Soil's Tim King Chats about the Back to the 2000s Tour

Brian (00:00:00) - Tim King. You're very welcome to concerts that made us.

Tim King (00:00:04) - Awesome. Glad to be here.

Brian (00:00:05) - I'm delighted to have you. Now I'm looking forward to diving into this exciting news. You have one of the best tours I've heard about in a long time. The back to the 2000s. It's the brainchild of yourself and the Union underground brain. Scott, what can you tell us about it?

Tim King (00:00:20) - Uh, me and Brian have been friends for ages. In fact, uh, soil's first tour on the scars record was with Union Underground back in 2001, and Brian and I became friends then and just stayed friends. Uh, since then, we even, uh, put together a side project called Into the Fire where, uh, Brian was singing. I was playing bass. My guitarist Adam from soil was on guitar and will hunt for me since I was on drums. And, uh, that was a cool little project we did. We didn't really do much with it. We just we all had our own schedules going and stuff like that.

Tim King (00:00:52) - And then, uh, when Brian told me that he was, uh, resurrecting the Union underground and starting to write some new material and get back out there and wanted to play shows and stuff, we, uh, talked about teaming up again. So we figured, you know, what? Better way to bring Union Underground back in a big way and, uh, have soil come back since we haven't done anything since Covid besides an Australian tour and a couple of USA dates. You know, we haven't done anything in about four years. How do we. You know, what's the best way to bring the Union underground back after a 20 year hiatus and basically get soil back moving? Uh, and we decided, hey, why don't we go back to the beginning where it all began, like on the Ozzfest dates and, you know, back in the early 2000 when, you know, MTV was still playing videos and MTV two was really big, playing all the new metal stuff, and let's get some friends from that era together and, and make it like a kind of a nostalgia package, but, you know, more in a modern, modern way.

Tim King (00:01:53) - So, uh, we put all that together, and I came up with the Delorean idea, and Brian made it look more post-apocalyptic, and it just all came together great. Me and him, we definitely our brains work, uh, very similarly. So we were able to put this thing together real fast and in a really cool way.

Brian (00:02:12) - Yeah, yeah. It's funny, I was going to ask, do we need a Delorean to go now? But I've heard it's not so much a nostalgia tour. It's more of a reintroduction. What, uh, what do you mean by that?

Tim King (00:02:24) - Uh, I mean, what we're going to do is what we're having all the band to is 2001, 2002 were the biggest years for all four of the bands that are on the package. So what we wanted each band to do was to play a lot of songs from those eras. Uh, for instance, soil is going to do All scars. We're going to play only songs off the scars record, which was from that era.

Tim King (00:02:49) - Union underground only has one record out, so they have, you know, really no choice but to play the majority of the songs off that first record, plus throwing some new stuff, and floor's going to do a lot of stuff off through the eyes, and raw is going to do a lot of stuff off the of one album, so it's going to kind of give all the, the fans that were that were young back then, and now they're in their like boy 40s maybe pushing 50, uh, a chance to kind of relive their, their early days. And since then their kids have kind of gotten into all of our bands. So for, for that their, their kids are going to be able to see, you know, what their parents grew up on and what they, you know, listen to as well. And a lot of them have grandkids by now. So we're going to kind of be introducing all these brand new kids and, you know, young people to, uh, a third generation of these bands.

Tim King (00:03:41) - So it's it's it's kind of, you know, a reintroduction, but it's also a big celebration of those times. And when all of our bands basically broke, when when we all got our shot and those were all the albums and the time that solidified us to where we're all still here now, that kept us going throughout all that. That started it all for for all four of us.

Brian (00:04:00) - Yeah, yeah. What was the criteria to be met by the bands on the tour was a kind of whoever was available. Or did you have a set amount of bands in mind?

Tim King (00:04:10) - To be honest with you? We never really thought about any other bands. Uh, floor I wanted right away just because they're they're good friends of mine. Uh, we toured a ton with them back in those days. They fit perfectly there on my record label. Uh, they were a no brainer. Uh, we originally talking to edema to be on there, too, because back in the day, they were, you know, super good friends.

Tim King (00:04:33) - And we did a lot of stuff with them. They weren't available to do it. So, uh, the second choice after that was Ron. They were available. So there really wasn't much pondering around of who to get. We kind of just pick the bands immediately. And, you know, everybody said, yes, uh, we would have had edema on it too. But, you know, they were unavailable.

Brian (00:04:54) - Yeah, yeah. Now circle is very well, which I'm sure will. What happens then? Have you thought about the future?

