The Wichita Eagle
February 22, 2002

Local guitarist finalist in Limp Bizkit talent search
Rod Pocowatchit

A Wichita guitarist has been named one of 30 finalists in rock band Limp Bizkit's "Put Your Guitar Where Your Mouth Is" national guitarist search.

Russell Ali, a member of local band King Me, said he started waiting in line around 3 a.m. Feb. 7 for the audition at the Guitar Center in Dallas, one of 22 cities chosen by the band as audition sites.

"It was a huge deal," Ali said. "It was unbelievable. I went in totally unprepared."

Ali got a chance to jam with members of Limp Bizkit, including the often controversial frontman Fred Durst. The chart-topping rap/rockers are seeking to replace former guitarist Wes Borland.

Ali is now awaiting word on what will happen next, but he is hopeful.

"I hope something good happens," Ali said. "I'm happy at this point. I achieved something I thought I could never achieve."

Classic Rock Revisited
October, 2001

Classic Rock Revisited Presents an exclusive interview with King Me
Jeb

Classic Rock Revisited is dedicated to promoting and documenting great rock and roll of the past as well as keeping up to tabs with the classic bands in the new millennium. Unsigned bands are not a part of our format. When I was asked by the promoter of the Wheatland Jam to write an article about one of his favorite up and coming bands I was a little bit nervous. After all, King Me is not a band with millions of record sales, a national following or even a record contract. I did agree, mostly because of the respect and friendship I have developed with Wheatland Jam promoter Ryan Trowbridge since the festivals inception in the year 2000. I figured, "I'll meet with them and then write a couple of paragraphs about them and then forget about them.Ó Upon meeting the members of King Me I have changed my mind. Perhaps these four residents of the state of Kansas are on to something. Even though their collective musical influence is as diverse as U2, Michael Jackson, Steve Vai and The Backstreet Boys, their music has a raw, powerful edge that pays a certain amount of respect to the classic rock artists of yesteryear.

King Me had just come off playing a couple of dates; one in Minnesota at the Moondance Jam and one the next day in Kansas at the Wheatland Jam. The band shows their maturity (in small doses but hey these guys are young) in the fact that they love music, performing live and have a desire to make the big time. I expected to find a bunch of sophomoric posers pretending to be rock stars; I found a group of young men who have the fire, the desire and the patience to make it in the music business. They also have the songs. The big question is do they have the guts? Check out the bands website at www.kingmenet.com and discover one of the best-kept secrets in Rock N Roll.

King Me is...

Luke Carter - Luke is the bands lead vocalist. In addition he has the attitude and angst to be a great front man. He speaks his mind and he openly admits his strengths and weaknesses. Luke is a rock star -- he just doesn't know it yet!

Russell Ali - Russell is the lead guitar player. He is originally from Bangladesh and his family does not know that he is in a working band trying to become a rock star. He is the quiet one but he has a quick wit at the appropriate time. If King Me doesn't work out he will start his own band called The Pigmentations.

Steve Green - Steve is the co-leader of the group. He is the bass player as well as being the technical leader on stage. He has the brains to keep the band from delving too far over the edge. It is my guess that he and Luke are the creative personality clash that helps give the band individuality.

Pete - The drummer. Quiet and reserved. Seems like he knows he is in a good band and is going to ride this as far as it goes.

The Interview

Jeb: Tell me who King Me is.

Luke: King Me is a work in progress. We have been together about 4-5 years now. We all want to be rock stars. We try to make sure that we systematically and methodically take every step in that direction whether it is how we represent ourselves on stage, how we handle our press releases, how we book our shows and how we conduct interviews. See we have beer and peanuts just like real rock stars do! We try to be entertaining but we also try to have a lot of fun. I do anyway but that is why I am a singer and not a musician!

Jeb: Let me check something real quick. I have a bad habit of forgetting to check that I took that recorder off pause!

Luke: That would blow! You would have to go home and make it all up!

Jeb: Lets see… they said something about a fat chick! (Much laughter). You guys have been together about five years….

Luke: Don’t say it like that!

Jeb: Tell me about your debut CD.

