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Group Members: Dogbowl And Kramer
Essentially a vehicle for the musings of John S. Hall, King Missile merged off-kilter spoken word monologues with eclectic, mildly psychedelic rock & roll. Hall's dry, absurdist sense of humor colored much of the group's output, blurring the lines between comedy, Beat poetry, narrative prose, and simple rock lyrics. Yet in spite of their focus on Hall's literary bent and all its New York artiness, King Missile was most definitely a band, and relied on music to play a much more than perfunctory role in their overall effect. The band initially won a following on college radio with several albums for producer Kramer's eccentric Shimmy-Disc label, while surviving a major lineup overhaul. Signed to a major-label deal with Atlantic, they scored a highly unlikely novelty hit with 1992's "Detachable Penis," which conquered MTV and college radio despite its subject matter. Their new audience didn't stick, however, and the second lineup split after another album; Hall later organized a third version of King Missile, and continued recording.
New York-based poet John S. Hall founded King Missile in 1985, having given several spoken word performances around Manhattan's Lower East Side. Seeking a more engaging method of presentation, he recruited his friend, guitarist Dogbowl (b. Stephen Tunney) to accompany him. Eventually, the two put together a full band -- with the full name King Missile (Dog Fly Religion) -- featuring saxophonist Alex Delaszlo and drummer R.B. Korbet, and went into the studio to cut a demo with engineer Kramer. Kramer was just setting up his own label, Shimmy-Disc, and offered to release the demo; thus, their debut mini-album, Fluting on the Hump, appeared in 1987. With Kramer contributing musical assistance on bass and other instruments, King Missile's early sound was somewhat akin to the Velvet Underground, with elements of '60s folk-rock and psychedelia. Although Hall sang on some of the material, it was wry observations like "Take Stuff From Work," "Sensitive Artist," "Wuss," and "Dick" that began to earn the group a following on college radio. King Missile cycled through several drummers during the recording of their second album, 1988's They, including Dave Licht and Steve Dansiger. Following its completion, Dogbowl departed for a solo career, recording frequently for Shimmy-Disc into the '90s. Hall dropped the "(Dog Fly Religion)" part of the band's name, and with Kramer's help, he recruited a new lineup featuring guitarist Dave Rick (also of Kramer's Bongwater, B.A.L.L., and Phantom Tollbooth) and multi-instrumentalist Chris Xefos (of When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water). Rick and Xefos brought a louder, more muscular musical sensibility to the group, by turns funkier and harder-rocking, while Hall -- now clearly the focal point -- settled into his comfort zone as a vocalist and writer: more of a monologist than a singer, his humor more abstract than jokey. With Dansiger returning on drums, the revamped King Missile issued Mystical Shit in 1990. With the band's best-known approach crystallizing, Hall's drolly ironic celebrations of religion ("Jesus Was Way Cool") and kinky sex ("Gary and Melissa") provided their biggest college radio hits yet. Particular attention to "Jesus Was Way Cool," oddly enough, helped earn King Missile a shot with major label Atlantic. Their debut, 1991's The Way to Salvation, was produced by Lou Giordano and featured Hypnolovewheel's Dave Ramirez as a fill-in drummer. At a supporting show, Hall cracked to the audience that the title of their next single would be "Detachable Penis." He later went ahead and wrote the song, in the meantime releasing his first solo album, Real Men, which featured musical backing by Kramer. "Detachable Penis" appeared on King Missile's second major-label album, 1992's Happy Hour, which featured drumming from Roger Murdock. Despite predictable resistance from mainstream radio, "Detachable Penis" was a substantial -- if somewhat controversial -- hit on MTV and alternative radio, and made King Missile a near-household name for a brief period. The follow-up single, a gleefully violent and profane salute to "Martin Scorsese," failed to make as much of an impact (at least commercially). Although King Missile had been the de facto joke band of choice for many an English major, their artier and more abstract moments also worked against their retaining much of the audience that had come on board with "Detachable Penis." Their self-titled follow-up album was released in 1994, and fell by the wayside without drawing much notice. The band subsequently broke up, and in 1995, Hall reunited with Dogbowl for a limited tour, concentrating on their early King Missile material together. The following year, Hall completed a second solo album, The Body Has a Head, which was released on a German label. Returning to a band format, Hall put together a new lineup of King Missile, logically dubbed King Missile III, with multi-instrumentalist and programmer Bradford Reed and violinist Sasha Forte. They returned to Shimmy-Disc and recorded Failure in 1998, but fell silent for several years, as Hall temporarily left music to attend law school. After opening his own practice dedicated to entertainment law, Hall reconvened King Missile III for The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, which was released by Instinct in early 2003.
from Wikipedia:
King Missile is an American avant-garde band that has been led in various disparate incarnations by poet/singer John S. Hall since 1986.
