King Tuff "Screaming Skull" Single And Fall Tour Info

For a moment, I was all excited when I saw the word "Rapids" and thought "Hey! King Tuff is playing Cedar Rapids!" but then I saw the word "Grand" in front of "Rapids" and realized that we'd be getting the shaft again. And that's why we call it "Cedar Crapids." And if I recall, they filmed the movie Cedar Rapids in Grand Rapids, too. Even with these disappointments, I'm still thankful that I live in Iowa. The people in Michigan kind of creep me out.

From the promotional email that was put in my junk email folder:

LA-via-Vermont garage/powerpop wunderkind King Tuff has expanded his previously announced 2012 fall & winter tour. The tour kicks-off tonight, October 11 in Detroit, MI at The Lager House and now ends on December 14 in Los Angeles at the Eagle Rock Center Fore The Arts. Additionally, King Tuff has scheduled three CMJ performances in Brooklyn, NY next week: October 18 at Sub Pop's Octrocktober showcase at the Knitting Factory (at 11:20pm); and two shows October 19, first at the Inland Empire Touring Showcase (at 7pm) and later that evening at Cheap Storage (at 12am).

SPIN included King Tuff in their "25 Must See Acts at CMJ", and said, "As King Tuff, Vermont's Kyle Thomas kicks out gold-toothed garage rock that just might out-hook Ty Segall, or at least incite a more giddy mosh pit. He fronts stoner-metal group Witch, which claims Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis as its drummer, so he's also got chops and cred for days. Abetted by his prized guitar (nicknamed "Jazijoo"), Thomas howls loud and lean about wild desire and bad things" (See Spin.com Oct. 11 ) You can find a full list of tour dates below. 

In related news, King Tuff has just released "Screaming Skull" / "Love Potion", a new limited-edition 7" single this week. For the single, he presents two brand new, non-album tracks, following his critically acclaimed self-titled LP. "Screaming Skull" is a club-ready, guitar-driven dance hit, and "Love Potion" is a glammed-up rock anthem in classic King Tuff form -- track listing below (Listen to "Screaming Skull" here ).  

King Tuff has been making the news rounds lately. Pitchfork recently interviewed him for what yielded an incredibly hilarious "Guest List" feature (see Pitchfork Sep. 17 feature ). He also got to hang with Rookie Magazine, who filmed KT and his friends at the "Happiest Place on Earth" after his last show in Los Angeles. Check out the clip, with a thoughtfully placed "Unusual World" (from King Tuff) as the soundtrack. 

King Tuff's 
"Screaming Skull" / "Love Potion" 7" 
track listing

A-side: "Screaming Skull" 
B-Side: "Love Potion" 

Order here . 

Tour Dates
Oct. 11- Detroit, MI - The Larger House * 
Oct. 12- Toronto, ON – The Garrison * 
Oct. 13- Montreal QC - II Motore * 
Oct. 14 – Quebec City, QC – Le Cercle * 
Oct. 15 - Fredericton, NB - The Capital 
Oct. 16 – Halifax, NS – Reflection Cabaret 
Oct. 18 - Brooklyn, NY - CMJ @ Knitting Factory / Sub Pop showcase (11:20 pm) 
Oct. 19 - Brooklyn, NY - CMJ @ Reliquary / Inland Empire Showcase (7 pm) 
Oct. 19 - Brooklyn, NY - CMJ @ Cheap Storage (12 am) 
Oct. 20 – Providence, RI – AS220 * 
Oct. 22 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s *$ 
Oct. 23 – Washington, DC – Black Cat *$ 
Oct. 24 - Durham, NC – Duke Coffeehouse * 
Oct. 25 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl *# 
Oct. 26 – St. Augustine, FL – Nobby’s * 
Oct. 27 - Ybor City, FL - New World Brewery* 
Oct. 28 – Orlando, FL – Will’s Pub * 
Oct. 30 – Tallahassee, FL – Retrofit Records * 
Oct. 31 – Birmingham, AL – Bottle Tree *! 
Nov. 01 - New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks * 
Nov. 02 – Beaumont, TX – Victoria House * 
Nov. 03 - Austin, TX - Red 7 (Fun Fun Fun Fest Nites)* 
Nov. 04 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada * + 
Nov. 06 - Nashville, TN - Stone Fox^ 
Nov. 07 – Cincinnati, OH – MOTR Pub ^ 
Nov. 08 – Chicago, IL – Subterranean ^ 
Nov. 09 – Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club^ 
Nov. 10 – Grand Rapids, MI – The Pyramid Scheme ^ 
Nov. 30 - Visalia, CA - Cellar Door 
Dec. 01 - Oakland, CA - The New Parish 
Dec. 02 - Sacramento, CA - Bows & Arrows Gallery 
Dec. 04 - Nampa, ID - Flying M Coffee Garage 
Dec. 06 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile 
Dec. 07 - Vancouver, BC - Waldorf 
Dec. 08 - Olympia, WA - The Northern 
Dec. 09 - Portland, OR - The Doug Fir Lounge 
Dec. 11 - Fresno, CA - Fulton 55 
Dec. 13 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo 
Dec. 14 - Los Angeles, CA - Eagle Rock Center for the Arts 
* w/ The Intelligence 
$ w/ Poor Moon 
# w/ Mike Watt + the Missingmen 
! w/ Man or Astro-man? 
^ w/ Gap Dream 
+ w/ Natural Child, Sic Alps

King Tuff - King Tuff

Surely, after Witch, Happy Birthday, and now King Tuff, one of Kyle Thomas’ projects will take hold a turn him into Sub Pop’s latest hot commodity. Lord knows they seem to release every single fart that this guy lets go of and they leave it to me to pin the tail on the moniker.