Luke: About half of the songs that are on our first CD were wrote by Steve and Pete before Russell and I even joined the band.

Steve: The bass player and drummer wrote the songs on guitar and vocals before the band was together. The writing process has become cooler over the years. We see that a lot of bands have a problem with that. They write a bunch of songs and they can’t get keep it together. We are having so much fun with our songs that we don‘t want to finish the new CD. If we could just spend a few months in the studio then who knows what could happen.

Jeb: How much of your set is original and how much is cover?

Steve: It depends. Recently we have been getting a lot more all original shows. We try to do as many original shows as we can. We will play an original show over a cover show anytime. The fact is that where we are at from a financial standpoint, the cover shows pay.

Luke: It is also where we are at geographically.

Steve: What sucks is that we can go out of town and play four shows with three of them being all original one set shows with another band opening for us or we can do another show that is 50/50 covers to originals and that show pays for the trip. You have got to do just enough to keep your head above water. It was not very long ago that we were dying and that we didn’t want to play any covers at all. Now, 50% of them are original shows. That keeps us pretty happy.

Jeb: I have not listened to your CD yet. Tell me what your are trying to do with your music?

Steve: That is a scary question. The other day I walked over and peeked into the Brickyard (a popular outdoor bar) and a band was playing and the place was packed. My knee jerk reaction was that I was pissed. We were playing across the street and we had a good crowd but it was nothing like that. They are over there playing Loverboy. I realized that they are a good band and they are drawing a good crowd but at the end of the night they make a couple of hundred bucks and that is it. They are done. They are where they are always going to be. For us, every time we go on stage it is not about what we walk away from at the end of the night. None of us get paid from this band. We put 100% of our money back into the band. We all buy our own rigs. If I want a new bass then I have to buy it. It does not come out of the band fund. My point is that we are always shooting for a big goal. We love writing music and we love playing in front of people and we want to do that for a living so we don’t have to work jobs!

Jeb: Lets get everyone’s musical influence…

Luke: Bono is God. There is one picture on the wall in my house and that is the Rolling Stone that has Bono on it. That being said, I really like the Cowboy Junkies and Willie Nelson. I like the Ramones. I am about as indecisive about my favorite artists as I am about everything else in my life!

Russell: My influences have changed dramatically. I used to be a guitar rocker. I was into Steve Vai and stuff like that. Now it is totally different.

Luke: We got him into a program (laughter).

Russell: Now I like more song writing. I like Fuel and all these other bands that are coming out right now. I want to write songs.

Steve: I am kind of shallow. I loved the 80’s rock stuff. I never was into the real classic stuff. I was always into whatever was current. I love Counting Crows. I love Michael Jackson. I know he is really fucked up but I like him. People think I am crazy but I like all the new pop bands. I am really into production. I think anytime you take somebody who is at that level like the Backstreet Boys it is pretty cool. You give them the best of everything that money can buy including the best equipment, the best production, the best image and then you give them the best marketing -- I mean it’s all bullshit but at the same time I really dig seeing people do the best of everything projects. I don’t sit around and listen to their cds.

Luke: Sure you don’t! (Much laughter). He dances around in front of the mirror with his hairbrush as his microphone!

Steve: I am pretty open to everything. We are across the board musically. It is kind of confusing really. The tape we listen to in the van is a bunch of old songs.

Luke: It is legendary singers and songwriters. It has got Van Morrison. It has “American Pie.” Jim Croce and Kris Kristofferson are on it. That is the tape. Russell rolled the van last year and all we wanted out of it was our tape! “I’m glad your okay -- now get the tape!”

Pete: I am pretty much into songs. I like one song by a band and then pretty much nothing else that they do. I like to get new stuff and check it out. I like production. I will buy something if certain people engineered it or produced it just to check out what they have done. I will listen to a bunch of new stuff and then Don Henley will come on and I go “Man, that is really the shit!” It seems like a lot of dudes who are masters and legends end up getting a lot of my respect but then I am really trendy and faddish too. I hear singles and I will go get it. It is usually vocalists for me.

