{"id":16957,"date":"2017-03-17T01:00:19","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T05:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=16957"},"modified":"2017-03-15T10:50:13","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T14:50:13","slug":"blowin-wind-with-kyng-drummer-pepe-clarke-there-are-no-more-superstars-bands-are-guys-that-are-struggling-in-life-theres-no-more-motley-crue-type-of-bands-where-everyone-is-a-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=16957","title":{"rendered":"Blowin&#8217; Wind with Kyng Drummer Pepe Clarke: &#8220;There are no more superstars.  Bands are guys that are struggling in life.  There\u2019s no more Motley Crue type of bands where everyone is a millionaire.  That just doesn\u2019t happen anymore.&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Kyng is a band that has been not only a very important band to this blog but a very important band to me personally.\u00a0 Since first hearing them (thanks, Shawn) back in 2011, Kyng has been a band that I have carefully followed.\u00a0 From their debut album, Trampled Sun to their latest face melting masterpiece, <em>Breathe in the Water<\/em>, Kyng has lived the road dog life and touring with everyone from Megadeth to Clutch and all else in between.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I recently had a great time, as always, talking with drummer Pepe Clarke.\u00a0 We talked about his new found love for being a father, who he feels is the most underrated drummer, and everything Kyng that we could talk about.\u00a0 This interview was so much fun and full of laughs and just served as yet another reminder as to why I love this band so fucking much.\u00a0 Enjoy, y\u2019all.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pepe, thanks for taking the time out to do this today dude.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, I guess this is ok [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dude, if I didn\u2019t love you so much I\u2019d hate you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] You\u2019ve been calling me an OK drummer for like four years.\u00a0 It\u2019s become our joke and that\u2019s ok [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Congrats on being a papa now!\u00a0 How has becoming a father changed your focus on Kyng and music in general or has it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thanks.\u00a0 It\u2019s a pretty awesome feeling.\u00a0 Nobody can describe to you what it feels like but it\u2019s definitely its own unique feeling.\u00a0 It just makes it harder.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t changed my focus because I\u2019m pretty driven and I love what we do.\u00a0 I really believe in our music.\u00a0 My focus is still there but it just makes it harder to leave.\u00a0 I was telling my wife that before I could not wait to get on the road and I could just stay on the road forever.\u00a0 Now, I have a wife and a child and now when I leave, it sucks to have to leave but I still love being on the road and touring.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s changed my focus. \u00a0It\u2019s just made it more challenging to do what I love to do.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Has being a parent also influenced you creatively in any way?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Absolutely.\u00a0 I think all your circumstances will influence you in a certain way and it\u2019s up to you to channel them in a creative way.\u00a0 I think it will definitely affect my creativity and I feel like it has.\u00a0 I feel like I\u2019ve been more proactive in the creating process of everything we do from art to video to everything.\u00a0 I had never really put two and two together but it might be because of all my life changes.\u00a0 Everything happened so quickly.\u00a0 My father died a year and a half ago, then we got married four months later and then she got pregnant two months after that.\u00a0 Everything just happened so quickly. My mind is always going and going so this has all helped me creatively.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Being creative is such a great outlet for us.\u00a0 Most people don\u2019t realize just how much goes into it and how much we get out of it for ourselves as artists.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Exactly.\u00a0 It\u2019s an amazing therapy to write your feelings down and to try to make sense of them.\u00a0 Eddie (Valez; Kyng singer\/guitarist) says all the time that we\u2019ve got to use our anger and our frustrations and everything that we\u2019re going through to fuel our creativity and he\u2019s absolutely right; its tools that life has given you.\u00a0 Like shitty tools that you don\u2019t really want but you have them so you might as well use them [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Breathe in the Water was a fucking outstanding record.\u00a0 You guys did a handful of shows supporting it.\u00a0 Are you guys hitting the road again at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been weird.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t been on the road much at all.\u00a0 We did that Clutch run and then nothing.\u00a0 We\u2019re doing a bunch of those festivals like Welcome to Rockville, we\u2019re doing Rock on the Range, and we\u2019re doing Chicago Open Air.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re doing a bunch of those festivals and we\u2019re also doing a tour with Fozzy and Sons of Texas.\u00a0 That\u2019ll be a fun one.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>It seems like you guys, at one point were on the road for like two years straight.