"Oh . . . thanks," she says when handed the autograph, maybe realizing that this is no rock superstar after all. "I'll add it to my collection."
Even such halfhearted ego-stroking is enough to thrill Pinnick. See, King's X has never been blessed with the problem of excessive adulation. The band hasn't had to worry about female fans pelting its members with hotel keys or underwear during concerts. A larger concern lately has been dodging the paper cups and cigarette lighters that are hurled at the stage during their current shows opening for AC/DC.
This band's biggest obstacle in winning over the coveted sweaty masses has been its avant-gardist approach to heavy-metal. Houston-based King's X (Pinnick along with guitarist Ty Tabor and drummer Jerry Gaskill) specializes in a complex mesh of metal, Seventies art-rock and psychedelia--including some self-conscious nods to Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles. Pinnick agrees that the music of King's X is more challenging then that of, say, Warrant or Skid Row, but he claims that doesn't mean it's not accessible.
"We don't want to get to the point where no one can understand what we're doing," he explains. "Bands that are arty or experimental need to be warned when they're getting too `out there.' At this point, we know our music is a bit complicated and a bit arty, but I don't think it ever crosses the line."
Not to disillusion Pinnick, but the band's artiness does get out of hand occasionally on its third and latest effort, Faith Hope Love. Take, for starters, the overambitious title track, which imagines Yes as a speed-metal band prone to rap choruses. Worst of all, the song goes on for an ear-aching ten-minutes plus.
But for the most part, King's X manages to keep its indulgent side in check. Faith Hope Love includes some orchestral flourishes of cello and French horn, but they're never gratuitous. And to its credit, the band can slow a track down--the dreamy "It's Love" for example--without having it degenerate into sappy power balladry.
Overall, the band achieves a mellifluousness that's unheard of in heavy-metal. Pinnick says this is no accident. "Melodies are important to us," he admits. "I think that if you put enough melody into your so-called arty or experimental rock 'n' roll, you can make it listenable. You have to have something to focus on. Even Yes albums like Topographic Oceans--a really bizarre album--have beautiful melodies and harmonies."
Glistening three-part harmonies are also a key part of the King's X sound, sweetening even the rawest songs. "We do sound like the boys glee club sometimes," laughs Pinnick. "My music teacher would be proud." The silky harmonizing would be even more effective if it wasn't such a predictable fixture of each song. The band seems to fall back on the choirboy vocals to lend accessibility to the more obtuse numbers.
"We never wanted the vocals to stand out or to be what people noticed first about the music," claims Pinnick. "I always wanted our signature to be this chunka-chunka, heavy-driving, pound-your-brains-out sound. You know, loud and proud. I think when you see us live, that's what will grab you. The vocals are just icing on the cake, hopefully."
At the band's recent Veterans' Memorial Coliseum show, it's true that pretty harmonies take a back seat to electric kerrang. Even though most of the metalheads in attendance were just biding time until AC/DC took the stage, the riff-heavy blowouts of King's X won a polite amount of Bic-flicking and fist-shaking. In fact, when they compared this to other stops on the tour, King's X felt positively worshiped.
"We've gotten a lot of opposition from the AC/DC crowd," admits Pinnick. "A lot of them know `It's Love' because they've seen the video. And that doesn't even mean they necessarily like it, but at least they're going, `Oh, okay, now I know who they are.' But usually the majority of the kids are flipping us off, throwing crap at us, spitting at us or whatever."
Opening bands--like substitute teachers--have to expect a certain amount of abuse. This goes double for an act like King's X that doesn't get a lot of airplay and doesn't have a sound that's easy to warm up to. Of course Pinnick doesn't have to play a lick to put off much of the AC/DC crowd. His mohawk alone is often enough to prompt a few "punker fag" catcalls.
"You can't expect a whole crowd of people to embrace what you're doing when they've never heard you before," shrugs Pinnick. "It's just very typical of American audiences that they have to be force-fed something over and over again before they go, `Oh, I like that.' So we take that all into consideration and then . . . , " he pauses before breaking out laughing, "want to go home!"
Despite all this, Pinnick remains a staunch AC/DC fan. During the headliner's set, you can find the members of King's X backstage banging heads to "Got You by the Balls" and other favorites by Angus and crew. But while he digs mindless raunch 'n' roll bands as much as the next guy, Pinnick says his band is in another league altogether.
"We're not trying to entertain people in the sense of just getting your rocks off and going home," he asserts. "That has its place and I love going to see bands just to have a good time. But we're more complicated than that--it's just our nature. We can't turn it on and off. It's who we are."
"I think that if you put enough melody into your so-called arty or experimental rock 'n' roll, you can make it listenable."
Overall, the band achieves a mellifluousness that's unheard of in heavy-metal.
