Collectively, did the group find it difficult to live up to such lofty comparisons?

Ty: “I take that as a compliment.  I love that.  …But at the same time, I don’t think any of us ever gave a care about what other people have wanted us to do.  We thought the entire philosophy of what we were doing was to just be ourselves, to do what you do the way you love it.  That’s the only way anyone is ever truly successful.  When you do that, more people can identify with it because it’s just that much more real.  As a philosophy, we’ve always done exactly the opposite of what anyone has ever told us to do.  That’s not the point.  The point is for us to be us.  As long as we do that, other people will identify with that because it’s real.”

Todd: With that in mind, how would you describe the group’s overall experiences with (notorious former manager) Sam Taylor?

Ty:  “All I will say is that I really give Sam Taylor credit for helping us become professionals, because we weren’t before we met him.  He really helped give that to us.  He helped us realized that we really were better than we thought we were, if we tried our best.  He was like a team captain that helped us realize that.  That’s all I will say about it.”

Todd: In hindsight, what has been the main motivation(s) behind members if the group releasing such a large amount of solo albums and being involved with so many side- projects?  Is it simply a matter of everyone having too much material to work with?

Ty: “If we kept crankin’ out King’s X records like that…it’s something that can actually kill your career.  You have to space out some things like touring or promoters won’t have you back.  It can all backfire and end you career if you’re not careful, so you have to leave some space for people so they can want more.  You have to kinda think about that and let it resets sometimes when you’re all gung-ho.  Anytime we’ve gone too fast, it’s backfired.  It seems to work better when we take out time.  When you finish a record, it actually takes time for it to be released.  We finished this record in January and it’s not going to be released until September, which has given us some time at home, which has been just wonderful.  We were all able to get lives again, which was nice.  Because of all of that, we find ourselves in a position where we need to do side projects.  A lot of the time, the side projects are done during times when we have to wait to do another King’s X record.  We might as well work during that cycle instead of sitting around and starving.”

Todd: Ultimately, what led to your departure from Metal Blade Records?  Did you initially find it difficult to make the transition from Metal Blade to InsideOut Music?

Ty: “There were a lot of different reasons.  There was a philosophy change within the band.  A lot of it was just a matter of common sense.  We were all just strung out with too many duties.  We had too much stuff to cover with having different recoded deals in different parts of the world.  To self-manage and self-produce…to do everything was just all to much, especially when you throw in all of the different side projects and the mixing and mastering that goes along with all of the.  It became insanity at one point.  Basically, all of this caused a need to focus and there was no way we could do the things we needed to do well under the current circumstance.  We wanted to go to a label that could give us one worldwide deal and let that be that.  We wanted to be able to bring in an outside producer again and just be a band again so we could just focus on the music.  We wanted to try a lot of new things that involved us getting focused so that we could do a better job.  That was all a part of it and InsideOut really stepped up to the plate.  They really believe in us and we were just honored to sign with them.  …We just went with the best deal that we had available to us.  It’s not like we had offers from any of the majors, ya know?  A lot of people just don’t want to touch this band.  It’s not an easy sell.  Unless someone at the label is a really big fan of the band, all of the other people at the other labels just won’t get it.  I totally understand and respect that.  It can be thought to get King’s X a record deal.”

Todd: What are your current touring plans?  I’m assuming you’ll be touring as much as humanly possible…

Ty: “We’re gonna go out soon and play until the end of the year.  We’re gonna take a little time off for the holidays, and then we’re gonna go back out.”

Todd: What type of set list can your fans expect for this tour?  Is it safe to assume you’ll be primarily focusing on material from Ogre Tones?

Ty: “I don’t know, to tell you the truth.  But then again, I never know ho we’re gonna do it.  When we get together to play, it just sorta comes together.  I do know we’re gonna focus on the new record.  Last time out, we put in four songs from the new record before it even came out and people responded massively.  We feel good about goin’ out with this record.  We feel people will really dig the songs because of the response so far.  It gives us courage to do a lot of the record.  Of course we’re going to have to throw in some of the favorites…the stuff that’s been around for forever.  They’d probably kill us if we didn’t (laughs).”

Todd: When touring, how does the response you receive from European audiences compare to the response you receive from audiences in the US?