\u00a0 Hell, you came to Atlanta three times in one year.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We were on the road for two years but it felt like ten years [laughs].\u00a0 It\u2019s like I left a teenager and came back middle aged.<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qjkeE4z9hw4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>I know how you feel.\u00a0 I\u2019m 43 and I feel 50.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] I remember trying to explain my music career to my dad and I was in my early thirties.\u00a0 I told him that it wasn\u2019t so bad because 30 is the new 20 and without missing a beat he goes, \u201cSo you started going bald when you were 10?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Just over the last year or so, the overall touring cycles seem to have slowed down quite a bit.\u00a0 Bands like you guys and Crobot were hitting it hard last year on the road and now things seem to be really slow.\u00a0 What do you think is the cause of this?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, I don\u2019t know exactly but you\u2019re right.\u00a0 There are a lot of bands that I haven\u2019t heard from in a long time that I used to hear a lot about and now they\u2019ve kind of faded away a little bit.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s that bands need to take some time off and do some writing.\u00a0 It might just be a coincidence.\u00a0 I mean, if we were all on the road at the same time it would just be parallel touring cycles.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>You guys have toured with everyone from Megadeth to Clutch and so many in between.\u00a0 Of all the tours, does one stand out as a personal favorite of yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Man, Clutch will forever have a special place in my heart.\u00a0 We\u2019ve toured with them several times and it\u2019s always a blast.\u00a0 I love the band so much and their crew.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost like going out with family so I absolutely love touring with them.\u00a0 As a fan, obviously touring with Megadeth was mindblowing.\u00a0 It was just insane.\u00a0 I even have a full circle story from it.\u00a0 I grew up with my parents being very religious so they would throw Megadeth cassettes away.\u00a0 Come time for us to tour with Megadeth, Dave Mustaine asked us into his bus to pray for us.\u00a0 We were sitting there in a huddle and he\u2019s praying for us and I thought, \u201cThis is the most full circle thing that\u2019s ever happened to me.\u201d\u00a0 From my parents throwing this guy\u2019s tapes away to him praying for me on his tour bus [laughs].\u00a0 It was incredible.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>It\u2019s something you wish your mom could\u2019ve seen.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[Laughs] Exactly!\u00a0 Yeah, I\u2019m a huge Megadeth fan so it was a huge honor to do that tour.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Did Dave Mustaine have any kind of words of wisdom or advice for you guys while on tour that you still carry with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Absolutely.\u00a0 He would hang out with us and he would be giving us constant advice. \u00a0When we were going to sign our deal with Razor and Tie I texted him and he told me to call him.\u00a0 I called him and he talked to me for like an hour and a half on things to look out for, he gave me advice on the contract that we had, he was just the nicest guy.\u00a0 I hate when I see negative press on him because he\u2019s such a nice guy and he was so nice to us.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>By the way, congrats on Breathe in the Water!\u00a0 What a great fucking album.\u00a0 It\u2019s also your most dynamic and versatile album thus far.\u00a0 What brought on this growth?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think it was a sense of freedom that we as a band felt in the writing process.\u00a0 I think it was also us taking everything we learned from making Burn the Serum and working with great producers and the freedom we felt while making Trampled Sun.\u00a0 With Trampled Sun there were no limits but obviously we were leaning towards the heavy.\u00a0 We were trying to be creative, throwing in blast beats; it was an \u201ceverything goes\u201d kind of album.\u00a0 When we did Burn the Serum, it was definitely more calculated but when Breathe in the Water was happening, we said, \u201cLet\u2019s not think of anybody and let\u2019s just do the record we want.\u201d\u00a0 We were in our heads going to write the heaviest record we\u2019d ever done but it didn\u2019t turn out that way organically.\u00a0 It just, like you said, came out very dynamic.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Did you guys have some extra tracks recorded and if so, do you guys banking those tracks to maybe use them as b-sides or something?\u00a0 What do you do with those tracks?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We have tracks that didn\u2019t make the album that are heavier than the heavy songs on the album and ones that are more melodic than the melodic ones on the album.\u00a0 We absolutely would love to do something like that with those songs.\u00a0 There were songs that we were really bummed to cut from the album.\u00a0 With the extra tracks, we did all the basic tracks with The Machine who was cool enough to let us lay down all the drums for them.\u00a0 Eventually we\u2019d love to finish them.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I miss those days when bands like Iron Maiden would release 12\u201d singles and there would always be some demo track or a cover song or an unreleased song.