(from DougORama.net)

King’s X frontman and bassist Doug Pinnick is truly a metal warrior. At 61 years old he’s still battling it out in the trenches, be it with his main band or one of his myriad side projects, touring all over the country and writing music day in and day out. Even more impressively he’s happy as a clam, extremely humble, and grateful for all his success: “Living month to month like the average person isn’t fun, but hey, that’s quite a life. No one ever guaranteed that I would be rich doing what I do. I’m lucky enough to do it and be able to continue to do it and get paid for it. That’s great. I don’t think a lot about what I do or where I’ve been.”

Anyone who’s seen King’s X live knows how positive and inspiring Doug is, and thankfully he was the same way when we chatted on the phone last week. We talked about the upcoming King’s X “First Church of Rock and Roll Tour,” the meaning behind its name, Doug’s side projects (he’s working on a new solo record and a project with Eric Gales), the future of making a living as a musician, and what keeps him going in life on a daily basis.

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Of the five or so times I’ve seen King’s X live over the years they’ve only ever played precisely one song from Dogman, their landmark (and my personal fave) album: “Dogman.” Until last night, when their current support tour with reunited German metallers Accept rolled through NYC’s 9 Dollar Beer House BB King’s and the band dug deep into the Dogman catalog to whip out three additional songs from the aforementioned masterpiece: “Pretend,” “Complain,” and “Pillow.” It was a great day to be a King’s X fan, and the nearly-packed room most certainly showed their appreciation. Those songs, mixed in with modern day classics (“Pray,” “Go Tell Somebody”) and the usual staples (“What Is This?”, “Over My Head” complete with audience singalong) made for an awesome hour and 15 minutes of King’s X music. There’s not much more we could’ve asked for from an act that wasn’t even the headliner, but we did anyway and were treated with a non-obligatory encore; “We Were Born to Be Loved,” complete with the always impressive end-section jam out.

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In no particular order…

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Buried in a montage of video interviews conducted by OnTrackMagazine at the Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, CA this past January was in interesting bit with King’s X vocalist/bassist Doug Pinnick. King’s X are one of my favorite bands of all time, and Pinnick — though I haven’t met him (yet!) — seems like one of the most down-to-earth dudes there is. Some interesting tidbits from the interview:

On the illusions and expectations fans have of King’s X being rockstars: “I live from month to month, like everyone else.”

On his time in California during NAMM: “Me and Mick Mars are gonna start writing some tunes together. I’m gonna be hangin’ with him for four or five days… Mick called up and said ‘Come on out, man! Come and write some tunes with me! Let’s do a little writing collaboration and sell tunes to other bands and stuff.’ So I said, why not? Make a little extra money and keep going.”

Anything Pinnick puts his name on I’m willing to check out, and I’m curious what Mick Mars’ writing style is like sans-Nikki. How’s that for a collabo to look forward to in 2008?

-VN