Ty: “It’s a little bit more fanatical.  In fact, it’s a lot more fanatical…it’s amazing.  When we play over there, I just can’t believe how excited people get every night.  There are these massive sold out audiences everywhere jumpin' up and down, singing our songs while they wait for us to come out.  The energy when you step out on stage is just beyond belief.  I hate to say it because we love playin’ America and we play America more than we play anywhere else because we love playin’ America, but the crowds are entirely different.  Usually, when we come back to American from playin’ Europe, we fee like nobody loves us (laughs).”

Todd: When immersed amid the writing and recording process, what process do you collectively use to decide who is going to handle the lead vocal on each song?

Ty: “In general, we always think of Doug as the lead vocalist.  He’s always got first crack at everything unless it’s a song like “Honesty” where it’s real obvious that I was supposed to sing the lead.  Usually, Doug is the lead singer.  We try to use my voice and Jerry’s voice to support him.  We trade off sometimes, but he’s definitely the obvious focus.  We always think of him as the lead vocalist for everything, at least at first.  It’s done more to give Doug a break when we switch off.  Plus, we do get a lot of people asking us to do that, so we did kinda think about that when we were doing this record.  It’s funny…sometimes when Jerry and I hear our voices compared to Doug’s we end up cringing because we think our voices sound so white next to Doug’s luscious and beautiful voice, ya know?  But some people actually seem to like that.  Every time I hear Jerry and I compared to Doug, I have to force myself to get into it because we seem so out of place.”

Todd: Let’s set the record straight once and for all: do you considered King’s X a Christian Rock band?

Ty: “Absolutely not.  In fact, I don’t think a lot of people would find that our beliefs fit within that very good.  All three of us have very different beliefs…very, very different, in my opinion.  That’s the whole point, though.  We all see things in a different way.  I think we see things in a radically different way, but we connect on the same level on a lot of other things.  One of the things we believe in is not imposing our beliefs on someone else.  All of us know we’re all big enough idiots where were gonna go back and say ‘Hey, we knew nothing’ a few years down the road.  We let each other have our own beliefs and leave room for that.  I think because some press somewhere called us a Christian band, all of a sudden there a lot of people that saw us that way.  The truth is, the three of us have always been absolutely horrified with having anything to do with the actual Christian Industry.  There are very few things that we actually have such vile feelings for.  They represent a lot of things that I just can’t recognize as having anything to do with the Christian Industry.  It just makes me sick, so I’ve always tried to stay as far away from the Christian Industry.  We’ve intentionally stayed away from anything that could be called a Christian show because we didn’t want to be associated with that in any way.  We may have some beliefs that parallel some of the beliefs that people have in the Christian Industry and we have some friends within the Christian Industry that we think are super awesome people.  …It’s not that were against the people in the industry.  It’s the industry itself that we’re against.  Calling yourself a Christian Rock band immediately places you within that industry and that industry makes us just wanna turn and run.”

Todd: At this point in your career, particularly considering the group’s past successes, where do you feel King’s X falls within the overall history of the Hard Rock and Heavy Metal genres?

Ty: “That’s not anything for us to say, but we’re beginning to realize that maybe we do have some small speck in the corner of the room somewhere (laughs).  We have actually been acknowledged through the years and that just feels totally awesome…it just feels awesome to think that we have actually affected anyone in any good way with music.  …When some people go out and give us credit, we are just totally honored.”

Select Discography
Gretchen Goes To London (DVD) (2008) ******
XV (2008) *****
Live And Live Some More (2007) ******
Ogre Tones (2005) *****
Live All Over The Place (2004) ****
Black Like Sunday (2003) ****
Manic Moonlight (2001) ****
Please Come Home…Mr. Bulbous (2000) ****
Tapehead (1998) ****
Best Of King’s X (1997) **
Ear Candy (1996) **
Dogman (1994) **
King’s X (1992) **
Chronicles (Video) ***
Faith Hope Love (1990) **
Gretchen Goes To Nebraska (1989) *
Out Of The Silent Planet (1988) *

* released via Megaforce Records
** released via Atlantic Records
*** released via A*Vision Entertainment
**** released via Metal Blade Records
***** released via InsideOut Music
****** released via Molken Music

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