Suburban Royalty
The name North Side Kings came from a pun about living in Scottsdale which is the nicest neighborhood in Phoenix. We were basically the Kings of Arizona’s Beverly Hills. Also, it came from our friend, Tyler King, who used to tease us with his comment, “Look at you guys, a bunch of assholes from the North Side.” He lived up there too at the time so I responded with, “What are you, the North Side King?” Hence, the evolution of a band name.
So when we started working on what would become our final and heaviest full length, we titled it after another pun, Suburban Royalty. Again, like Spinal Tap we were down a drummer. Ritchie hurt his back in a car accident and couldn’t play anymore. So we got Jason Kowalski, a guy I had been trying to get since Tony Scaglione moved. He was always busy with other bands when I asked him in the past, but this time he was available and I beat that guy down with phone calls until he finally said yes.
My persistence paid off because we wrote our heaviest album with Kowalski, also in record time. I think we had six band practices together. I loved jamming with this line up and I feel this was the most fun I had in NSK. We just clicked. Everyone brought their own special touch to the table. By this album, I had put down the guitar and just started singing live, and we got Ryan Butler from Landmine Marathon as the second guitarist. I still wrote the majority of the music and vocals, and record the guitar tracks in the studio along with Luke and Butler, but live it was Butler and Luke on guitar with me on vocals.
Aaron Coleman did the artwork again. We had a few guests too: Dennis Welch who appeared on vocals on our first album did a track with us called “The Bearer of Bad News.” Our buddy Jason DeVore from Authority Zero also sang on that track. It was fitting that Dennis and Jason came full circle with us on our last record. Dennis with vocals on our first and last and Jason whose band sold us all their old crappy gear when they got new stuff right when NSK started.
Puerto Rican Myke of District 9 and Skarhead actually did two songs with us: “Nice Girls Finish Last” and “The Hustle Don’t Stop (Blood Money Anthem).” Myke is an unbelievable talent and he brought some really creative ideas to the table. So much so that we let him just do his thing and he basically took the lead reigns on both tracks.
We recorded Suburban Royalty in 2006 but didn’t release it until 2008. Our label had moved more towards a punk direction with Sailors Grave Records so we shopped Suburban Royalty around for a new home. We spoke to multiple labels that all loved the album, but wanted us to remove “The Hustle Don’t Stop” because of the drug related lyrical content Myke had written. I was totally against the idea, it was like a hardcore version of Ice-T’s “New Jack Hustler.” Finally, we found a home with I Scream Records who eventually merged with Victory Records. “The Hustle Don’t Stop” is one of the most popular tracks so I’m glad we didn’t fold under pressure.
This was a big turning point for us into a heavier direction but ended up being our last full length album. Nothing compares to the friendships and bonds bandmates have and these years are full of memories we will never forget.