\u00a0 I\u2019d love to see bands do that again.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah.\u00a0 That was so awesome.\u00a0 I mean, how fucking cool was that?\u00a0 B-sides have become pretty obsolete.\u00a0 What you get now is extra track if you buy an album on iTunes or something.\u00a0 Even the format of albums I feel like is becoming obsolete.\u00a0 I mean, why not just release 25 songs, one at a time over the period of a year.\u00a0 Why do you have to release 12 at the same time?\u00a0 I just feel like we\u2019re used to doing it that way but I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any real science behind it anymore.\u00a0 All the cool stuff like b-sides and hidden tracks just don\u2019t exist anymore.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recently, Kerry King said something about there not being any guitar gods anymore.\u00a0 Other \u201celders\u201d seem to feel also that there are no bands to carry the torch for them when they\u2019re gone.\u00a0 What do you think about this?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think that, in a way, he\u2019s right but not because there\u2019s a lack of bands.\u00a0 There\u2019s just not that format anymore.\u00a0 There are no more superstars.\u00a0 Bands are guys that are struggling in life.\u00a0 There\u2019s no more Motley Crue type of bands where everyone is a millionaire.\u00a0 That just doesn\u2019t happen anymore.\u00a0 I feel that bands like Metallica and Slayer were larger than life to all their fans.\u00a0 They were inaccessible and they were part of this really strong movement of music and now there\u2019s no movement.\u00a0 There\u2019s just an oversaturation of bands and they\u2019re all trying to get a little piece of the pie and everyone\u2019s going to starve to death at some point.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s close minded to think it\u2019s because of bands.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s because of the industry.\u00a0 Bands are just not going to become larger than life anymore.\u00a0 You\u2019re seeing the last of those bands I think.<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0DaUe0WY2Jo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>I refuse to like Avenged Sevenfold or Asking Alexandria\u2026 ever.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[Laughs]\u00a0 Generally, you and I and Kerry King aren\u2019t going to like those bands because we\u2019re part of that last generation.\u00a0 We\u2019re not supposed to like the new generation [laughs].\u00a0 That\u2019s just the way it goes.\u00a0 That\u2019s a couple of bands that will probably carry that torch for kids.\u00a0 If you ask a 12 year old who Metallica is, they\u2019d probably say that they\u2019re a bunch of old guys.\u00a0 To them, Metallica would be like the Rolling Stones.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>So in addition to drummer extraordinaire and dad, you are now an entrepreneur\/teacher.\u00a0 You have started Let There Be Rock School.\u00a0 Tell me about that.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, it\u2019s starting to pick up.\u00a0 People are really happy.\u00a0 We\u2019re about to have our Tribute to the 70\u2019s show on March 18<sup>th<\/sup>.\u00a0 As musicians in bands know, there\u2019s really no money in it now.\u00a0 We kept talking about what we needed to do to make a living for ourselves.\u00a0 I realize that I\u2019m never going to live at a comfortable level playing music.\u00a0 For 10 years I\u2019ve always been scraping by and having to get odd jobs here and there when I\u2019m not on the road.\u00a0 Then I started thinking about getting into real estate.\u00a0 That\u2019s what a lot of musicians turn to because you can study a course, get licensed, make good money, and you\u2019re kind of your own boss.\u00a0 Every time I thought about it I would just get a knot in my stomach because I just didn\u2019t want to do it.\u00a0 When we were on the road, we got asked to play at Let There Be Rock School in Frederick, MD.\u00a0 The owner of the school and I became good friends and I asked him how he would feel if we opened a school in El Paso and he said he\u2019d love it.\u00a0 This was several years ago and we kept talking about it so when my dad passed away, he left us some money and that\u2019s what I used to start this.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I absolutely love this concept because I feel that this is how we can preserve the music we love and pass it on to the younger generation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Absolutely.\u00a0 I\u2019ve noticed how necessary something like this is now because kids do not get into rehearsal rooms with each other to make music anymore.\u00a0 They\u2019re all on video games or on their phones.\u00a0 The way we used to socialize was being in a band or in sports or something like that.\u00a0 Sports still happens in schools but music, not really.\u00a0 It\u2019s becoming less attractive for kids to want to be in bands and the ones that are there are there because they really want to do it.\u00a0 They\u2019re interacting with their peers, they\u2019re playing songs, learning covers.\u00a0 It\u2019s been so much fun.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t realize how rewarding it would be to see their faces and how far they\u2019ve come in such a short time.\u00a0 I\u2019m so happy.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>It also must remind you why you got into music in the first place.