What's Going On With Kings County? Ask No Further Than Lead Singer/Co-Founder Rob Dexter

From Long Island New York to Orland Florida, the journey of King’s County has been a long one, but it is a journey that still continues today. The band played for several years as the house band at Disney’s Pleasure Island. In 2018 Kings County won an iHeart Radio original song contest and opened for Bon Jovi. Today Kings Country continues pushing forward whether reimagining classic songs such as New Order’s Blue Monday” to their own material such as their latest release “What Now” this band is not slowing down. I’m Music’s Tim Board visits with Rob Dexter from Kings County to talk the band’s beginning, playing with his son Robbie, a new single and much more.

Tim Board: Kings County has roots that stretch from Long Island to Orlando, and several of you first played together in Kabang before eventually forming this band. Looking back, what was the moment you realized that this wasn’t just another project, but a band that would carry your musical vision forward?

Rob Dexter: Pretty much in 2003 was kind of where we switched from Kabang to Kings County and that’s where we incorporated our original music. So that was kind of the pivotal time for us where it wasn’t just covers but we brought in our original music.

Tim: The band landed a long stint as a house band at Disney World.

Rob: Yeah, we did that for eight years, which was crazy.

Tim: How did playing night after night in that kind of environment shape the band and the sound that you have today?

Rob: Well, we played like five nights a week. I always looked at playing for Disney, where you don’t go around the world, the world comes to you. So, you know, you get to meet people from all over the world. So when you’re playing five nights a week, you’re really building your chops. I don’t care if you’re doing covers or originals. But we certainly played a ton.

Tim: Your drummer Joe came in later from Tampa after the band cycled through a few drummers.

Rob: Yeah, he was in I’d say maybe 2015 he came in.

Tim: What was it like having him step into the rhythm section with guys who’ve already logged a decade plus of chemistry together.

Rob: You know, it’s, you never know when you’re bringing a new guy, how we’re going to react, how we’re going to sound, but Joe fit in perfectly. I mean, it was, it was pretty seamless. I mean, you never know when you play with people, whether you’re going to have chemistry, but it all worked out great.

Tim: The band’s bio mentions an eclectic mix of influences, everything from 90s hard rock to The Beatles. How do you take those different musical styles and blend them into your signature sound?

Rob: That’s a great question. You know, we kind of grew up, you know, when the band started, it was a lot of the 90’s rock bands, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam. So we were kind of that raw, live rock band. But as far as The Beatles, it goes back to when we were kids, younger, from our parents. So you try to incorporate what you grew up on.

Tim: The band has earned a lot of praise for taking iconic tracks like Nine Inch Nails, “Wish” and putting your own spin on them. What draws you to a specific song when you decide to cover it, and what’s the secret to making it sound like it’s yours?

Rob: The perfect example with “Wish” was it was a song that we wanted to record for years, and it was like, “Oh, that’d be perfect to redo.” And it just kind of dropped on our laps again. But like, all right, let’s bring this in. The Nine Inch Nails version is more, I would say, industrial. But we wanted to keep it more kind of Kings County, hard rock. So if you do kind of what you do as a band. It’ll come over true. We didn’t want to make it exactly like the original artist.

Tim: I read that your most recent single “What Now” had been written and demoed years ago but just recently saw the light of day. How long have you been sitting on the song and why did you feel now was a good time to release it?

Rob: Yeah, we wrote that probably about four years ago and we had a bunch of tunes to pick from and we kind of knew it was a strong song but, it kind of gets sidetracked. You got a handful of tunes that you go through so we left it and probably maybe six months ago we revisited like, wow we gotta revisit this tweaked it with our producer and it just really exploded.

Tim; You mentioned “tweak it” how much tweaking did you have to do?

Rob: Well the the structure of the song is pretty much the same. We just needed to modern it up, if that’s the word. A little bit more aggressive, maybe change some melodies, but the idea of the song was pretty much intact.

Tim: With your new song, I read that that your son Robbie has joined the band. What’s it like having your son join the band and watching him play show after show with you?

