(April 2009) - PCM's writer Kristyn conducted an e-mail interview with Pete Mitchell from the band No More Kings. Mitchell gave PCM a playful and informative interview on all aspects of his group. We loved some of his answers! They've been touring all over the country for the past two years and have quite a loyal following of fans. Read the whole interview below and check out links at the end of our great interview to head over to their official site and MySpace pages!

Q: Can you share with our site readers a little history behind No More Kings? How did you meet and begin playing together?
A: 'no more kings' loosely formed just after college. my writing partner neil robins and i met in high school and started writing goofy songs about my dog, dusty. actually it was my sister's dog. but the lyrics were sophisticated like, 'mister alien leave us alone; don't eat my dusty'

that sort of laid the foundation for the type of stuff we'd be writing about later. we eventually added a drummer, and then added neil's brother, adam, on bass, making us a four piece. i actually just found some old footage of us playing on a cable access show. holy crap. high embarrassment factor.

Q: Your new album "and The Flying Boombox" is due to hit stores on May 12th, how excited are you for the upcoming release? What should fans be expecting?
A: i am super extremely excited. it's like a child waiting for christmas day. i'm a little nervous about what existing NMK fans might think of it. it's pretty different from our first album. it's a bit more funk inspired. and there's a ton of awesome horns on it. the songs are still very character driven, still quirky, but it's a little more mature than our first album.

Q: Is there any signifigance behind the title of the album?
A: that line is from one of the songs on the album, 'obey the groove', which is our first single off this album. the whole lyric is "we come on down on a mission to save you, your footloose town won't even know you're gone; our flying boombox was built to take you, up to the stars where your groove belongs."

Q: How would you best describe your sound to a first time listener?
A: hmm.. i would say it's as if michael jackson learned kungfu and was backed by the muppets' electric mayhem band.

Q: What is the writing process like for you? What are some of your inspirations?
A: 'no more kings' is essentially a studio band. it's just me and neil. so the writing process has been a great extension of our long friendship, dating back to high school. generally we'll sit around and jam on a groove: i'll beatbox something into a loop pedal, neil will come up with a tasty guitar lick, and i'll sing some nonesense words on top of it. once we arrive on something we like, we split up. neil takes everything into protools and starts sketching out an arrangement. i throw the rough track into garageband and start tweaking the melody and writing lyrics.

there are some exceptions where neil has a guitar part he'll run by me. or where i'll write a chord structure on guitar and bring a rough song to neil. but usually it goes something like that.

Q: There was quite a big buzz following the band, after the video for "Sweep The Leg" was released. Were you surprised that the video caught on in such a big way? What led to the idea?
A: I was initially surprised, although i shouldn't have been. i didn't realize it at the time, but i had tapped into almost 25 years of a karate kid fanbase, anxiously waiting for somethiing new from the franchise. so when we made that ridiculous video, it brought fans of the film out of the proverbial woodwork.
the idea for the video actually came from billy zabka, who played johnny in the karate kid. he wrote and directed the 'sweep the leg' video. it was an absolutely insane time. quite surreal for me. for everyone actually; most of those guys hadn't seen each other since the film. so it was this crazy karate kid reunion of sorts.
the song, however, was something i wrote over a weekend along with a couple of the other songs on the first album. neil was out of town and he left me with the homework assignment of getting some songs written, as we were coming up on the deadline to record the album. i wrote that at the same time as 'michael (jump in)' which is a song about knight rider. so i was in an 80s mood.

Q: Who are some of your main musical influences?
A: well, definitely michael jackson. probably a little bill withers, and sly and the family stone in there too. then definitely the beatles. and a healthy dose of the beastie boys.

Q: What is one piece of advice you would give to aspiring musicians?
A: A lot of careers are made by chance. unfortunately this perpetuates the idea of being 'discovered'. i say 'unfortunately' because i think it's far more important to go out and 'do'; take opportunities rather than wait for them. so my advice would be that: don't count on someone scooping you up and making you famous. make a habit out of writing and performing fantastic songs. hedge the odds by putting yourself out there. take risks.

Q: If you could share the stage with any one band or performer, who would that be and why?
A: i've always wanted to sing with bobby mcferrin. that guy is a band.

Q: How do you feel about the use of social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, etc, to promote music and connect with fans?
A: i think they're essential for musicians today. i would add twitter to that list. twitter is unique in that it's a very limited, focused space to deliver a message. it's a bit like micro-blogging. bands need to be accesible to their fans. fans want to know what movies they're watching, what's on their ipod right now, what's their favorite mexican restaurant in town (poquito mas, incidentally). a good friend of mine told me 'dogs chase moving cars, not parked ones'. so be a moving car. always post something that's going on.

Q: Where do you see the future of music heading and where do you see No More Kings in that picture?
A: i was at a song-writing discussion panel a while ago, and will.i.am was on the panel. it was at the key club, and he remarked that we were mere yards away from where tower records 'used to be'. he said this is a critical, pivotal time for music. he said 'we can't let itunes be our last hope'. i don't neccessarily share his sense of fear, but i do echo his sentiment that we must do something. we must change the way fans interact with music.
obviously we're moving towards an online entertainment world. bands need to embrace that. we need to be willing to give our music away, in the hopes that fans will fall in love with it, and then crave it. everything else stems from that. for 'no more kings', my hope is to become bigger than just a cd-making entity. i'm an animator and visual artist as well, so i hope to turn the project into something of a brand. something that people can invest in. again, i think the most important part of this is to really own the online space.

Q: Do you have any touring planned for this spring/summer?
A: i don't think we're going to tour this album. not in the traditional sense anyway. i think we'd like to create events: art shows, screenings, etc. we're going to make a lot of video content this year, for the web. a lot of it will be quirky live performance stuff.

Q: Just for fun: What is your favorite guilty pleasure song?
'i say goodbye to love' by wing. holy crap. look that up if you don't know it. you will pee.

Q: Just for fun: What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?
A: oh god. i have a list. once in college, i was walking across campus when a girl i really liked waved to me. so i started walking towards her, unaware that i was about to walk under one of those wooden parking lot arms. it closed on my head exactly as i passed under it. it made my skull bleed a little. she asked me if i was okay, and i lied and said i was fine.
another time, a group of us were playing minigolf, and i thought it'd be funny if i jumped over one of the little ponds around the course. i didn't make it, and fell in up to my waist. the problem was we were all going out to eat after, so i sat in a booth at applebee's soaking wet most of the night.
i could go on, but i'm making myself cry.

Q: What is next on the horizon for No More Kings? What are some of your goals for this year?
A: well, this year, as i said, i think is all about making tons of video content. i've got some animated stories i want to work on, as well as some illustrated books and short film ideas.

Q: Where can we learn more info about No More Kings?
A: the best place is www.nomorekings.com , and then our Myspace page - myspace.com/nomorekings

Q: I like to end my interviews on a word association, when you see the words, Pop Culture, what is the first thing that comes to mind?
A: mikey's stomach exploding while eating poprocks and pepsi.