Where are you currently based?
Salt Lake City, UT
How did Krooked Kings form?
It originally started around 2017 with Oli Martin writing songs in a fraternity basement on an acoustic guitar. Oli finished some tunes and soon reached out to Paul Colgan to add another guitar in the mix. Fast forward a few years through multiple iterations of the band for live shows and the core members ultimately became clear before our debut LP, “The Comedown” was released in 2021. “The Comedown” was a more collaborative album than previous works and additionally included Matt Monosson on bass, Dave Macey on keys, and Quinn Casper on the drums. Since then, the 5 of us have been touring, writing and recording together and have all committed to making music a full time thing.
What’s been happening recently?
As of late we’ve been enjoying having some time back in SLC to unwind before our next couple tours and another “mini” album. We’ve got an opening leg of a tour in a week or so with Rodrigo y Gabriela through Texas and some of California which were all stoked about. Immediately after that we’re going to record the next project with Jackson Phillips AKA Daywave. Then we get a little bit more downtime before the big boy tour In the fall which will last around 2.5 months all over North America and a handful of Europe dates.
Your new album ‘All Out Of Good Days’ is out on May 11, what influenced the sound and songwriting?
In terms of sonic inspiration we are all over the place as a band. We have a lot of overlap in the indie / rock realm but still have our own niche tastes which end up contributing in a cool way; we always end up having something unique to pitch in. Much of the songwriting gathers influence from other cool stuff that bands we like are doing, as well as just stuff we experience and see in our daily lives.
How did you go about writing the album?
Oli would generally start by writing a chord progression then bringing it to the band. We would then hash it out, making changes to arrangement if needed, adding or changing lyrics, figuring out the instrumentation and so on. From there we recorded some rough demos and sent them to our label, Nobody Gets It, and our producer, Daywave. At that point we trimmed the fat a bit and got a more focused vision of the album as a whole and made the studio recordings in Daywave’s studio.
What does this album mean to you?
This album means a whole lot to all of us. It feels a lot more mature and professional than our previous one. The more time we’ve spent together as a band has definitely improved our ability to collaborate and lean in to our individual strengths. This has resulted with a really cool final product that we are all very proud of. There are some darker tones in this album, and while it may come off as depressing, we are just people who experience the whole gamut of emotions like everyone else and chose to harness them into these ten songs. This album is raw and emotional and you’ll surely get to know us better after giving it a couple listens.
Where and when did you record, produce and master and who did you work with?
We were in Jackson Phillip’s (Daywave) studio in Silver Lake, Los Angeles and recorded the whole album in August 2022, with the exception of a couple songs that Oli and Dave made with Jackson prior to the whole band driving out. Jackson did all of the production on the album, he is super talented and helped us use the demos as general outlines for the studio songs but made them not sound like shit.
How did you approach the recording process?
For the recording process we re-recorded everything in Jackson’s studio except for most of the drums which were recorded in the bands studio in Salt Lake which is not a studio at all it is Quinn’s bedroom. We were slightly limited on time so it made more sense to use the original drum takes and re record the guitars, keyboards and vocals in LA. The recording process was a little odd at first as all five of us and Daywave did it all together so it took a few hours til we got our workflow locked in but then we cruised through the album. We ultimately found a smooth process that allowed for collaboration among all 6 of us, all while maintaining a consistent feel thematically and sonically.
You’ve sold over 13000 tickets to your now sold out West Coast North America tour, all before the album has even been released, how does this feel and what can your USA fans expect from these upcoming shows?
Wow, that’s crazy I didn’t realize that. We are so grateful to have our fans and are happy to have the opportunity to share our music with them, both digitally and at shows. It is so rewarding to have people come up to us and share with us how our music has had an impact on them. It’s pretty surreal. In terms of upcoming shows you can definitely expect an upgrade in pretty much every aspect, in addition to playing bigger rooms and having access to better sound systems and all that we have some cool lighting stuff that’s sure to make it a fun experience. And of course, musically the shows are bound to be a whole new beast as well. We’ve been writing, recording and rehearsing so you’re sure to hear some new tunes as well!
Any plans to come to Australia?
As soon as is physically possible. I think that each and every one of us is dying to go to Australia, just gotta wait for the right timing it seems.
Who are you listening to at the moment?
I (Quinn) have been listening to a decent amount of Crumb, Good Morning, Connan Mockasin, and Grizzly bear lately.
What’s planned for the remainder of 2023?
Just the two tours I mentioned and another recording session with Daywave in LA after tour #1. I think we’re all pretty excited to get back on the road again and to be back in the studio again, too. Aside from that we’ll probably just be kicking it in Salt Lake and spending time here with our friends and family.
Favourite food and place to hangout?
One local favorite here in Salt Lake City for the band is Caputo’s, an Italian deli right up the road from our house. You can almost always count on Matt showing up to rehearsal with a sandwich in his hand, I’d say it’s Captuo’s about 90% of the time.
