20 Years of Cheers, Jeers & Beers: King Rat on their Highs, Lows, and Staying True to Themselves After 20 Years in a Punk Band

by Tim Wenger

In today’s world of shortened attention spans and all-angle attacks on the central nervous system, keeping a band going for twenty years is a commendable feat. Even more so, perhaps, when the group is a punk rock band known for chaotic tours, wild live performances and politically incorrect (but very socially conscious) lyrics. This month, Denver punkers King Rat will learn what that milestone feels like and they will be celebrating their birthday with beers, cheers, and probably even a few jeers thrown in for good taste.

A whirlwind of a weekend-long party is how King Rat plans to throw down, with shenanigans taking place at 3 Kings Tavern June 27th & 28th. Featuring live performances from a time-traveling gamut of Colorado’s nefarious punk rock scene, the entire event will be recorded for a live album to be released in the fall. Wretch Like Me, a Fort Collins punk outfit who carried the Colorado scene’s torch during their heyday in the late nineties and were supported by Bill Stevenson (Descendents, ALL, Blasting Room), will be reuniting for the event and kicking off the party on Friday night before King Rat takes the stage.

“The first night, we’re going to play two sets,” says lead guitarist Mike Makkay. “We’re going to pick the best dozen or so tracks off a 30 song set.” Songs that turn out overly sloppy, or otherwise disenfranchised from the flawless precision of live-performance mastery that King Rat has become known for over the course of two decades will end up on the cutting room floor. “Probably the ones right in the middle (will be chosen), once we’re relaxed but not too hammered yet, because the shots will be flowing.” Rev. Jim Norris of 3 Kings Tavern will be handling the release of the live record.

The release, set to be pressed on vinyl, will a double-sided release with the sets from Friday night on side one and the guest performers from Saturday night on side two. “There’s twelve Denver bands EACH doing short sets,” says Makkay. “One of the songs in their set will be an old King Rat song.” The band hopes to have 12 inch vinyl records available in October.

King Rat also plans to drop their new album the weekend of the party, having it available for fans who attend.

Norris had the idea for the weekend, and approached King Rat front man Luke Schmaltz. “I saw Jim the first week of January of this year and he asked me, ‘This is 20 years for King Rat isn’t it?’” says Schmaltz. “I said ‘Yeah, it is.’ He goes ‘Can I put together an event? Just give me the green light to run with it, you don’t have to do anything except show up and play.’”

The current lineup in King Rat has been together for over ten years and is happy for the reason to celebrate. “There was a pattern where every time we’d put out a record, we’d lose a member,” says Schmaltz. “It was always inconsistent. Here’s the record you sell someone, they look at the back of the record where there’s a photo of the band, and then they look at the band. . .” Their album Duck Tape & Dreams, released in 2006, was the first record with the current lineup. “What’s ironic about that is that there’s no band photo on that one.”

Although the current lineup has been together for quite a while, the guys still remember the feeling of many of the band’s “firsts, including some extravagant tour recollections. “Mike’s first tour was pretty epic,” says Schmaltz. “He went from being a homebody married dude to being a dude in a notorious punk rock band that was blazing a trail. He hadn’t really ever been out on the road, we were really into over-indulging on a nightly basis but he put us all to shame.”

Over the years, King Rat has opened for legendary punk bands such as Rancid and Bad Religion. “Rancid was cool, it turns out that they requested us as an opener,” says Schmaltz.

“They also turned out to be the way you want your heroes to be when you meet them,” says bassist Anthony Delilli. “They were like, ‘Drink what you want, eat what you want,’ and (left) a free bag of merch on the table when we finished sound check.” Delilli, it what has turned into a tradition, was stoked to get a permanent memorial of the evening stamped on his body, a permanent memoir he has done many times over the years. He now has a pretty solid collection of logos on one of his legs. “Every time we play with one of my heroes I get (their logo) tattooed over my King Rat tattoo.”

Delilli also has a now-humorous memory from his first tour with King Rat. “I joined the band to go on the tour,” he says. “Pockets (drummer Doug Hopper) wasn’t in the band yet, but we were touring with his band that he was in at the time. I was 23 years old and I was like, ‘What the fuck did I get myself into!’ One show in Indiana, we were probably twenty minutes late because of traffic and the promoter pulled the show on us. All of a sudden I see Luke get right in this guy’s face, like ‘What the fuck man do you know what it’s like to tour? I outta kick your ass right now!’ and I was like, damn I don’t know if I can keep up with these guys, but twelve years later, it’s the best time of my life, that’s for sure.”

