And Out of the Ashes, Behold!: Knights of the Fire Kingdom

Okay, so I’ll admit that a little chunk of my soul crumbled and died when I heard that Roky Moon & BOLT! were soon to be no more, splintered off to different cities and future projects and whatnot; I really, truly love/loved that damn band and had pinned a lot of my Saviors of the Scene hopes on ’em. (Not that the scene here needs saving, mind you, but that more visibility, driven by a badass, over-the-top, flat-out fun band wouldn’t hurt.)

Now that I’ve witnessed a bit of the aftermath, though, the sting’s lessened somewhat. Because roaring out of the remains of the BOLT! side of the equation comes {Knights of the Fire Kingdom}, the brand-new band of drummer-turned-guitarist/vocalist Jeoaf Johnson (also of much-beloved band {The Monocles}, pre-RMAB), and holy fuck, are they awesome.

Granted, I’m basing that assessment on the strength of two measly songs, “Chinese Dragon” and “No No No No,” which are currently up on the band’s Bandcamp site, but…well, hell, they just rock balls, that’s all. They’re loud and raw and fast while keeping things from getting muddy or sloppy, burning with a white-hot fire that’s halfway between Scream, Dracula, Scream!-era Rocket From The Crypt and Queens of the Stone Age. The Knights take your favorite stoner-rock band out back to the alley and kick them in the face, no lie.

Think I’m kidding? Take a listen for yourself:

Happily, these two songs (plus two other’s the band’s recorded so far) will be out and about in the Real World very soon, released as a pair of 7″s at the Knights’ second official show (the first will be in Beaumont May 19th), Friday, May 25th at Fitzgerald’s. They’re opening for {American Sharks} — aka Roky Moon/Mike Hardin‘s “other” band, which has surged back to life since his move up to Austin — and playing with Beaumont’s We Were Wolves and H-town/A-town spacerock thunderers {Co-Pilot}, who I just want to lay down and listen to ’til I pass out.

The two 7″s come, btw, as the third and fourth (I think?) releases by new booking/record-releasing/other-shit-doing crew The Treaty Oak Collective, who recently performed dark, unspeakable rituals to obtain the ability to — and no, I’m serious about this — press their own freaking vinyl. Now that’s making records, y’all.

To make things even cooler, it turns out that the drummer for the Knights is none other than Marcos Echegaray, who yours truly knew from waaaaay back in the day when he played drums for ’90s emo heroes {Ultramagg}, another band I loved. Glad to see he’s back around… Bassist Dave Noske is no slouch, either, having played in {Hardin Store Road} with about half of Roky Moon & BOLT!, prior to that band forming.

And last but not least, the second guitarist on “No No No No” is none other than SCR friend Dwayne Cathey, formerly of local heroes {The Tie That Binds} and more recently behind a bunch of cool, creepy horror-movie score-type things. I don’t think Dwayne’s technically in the band, but hell, it’s cool to see/hear him on there, even still.

Keep your eye on this band, folks; trust me, they’re going to be pretty incredible…