By Andrew Jones

Love, loyalty, brotherhood, and a good kind of gang clad in green…In it to spin it since 1994, the King Klick has done nothing but what they do (which is whatever the hell they want to do) since they all got out of high school. Under their proverbial belts they’ve got more than a decade of non-stop touring, albums, side projects, motor cross, and anything else they’ve been able to get their hands on. And if you think any of them has slowed in the least in the past few years, I ask you this: when was the last time you bought an album from a band that already has more than thirteen prints available with 36 bangers AND a DVD featuring over 20 videos?

That’s what I thought.

And while we all know there will always be haters where ever you find players, to say anything about KMK’s music being side-pocketed by a seven leaf shtick means you just haven’t heard them. KMK have as many beat and lyrical styles as they do subject matter, and while legalizing is of course a big one, dude, they don’t care about being political activists; the only activity they promote is getting the eff down and making everybody have the best time they possibly can, in the best way they know how: their own.

The third installment of the Hidden Stash series runs the gamut of where this SoCal crew has been, where it’s going, and why it’s high Time(s) you know what magazine just made them band of the year… again. They have brought the best of the Soul Assassins-era hip hop, and rehashed *bad pun alert* it into a style completely their own, Orange Kounty style.

I spoke with Johnny Richter about the Kings and everything that has been, and always will be, Kottonmouth. We talked about how he couldn’t be happier with their current situation, being able to pay the bills just fine but not having to lock themselves away to escape fans and the media ~ in other words, doing what they want to live the life they want. And while they have a hard partying persona, it never, EVER gets in the way of their working just as hard.

That being the case, the next job on the boys’ schedule is the Strange Noize Tour. Currently making its way from left to right like a Mario Brothers game, the tour will be featuring Techn9ne, (hed) p.e., Blaze Ya Dead Homie, Subnoize Souljaz, and of course, the King Klick. The tour will be rolling into Woostah’s Palladium on August 8th.

While the Kottonmouth Kings may pride themselves on doing it for themselves, they can’t deny that they’re also doing it for all the kids and kin alike. So come out of the woodwork, fellow freedom fist-ups, and catch one of the most involving hip-hop punk rock tours to come around since, well, the last KMK tour.

Kottonmouth Kings: An underground revolution against all odds and logic and always against the grain!

www.kottonmouthkings.com
www.myspace.com/kottonmouthkings
Catch them August 8 at the Palladium in Worcester: www.thepalladium.net