Terror Fest Interview: Acid King
By Clara Wang, Fri., June 15, 2018
Stoner metal band Acid King famously took its moniker from a killer's quote: "Nobody messes with the acid king."
Founder and frontwoman Lori Joseph read the words by psychedelic fanatic Ricky Kasso in a true crime novel and related to his love of hallucinogens. The band's 1994 debut EP features a photograph of Kasso on its cover.
"I read that book in the early Nineties, and always loved that line," she says.
Raised in Chicago, the singer moved to San Francisco in her early 20s and joined the all-girl Gross National Product. She put an ad in the local paper for fellow lovers of Monster Magnet and Kyuss, which led her to initial bassist Peter Lucas.
"I met the original drummer, Joey [Osbourne], at a party. I was at a friend's house and yelled out, 'Who plays drums?'"
Following 2005's punishingly heavy Acid King III, the group took a decadelong hiatus due to personnel changes. 2015's fourth offering, Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere, upheld the endeavor's raw, gritty sound. The bandleader, who began Acid King as a spare time pursuit to her career as a video producer, plans on keeping the threesome at that level with Rafa Martinez on bass and drummer Bil Bowman.
"We've all been lucky enough to have careers that allow us the flexibility to tour. I've never been the person to desire being a full-time musician," admits the boss lady. "Since we don't tour that much though, for Austin Terror Fest we just want to have fun, play, and look for Evel Knievel out there."
