Hello, thank you for your time, please introduce yourself in a few words!
Howdy. I am Gideon King. I founded the band Gideon King & City Blog(GKCB) a few years back. I simply love writing music and collaborating with unpretentious artists who bring the compositions to life so they might engage the imagination or emotions of a stranger with whom I otherwise might not connect. Life is short as far as I can see so making a few lasting impressions is an honor, a challenge, and a beautiful and frustrating journey.
Please give us an update about – new single, new album, tour dates, new videos?!
We have pledged to release two years of straight music. Our newest single Whatchya Gonna Do was just released. We are playing at City Winery, a very cool venue, on 9/11. We have so much content coming out I don’t know where to start. Please just hop on our Spotify channel and surf away(did I just really say something like that?).
Name 5 things we all should know about you as an artist?!
- I think lyrics still matter and that most modern lyrics suck.
- I find it enchanting when jazz musicians get involved in projects other than jazz projects
- I truly wish music was more important than image in the music industry
- I will only consider myself a musical artist when I have a deep catalogue of songs to offer people. The rest is just baseless talk and Instagram folly
- I don’t think life would be worth living without good Spaghetti Marinara. Shallow, I know. But how I feel.
What fashion style or brand would best describe your music?
Contemporary Jazz?
Pop Jazz?
Jazz pop?
A blend of R&B, funk. Pop and jazz?
Who the hell knows.
Tell us more about your songs! Topics! Message!?
I aint trying to convince anyone of how they should think about any issue. No preaching. We have enough of that. I just want to write songs that allow people to project their own experiences onto these sonic expressions we create. I would love to present people with some beautiful abstractions that they can feed into the grist mill of their souls. Maybe they will laugh or get sad or identify with something embedded in the song. As long as they engage with the music somehow then I am happy. Our songs are for you the listener. If they touch you then they touch me.
Beside music, do you have any special talents?
I am a carpenter. I build furniture. I like to write stories and poetry. I like business. Creating a business from nothing is sexy and cool and life affirming. Creating anything of any type truly sustains my interest. i am not sure if these are talents—that is for the observer to decide—but these things certainly captivate my mind and keep me out of emotional swampland.
Being on stage feels like….!
Being on stage feels like sex. Sometimes you perform well and other times you don’t. But you must always try to please and thank the audience.
How did you learn to sing/ to write/ to play??
Im not even sure at this point. Melody and lyrics just bounce around inside me and always have. My brother was a prodigy jazz piano player. That piqued my sense of phrasing and the open architecture of music. I started fiddling with guitars when I was like ten years old. Composers like Steely Dan and Wayne Shorter and Neil young influenced me. I’m not even sure I have learned to play yet. I am not being falsely self-deprecating. Sometimes I hear myself play and I feel like learning is in order.
A question you’d like to answer, but never been asked in an interview before?! + Answer pls
question: Is good quality popular music dying? If yes, why?
answer: it is not dying, no, but it is withering on the vine and certain artists are holding the line in the face of a paucity of demand for labor intensive beauty making. If it is dying it is because artists spend too much time thinking of themselves and their typical feelings and not enough time visiting with otherness.
That being said thanks for this interview I appreciate your interest.
Instagram: @gideonkingcityblog