Roll Curtis Mayfield, Little Richard and Amrish Puri’s accessories in ‘Temple of Doom’ together and you end up one of NXNE ’06’s most charismatic personas. From all reports, King Khan, along with his sensational Shrines, made a serious impression on Toronto’s indie-philes last weekend. Irrelevant was the fact that all three of their shows were held in the SKETCHIEST corner of my fair city. One messiah, eight musicians, and a go-go dancer with only one vision: To rock your soul!

King Khan’s unusual backstory begins in Quebec:

King Khan is born in Montreal in 1977, being the son of immigrants from India. The Khan siblings (his majesty, Lil’ Brother Gumbo and Sister Cocobutter) inherit far more than mere musical talent: “My great grandfather was the Johnny Thunders of the sitar. He played but never recorded anything and became a serious opium addict. My father tried to play sitar but chose the fast life over that and wound up down and out and addicted to cocaine. My mother can play harp like Bob Dylan.” [Link]

After being kicked out of the household at 17 by his father, Khan ends up being taken in by the Mohawk Indians on the Kahnawake Mohawk Reservation (near Montreal):

I learnt lots about being a punk from my Indian friends. We used to get drunk, smash cars, go hunting for white women. The Indians taught me about survival, being a real warrior, even it if involved drinking Budweiser, smoking Marlboro Reds and getting really high. They showed me the truth and then I met a big bad wold who told me that rockin’ and rollin’ is all that I can do. I saw the light. Even learned how to chew Red Man Tobacco, America’s Best Chew. The Mohawk Indians put the savage back into my soul, even gave me a home, for that I will always be grateful. [Link]

He had me at “Red Man Tobacco”.

In the mid-90s Khan transforms into Blacksnake (Amazing!), bassist for underground garage rock barnburners The Spaceshits (Amazing!). After their ’99 Europe tour, Khan quits the ‘Shits and forms an orchestra of his own in Germany. A lovingly handpicked orchestra complete with a brass section and an organ. Together they are King Khan and the Shrines. Together they are – you guessed it – Amazing!

You can find a couple MPFrees from their last album ‘Mr. Supernatural’ on their label’s website. Haven’t heard this last one as yet but I like their first, ‘Three Hairs and You’re Mine’, a lot. There are also some You Tube videos kicking around of their live performances.

I get really stoked when I hear desis doing something different within whatever audio scene they’re into. The M.I.A., Sacha Perera, and Darshan Jesrani types of this world are what make my manic obsession with hunting for new tunes worth every minute of poring over mags and blogs and peoples’ home collections.

King Khan is no stranger to different. He plays rock n’ soul with the Shrines and then rocks some more in a two-person one man band, The King Khan & BBQ Show, with another ex-Spaceshit, Mark Sultan. I’m not quite sure why Khan fascinates me so. Could be because I’m more Mod than Rocker on a Quadrophenic scale. It could be his Mehmood moochie. More likely it is that I love thinking of good ol’ school Amurrican R n’ B while picturing a shirtless brown dude with a necklace of bones who dances like my dad. Yes, that must be it. Long live the King!