Getting to Know…The King of Mars | Interview 🎤

For Interview #10, The Musical Hype poses questions to vocalist/guitarist John Bruner of rock, funk, and ‘everything in between’ band, The King of Mars.

Once upon a time, there was a self-made music blog/website, called The Musical Hype, that never featured any interviews of any format. #Lame, right? Now, that same site – once merely a place for album and track reviews – has reached a milestone.  What is the milestone exactly?  The 10^th interview.  My, my, my, how things change.  That said, this interview isn’t about incorporating interviews onto the site.  No, it’s totally about The King of Mars, a band that describes itself stylistically as rock, funk, and everything in between.

Notably, TKOM have a new, five-song EP on the horizon, Bleach and Aspirin (October 26, 2018). For this awesome 10^th opportunity for artist interaction, vocalist and guitarist John Bruner was kind enough to answer some questions so we can ‘get to know’ the band better.  Without further ado, or more random rambling, here is interview #10!

Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype (BF): Let’s get this started off right. For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes you/your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

John Bruner, The King of Mars (JB): If you take one look at us, you can see a big factor that makes us unique; we’ve got a crap-load of people in this band! We play with anywhere from 7-10 people depending on the show. Our sound is also pretty different from most traditional rock bands. We’ve started dipping our toes in funk, hip-hop and even some elements of jazz. I think we’ll always be a rock band, but we love distorting what people think of traditional rock music.

BF: Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did your band form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

JB: I (John Bruner) have been writing songs and playing in bands for a long time now, but when I got to college, I needed to find a new band to help with my songs. I met my guitarist, Matt Gordon, through a guitar class at Columbia College. From there, he introduced me to our bassist, JJ Frale. After that, we kept adding members until we couldn’t fit on the stage anymore. Our early goals were just to make good music and play shows. Now we look at it as more of a business and focus on reaching new audiences and creating as much hype around our releases as possible.

BF: Let’s talk more about goals. Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

JB: Since we look at the band more from a business perspective now, we’re trying our best to turn this band into a source of income. Most of us are out of school now so we take our careers as musicians pretty seriously, especially with all the school debt. We’re trying to branch out of Chicago and play shows in other cities to expand our audience and find some new fans. We’re also trying to increase our streaming numbers on Spotify and Apple Music so do us a favor and search “The King of Mars” on either of those and check us out!

BF: Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

JB: Since we have so many members, we have a lot of different influences in this band. Some of our biggest influences overall are Stevie Wonder and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Stevie is one of the best songwriters in music, and his horn arrangements are some of our favorites. Listening to him helps us find inspiration for our horn section. And the Chili Peppers have some of my favorite funk lines that were really important for shaping our early sound.

BF: Ah, the fun stuff. What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance? Feel free to be creative.

JB: One of our more bizarre experiences was driving to Cleveland for our show at a very beat down bar. Unfortunately, when we got there, none of the other bands showed up. Later we got a call from one of the bands that said they took one look at the venue and sped off. So, our show got cancelled, but we got to spend the day chilling with some very cute dogs so it turned out to be a pretty decent day.

BF: Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

JB: Personally, my favorite song to record was “Against Me” off our newest album, Bleach and Aspirin. That song has been reworked and edited so many times and to finally hear it finished is such an awesome feeling! It was also super fun to record because we have a lot of conversations in the background of that song to give it a live feel. We recorded those conversations at 3 am at the end of a very long session and somehow, they turned out perfect for the song.

BF: Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

JB: As far as secret talents, our keyboardist, Randy Deadman, and our trumpeter, Jason Deran, were responsible for mixing/mastering and partially recording our latest album! Both of them are geniuses, not just as musicians, but as engineers as well!

BF: Closing this thing out, what is you/your band currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.

JB: Our latest album, Bleach and Aspirin, is being released on October 26th! We’re so damn proud of this album and it would mean the world to us if you’d check it out and let us know what you think! We’re also promoting our release/Halloween show, A Haunting on State Street at Reggie’s Rock Club on October 28th! If you’re in the Chicago area, you don’t want to miss this one!

BF: Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.

The King of Mars are:

John Bruner: Vox & Guitar
Jason Deran: Trumpet
JJ Frale: Bass
Matt Gordon: Guitar & Backup Vox
Randy Deadman: Keys & Backup Vox
Walter Sanchez: Trombone
AJ Ziyad: Drums

The King of Mars Socials: Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram 

Photo Credits: The King of Mars