To Kill A King – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, Josh Taffel of the alternative rock band, To Kill A King, talks about some of their crazy moments from touring. You can check out the feature, after the break.

My first US tour began in Austin, Texas. We flew in from Chicago to Nashville, rented our Jet-black Mercedes Sprinter and headed towards SouthbySouthWest festival. This was the beginning of two months traveling America and I can honestly say I was not prepared for the journeys ahead.

For the sake of time, I will begin and end with the very first week. Austin is a wonderful city with incredible music. We had only recently arrived in the city after setting up at our Motel (which appeared to house the homeless and local addicts too). Myself and the keys player were keen to spend some time soaking up the new attractions. Before long we realized we needed to get back but there were roughly 100,000 people with the same idea, so we made the bold decision to hitchhike and it was one I will never forget.

After getting into their surprisingly small and cluttered car we were greeted with the passenger seat opening his glove box, simultaneously turning and saying “In case y’all thinkin bout robbing us we got our guns”. He was holding a large shiny silver handgun.

Clearly, we were the least threatening thing in the car and it didn’t take long before they warmed to us. Having never met anyone from England and us never having met ruff necks (oil drillers) we had lots to talk about. We mentioned we were performing the following night and offered some guest list.

Much to my surprise, they both turned up! I felt obliged to stay and drink with them after the show and they showed me around town to meet some of their friends, which is where it all started to get a touch hazy. After having hit an impressive number of bars and being bought more drinks than reasonably necessary we ended up at a Tattoo parlor. Needless to say, it ended with every single one of us getting the same tattoo. Considering I was in Texas, drinking with a bunch of roughnecks it probably isn’t too much of a stretch to imagine the sort of imagery we’re talking about. I am proud to say I have the entire state of Texas tattooed on my shoulder and am certain I won’t regret it when I’m old and haggard.

Josh Taffel
Drummer – To Kill A King

*Notably a fellow who wished to legally change his name to Ergalabugalu, but apparently hadn’t found a computer so he could figure out how to spell it…. We never found out his actual name.

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