Sullivan King’s debut album Show Some Teeth was released on October 18th (order here). The record highlights Sullivan King’s genre-defying sound as he blends multiple styles together from metal, edm, rock, and more. We recently caught up with Sullivan King to discuss more about the new album.
What was the process creating your debut Show Some Teeth?
It was a pretty large amalgamation of things in all honesty. I had been touring with Excision for a couple months and had also dropped an EP at the start of 2019 that was pretty different from what I found myself normally writing/playing out live and so I was kinda stumped on what to do next. that tour ended mid-April and I just started to realize I had so many ideas and different directions I wanted to take my music that really the best option was to put out a bigger record…. I found with EP’s and singles people kind of assume that whatever your latest release is that that’s going to end up being your direction and I never wanted that. Only solution was a 15 track debut.
What inspired you to incorporate many different genres of music together?
It was just what I always listened to (separately) but never heard properly put together as I saw it should be. Like, Metal + Electronic isn’t anything new for bands or whatever, BUT Metal + Electronic in a dance/DJ setting was, and wasn’t really being done. Guitars, Screaming, Huge fucking drums, breakdowns, these are all things that weren’t heard at clubs or MainStage at a “rave”.
What are some themes on the album?
Theme wise, the record has a lot of inspiration from all the emotions and moments I’ve had over the last 2 years touring. A lot of it actually has to do with really simple shit that millions of people felt from just pop/culture to whatever else was going on in the world. Like, I literally have a song that lyrically was my reaction (and absolute disdain) towards the series finale of “Game of Thrones” lol. I was so livid with it I had to just write it all down and it’s one of my favorite songs. I think now that I’m saying it, the theme really is just life in general. Not everything is sunshine and roses, but it also isn’t always so dramatic. Show Some Teeth is really about just not being scared to put yourself out there regardless of what’s going on or who you think you are or are supposed to be.
Can you talk more about the formation of Sullivan King?
Yeah. I started the project sort of by force back in 2014. I didn’t feel my music was ready to be heard and put out nor was nearly ready to tour, but I had some collaborations at the time with people that were coming up and they wanted the songs out.. I knew that “Sullivan King” was more than the project/just this one sound. It really is just who I am as an artist. 2017 was really when the Metal-Step (or whatever you wanna call my music) project as it is today started. I had finally gotten to a point of consistently being able to write the music I was proud of and was always going for. I had started screaming on records, singing on records, playing guitar in a way that made sense, being able to mix and master a record far better, etc. The first tour I got was actually with some friends of mine, I See Stars. I had written on their last record “Treehouse” with them on a couple things (the standout being ‘Running With Scissors’) and since they had DJ’s before open for them, it made perfect sense.
Are there any particular songs that were more challenging for you as an artist?
All of them. Lol, nah in all honesty, there wasn’t a lot with this album that really gave me an issue, it was more just getting the juxtaposition sonically that I wanted from track to track. It was harder getting that down and having it flow how I wanted and as I was finishing tracks, I was listening to the record start to finish and going, “hmmmm something is missing between track 7-9” and writing off that a little more – it was more trying to write as a whole if anything. A lot of songs came off the album actually. There’s about 6-7 B-sides, not including all the finished Collabs that didn’t go on. I think it’s easier to write single records than it is for them to make sense all together.
What plans do you have for next year?
Tour, Tour, Tour. Sleep. Tour. Modern Warfare. Family. Tour, Tour, Tour. Maybe release some music.
Are there any new artists you’ve been listening to as of late?
Oh yeah. Lots of SYN, Kompany, Eliminate, Grabbitz, Lick, Boogie T, Kai Wachi… on the band side it’s usually the same haha I Prevail, Beartooth, Avenged Sevenfold, Bring Me, NIN, Atreyu, Torche, Volbeat, Killswitch, and the list goes on and on.
Anything else you want to say or add about your debut album?
It fucks.
Sullivan King will embark on a Thank You For Raging Tour next week and you can check out the tour dates here.