Tim King (00:05:02) - Uh, well, we're definitely thinking about doing a part two of this tour. Uh, part one is gotten such a huge response. And everybody, every place that we're not hitting on this tour have been complaining and asking for a second leg, you know, to go through, like, Colorado and Wyoming and. Down through Salt Lake City, New Mexico, Arizona, California. So we're thinking about I mean, we're most definitely going to do a second part of it.

Tim King (00:05:27) - Just when is the question? As far as soil goes, you know, for the rest of the year, we're going to Europe in, uh, August to play some big festivals and do some headline filling dates. And we're putting together a UK tour for November with, uh, kind of similar to the back to the 2000 tour. That's about all I can say about it right now until we, uh. You know, have it all together and everything, but, uh, you know, and we have a few fly dates in between, but we're, uh, soil's pretty packed for the year, but we're also going to try to squeak in another part two of the back to the 2000, hopefully with all the same bands. Uh, if not, it'll definitely be Union Underground in Austin and two other like minded bands.

Brian (00:06:10) - And I have to say, you're after making my day, you know, because I was going to ask, what do we need to see happen for this tour to make us to the UK and Europe and to hear that you guys are coming to the UK later this year? I ain't going to be there without a doubt.

Tim King (00:06:25) - Awesome. Well, I will, I will say this, uh, I'll let a little bit of the cat out of the bag. Uh, Union Underground will be coming with us to the UK. I can't tell you the other bands yet, but, uh, definitely Union Underground. I mean, we really wanted to, uh, since we started this back to the 2000 thing. You know, me and Brian really wanted the two bands to do a lot together, so we're going to be doing a lot together.

Brian (00:06:50) - Like, I like us, I'm sold. Now. The podcast is called Concerts That Matter. So I have to ask you some concert related questions, if you don't mind. Can you remember your very first concert you attended?

Tim King (00:07:03) - Oh for sure. It was, uh, I forget the year, I want to say maybe 1986, if I'm not mistaken. Uh, but it was Bon Jovi and Cinderella. Bon Jovi was on the Slippery and Wet tour, Cinderella was on the Night Songs tour, and back then I was a huge fan of Cinderella on that first record.

Tim King (00:07:25) - That's the main reason I wanted to go. I was, but I think I was like 13 or 14 years old and, uh, my buddy's parents took a group of us and, you know, we saw it in a big arena, and it just was like life changing. That was my first concert.

Brian (00:07:41) - One hell of a first concert, I have to say, and this will be an interesting one considering your role with pavement, the last concert you attended.

Tim King (00:07:50) - Uh, the last concert I attended. What did I see? Uh. How dare I even say this? The last concert I attended was was actually my own. My own concert. A soil show that we, uh, that we played, uh, last year. I haven't been out to anything this year, although tomorrow I am leaving for Nashville. Uh, because my the band plush I have on my label and I also manage is out with Disturbed and Falling in Reverse. And, uh, they're playing this Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tim King (00:08:20) - So I'm going to go out and see that. That'll be a pretty much my first concert of the year. So.

Brian (00:08:25) - Oh, man, you're the person to talk to. So about getting plush over to the to the UK and Europe. So you have to make it happen.

Tim King (00:08:32) - Yeah we've been working on it. I mean they're, they're just starting now to blow up really big in the United States. Uh, we've been working at it for a while and they've done really well. And now they're, they're just they're just finally breaking out in the United States in a big way. So, uh, we've worked really hard on that, but we definitely need to get them over to Europe and the UK. Uh, and it's definitely on the, on the radar. We just need to find the right tour and make sure that, you know, all the numbers and all that work for it. But, you know, definitely on on as a, as a focal point.

Brian (00:09:05) - Definitely, definitely know for any listeners that haven't caught one of your shores, what can they expect.

Brian (00:09:10) - Lay it all out first.

Tim King (00:09:12) - Uh, well, we've been dating for 27 years, so, uh, if you haven't caught a soil concert by now, uh, that means either you've been hiding under a rock or you're definitely a new fan. So what I would say to anybody out there that hasn't seen a show, if you're a long time fan, you know, we definitely try to recreate the energy and the, you know, rawness that you that you hear on the records in a live setting. Uh, we use very little effects. It's just us getting up there and just giving it our all. For a new fan, I would definitely say, you know, we, uh, are definitely one of those. I've always considered soil a band for the people. Meaning we go out there, we interact with the crowd, we're there for the crowd. We feed off the crowd. We're there for them. You know, it's it's definitely satisfying playing live and getting that audience energy and, you know, being able to, you know, play your instruments and your songs to an audience.

