The Last King recently came back from a little break to release their new single and video “Ancient Master”. Given that they’ve been away for a while, it made sense to play catchup and get the band to give us a refresher…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We originate from the region of New England, USA. Within the state territory of New Hampshire is where we typically rehearse!
How did you meet?
Brett initially started the band with some friends from high school when he was just 16. Over the years several members have come and gone however through mutual friends, attending countless shows, and discovering talented musicians in other local bands we were able to construct our current lineup today! Playing shows with Andrew’s other band Noxii Arena is how we discovered him while Chantz & Jack were both asked to purchase tickets to TLK shows several times before Brett eventually recruited them to join, and Anthony was actually enlisted through Jack where they both play together in a separate project known as Necrogenesis.
How long have you been playing as a band?
The band was officially erected in November of 2014 and started playing shows shortly afterwards in March of 2015. Our current lineup has been together since early 2020 however aside from our drummer Anthony who we recently welcomed to the band in May of 2023!
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Our band name originated from our original drummer Dylan’s idea he came up with to match various themes often found in Lord of The Rings and Skyrim style music. The name was just so catchy and easy to remember that we figured it might make a worthwhile name for a metal band in the long-run.
What are your influences?
Each band member listens to a wide array of different genres and artists covering everything from Jazz to Disco to Country Western and even Top 40 hits. Our biggest influences as a band directly however would have to be The Black Dahlia Murder, Fit For An Autopsy, Through The Eyes of The Dead, All Shall Perish, & As Blood Runs Black!
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Our music can best be defined as technical deathcore with heavy incorporation of melodic and progressive themes. We try to encompass many different styles within our realm of deathcore so each listener can find something they enjoy regardless in our music between the thematic lyrics, technical instrumentation, progressive elements, breakdowns, heavy sections, and experimentive territories.
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Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
We try to place meaning in every lyric we write as we’ve discussed many concepts within our previous releases including deception, corporate greed, narcissists, corrupt world leaders, dealing with loss, and other meaningful elements your everyday listener can relate to. Each of us are also avid horror movie fans alongside consistent advocates for mental health. Our new single, “Ancient Master” was actually inspired by modern horror film “The Collector” and tries to correlate signs of mental illness with cinematic horror themes to place a more philosophical meaning with our style of death metal.
What’s your live show like?
TLK shows are always a blast anytime we perform live. We don’t play out as much as we used to due to our current adult lives leaving us busy 24/7 however when we do perform we always make sure the crowd is heavily involved. Our music can seem all over the place at times however we always make sure during breakdowns and heavy moments that the audience feels like a part of the show and can connect with us in at least one aspect or another whether they enjoy moshing or not.
How many shows have you played?
We’ve played hundreds of shows since 2014! Honestly too many to count as we’d have to revisit old show flyers from our Facebook to tally the exact number. We are hoping that over the coming years we can significantly add to that number however by spending more time touring areas of both America and other countries that we still have yet to see! Perhaps maybe even Scotland?!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
I have a funny story about the craziest thing we’ve ever done at a show. A few years ago in December of 2019 we played a wonderful club up in Westbrook, ME called the 212 (venue has closed since then unfortunately). Maine shows are always a blast as the love from our friends and fans up there has always been impeccable. Before our set one of the fans in attendance insisted we each try one of their 25 mg THC gummies as a way to show us their hospitality. By the time we got on stage those gummies sure were hitting as we were all feeling something interesting. Then two songs into the set our bassist Jack breaks not 1 but 2 bass strings, leaving him left with only 3 functional strings from his Kiesel 5-string bass. During this moment Jack didn’t know how to react so naturally decided to exchange shoes with a patron in the crowd. Jack then proceeded to tap dance on stage in this stranger’s pair of shoes while trying to air guitar his bass for the remainder of our set. None of us actually knew what was going on until we viewed photos of our set the following week. It was truly a hilarious moment to witness as it appears we fully maximized our technical issues that night!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
We use Shure microphones, Kiesel guitars, Legator guitars, Axe FX, EVH amps, Kiesel basses, Hartke Amps, Tama drums, and Zildjian cymbals.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We are currently promoting our new single “Ancient Master” which we just released a horror themed music video for you can check out below! A ton of work went into this project as we couldn’t be any happier with how the final cut turned out!
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
We have several additional singles to release over the coming months leading up to our official fourth album currently planned to come out around summertime 2024! Our fourth album will be entitled “Culling From Gods” and elaborate further on many of the subjects discussed in our last full length record “The New Age.”
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you?
Without question it would be our dream to directly support The Black Dahlia Murder for our ideal live show. For an opener we would probably prefer one of our close friends in a local band from our area such as Echoes Fade, Voluntary Victim, Graveborn, or Cytokine!
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