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, it was the passion.\u00a0 When we were younger, that was it.\u00a0 You either watched TV, you went outside, or you played an instrument [laughs].\u00a0 There are so many things to do now.\u00a0 Even as an adult I find myself so distracted with so much stupid shit.\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine if I was 10 again and I\u2019d have all these things accessible to me.\u00a0 I\u2019d be going crazy.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>In your opinion, who is the most underrated drummer besides yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[Laughs]\u00a0 Thank you, Don.\u00a0 I think Lars is underrated.\u00a0 People give him so much shit.\u00a0 He\u2019s not the best but he has such a unique style and it\u2019s something that drummers nowadays lack.\u00a0 These days, you can\u2019t tell one drummer from the other but I can always tell when Lars Ulrich is playing.\u00a0 I feel that it\u2019s just as important to have your own sound and he definitely has that.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who\u2019s the most overrated drummer?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re putting me in a pickle [laughs].\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know if I can answer that and I\u2019ll tell you why.\u00a0 I feel like drumming is so relative to the music that you\u2019re doing.\u00a0 Who\u2019s the most overrated bass player?\u00a0 All of them [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Drum solos:\u00a0 Love \u2018em or hate \u2018em?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I love drum solos.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like drum solos.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s that I\u2019m not good at doing drum solos.\u00a0 I get really get super self conscious immediately.\u00a0 I know it\u2019s something that you kind of have to get use to doing but as a fan, I love watching them.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen some horrible drum solos that go on for 70 hours.\u00a0 I have a recording of an Alex Van Halen drum solo that I thought was incredible.\u00a0 I also have a Tommy Aldridge solo that is amazing.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you could drum in any band for just one night who would it be and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It would have to be Metallica for me.\u00a0 That was my band growing up.\u00a0 That\u2019s my biggest influence.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who would you love to have a Buddy Rich style drum off against someone, who would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[Laughs] Don de Leaumont.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>This is so going to happen.\u00a0 Next time you\u2019re in Atlanta, sound check, you and me are gonna throw down.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[Laughs] Let\u2019s do it.\u00a0 I\u2019m expecting this to happen.\u00a0 I\u2019ll even pay your Uber bill to the show just to see this happen.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pepe, its word association time.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to name four drummers and I want you to tell me the first word that comes to mind when you hear their name.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re an instigator, Don de Leaumont [laughs].\u00a0 Ok, go for it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tommy Lee:<\/strong> Solid<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lars Ulrich<\/strong>: Underrated<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rikki Rockett<\/strong>: Hair<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ringo Starr<\/strong>: Underappreciated.\u00a0 He was such an innovator.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pepe, what\u2019s up with Kyng going into 2017?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, we\u2019re going to try and get as many shows in as possible.\u00a0 We\u2019re doing the Fozzy run, all the festivals, and we\u2019re doing two shows with Gojira which I\u2019m really stoked about.\u00a0 Hopefully, once summer comes we\u2019ll be able to hop on a few tours and finish out the year strong.<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thank you so much for doing this dude.\u00a0 You always are a blast and I love wasting your time.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[Laughs] Absolutely, Don.\u00a0 Thanks and it\u2019s always great talking to you.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>For more on Kyng, head over to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Kyngband\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Kyngband<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/embed.spotify.com\/?uri=spotify:album:5zYFj43GQVEFWOnWeCmaUk\" width=\"750\" height=\"950\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kyng is a band that has been not only a very important band to this blog but a very important band to me personally.\u00a0 Since first hearing them (thanks, Shawn) back in 2011, Kyng has been a band that I have carefully followed.\u00a0 From their debut album, Trampled Sun to their latest face melting masterpiece, Breathe in the Water, Kyng has lived the road dog life and touring with everyone from Megadeth to Clutch and all else in between. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[1656,663,1775,874],"class_list":["post-16957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-breathe-in-the-water","tag-kyng","tag-let-there-be-rock-school-el-paso","tag-pepe-clarke"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}