K is for… KXM

Photo borrowed from unsungmelody.com, credit: Sebastien Paquet[1].

Yeah yeah, supergroups. It’s a mixed bag of hot weasels, really.

You do get a few that fit the cliché, where they’re a big disappointment and nothing quite works like it should because of all the egos getting in the way, but I struggle to think of any at the moment.

Then you get the “meh” ones where it all sort of works, but doesn’t exactly set the world on fire (Chickenfoot, Audioslave, Zwan, Hellyeah, The Winery Dogs), you get the ones where it all works really well (Velvet Revolver, Brides of Destruction, Sons of Apollo, The Dead Daisies, Frost*, Alter Bridge, The Damned Things, Flying Colors) and then you get a couple of really rare ones where they are in fact the best thing that’s ever happened (David Lee Roth band[2], Mr. Big).

Well, KXM are really very good indeed[3]. Drummer Ray Luzier brings the “K” from KoRn, guitarist and friend of the show, the omnipresent hardest-working-rock-star-in-America George Lynch brings the “M” from Lynch Mob; and the “X” is lovingly provided by Doug Pinnick – bassist, vocalist and creative powerhouse behind King’s X.

With the “super” credentials established and out of the way, and an average age (at time of writing) of 65.667, these are clearly musicians who have been round the block a few times, so does it work when they get together? Is there chemistry? This is, after all, what a band must have in order to generate music that works, and the lack of which can lead to supergroups ailing, failing and flailing.

It sure does. Doug has such a distinctive sound both on bass and vocals that there was a potential danger of this sounding like a King’s X knock-off, but with Lynch on guitar that was never going to happen. I’ve said a thousand times that George has such a distinctive style, you can tell it’s him with one note. How many rock guitarists can you really say that about?[4] Ray is absolutely excellent on drums, also. I’ve never really dug KoRn, but his playing on the KXM records is tight and fresh, leaving plenty of room for George to sprinkle his Lynchy noodles.

Best power trio since Primus? Controversial… but perhaps… yes?

Get on it.

Clive recommends:

All three records are superb. I think for the best balance, as a showcase of what they do, you would be best served starting with 2017’s Scatterbrain, but please do hoover them all up if you dig it.

Video evidence

Like what you read? Want a taste right now? Got your eyes and ears on you? Here they are with “War of Words” from 2019’s Circle of Dolls. You’re welcome.

K is also for…

  1. I can’t find any obviously royalty-free images of KXM to use, so I have used image search to find this one and am using it without permission. I am at least giving credit. I’ll take it down on request. ↩︎

  2. OK, this one did implode because of egos, it’s true. But they put out two of the best rock records ever made before that happened. ↩︎

  3. I shall let you decide which category they belong in. ↩︎

  4. One. It’s George Lynch. ↩︎