Tim King (00:10:06) - But you know, first and foremost, we're we're there to give a good show and to, uh, to give the audience a good time because that's what music is. It's a it's a great escape, and it's a way for people to let loose their emotions, forget about some of the bad things that are going on. Just go out and have a good time and, uh, enjoy themselves. And that's what we try to make it. We try to make it a real fun, energetic kind of party atmosphere to where you can get away from your your life for a couple hours and just have a good time and not worry about the little things, you know, that's it.

Brian (00:10:38) - That's it. Exactly. And if you think I know it's going to be an impossible ask, no. But if you think of all the shows you've played in your career, is there one that sticks out above the rest as maybe the best experience you've had?

Tim King (00:10:51) - Well, since this is a, uh, you know, a concert based thing, I'll give you the best concert we ever played.

Tim King (00:10:57) - And I'll give you the worst concert we ever played. I have both, uh. The best concert we ever played. I would say for me at least. I mean, we played Download Festival in front of 55,000 people, Main Stage, and we were playing Halo, and it was like a sea of people just bouncing up and down, and it was insane. They were singing so loud the chorus to Halo, we couldn't even hear ourselves on stage. It was that loud. That was a fantastic show. But for me, my favorite was, uh, when we played the Electric Ballroom in London, England, 2011, and it was our first concert back with Ryan. Uh, Ryan was in the band for seven years. He left for seven and in that time had fun Drowning Pool. Then he had come back to soil. He left. Drowning pool came back to soil. He's been back for, you know, 12 years now at this point. But, uh, that was the first show back, and we had been without him for seven years, and we didn't stop.

Tim King (00:11:51) - We kept on going. We had a different vocalist, but being back up on stage with the original singer, me and Adam, you know, me and Adam were the two people that held soil together all these years. I just felt this overwhelming. Just I mean, the hair on the back of my neck was standing up, and I just. I felt like soil was back on top. We were back home. We were back where he needed to be. I just had goosebumps. That whole show. That for me was my favorite, uh, subsequently our worst show, which is kind of funny. Uh, we got offered to play in Miami, Florida on spring break. It was, I believe, 2000, and I want to say 2006 or 2007. Uh. And if you know anything about Miami Spring break, it's it's definitely not metal or rock oriented. It's, you know, uh, dance music, uh, pop music, hip hop, uh, maybe like Dave Matthews or something like that type of stuff.

Tim King (00:12:53) - And, uh, we got booked at this place called Senior Frogs, which was a Mexican restaurant. They had a stage in there. So the the people that put it on, we they flew us first class into Miami, got us a tour bus. Uh, we were playing one show. They put out over 20,000 flyers across the Miami strip, uh, announcing, you know, that this band soil is playing, you know, you know, uh, gold record, major label recording artist, blah, blah, blah. Uh, we set up, we do soundcheck, you know, we're ready to go all of a sudden, you know, it's time for us to go on. The place is packed, wall to wall. Uh, people in the balcony, people all over the place. I mean, you couldn't fit another person in. You're turning people away at the show. We get up on stage. Uh, start playing the intro song, which is breaking me down. And, uh, these people basically expected, like I was saying, like Dave Matthews or Hootie and the Blowfish, and to them they basically got Slayer or Napalm Death.

Tim King (00:13:54) - So all of a sudden we just watched as. The entire place just lined up and filtered out of this place. Oh my God. Our first song to where there are probably about 500 people in there. We were left with about 40 or 50 that actually were soil fans from, you know, that were at Miami on spring break and had come to see us. And you talk about being deflated. I mean, it was just like, I've never seen a room clear like that before. I'm laughing about it now. But at the time, I was ready to cry. Yeah. You know, just one of those things. Just wrong place, wrong time, wrong circumstances. But, yeah, uh, I figure it's a funny little antidote to, uh, to tell a lot of a lot of bands never want to tell you about the bad shows they have and stuff, but that was a pretty interesting one. We can laugh about it now because it's been a while.

Brian (00:14:44) - But it was.

Tim King (00:14:44) - Not fun at the time.

Brian (00:14:46) - I wouldn't think so. Oh my God. And before we dive into the last couple of questions, or you've already told us about the future plans, but I'm dying to know, how do you balance, you know, pavement with soil? I'd imagine it's very hard.

