(From 9/2025)
Hey, thank you for coming back for another interview!
You're so very welcome, VW. Good to have new stuff to talk about with you, and thanks for your continued support and interest!
What is new since the last interview?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we last spoke in 2020 after the release of Occam's Foil. I just checked...it was March 9, 2020! Damn...that was exactly one week before Covid blew everything up.
It's been 5 years. This is an interesting time to reflect on March 2020 and what came after, so thank you for the question! We were doing really well - great reviews, new fans, lots of streams, and offers of some cool shows and festivals. Then...BOOM. The world exploded.
Little King made another record in 2021 called Amuse De Q, and the "Q" in the title stands for "quarantine." It was a reflection on the rapid changes in my life and the world around me during that very volatile time (pun intended!) I think back and I am really thankful that my family stayed safe and that I was able to synthesize the experience into what I considered to be our best work ever.
Fast forward a couple years, and I was working and raising a son as a single dad. Little King was able to tour a little bit in 2022-2024, and we put out two singles that I'm also really proud of, "Silver Tongue" and "Amber Waves (GoodBye)." In true fashion, they are wildly different and both representative of our past and future.
As we sit here in September, 2025, I am thrilled to be preparing for the release of our 8th "album" (some of our releases are EP's, technically). The record is called Lente VIviente, and it is WITHOUT A DOUBT the best of what Little King has to offer. So stoked to unleash it on the world on 9/26. Our tens of fans are breathless with anticipation.
What has been inspiring you lately?
I always laugh when I hear the term "writer's block." It's like...LOOK AROUND! There is so much happening at absolute lightning speed around us. Culture, art, world affairs, your own family and friends and life. We are all unique, no matter how mundane it may seem sometimes. My life is weird and I try and make it make sense within art, but I feel bored and unsatisfied sometimes just like everyone else. But I have the drive to wander and wonder, and if I focus less on myself and more on the world around me, I think I can make my lens relatable.
Since just before the release of Amuse De Q, I have been living and working and parenting and son-ing in Tucson, Arizona. I first came here from Seattle in 1990. That was, as a brief aside, an odd and terrible time to move from the very beginnings of the biggest music scene in the world to a dusty town in the desert. So it goes...I hate rain, so there you go. In any event, I have a studio/office in downtown Tucson, and there are so many things in my immediate space that have inspired the music and lyrics for the new record.
I also started a business in 2024. I like entrepreneurship, as it blends nicely with all of the things I still want to accomplish in music. The new biz is called LivingLens Memoirs, and my partner and I run it together. Basically, we interview folks who want to tell their stories for their descendants in a way that they are in control of and proud of the end result. It is a beautiful process getting to know these older folks and their families, who are usually in attendance when we film the interview. This new venture definitely was the primary influence on the new work, so much so that the album title "Lente Viviente" means "Living Lens" in Spanish. I'm locked in!
Filters. Lenses. Perspective and biases. These are the themes of the new album. How do we see ourselves and each other, and WHY do we see things the way we do? One should be humble to the fact that our views and perspectives are ONE OF MANY, and we shouldn't be so quick to pass judgement. Our filters of time and experience, DNA, mental health and medication, self-loathing, romance, and the like permeate the songs on Lente Viviente.
Do you have any new singles, videos, or albums out that you would like to tell me and your fans about?
Absolutely! "Catch and Release" was the first single we released (8/22/25) and then "Dawn Villa" came out last week (9/12/25). These companion songs open the album, and they are the most uptempo probably of the whole collection. These tracks are companions, in my opinion, because they focus on the filters of memory, nostalgia, family, and friends. The look back into my life growing up in a suburb of Seattle and fishing with my old man in Montana...those were the days.
We have a new rhythm section! Little King now features Tony Bojorquez on drums and Dave Hamilton, who arranged strings and played cello live and in the studio for Little King since 2020. I had done demos for Lente with Eddy Garcia, the drummer for Little King since 2007 and our engineer since 2003. We have quite a legacy together and friends and bandmates, and I love that dude to death. But I REALLY wanted to shake some things up, and when I got back to Tucson, I just decided to make new moves.
Tony is a badass. He is from San Carlos, MX, and he has played all over North America in some very amazing and unique situations. Professional, City-Approved Subway Busker to Red Rocks...Tony is a true musician and a bit of a gypsy. Perfect fit! Great dude, too, and when we met in like February and started jamming the new songs, I knew this was going to be a great fit.
As I said, Dave and I have been consistent friends and collaborators since 2019. Incredibly nice person, and he is the best bass player I've ever had in my band, point blank period. I'm honored, dude. He has such an innate feel and a wealth of playing and composition experience. He is the leader of a school district music department, so his theory and work ethic match his talent.
Together, the 3 of us tracked this spring and summer here in Tucson. That is a big deal to me, as ALL of our records previously had been recorded in El Paso. Good dude by the name of Ricky Wascher at Cimamusic engineered and really sort of co-produced the new songs. He is a meticulous, organized, and creative soul! He also is the best at vocal arrangement, and we had a lot of fun decorating the album with cool vocal harmonies. He pushed me to be perfect, and I can't thank him enough. We did great work, I think...this is my favorite vocal set of any album we've done. By far. I sound like I want to, and that's a big deal.
Daniel Salcido at Command Space Audio in LA mixed our music, as he has since 2021. He and I also have a great working and friendly relationship. No fucking nonsense, man. We work, have fun, chop it up, and just think so much alike now that we catch the same things mostly at the same time. It's really valuable, I must say, to be able to communicate with your team on a high level. It saves so much time and angst. Maor Appelbaum mastered the album, and here we are.
Do you have anything else that you would like to talk about or promote?
Fuck yeah! I wanna promote peace, love, patience, understanding, empathy, humility, connection, using your turn signal, and freedom of expression. I'm working on it.
How can your fans best keep up to date with you, any socials you want people to check out?
We are always around at www.littlekingtunes.com, especially if you wanna get familiar with all of our music and the story all in one place. We are pretty active on IG and FB with the @littlekingtunes handle. Same on YouTube.
Please listen. We are proud of this, and I think if you give it a spin all the way through with the intention of having a musical experience, this record will get you there. And THANK YOU for caring. It really is gratifying :)
Website: www.littlekingtunes.com
Instagram/Facebook/YouTube: @littlekingtunes
