When did the initial idea for your latest single come together?
Good morning from Tucson, AZ! Nice to be with you as the weather approaches triple digits…we are a hearty bunch, we summer desert-dwellers.
“Silver Tongue” was forged in the fires of tour rehearsals and in celebration of 25 years of making music as Little King. Manny (Tejeda, bass), Eddy (Garcia, drums and recording engine), and I had already made 2 records together, Occam’s Foil (2019) and Amuse De Q (2021). Prior to Manny joining us in 2018, Ed and I had made 3 records previously together with him as drummer and/or engineer (Virus Divine from ’04, Legacy of Fools from ’08, and OD1 from 2014).so there was and is a lot of musical water under the bridge between us. He’s my brother…they both are, really.
We planned our first shows together for September of 2022, which was still technically 25 years from the first Little King release, Transmountain (1997). I had been working on some guitar bits for a couple months before we got together for show rehearsals, so by the time Manny flew into El Paso from Delaware, Eddy and I had already tracked the rhythm guitars and drums.
“Silver Tongue” is meant to be a celebration of where Little King has been and also a portend of things to come…hopefully for another 25 years. It has the proverbial kitchen sink thrown in, and that’s both musically and lyrically. The focus and theme is a reflection, for sure! But it also sets the stage for where I want to go in the future, both musically and as a functioning human being. Neither of those is easy, but we forge on.
In retrospect, I think it really worked! I mean, cramming 25 years plus into a 6 minute song is a challenge, but the response has been great with well over 100,000 streams in the first 2 months and a lot of nice attention. I’m flattered, of course, that people still care. But “there’s so much more to do…”
How would you describe the track, to a reader that is unfamiliar with the band?
Lyrically, the song starts as a lamentation that perhaps things haven’t always gone the way I wanted them to for the band and for me personally. That’s an understatement. There have been so many starts and stops with Little King, primarily because life intrudes and the band has never been intended to be a money-making venture. So, the first lines “Got fooled when no one cared” really address how it feels when you pour your whole self into your art, it turns out pretty damn decent, and even those closest to you like dear friends and family simply don’t give a fuck. Makes you wanna quit, honestly.
But writing and recording and playing is a compulsion. I can’t quit…I’d die. The rest of the lyrics address the notion that I know I’ve gotten by, oftentimes, by use of my own “Silver Tongue.” Not proud of that, always, but it’s reality. Again, it’s a LAMENTATION!
Indefatigable and fearless, though, we finish on a high note. “To be the change I need, to execute the deed, the be the man I wanna see…”
Musically, it’s maybe the only recorded Little King song in Drop D tuning. It felt necessary, as that heavy main riff was begging for some low end. The meter for the riff changes from 7 to 6 to 8 to 6. A lot. There are passages in 4, some 3/4 in there, and a whole lot of cock rock in the pre-chorus and the middle eastern-flavored chorus. Dig it?
Finally, in the bridge I thought we would elevate musically into a quick breathing part that also referenced the title of each previous LK album:
“Summit, Timing
Viral Fool
Overdriven and Foiled
In the queue…”
How would you say that the track compares to anything you’ve done before?
It’s supposed to be an amalgamation of some previous Little King highlights, so to that end, I think it draws on a lot of the past while still bringing some modern polish and chops to the fore. The Drop D is different, and the amount of odd time parts that flow together quite well (I think, anyway) are what we’ve always tried to strive for. Maybe it’s a bit heavier?
Also, I have about 10 singing voices. It’s a blessing and a curse, you know? Like…what do I REALLY sound like? I embraced that on “Silver Tongue,” as there are bits of my favorite singing personalities (I have issues) like David Byrne, Dave Mustaine, Geddy Lee, even Hetfield and some Bono/Edge falsetto. I went for it.
What was the hardest part about putting it together, and why?
I think the hardest part with Little King is the distance between us. I live in Arizona, Manny is in Delaware, and Eddy (and his studio) is in El Paso, TX. Getting everyone together is no joke, but because we had some shows set up, it made sense to bring it together in the studio for one song.
The lyrics came together slowly. I was singing a lot of my previous material in rehearsals, and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t repeating myself unless it was intentional! Words always matter to me, but they were particularly important for “Silver Tongue,” since it was a one-off. We’ve never released a single before that wasn’t part of a larger work, so this endeavor had to stand on its own. I think it does!
The words and music have to dance together for a song to work. Most of the time, I write all of the music first, make a recording of it, and then I write the lyrics to what has been tracked. Sometimes the tracking is legit studio bed tracks; sometimes, it’s just a phone recording of me on an acoustic guitar. Sometimes, it’s both! But when you write a musical composition that is a time change exercise, as “Silver Tongue” definitely is, that marriage can seem forced. I just took my time to make sure that the delivery of the words seemed as natural as possible.
Why should a reader check out the track?
I mean, what are you into? Background music? That’s not “Silver Tongue!” Seriously, I don’t know that we do well as music to fill a silent void. The song is best appreciated with a modicum of focus from the listener. Is that how everyone wants their music? Certainly NOT. But I don’t really care…we don’t wanna be for everyone! But those who appreciate a level of amusing and challenging musicality, a level of thoughtfulness in composition, and some good old-fashioned Prog and Roll should be into it, for sure.
Spotify –Silver Tongue – Single by Little King | Spotify
All streaming links – Little King – Silver Tongue (hearnow.com)