Jeb: Do you put the same show on whether there are five people or five hundred people?

Luke: We try to. The goal is to be that good. There is a fine line between insecurity and absolute arrogance. What inspires me is not being me. To be able to get out on a stage and motivate, inspire and have fun and have people go “that guy is cool” or “that guy is talented” or “that guy is packing an armadillo” is what it is about for me. I don’t want to be the guy who doesn’t scoop the litter box as often as I ought to or has love handles or whatever else I can pick myself apart over. To get up there for three one hour sets or just for three songs -- it just matters that there is a part of me that is unique, somewhat special and maybe even somewhat envied.

Steve: You’re special to me Luke even if you don’t clean out the litter box.

Jeb: Lets talk about the Moondance Jam. You were part of the interstate traveling bands between the Wheatland Jam in Kansas and the Moondance in Minnesota.

Steve: We knew we were lucky to be going there. We knew we were the first band on the “B” stage. We knew it was not the same position that we had at the Wheatland Jam where we played in-between the two headlining bands.

Luke: We played right after the fireworks.

Steve: We just wanted to get up there and get in their face. We made great contacts up there. We had a blast playing. It was fun.

Luke: How often do you get to have Head East open for you?

Steve: When you go out of town it is a whole different ballgame. In town you meet there and you play and then you go home. When we go out of town it is just one vehicle and everyone is together. We do really well with that. We get along really well. We come back tighter than we left every time.

Luke: Even if we don’t get along real well, we get along real well. It really sucks. We would be the worst Behind The Music ever!

Steve: No drug problems and no deaths.

Luke: Hey, the night is young! ‘And then Luke said something to Russell and Russell’s feelings were hurt and then they made some joke about a girls rack and got over it.’

Steve: That would be the extent of our Behind The Music.

Jeb: How did Moondance compare to Wheatland Jam?

Luke: I thought Wheatland Jam was the most fun three songs that we have played in a long time! We knew we were on borrowed time but at the same time we knew that we had people there to see King Me period. It was cool that there were people who paid to see us play at a show where Kansas and Steppenwolf played. They paid to see King Me. By God, we were not going to let them down. As soon as those flames hit we were ready to rock.

Pete: The best we have ever played was about 4:30am in the campground.

Luke: Or so we are told!

Russell: He was so drunk…

Luke: Russell’s fingers are pointing at Steve right now!

Russell: Steve wasn’t that drunk. You were going forward and people were trying to push you back.

Luke: I was on uneven ground!

Steve: We usually don’t drink when we play. We have had enough bad experiences that we have evolved to not doing it. It is not a rule but if a guy decides to drink then he is probably the loner.

Luke: He is when he fucks up!

Steve: That night, we started drinking immediately when we finished playing. We drank hardcore solid until we played out there. It was not pretty. It shouldn’t have happened.

Pete: I had a lady when we got off stage come up to me and say, “I have seen you guys a couple of times before and I have always hated you guys. You always seemed so serious and arrogant. Tonight you just seemed like you were having fun.” I was thinking back to the two or three songs that we played and I had people pulling my leg hairs and pouring beer down my back. I was laughing so hard.

Russell: I don’t drink.

Luke: That is why he is in the band. We were auditioning two guitar players who were pretty much on an even keel as far as talent and ability go but one of them drinks beer and one person doesn’t drink. I was like “He gets it because we need a driver!”

Jeb: You do a lot of self-promotion. You have a good web site and you are serious about your music.

Luke: I book at least 51% of our shows out of town so we are not a local band. We want to lose the local band stigma and it is hard to shake.

Jeb: What are the plans now?

Luke: We want to get the CD finished and push it as hard as we can and get the CD out there.

Steve: We will get the CD out. You go in thinking that you are just going to knock it out and that it is going to be cheap. You get in there and you go, “Let’s take a little more time here.” It evolves to this Waterworld type project. We don’t want to admit it but we have already spent more than we wanted to on it and we are not done.

Pete: We are triple over on money and time.

Luke: I’ll admit it. If it is not way past deadline and way over budget then it just wouldn’t be King Me.