King Tuff may be the first Kyle Thomas project that actually contributes to his billing as a scuzz rock royalty, as his self-titled sophomore effort seems to suggest. Suddenly, all of the concerns of his white underbelly schtick get overlooked under a barrage of memorable power chords and the occasional Bolan Boogie.

He’s hinted at all of this before, but King Tuff actually overcomes all of the complaints that I had with Thomas’ Happy Birthday and with his catalog in general. With King Tuff, Thomas seems like he’s put in long hours working on nearly every aspect of the songs. From those aforementioned guitar highlights, to the intriguing lyrical perspective, and down to the scrapped together mix job which turned an abandoned school into what sounds like an inviting sonic Pepperland.

“Someone told me long ago/Baby, just break the rules” he declares on “Baby Just Break,” and the press release for King Tuff likes to refer to that freak flag quite often. But King Tuff shows us that Thomas cleans up nicely, making the story of how he’s been living out of his shoes a bit more palatable and, more importantly, believable. This record sounds as though he’s putting forth a greater effort in getting out of his squatter motif, heading to a point where his music actually may provide enough bread to devote all of his energy into making more songs as memorable as he has here.

“Hangin’ with my crew/At Loser’s Wall” tells the story of the social outcast’s turf, eerily mirroring my own reality growing up in a small Iowa river town.

Cruising Main Street was the norm on Saturday night, but there was a spot called “The Wall” where the carless, the rideless, and sometimes the friendless would congregate. It was a cement wall in front of a shuttered Buick dealership where the weekend crew would sit, and the outcasts would endure the shouts of passerbyers, safe in their Daddy’s cars with some of the more cruel passengers armed with water balloons for added emphasis.

Occasionally, a car would stop a pick someone up from the Wall, and they would suddenly be transformed from “losers” to people actually in motion.

King Tuff is where Thomas catches a lift, but it’s good enough that he actually steers the vehicle somewhere beyond the endless asphalt circle. He drags us down to the “Swamp of Love,” deeper to the “Unusual World” and even past the old drive-in where the creature-feature infection of “Bad Thing” blasts like a bit of transistor garage rock.

Ultimately, all of King Tuff represents some kind of sound from our past, but it maintains the optimism that most of us tend to lose by our early twenties. It is nice to be reminded of that forgotten optimism, and King Tuff provides it within its forty minutes, without irony, and without a hint of regret.

None of it may be life-changing, but it’s certainly life-affirming, prompting King Tuff to be the first itchy chigger bite of this summer that you’ll want to keep scratching all season long.

This review originally appeared in Glorious Noise.

Kyle Thomas Releases King Tuff Alter Ego

From the "Here's an album I really like" department, check out the record company spiel on Kyle Thomas' latest project, King Tuff.

It's been a while since their debut album, and I was less than impressed with Kyle's shitty 'n self-indulgent Happy Birthday project. But King Tuff's second album, a self-titled effort on Sub Pop, seems to be the real deal and is getting plenty of repeat listens around this joint.

A full review is in the works, but a head's up that King Tuff is on tour this summer and it might be a good idea if you see their name around a venue in your neck of the woods.

Here's what the company wrote:

King Tuff’s self-titled follow up is out today on CD, LP and digital formats. To celebrate the release, he’s unleashed the first video for the album’s lead single, “Bad Thing” via YouTube. The clip, directed by C. Thornhill Dewitt, stars King Tuff along with a group of friends who visit a haunted house. Chaos (+hilarity) ensues.

King Tuff will kick off a headline tour to support the release that begins on May 31st in Visalia, CA at Cellar Door and wraps up on July 14th in Cleveland, OH at Now That's Class. King Tuff will also make an appearance at St. Louis, MO's Lou Fest on August 25th. King Tuff will also join labelmates Jaill for a co-headline tour beginning July 17th in Minneapolis, MN at the Triple Rock Social Club and wrap up on July 28 in San Diego, CA at the Soda Bar. On July 26th, the pairing will also visit Seattle's 16th annual Capitol Hill Block Party.

Tour Dates 
May 31 - Visalia, CA - Cellar Door
Jun. 01 - Oakland, CA - New Parish
Jun. 09 - Brooklyn, NY - 285 Kent*
Jun. 10 - New Haven, CT - Intercambrio*
Jun. 12 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's*
Jun. 13 - Baltimore, MD - Golden West Cafe*
Jun. 14 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwells*#
Jun. 15 - Burlington, VT - Signal Kitchen*
Jun. 17 - Easthampton, MA - Flywheel*
Jul. 05 - Long Beach, CA - Alex's Bar
Jul. 06 - Tucson, AZ - Plush*
Jul. 07 - Las Cruces, NM - Train Yard
Jul. 09 - Austin, TX - Red 7 (Patio)#
Jul. 10 - Dallas, TX - City Tavern#
Jul. 11 - Little Rock, AR - Sticky Fingerz#
Jul. 12 - Nashville, TN - Stone Fox#
Jul. 13 - Bloomington, IN - Russian Recording#
Jul. 14 - Cleveland, OH - Now That's Class^
Jul. 17 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club**
Jul. 21 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret**
Jul. 22 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party**
Jul. 23 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir**
Jul. 25 - Sacramento, CA - Harlow's**
Jul. 26 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill**
Jul. 27 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo**
Jul. 28 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar**
Aug. 25 - St. Louis, MO - LouFest
*w/ Habibi
**w/ Jaill
#w/ Natural Child