Rob: You know, it’s funny, when he was younger, tried to get him to go on a drum set. He was probably 10. You know, he was like, he hit it a few times. He was like, eh. So I’m like, well, you know, maybe the whole musical thing ends with. me. But about a year ago, he started picking up the pace, and it’s amazing how these younger kids really pick up things quick. I mean, literally, in a year, I mean, he was doing stuff that took me several years. So I’m like, hey, let’s bring him in, you know inject some youth.

Tim: How has that changed the dynamics by injecting that youth as you just said?

Rob: Well he’s got a different approach you know, he’s 20 so he kind of looks at things a little differently than the seasoned guys do and he’s got an energy that is kind of hard to keep up with but it’s great it kind of fuses up so it gets us pumped up.

Tim; Does that energy really come through to the band and really help you as a band when you’re playing a live show?

Rob: Yeah, well I mean my son Rob, he’s a great player, but he’s a good looking kid. So he’s definitely pulling in the younger crowd of girls, which is kind of funny.

Tim: It always helps.

Rob: Yeah. I mean, he does a great job. He loves it. I never wanted to push him too hard, you know. You need the passion and you can’t force anyone to have passion, but he seems to really enjoy it.

Tim: Rock music is constantly evolving yet Kings County has pretty much stayed committed to big hooks, melodic song writing and guitar-driven energy. What do you think today’s rock audience is craving that maybe the industry has overlooked?

Rob: Well, I think it pretty much summed it up. I mean, you’ve got bands like Shinedown, it’s the music, it’s heavy, but they got great hooks, great melody. I wish they were more bands like them. There’s a lot of other genres. There’s a lot of real heavy bands out there, which I like. But as far as what we do, I think if there was more bands like us, I think it would really help the industry.

Tim: You shared the bills with Bon Jovi, Ted Nugent, Styx, and others, plus you’ve done festivals such as Rock Fest and Blue Ridge Rock Fest. When you’re building a live set now, are you still leaning on those arena tour lessons or has playing festivals changed how aggressive you get on stage?

Rob: You know, that’s a great question because we played Rock Fest last year, and for those kind of crowds, you really like, you know, they always say, well, you leave your best song for the end. For those kind of crowds, you got to come out swinging. You like forget about slow. songs. They like fast, heavy stuff. So that was kind of what we learned. You got to come out swinging.

Tim: You have another single in the works I’ve read. What can you share with us about it? What can you share about the song and when can fans expect to hear it?

Rob: Sure, it’s almost done. It’s called “The Dead of Night.” It’s kind of in the vein I would say like a Rob Zombie, real driving anthem. That’s pretty much all I could say but it’s gonna be probably one of our best songs. I know it’s easy to say that for all your music.

Tim: Every band says that about their next song.

Rob: Yeah but this one I really believe it’s gonna turn heads.

Tim: How much influence did Robbie have on the song?

Rob: I kind of said, do you want to play bass on this? So that was kind of his first real full committed recording. He took it up super quick, and I was like, wow, it’s amazing. So it really is gonna come together great.

Tim: You have the the upcoming single anything else coming up for Kings County?

Rob: Well, we pretty much play three times a week all over the southern U.S. Florida, Georgia, Alabama, so we’re always playing. We have two shows this week. I think next week is three. So it’s just constant, traveling, performing, and it’s great. Love it.

Tim: How do you personally keep yourself up for each one of the shows, as opposed to just phoning it in because you’re tired and this is the third show of the week and you’ve traveled hundreds of miles?

Rob: Well, like they say, it does get easier as you get older, but as long as you have that passion, you’re as good as your last performance. So we always try to make every show 100%. You don’t want to go in there and phone it in. People see right through it, so you really got to put your best foot forward.

Tim: Rob, I want to thank you so much for taking time to do the interview. I wish you much success with the new single. Looking forward to hearing it.

Rob: Thanks, Tim.

Interview by I’m Music Magazine Music Journalist/Photographer Tim Board