Pete: We are pretty anal about the whole thing.

Russell: We are pretty anal about it.

Pete: We really need a single. We can’t keep going out of town and playing little or nothing to little or nobody. There is no reason that somebody should pay us a bunch of money to come play in their town unless we have a song on the radio.

Russell: I am going to start a new band called The Pigmentations (Much laughter).

Luke: We need our own tour bus. We are missing the Ruben Kincaid factor. Just this last week it was kind of like that one episode with Danny -- Russell’s voice changed.

Jeb: The thing that makes a band stay together for years upon years is the fact they do not follow a fad. I hear you guys talking about the right things.

Russell: We love playing. We don’t want to do anything else. I do not want to sit in an office. My whole family is against me playing music. They do not have any idea how much I love it. These guys are cool. They are motivated. Being on stage and playing and doing what you love is important. Can I cry now? I love you man!!

Pete: One of my early influences was John Bonham….

Russell: Isn’t he a porn star?

Luke: No, that’s John Bone-em. (Laughter). Let me tell you the thing that Wheatland Jam and Moondance Jam did for me… I was checking out Kansas and there were thousands of people standing in front of the stage there to see Kansas. They were all about Kansas. On stage, there were these guys with huge, huge fat guts with these big old frickin’ bad hair cuts wearing three day old marathon jeans and they are going to die on stage with thousands of people loving them! It will be “Carry on my wayward arrrhhhhhhhkkkkkll.” For some reason I think that is beautiful. That is the way I want to go out. It is cool to be able to build a career on some great songs and 20 years later still be able to be popular and be able to go out and have people enjoy you. I am sure they miss a lot of things… like their feet!!

Russell: Shut up. Don’t say anything anymore. You have done harm.

Luke: I’m saying that as a compliment.

The evening continued on with King Me drinking a few beers and talking about life in a band. The banter and innocence shown was very refreshing. Upon hearing the bands CD I became excited that I had met them. Their music is fresh and they have a style all thier own. Check them out at www.kingmenet.com. Keep an eye out for them, they just might surprise you! If things don’t work out then we can always hope for Russell’s band  The Pigmentations to take the country by storm!

Oklahoma Gazette
April 24, 2000

Eclectic and Entertaining
Rebecca Casey

A tattoo-less tattoo artist drummer. A multi-lingual lead guitarist. A bass-hating bass player. And a Lord Byron-quoting lead singer. Yes, the men of King Me are an eclectic collection of musicians and an entertaining group at that.

The group, which plays Saturday at the T-Bar, 5701 N. Western, has a large following in its native Wichita. Some attribute the band's popularity to its quick, tight sets; some credit frontman Luke Carter's smart-ass wit; and others say the group has "it." Whatever "it" is, the band's music exudes artistry and passion.

The band's CD, "About Life," is a driving set of songs that discusses passion, love, lust, pain and humor. In essence, these men write about life.

Interviewing the four is like being blindfolded at a tag-team wrestling match. You never know when or where the answers are coming from.

Drummer Pete Dawson is a tattoo artist by day and a drummer by night. Unlike most tattoo artists, Dawson does not have a single tattoo on his body. His reasoning is that they are permanent, and he hasn't found anything he wants on his body forever.

Guitarist Russell Ali is a native of Bangladesh and speaks five languages. Ali won the "Best Guitarist in Kansas" title at a contest last fall. The quiet guitarist said he owns 15 guitars and plays four instruments.

Bassist Steve Green hates playing bass. Seeing him in action seems to contradict that statement. However, he said, "When I go into a store, I look at guitars. I don't look at basses."

Frontman Carter sings as if he were in his own shower. Nothing is sacred. He once told a joke about what pallbearers are called in Oklahoma - "karaoke." When asked his philosophy on joking, he quoted Lord Byron: "And if I laugh at any mortal thing, Œtis only that I may not weep."

The diversity of the foursome is obvious when they discuss their favorite originals. Green said his favorite song is "Pull Myself Together," with a funky groove. Ali's favorite is "Need Myself" because, he said, it "gives you a feeling of being needed."