There aren't many trios on the hard rock scene these days, but one of the ones bucking that trend is Southern California's Kyng. A mix of new rock meets Led Zeppelin, Kyng formed in 2008 and released their debut Trampled Sun in the fall of 2011. Now the band is set to perform at this weekend's massive Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio.
"It's going to be a blast. It's pretty damn cool for us," vocalist and guitarist Eddie Veliz says of his band's Rock on the Range slot. "We're a little band from Los Angeles getting to do all these cool things with really awesome bands. We're very excited."
While the band will be performing for thousands this weekend, the vision of Kyng wasn't always so cut and dry. In fact, Kyng really wasn't supposed to exist at all.
"What is crazy about Kyng is that it was my last hurrah," admits Veliz. "You know, I had a steady job doing my thing. Tony (Castaneda, bass) and I had always talked about getting another band together and it was a side project for a moment but as we started writing music, it just kept getting better and better and we decided that we should try to play in front of people instead of just sitting around. We went at it, stuck to our guns and it started to snowball into a tiny machine that is getting bigger."
Watch Kyng's Live Performance of "Falling Down"
Veliz and Castaneda teamed up with drummer Pepe Clarke and things started happening. The songwriting process was natural and the band allowed themselves to fall back on some famous influences. This happened freely, without shame.
"We kind of like to label it as a new age