Tim King (00:15:02) - It's I mean, it was more what we did is things more out of necessity, you know, as, as you get older. We used to tour for eight, nine months out of the year back in the early days, and we made a great living at it and did really well at it. But as you kind of get older and you know, things, you know, things go on and stuff like that, you just can't tour. That long. You know, I mean, we're not Motley Crue or Aerosmith or, you know, the Rolling Stones, where you can fly to shows and you can have top notch hotel rooms, assistants and drivers and, you know, everything's, you know, nice and luxury and cushy.

Tim King (00:15:39) - Yeah. You can do a two year long tour like that. You know, soil's a middle of the road band. And we've had success and we still do well. But by no means are we flying to gigs or traveling in six tour buses. You know, it's one tour bus with us and our crew and all our gear packed into it. And, you know, some nights we're not getting hotel rooms or sleeping in the bus or showering at the venue, so, you know, it gets hard on you. So, you know, we all kind of look to other avenues of things to do, uh, so that we could kind of, you know, not tour as much. Me being so fascinated with the music business, I had the opportunity with, you know, my label partner, Mark Nora, to get pavement together and use all the experience that I had in the record label, uh, being in a band and all that and use it towards the record label. And we've been very successful with it, and it's been great.

Tim King (00:16:29) - Uh, the other guys got into different things, like Adam installs office furniture, he has his own company, and our drummer, uh, has his own carpentry company and remodels houses and stuff when we're not doing things. So we each have things on, on the side that we do. Uh, but for for everybody else, when we go on tour, they get to leave their day job or what they do during the day at home. Me it never stops. So I have to set up a makeshift office and take conference calls and zoom meetings and deal with all the record label stuff while I'm still on the road. So touring for me and doing the soil thing on the road is basically a living hell. I know I'm working a full time job with the label and then still having to do all this stuff for soil too, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it. You know, all that time that I spend, you know, having to do two things at once when you get on that stage and get your 45 minutes or an hour to play and give the fans, you know, and see the enjoyment out of their face and have fun yourself, I mean, that makes it all worthwhile, but it's a little difficult, I'm not gonna lie.

Brian (00:17:36) - I could imagine, I could imagine doesn't sound like it'd be overly fun, but, uh, we'll, uh, I'll fire the last couple of questions that you saw. First off, what are you currently obsessed with? It can be anything at all. TV, book, music.

Tim King (00:17:51) - Uh, for a while now, I've really dove into, uh, the Cobra Kai series, uh, Netflix, which is the continuation of the Karate Kid series. I, uh. They're doing the sixth and final season, which I'm like, you know, I have ants in my pants just waiting for that. But that's something like over the last few years that I've just been totally into. I mean, I still even right now, I, I'm rewatching, uh, the fifth season to reacquaint myself with it before the, the new one comes out. So I've been totally into that and, you know, had to get all the hoodies and the hats and all that for that stuff walking around. And now I'm Team Eagle Fang because Johnny Lawrence is like the man in that.

Tim King (00:18:34) - Yeah. So I've been really into that, uh, one thing I've always been into even way before music is, uh, saltwater aquariums and mini reef aquariums. So I've always had a fascination with the ocean and stuff. So my a huge hobby of mine is, you know, growing corals and keeping, uh, saltwater fish tanks and stuff like that. So that's always something that I, you know, keep myself busy with. Uh, a lot in between as well. And, uh, you know, pretty much now that, you know, this band plus that we have is, is doing really well. And me and my label partner Mark, we both manage them and or the record label, it pretty much consumes all the rest of my time. So I'm a very busy person.

Brian (00:19:18) - It sounds, it sounds. And the final one. What album is your go to album?

Tim King (00:19:26) - My favorite album of all time, and it hasn't changed since I was in fifth grade. Is Motley Crue Shout at the devil? Uh, that's the album that got me like I was.

Tim King (00:19:36) - I loved metal and stuff. Like I was kind of into AcDc and Def Leppard and Quiet Riot had come before then, but it wasn't until I heard Motley Crue shout at the devil on the playground, uh, on cassette, that a friend of mine had brought from his. He took it from his big brother. That album, for whatever reason it is, I can always put that record on. Takes me back to a happy place. It's still a perfect record, in my opinion, and it's just that record that I can always just hold dear to me. Like if that age old question, if you go on a desert island and only bring a few things with you or whatever, I'd, you know, bring Motley Crue, shout out to the devil and something to play it on. Hopefully solar powered because I'd run out of batteries. There you go.

Brian (00:20:19) - I like us, I like us. Listen, Tim, it's been an absolute blast. Now, thanks a million.

Tim King (00:20:24) - Oh, thank you.

Tim King (00:20:25) - A ton. And when we do get over in the UK in November, we're going to be announcing very soon. Hope to see you there.