King Gorm is a rock band based in San Diego, CA, comprised of members of Old Man Wizard
Interview conducted on July 7, 2020
By Dan Locke
Some bands often claim they are ‘taking it back to the days of old’, but in King Gorm’s case, it is quite literal. Much like their namesake – a Danish ruler from the 900s – the San Diego collective focus on telling bard-like tales, though updated in the form of classic rock. Their self-titled début album is a bold first step, reinventing familiarity by taking the legends of old and putting a modern spin on them. New album King Gorm comes out July 31, 2020
Francis Roberts – electric guitar, vocals, music & lyrics (Old Man Wizard, ex-Dread Crew of Oddwood)
Erich Beckmann – bass guitar (Kirby’s Dream Band, Grim Luck)
Dylan Marks – drums, percussion, vocals (Beekeeper, Fermentor)
Saki Chan – Hammond organ, ARP Odyssey, mellotron, vocals
What is your upbringing?
Francis: I grew up between Seattle and San Diego. My family moved to California when I was in elementary school because my dad was starting a business. Parents divorced a few years later and my dad moved back to Seattle but my mom stayed in San Diego. Therefore, I went to school in San Diego but would stay with my dad in Seattle over summer break.
How did you discover music?
My older brother and I would watch MTV together and I’d listen to his albums. This was the late 90s so it was stuff like Blink-182 and The Offspring. At some point, we finally heard Metallica and I remember the album Kill Em All being the coolest thing I’d ever heard. I got into less famous music probably through their Garage Days album (Merciful Fate is my favorite band they cover on that album!). I started playing guitar at the suggestion of a friend (hi Cat) when I was probably 15 or 16. My mom had dabbled in guitar a few years before so she had one in the closet. I remember searching for it all day thinking it was going to be under a bed or hidden in a box somewhere and it was just in the most obvious place. Not even a very big house Haha. My friend Cat had showed me how to read guitar tabs (I think she showed me “Nothing Else Matters” and maybe “Stairway to Heaven” and you can imagine which of those I probably sounded better on!) and I just started playing after school every day as much as I could. I probably played for like 8-10 hours a day the first year I was playing; you couldn’t get me away from the damn thing. I got a job and saved up money to buy a Gibson flying v. somewhere in there I started buying my own music. I got into Dio, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, and Tenacious D and probably mostly learned guitar from those artists’ songs.
How did you start to write music?
I thought you were just supposed to write music if you’re playing music. I thought music was only supposed to be a creative outlet and I didn’t realize until much later how many people find a great deal of joy in playing music without writing their own. I joined a band shortly after I started playing and we started writing music almost immediately (because we weren’t really good enough to play covers Haha!)
The band is made up of members of Old Man Wizard, Beekeeper and Grin Luck. How did you get together?
I had time for more music in my life so I wrote the album and started bothering other people I knew in town to see if they’d record it with me and play some shows. I actually asked Erich if he’d record drums for it, and he told me he’d rather play bass. I think his bass playing in Grim Luck is what made me excited about that. We were going to record this as a duo (me on guitar and keys, him on drums and bass) if we didn’t find people to play the other parts. I’m glad we ended up putting something together. If you’ve seen Beekeeper (or any band Dylan Marks plays drums for) it’ll be really easy to understand why I asked him. I met Saki in music school and hadn’t heard her play in bands before asking her if she could play organ.
What is Guitar Organ Rock Music? Is it as Deep Purple meets Sweet with a little bit of Be Bop Deluxe?
It’s kind of a joke actually! G.O.R.M. I think of the sound as proto metal like Deep Purple/Uriah Heep/Rainbow style. Very organ-centric, which is what sets it apart from other similar contemporary bands.
How the band did gets its name?
Whenever I read books, I jot down the names of characters that I think would make good band names. Gorm was a character from a Robert Howard story. I later found out he was probably named after a Danish king. I usually name my projects before I do any work on them, so “Gorm” was just an arbitrary name I picked from my list. When it ended up becoming an actual band I asked everyone what they thought we should call it and everyone was just like, “I thought it was called Gorm”. Another band was using that name so eventually we added the prefix to avoid confusion.
Your album is coming out on July 31. How are you promoting it? Since you have no shows at the present time.
The internet! We did a bunch of shows a few years ago without Merch, so I am hoping that the people who came to those shows and the people who know us through our other projects are excited to hear this new album.
What is your favorite track on the album?
The Witch of Irondale.
How do you stay healthy while touring?
I don’t know if I do ha-ha. It is hard when you’re generally sleeping on a stranger’s floor and you’re surrounded by free beer and pizza for a few weeks. I guess the best answer I can give is that I help the drummer get the kit off the stage when the set ends and I wind my cables at the Merch table so the band after us can stay sane. If we all take care of each other, we’ll be healthy. Right now, don’t tour and wear a mask if you have to leave your house.
What are you’re feeling about streaming music?
Streaming services like Spotify, apple music, Soundcloud, Bandcamp… I think they’re great. It forces musicians and producers to really step up and try to make something special. In the 90s and early 2000s, you just had to have one good single to make an album, and these days you cannot get away with that because people have heard the whole thing before buying it. I am not super into streaming shows through; the sound quality always seems compromised. I’d usually rather see a well-mixed pre-recorded live show (even if it’s live in your studio or practice space).