History
King Missile (Dog Fly Religion)
In 1985, writer John S. Hall began presenting his work at open mike poetry readings. After three shows, Hall became a "featured" poet at the Backfence, a performance venue in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. In 1986, feeling that "20 minutes of me reading poetry would be totally boring," Hall asked his guitarist friend Dogbowl to augment his performances with original music. Dogbowl agreed, and with the addition of bassist Alex DeLaszlo, drummer R.B. Korbet, and xylophonist George O'Malley, King Missile (Dog Fly Religion) was born.
In 1987, the band went to the Noise New York studio and in just ten hours recorded and mixed its debut album, Fluting on the Hump. The producer/engineer, Kramer, released the album on his then-fledgling label, Shimmy Disc. The label sent the album to every college radio station that reported to College Media Journal, and the album subsequently performed well on the CMJ charts.
In 1988, Hall and Dogbowl, along with cellist Charles Curtis and new drummer Steve Dansiger, recorded the second King Missile (Dog Fly Religion) album, the longer, more experimental, less "jokey" They. Like its predecessor, the album was produced by Kramer and released on Shimmy Disc. According to Hall, "[the album] wasn't well received. Dogbowl was itching to make his own records, so we went our separate ways." Dogbowl went on to record several albums for Shimmy Disc.
King Missile
After Dogbowl's departure, Hall asked Bongwater guitarist Dave Rick to help him put together a new band. Rick recruited multi-instrumentalist Chris Xefos, and Hall retained Dansiger on drums. Hall dubbed the new lineup King Missile, dropping the parenthetical "Dog Fly Religion" subtitle "since that was [Dogbowl's] idea." In late 1989 and early 1990, the band recorded the album Mystical Shit, and in 1990 released it on Shimmy Disc. On the strength of the single "Jesus Was Way Cool," the album hit #1 on the CMJ charts, and the band was signed by a major label, Atlantic Records. This series of events led Hall to make a habit of joking, "'Jesus' got me signed to Atlantic Records." Around this time, King Missile was featured in the 1990 documentary CutTime which chronicled the East Village music scene of 1990.
Another lineup change occurred before the recording of King Missile's major-label debut, as Dansiger left the band and was replaced on drums by Hypnolovewheel member David Ramirez. The subsequent album, The Way to Salvation, was released on April 16, 1991, and reached #2 on the CMJ charts. Atlantic promoted the album with the release of a single, "My Heart Is a Flower," and accompanying video.
After Ramirez left the group and was replaced by yet another drummer, Roger Murdock, the band recorded its second major-label album, Happy Hour, released on December 15, 1992. The album debuted at #1 on the CMJ charts, and its accompanying first single, "Detachable Penis," became a modest hit, reaching #25 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Atlantic released videos for "Detachable Penis" and the subsequent singles "(Why Are We) Trapped?" and "Martin Scorsese," but neither follow-up single achieved the chart success of "Detachable." According to Hall, the band realized that its hit song had drawn in many casual fans who didn't care about the rest of the group's material; thus, the band began to play the song "early in the set, so that the people who didn't like us could leave, and we could play for the people who cared. That worked out well. People did leave."
The band's third and final album for Atlantic was the eponymous King Missile, released April 19, 1994. Neither the album nor its lead single, "Love Is...," was a commercial success; consequently, the band was dropped from Atlantic, and broke up shortly thereafter because, according to Hall, "there was no reason to stay together."
King Missile III
After the collapse of the second incarnation of King Missile, Hall decided to attend law school. He graduated cum laude from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan, and after graduation co-founded Heraty Hall, a firm specializing in entertainment law.
In 1996, Hall released a "solo album," The Body Has a Head, on the German label Manifatture Criminali. The album featured considerable input from multi-instrumentalists Sasha Forte, Bradford Reed, and Jane Scarpantoni. With these musicians, as well as They cellist Curtis, Hall formed a new band, King Missile III. On September 15, 1998, the new lineup released its "debut" album, Failure, on Shimmy Disc.
Curtis and Scarpantoni left the band after the release of Failure, and King Missile III continued as a trio, releasing two more albums: The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (Instinct Records, January 21, 2003) and Royal Lunch (Important Records, September 21, 2004).
King Missile (Dog Fly Religion) reunion
On March 18, 2010, Hall reunited with Dogbowl as King Missile (Dog-Fly Religion) for a one-time performance at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. Multi-instrumentalist John Kruth, bassist Dave Dreiwitz of Ween, and drummer Billy Ficca of Television joined the duo to round out the lineup.
Musical styles
The various King Missile lineups have performed many disparate musical styles. King Missile (Dog Fly Religion)'s sound, driven by acoustic guitar and harmonica, was widely dubbed "anti-folk." In King Missile, electric guitars and keyboards were more prominent, and the music contained elements of psychedelic rock, alternative rock, and pop rock. King Missile III's sound is broadly experimental, and features a wide array of instruments, including violin, synthesizers, and the pencilina, a string instrument designed by Reed himself.
The central element of each group's sound has been Hall's lyrics, which vary in format from straightforward narrative to abstract, disjointed free verse. Hall's performance style is also eclectic, his delivery ranging from a deadpan monotone to melodic tenor singing to overwrought screaming.
