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| Band Info |
| Additional Info |
| Get to know them before they hit the rest of the world! |
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MidWest Kings
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Band Members ANDY SKIB - VOCAL/GUITAR
NEAL TIEMANN - GUITAR/SONGSMITH
JOSH CENTER - DRUMS
The local rock band Midwest Kings has been knocking on the door to fame since at least its second album, 2004's "Judging a Bullet." Somebody had better be listening now.
Since then, the band has made some trips to the coasts, playing gigs for record-label types but no dice.
But the Kings' six-shot EP, "Incoherent With Desire to Move On," aims straight for the heart. They released it Friday in a celebration and video shoot at the Blue Dome with Citizen Mundi.
The quartet, featuring a newer rhythm section, enlisted knob-turner/pop genius Zac Maloy to produce this EP. Maloy, the former Nixons' singer, left behind his unmistakable pop sheen that helped bigger acts such as Bowling For Soup land a hefty radio audience.
The Kings' are a loud power-chord rock band, and on this EP, the band mixes its bombast with artful lyrics and, dare I say it, melody, nay, even a bridge or two. The songs are jam-packed with catchy, guitar driven choruses from the band, which sounds like its members have been playing together for years.
Maloy co-wrote four songs on the EP with the band's principal songwriter, guitarist/backing vocalist Neal Tiemann.
"One True Thing," the second song, is uncommonly good songwriting. Lead vocalist/guitarist Andy Skib shows the listener a man searching for a smidgen of unsullied truth like a melody he can sing or a breath he can take.
Skib sings in the first verse "I could say that I'm all right/I think that's what you want to hear/But every time I step out of this door/I just want to reappear somewhere else/A place I made up in my head/Before this world started taking pieces away."
Tiemann's voice sounds appropriately gritty, and the harmonies drive it home during the big-guitar choruses.
Another bright spot in a field of stars is "Killing More Than Time," the requisite 20-something rock-tune about love and alienation.
The guitars are tuneful and massive but don't overpower the songs. The harmonies are tight, and the songs bounce along with a bright energy that evokes today's pop/punk bands.
Bassist David Cook says the band will use Maloy on its next studio album, which he expects to release in about 18 months.
If not this EP, then a full-length album of this caliber will surely make some record-label official's head turn.
You can find the EP online at www.cdbaby.com.
*from the Tulsa World
  
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