Digital vs. vinyl?
I love records. However, honestly digital, vinyl, and cassette are my favorite formats so I’m happy with any of them. Digital for singles, vinyl and cassette for full albums.
Any plans to tour?
Nope. The USA needs to really take a step back and examine how poorly we’re handling this crisis. I don’t think touring will be a good idea for at least a year or so at this rate.
What song from the past is in your mind right now? And what is the meaning that song means to you?
I was re-learning “Highway Star” today. It just sounds really cool and the solo is a fun challenge to play musically.
How do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
It’s just another of many examples we’ve faced where it becomes clear that we must adapt or die off. People won’t stop making or consuming music ever. I’m glad I’ve been investing for years in putting together a home studio, because I can still make music, record it, release it, and promote it from home. I’m having fun trying to find solutions right now.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
Getting this album on track for release was one thing! I actually have a live album coming out on Pacific Threnodies (https://pacificthrenodies.bandcamp.com/album/the-friends-you-met-along-the-way) on the same day the King Gorm album comes out, July 31. That one is a live album from a festival I played from quarantine, on Twitch. I decided to hit record before I started streaming in case I liked the show, and the guy who runs the label was watching the stream and hit me up the next day to ask if I had a recording of the show. I’m almost done mixing the third Old Man Wizard album (oldmanwizard.com) and I’m working on sourcing art and design for it while I brainstorm ways to create music videos safely. I’m getting a lot of mileage out of a green screen I bought on impulse last year. I think I’ve released 7 EPs of solo music (mostly instrumental synthesizer stuff, you can find it here: francisroberts.bandcamp.com) since our stay-at-home order began. I started a Twitch show with some east coast friends where we interview Dungeon Synth artists from around the world and talk about their creative workflows, and teach production techniques (I teach a segment on sound design in the show). That’s up weekly on Thursday nights (https://www.twitch.tv/NortheastDungeonSiege) and will be on YouTube as well in August. I’m teaching lessons mostly in guitar and music production/mixing on Zoom and other video chat services, doing a lot of Facebook and Instagram live videos, and finally getting familiar with Twitter. I’m also doing many pen illustrations (I did all the drawings in the physical copies of the King Gorm album!). I’m also currently working on recording another studio album of instrumental music that I’m pretty excited about, but that’s still a long way off from seeing the light of day, because it’s really complicated and time consuming. It’s the first non-film project I’ve done that I’m treating the same way I treat a film score. Other than that, a lot of videogames. Divinity II is taking over my life right now haha.
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
Yes! Videogames with friends! I grew up with couch co-op games and I feel like online gaming is finally getting to the point where it’s just about as fun of social activity! I love fighting monsters with friends on the internet haha.
Lots of people are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Are you planning to do something like that?
I’m not doing concerts very often, as I like to keep those a bit more “sacred” so they’re viewed as special events. I do a live stream of warmups, practice, production workflow, etc. though, and I have done some actual concerts.
Do you think it will be possible to make a living doing concerts this way?
Absolutely! People have been doing it for years. It’s funny seeing everyone try to catch up to the people who already have it down. It’s so much work to look and sound good on an internet show and I’m glad to see how many people are trying to take that seriously now! It is awesome!
First, it was an article in the New York Times, then Rolling Stones talked about it and finally Live Nation CEO said that concerts might not start again until fall of 2021. Do you think this could happen?
Absolutely. Live Nation is definitely a bit detached from the reality of underground music, so I imagine we’ll see off-the-grid outdoor concerts way before that, but at the rate, the USA is going with the pandemic I wouldn’t be surprised if big festival-style shows aren’t safe until 2022 or later. Until we can take a pandemic seriously as a country, it will wreak havoc on us. There is no time limit or death toll that will stop that.
With Social Distance being the norm. Do you feel that it maybe the end of music fest for the next couple of years?
Music fests figured that out before everyone else, I think! There have been some great attempts at hosting online music festivals, and I’ve made a bunch of friends in chats on Twitch, Discord, and all kinds of platforms that are pretty new to a lot of people. It’s great to see how hard everyone is trying to adapt. I don’t think we’re quite there yet, but the quality of streaming concerts and fests is improving significantly! I hope we see some bigger game companies like Epic start making events like Marshmello’s Fortnite concert become more accessible. I’m seeing more and more software that functions in similar ways to Roblox that I think will allow for in-game concerts that gamers will be able to attend in a virtual world.
What about Holographic concerts in our living room?
Haha! I hadn’t thought of that one! I imagine we’ll see that in VR before we see actual affordable hologram tech. However, I think that will be an awesome thing for parties! Way cooler than a Bluetooth speaker.
How do you see yourself in the next five years?
I’m hoping I’ll be a much better musician, producer, and person than I am now! I’m always trying to find ways to improve.
Anything you would like to say in closing?
New King Gorm album is out on July 31! Pre-order it at our Bandcamp page: https://kinggorm.bandcamp.com/
In addition, it will be available on Vinyl via Church Recordings, pre-order that on their page: https://churchrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/king-gorm
Thanks for taking the time to send these questions along, and if you are reading, thanks for your time! I hope you have a great day!
