King Kahn (Musician)

Career

Khan was born in Montreal to an Indo-Canadian family. Since 2005 he resides in Berlin, Germany with his wife and two daughters.

King Khan was a member of a number of Canadian garage bands including the Spaceshits, a frantic garage punk outfit formed in mid-1995. As his circle of fellow trouble-maker musicians grew, in 1999 he helped create a "death cult" of such musicians, originally known as the "Kukamongas" with identifying tattoos and with plans including "Jonestown, without the killing and Kool-Aid". He used the Blacksnake moniker whilst in the Spaceshits whose two full length albums were released on Sympathy for the Record Industry. He has spent a considerable amount of time in collaboration with former Spaceshits band-mate Mark Sultan in the two-man band, The King Khan & BBQ Show. Since 1999 King Khan has performed as part of King Khan and the Shrines, a psychedelic soul nine member band. They signed to Vice Records in 2008. In early 2009 King Khan collaborated with Mark Sultan and the four members of the Black Lips to form a gospel supergroup called Almighty Defenders. Their debut album was released on Vice Records on September 22, 2009.

The Spaceshits

The Spaceshits were established in mid-1995, featuring lead vocalist Mark Sultan, who was previously the drummer in a band called Powersquat in the Montreal suburb of Chateauguay. Khan had been since the end of 1994 in a Black Flag and Pavement-influenced band known as the Maury Povitch 3, a band that existed until its demise some time in 1996. In August 1995, following several linup changes, he also became the Spaceshits' bassist and for several months would play shows for both bands. The Spaceshits inherited Powersquat's reputation for violent stage shows. At first, sets lasted no longer than 10 to 15 minutes, during which the band or members of the audience would create disturbances, at times including fireworks or food fights. Eventually the band's raucous live shows would lead them to be...