About 15 years ago, I went to go see King’s X perform at The Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale and met their lead singer and bassist, dUg Pinnick, after the show. We took this picture shown above.
A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed him from my living room.
Chances are you’ve never heard of dUg Pinnick. You probably don’t know King’s X, either, even though they’ve been performing together for nearly 45 years. The band never truly fit into the rock or metal classification system perfectly, despite producing a plethora of quality records since their debut Out of the Silent Planet in 1988.
And they never broke through to the plane of commercial success, despite numerous attempts. Whether it was writing for a metal crowd on their first few albums, or calling in ‘90s super producer Brendan O’Brien for 1994’s Dogman to catch the grunge wave, King’s X was never able to move a significant amount of units for Metal Blade or Atlantic. They opened for the likes of Scorpions, AC/DC, Pearl Jam, and Iron Maiden, among countless others. They played Woodstock ’94. Yet commercial success has eluded the band for its entire existence, despite having the utmost respect from their rock and metal peers.
I first discovered King’s X when my friend George, pictured with me and Dug above, suggested I give them a listen. It was back in the days when I was first exploring new rock and metal bands beyond the Metallicas and Maidens of the world, and you could still download a band’s entire discography in one file on Napster or Audiogalaxy. Once I heard them, I was blown away by their songwriting and musicianship, especially considering they were just a three-piece band: dUg, guitarist Ty Tabor, and drummer Jerry Gaskill. Their harmonies were Beatle-esque, with all three members sharing vocal duties. It didn’t stand to reason then, and it still does not today, that this band didn’t break through to mainstream success.
Over the years, I’ve seen them perform many times – the first time being opening for Dream Theater and Joe Satriani at Jones Beach in 2002 from the second row and the last being a sparsely attended show at the Patchogue Theater in 2023. Despite the thin crowd, the trio can still bring it live for their loyal fans, and continues to tour frequently despite all of its members being eligible for senior citizen discounts. To describe them as criminally underrated would not do them justice.
So now that you have a little background information on King’s X, I’d like to explain how it came to be that I interviewed the frontman of the band. If you’re reading this, you probably know that I like to write about music, and that I started doing it mostly as a joke to circulate amongst my friends. I tend to write about things that amuse or intrigue me, mostly about ‘90s music.
Upon receiving some positive feedback, I started to look for ways to get more exposure for what I was writing, in hopes of finding a wider audience, or at the very least getting access to some musicians to expand the scope of this whole thing. As it turns out, around the same time, my friend Steve started writing for a metal website called This Day In Metal. Steve also attended many of these King’s X shows with me, as well as countless others, so I asked him how he did it. Or, I more accurately, I begged him to get me in there, too. Lo and behold, the guy who ran the site allowed it, but said if I sucked that the other writers would let me know. No pressure.
Given this inauspicious start, I felt an immediate need to produce material. I reworked a couple of my older pieces, wrote a few concert reviews, and reached out to an obscure band from Sweden I just wanted to talk about, and those seemed to go over well. When a chance to interview King’s X popped up in the site’s group chat, both Steve and I jumped at the opportunity.
Typically, these interviews come in two variations: you can send written questions for the musician to respond to, or you can request a video interview through Zoom. The decision on format is generally up to the band’s PR person. So, I drafted up some questions, poring over them to make sure they were worded exactly right, and sent them over to the PR guy in hopes of getting the much preferred video format. Selfishly, I also wanted to talk to one of my music heroes on camera, too. I hit send and hoped for the best.
And then I waited. And waited. And waited. And there was no answer.
After about a month and nearly giving up, I decided to follow up just for kicks. And miraculously, Dug’s PR guy responded soon after that they thought it would be better as a video interview. Ecstatic, and terrified, I worked with Steve to set up a time we could interview one of our favorite musicians. Upon sending a Zoom link back to their PR, however, I got some insight into why people say never meet your heroes.
Regardless, we had a date and time set for this most unlikely of scenarios. While the site does get some higher profile metal musicians, most interviews are with up and coming, lesser known acts. dUg would be one of the biggest names to appear on it. And here I was, with zero interview experience, handling one of the more important opportunities for a site I just started working for recently, after being told not to suck. Again, no pressure.
Despite a fair amount of nerves, Steve and I were able to pull it off. dUg graciously talked to us for about 50 minutes, and had I not cut him off, surely would have talked to us for two hours.
We discussed the key to the band's longevity, their experience opening for AC/DC in Germany, his perfectionist tendencies, and working with producer Brendan O'Brien on 1994's Dogman. He also touched on playing Woodstock '94, how King's X chooses their setlist, playing with Iron Maiden, and how he reconciles the band's lack of commercial success with the high regard their musical brethren have for them. More than all of these, with every response, dUg shared his philosophy on life and exuded passion and gratitude for being able to create and play music for a living. His love for music made it easy for us to find common ground, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is doing exactly what he's meant to be doing.
You can view the entire interview HERE:
As if this all wasn’t enough, I decided to take the audio files from my interviews (all two of them) and cut them up into podcasts on Spotify under the very prestigious Where Did Mary Go? media empire umbrella. If you prefer to listen, check it out here:
It’s pretty surreal to have had the opportunity to interview someone like dUg who I’ve been a fan of for so many years. When I started writing this page a couple of years ago, which is purely for entertainment and certainly not for money because nobody pays me (yet), I never would have dreamed that I’d actually get to speak with someone from an actual band, but life is funny sometimes. As I move forward, I’d just like to thank anyone who has read this page and encouraged me to keep doing this, because otherwise I probably wouldn’t have on my own.
And as you continue watching, reading, or listening, to either me or to King’s X, if you like what you hear, then go tell somebody!
