“My favourite place to make music is at home in Berlin at my fabulous Moon Studios. It’s spacious and the instruments are all tiny and the sound is huge. I make music in the tradition of Sun Studios, which is keep it simple. I never use more than four microphones for anything. I have two rooms; one on Sonnen Allee, which is closer to the East and this is where I make loud noises. The other room is in my Living room where I do vocals, organ and all the other less noisy stuff.
I have lots of cheapo 60’s guitars, a nice tape machine and the smallest amps I can find. There are revolving walls, a few custom made mics and one condenser mic made out of an altoids box, which sounds awesome (it was a gift from Greg from the Gris Gris); a beautiful Philacorda organ exactly like the ones that old monks used to have!
The most important things for me to have around me is probably my wife and my two daughters. Everything else is replaceable. In terms of a schedule, chaos is my creative breeding ground. I love spontinaeity and I only record people I love. The same applies to my tarot readings…. only the chosen ones… like James Brown said on his Christmas album “Non-Believers shall suffer”.
Sometimes isolation when working is important, but then isolation is like masturbation – too much will make you sore and grumpy. I need the input of my friends and family to find the way, especially because I love REVERB and tend to overdo the reverb. People need to make an intervention in order for me to keep it down. Check out the movie ALTERED STATES from 1980 and then you will understand the importance and dangers of isolation…
The creative process is very simple – you cook, eat, and shit… you listen, hear and write… you injest, vomit and get high…
I use everything from from frying pans to Hofners to make music. I love my tascam and have some supro stuff. I love cigarette amps and Vox
What I like most about my space is that it’s mine.”
****************************************************************
King Khan and the Shrines are a Berlin-based garage rock and psychedelic soul band. Spawned from the ashes of Canadian garage act, The Spaceshits, their stage performances have become the stuff of legends. Singer Khan’s other project is called The King Khan & BBQ Show, featureing ex-fellow Spaceshit member Mark Sultan. Khan and the Shrines play Whelan’s Upstairs on Wednesday 7th October, with a line-up that will include Ron Streeter (who has played percussion for Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder), Simon Wojan (of Kranky Records), German jazz musician Ben Ra and rockabilly saxophonist Big Fred Rollercoaster. Tickets are €14 plus booking fee from WAV. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/kingkhantheshrines.
Musical Rooms 
Leave a comment