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![_Heat Things Up With <em>Desire</em> at the Blanton [Art Preview]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2010/02/minter-thumb-110x110-478584.jpg)
Heat Things Up With Desire at the Blanton [Art Preview]
Over the course of an already prolific career, Sultan has been a part of a number of projects and has also founded his own label, Sultan Records. We caught up with the BBQ this week to learn more about his younger days, recent collaborations, and plans for the upcoming Fun Fest.
Where in Canada are you from? When did you first get involved with music and what instruments did you gravitate towards initially?
I was born and raised in Montreal. I started getting into music quite early. My dad liked The Beatles and my cousin liked Led Zeppelin. I used to skip school when I was like 7 to listen covetously to records on a Fisher Price flip-top turntable. I was really influenced by that cousin, Steve, who was also a John Bonham fan. That piqued my own interest in drums. But when I finally got them at 11 or so, I soon realized I was shit.
What do you consider to be your biggest strengths (and weaknesses if any!) when it comes to music?
I guess my strengths are a decent singing voice and songwriting abilities. I think I have an ear for melody. I am well-versed in pop structure and shit. I can make up a mean bass line but struggle at playing it. Kinda ridiculous. My weaknesses are that I am a terrible guitar player (though that is by choice - I wanna stay bad. I fear practice leads to wankery) and a sub-par drummer. I also think some 'associates' would argue that my modesty and non-desire to 'hype myself' and do the dirty deeds are detrimental.
Do you release material as Mark Sultan or is it primarily all as the BBQ now? How did The Almighty Defenders project come about?
I still play as the BBQ one-man-band, sometimes. I have a new album and single coming out as Mark Sultan and will be refining the full-band idea to having me back as a free-handed front-man and tour as so. I am also in The King Khan & BBQ Show. As you know, we have an album coming out and are playing Fun Fun Fun Fest. The new album Invisible Girl will be out in November on In The Red Records.
I have just finished an album with Bloodshot Bill which is coming out as soon as we get a band name. And I am also one of The Almighty Defenders. That album came about when the Black Lips were unceremoniously booted from India and came to Berlin. Khan and I were recording our new album Invisible Girl, anyway, so we all decided to bump in ideas and songs and record a fun album to document to the 4-5 days in took to start and complete. Start your own band if you don't like it.
How did you meet King Khan? What are some major differences in your lives today as compared with your time together in The Spaceshits in the '90s?
We met years ago when we were teens. I knew Khan and his pals (cum Spaceshits members) by going to various LSD parties and punk shows. I think they knew me from a 'punk' band I played drums for, whose violent shows used to baffle them. Back then, I lived in a room (a dead-end hallway) in Khan's apartment when I wasn't homeless. He went to University. I worked at Cargo Records. We were fuck ups. Not much has changed. He has a great family now. I live in squalor and I love it.
Take us through a day in the studio with The King Khan & BBQ Show.
We don't go into a studio with nothing. We usually record on a 4-track in someone's apartment, though our friend Lou recorded some stuff for this new album at his studio. We usually get together and laugh and make up songs. Or we have ideas that we bring forth. It really doesn't take long. We are telepathic.
If you could pick an era, what decade/century would you wish to live in? Would you have liked to collaborate with anyone in particular?
I am happy in the here and now. I have been posed that question before, and I guess the assumption is that I would say 'the fifties' or 'the sixties', but I am a hateful man. I would have fucking hated the hypocrisy then as I do now. And all the other stupid shit. Read things like Ringolevio to dispel the hippie myth. Listen to Buddy Holly's phone calls with Decca. Money kills music. I would have loved to have been to a 50's juke joint or free jazz club in the 60's, I guess. Sure, there were potentially so many people to collaborate with, back then, if you knew the right folks. But the same could be said for today, except fame is created in other ways, so that this generation's Wilson Pickett or Eddie Cochran is probably a garbage man or working in a taco truck. The one thing I remember is being a baby on my lawn in the 70's, smelling the grass and eating an ice cream and feeling really, really GOOD. Film captures that era well. Great colors!
If you could change one thing about the world today, what would it be?
I want Montreal's FULL seasons back - especially AUTUMN.
What is your general perception of Austin?
I think Austin is awesome as a liberal oasis, but relax on the grey alien/weed imagery. Great folks and friends, for sure. It's a reliable funzone. I know you guys pride yourselves on your food and especially your BBQ, but holy shit if me, Khan or BOTH of us haven't had food poisoning EVERY time we have eaten there. 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS!!!!
And lastly, anything special in store for the Fun Fest performance? What can fans, who have never seen The King Khan & BBQ Show live in concert, expect? What in return, do you request from the attendees at your set?
This time around, we want people to welcome our pal Leo Chips into the fold. He'll be joining us onstage. Our aim is just to have fun. Now, what people have to realize is that we are minimalists. We are surrealists. We are idiots. We are casualties. We are retarded. But we want you to dance. And laugh. And have fun. At our expense. Sex music. Wipe your brain with your ass.
Thank you for speaking with Austinist.
Check out The King Khan & BBQ Show at Fun Fun Fun Fest on Sunday, November 8th (6:15 p.m. / Yellow Stage).
Mark Sultan / The BBQ: [Official] [MySpace]
The King Khan & BBQ Show: [MySpace]
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