dUg from KING'S X On the NEW JUDGEMENT CD

Posted: May 26, 2010
In recent weeks, rumors began to surface from within the HYDROGYN camp, rumors that suggested a "special" guest vocalist would perform on one track on HYDROGYNs forthcoming full length release, "Judgment". Curious, Ultimate-Guitar.coms Robert Gray telephoned Young to learn more. Luckily, the veteran was forthcoming with the details. "We are honored and privileged to announce that none other than Mr. Doug Pinnick — the man, the myth, the legend from the esteemed band KINGS X — has contributed bass and vocals for a song on Judgment called Big Star," Young said. Naturally, that leads to the following question: How did Doug Pinnick come to contribute bass and vocals to a HYDROGYN tune? The answer arrives in the form of a mutual friend… "Were all huge fans of KINGS X, particularly Jeff Westlake and myself," Young explained. "And were all friends with Michael Wagener, who produced the last two KINGS X albums (2005s Ogre Tones and 2008s XV). Michael connected us with Doug and he was definitely down for it. We sent him the basic track right away, and he loved Big Star. Initially, we only asked him to contribute vocals, but the more I thought about it... Remember, James Lomenzo is playing on every track on Judgment. I went back to James and said, We should probably have Doug play bass on this, which will make the whole thing a little bit of a bigger guest spot. Also a major KINGS X fan, J-Lo was all about that. I asked Doug, and he was totally down for contributing the bass part. He laid his part down and it just sits in the track so well. His groove is amazing and it just really helped to lift Big Star to exactly where it needs to be."" Young kindly offers a musical description of "Big Star" and information regarding its lyrical content, content that many a budding musician can empathize with. "So much of Judgment is aggressive and progressively oriented… theres lots of guitar licks, drum stuff here, and bass stuff there, with the vocals going every which way. With that in mind, we decided to do a track that was more straight-ahead — maybe if you think of uptempo AC/DC or THE CULTs Electric (1987)-era stuff meets KINGS X. Thats the general vibe of Big Star — which is actually a vocal duet. Mr. Doug comes in on selected trade-off lines with Julie, especially in the chorus and the bridge and over the end. "The song is basically a tale of the difficulties of becoming a professional musician. Actually, its more difficult now than its ever been. Its about that long quest; for some it happens, and for others it never happens. "Theres a line in the song that actually references Fuse TV; I dont know if youre aware of this channel, but its basically the only true music video channel left in America. Actually, the original line referenced MTV and I had to remind Julie that they dont play music videos anymore. (laughs) So, we changed that recurring line to reference Fuse TV. The ever-hot Mistress Juliya VJs on that channel and is one of the hostesses." With such a capable, weighty vocalist as Doug Pinnick, many possible avenues can be potentially explored. However, which avenue did Pinnick choose to explore on this specific outing? "Its classic Doug," Young said. "We told him we wanted his trademark vocal stylings but his vocals are actually a little punchier. He actually roughed it up a little bit here and there, so its the best of Doug Pinnick with a little tougher attitude. He does some nice little harmonies around Julie and their voices blend very well. Theres this two-part harmony he threw in the bridge where we didnt even tell him to sing a line but he added it in there just for fun and it came out really great. Its kind of that bluesy, real simple two-part BEATLES-type harmony. He and Julie also throw down a wailing sustained scream over the end, kind of reminiscent of his ad-libs in Over My Head (from 1989s Gretchen Goes to Nebraska)." "Big Star", featuring KINGS X vocalist Doug Pinnick, will be one of several compositions thatll entice listeners to purchase the forthcoming "Judgment". In Jeff Youngs own words, "Judgment" is actually "very close to being done. Weve actually got four songs mixed, and theres a fifth song that were adding guitars on today to replace some distorted guitars that were fighting the track," he said. "That ones pretty much mixed as well. We got a sixth track almost mixed too, so weve mixed over half of the album. Jeff Westlake has one rhythm guitar track to lay down, and Ive got two rhythm guitar tracks and two guitar solos to lay down. Everything else is recorded, so its just a matter of mixing the last four songs." HYDROGYNs "Judgment" will be available to purchase from physical and online retailers in the fall of 2010, as well as digital outlets like iTunes.