Through all of the humor, partying and fun times, however, King Rat has also been through some trenches. Personal struggles and relationships are an issue for just about every gigging musician putting massive amounts of time into their craft, but when you spend two decades working at something while still trying to maintain your life outside of it, low points are inevitable.

“Pockets took a job that was taking him out of town,” says Schmaltz. “He basically had to step out of the band and it was kind of agreed that when he was finished with his apprenticeship in Utah he would come back.” The band recruited a drummer from fellow Denver band Dr. Neptune to fill in, but the groove was not up to par. “I was feeling like, you know, it just isn’t the same without Pockets. So, maybe we’ll play a little bit with this dude, but I’d almost rather just sit it out.”

Pockets returned shortly, however, after realizing that the job opportunity wasn’t what he wanted. “He decided to step away from that opportunity, which to us was bittersweet because he didn’t get to have that career, but at the same time we got to resume our career,” says Schmaltz.

“It wasn’t anything to do with (the fill in drummer), he was great, but Pockets was the last one of us to join the band and when he joined, it brought such a new life, it was a perfect fit all the way around,” says Delilli. Once Pockets returned, the band got back into its rhythm, unbeknownst to Schmaltz’ personal struggle that would lie ahead.

In what proved to be the biggest obstacle King Rat has had to overcome, Schmaltz split from his wife seven years ago. “I got divorced in 2007,” says Schmaltz. “That just about destroyed all of us. The three of these guys basically got me through that. I didn’t have a support group here as far as family goes. My brother and sister were both getting divorced that year too, so they were absolutely no help. The three of these dudes pretty much propped me up and helped me through it and I finally got my head out of my ass after six, seven, eight months of being a complete piece of shit. That was a really rough one for us, but we got through that.”

“That was probably the most trying, emotionally,” says Delilli.

Punk rock, like the four guys in King Rat, has also been through its ups and downs, and has evolved into an entirely different creature over the last twenty years. The guys have been through many waves, outlasted a number of bad trends, and according to them, have come out all the better for it. “Punk rock has kind of been going downhill ever since the nineties,” says Makkay. For bands that have stuck around and weathered the storm, however, the hard work and longevity are starting to pay off when it comes to getting gigs. “Nowadays, it’s a bit easier, just because of the whole sheer sticking around factor. We just never went away, and that’s what gets us gigs now.”

Their attitude and music have helped with the band’s survival. King Rat has remained an underground band throughout their career, never falling into the mainstream blitz of pop-punk bands or other fads that have taken over the radio. Touring and DIY promotion are what made the band their reputation. “There’s the name recognition, which doesn’t make it hard to get gigs even out of town,” adds Schmaltz. “Even in town, we have the luxury to pick and choose. The other thing is that punk rock has really been eclipsed by what is mainstream right now. It’s a really specialized taste. It’s a super niche market to where if you say ‘punk rock,’ it’s (now) not going to be pop-punk or top 40. If we are still a punk band after twenty years, (people know) they aren’t going to get shoegazer, woe-is-me pop punk. They’re going to get the kind of punk it takes to survive.”

“Back in the day, there was maybe two or three bands that were punk bands in Denver,” Schmaltz says. “We played with metal bands, jam bands, butt rock bands. It kind of built character to not succumb to the pressure of what mainstream is going on, but just to stick with what I want to do, which is to play old-school punk rock. Sticking to that was cool because after so many years, they may still not like you, but they’ll respect you for it.”

King Rat is still doing what they love after twenty years, through trial, error, and judgement. “There’s the growing pains,” says Makkay. “We are doing it right now, we were doing it wrong for a long time.”

King Rat has no plans of stopping any time soon. Find out more about their new record, upcoming shows, and general mishappenings at https://www.facebook.com/pages/King-Rat/122893137725775. “The fact of the matter is, with this band, why we’re doing it so well and get along so well is that we generally love  what we do,” says Delilli. “We love doing it with each other, and we’re basically in the band that we want to hear. Every band can’t say that. We are putting out music that we think is kick ass.”

Tags: 3 Kings Tavern, luke schmaltz, rancid, bad religion, king rat, Anthony Delilli, Mike Makkoy, Wreck Like Me, rev. Jim Norris, Doug Hopper

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