Mark Sultan and King Khan are set to reunite as King Khan & BBQ Show this fall on their tag-team tour with longtime pals the Black Lips, but by the time the garage duo deliver their next LP early next year, they'll have rebranded as Bad News Boys.
The upcoming change was unveiled in a press release, which suggests that this was due to the band facing legal pressure from a Berlin restaurant with a suspiciously similar though kinda Germanic name: King Khan Und BBQ.
"It seems like these restaurant folk have a lot of pull in the community and even in the government, and this might be the last tour we do as the King Khan & BBQ Show," Khan said in a statement. "Canadians don't really have rights here in Berlin; we are basically just refugees. Polite refugees. Sorry."
The Bad News Boys title traces back to the twosome's beginnings in 2003 and was actually their original name. In addition to getting back to their roots, Sultan offered other bonuses behind the name swap, from the democratic nature of the title to causing less confusion for fans misidentifying the duo as Khan's Shrines project.
"Situations like my alias ('BBQ'), history and contributions getting swallowed up by Khan's infamy led to resentment over the name, too, unfortunately," he explained. "Bad spelling and wording on posters and ads, or how some folks can't understand the difference between ourselves and Khan's other band ('King Khan & The Shrines') is a bummer... On some level, we're thankful to have been sued. It's like we went full circle and got a second chance to fuck up."
Bad News Boys are set to deliver their We Are the Champion LP early next year through In the Red Records. To tease the set, the duo have unveiled a video for the title track. According to the act, it's "not the best song on the record, and not a single, but where our heads were at during the recording."
You'll find the crotch-stomping video for the garage rock track down below.
As previously reported, Khan and Sultan kick off their tour with the Black Lips next month. You'll find an updated itinerary, now including a stop in Vancouver, down below.
Tour dates:
09/10 New Orleans, LA - Tipitina's*
09/11 Houston, TX - Fitzgerald's*
09/12 Austin, TX - Ghost Town*
09/13 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater*
09/15 St. Louis, MO - Ready Room*
09/16 Iowa City, IA - Blue Moose Tap House*
09/17 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue*
09/18 Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon*
09/19 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium*
09/20 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall*
09/21 Columbus, OH - The A&R Music Bar*
09/23 Cincinnati, OH - The Southgate House Revival*
09/24 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick*
09/25 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre*
09/26 Montreal, QC - Club Soda*
09/27 Portland, ME - Port City Music Hall*
09/28 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club*
09/30 New York, NY - Irving Plaza*
10/01 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg*
10/02 Washington, DC - Black Cat*
10/03 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle*
10/04 Atlanta, GA - The Goat Farm*
10/06 San Diego, CA – the Casbah
10/07 Los Angeles, El Rey Theatre
10/08 San Francisco – the Great American Music Hall
10/10 Portland, OR – Dante's
10/11 Seattle, WA – Crocodile Café
10/12 Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl *
* with the Black Lips
The upcoming change was unveiled in a press release, which suggests that this was due to the band facing legal pressure from a Berlin restaurant with a suspiciously similar though kinda Germanic name: King Khan Und BBQ.
"It seems like these restaurant folk have a lot of pull in the community and even in the government, and this might be the last tour we do as the King Khan & BBQ Show," Khan said in a statement. "Canadians don't really have rights here in Berlin; we are basically just refugees. Polite refugees. Sorry."
The Bad News Boys title traces back to the twosome's beginnings in 2003 and was actually their original name. In addition to getting back to their roots, Sultan offered other bonuses behind the name swap, from the democratic nature of the title to causing less confusion for fans misidentifying the duo as Khan's Shrines project.
"Situations like my alias ('BBQ'), history and contributions getting swallowed up by Khan's infamy led to resentment over the name, too, unfortunately," he explained. "Bad spelling and wording on posters and ads, or how some folks can't understand the difference between ourselves and Khan's other band ('King Khan & The Shrines') is a bummer... On some level, we're thankful to have been sued. It's like we went full circle and got a second chance to fuck up."
Bad News Boys are set to deliver their We Are the Champion LP early next year through In the Red Records. To tease the set, the duo have unveiled a video for the title track. According to the act, it's "not the best song on the record, and not a single, but where our heads were at during the recording."
You'll find the crotch-stomping video for the garage rock track down below.
As previously reported, Khan and Sultan kick off their tour with the Black Lips next month. You'll find an updated itinerary, now including a stop in Vancouver, down below.
Tour dates:
09/10 New Orleans, LA - Tipitina's*
09/11 Houston, TX - Fitzgerald's*
09/12 Austin, TX - Ghost Town*
09/13 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater*
09/15 St. Louis, MO - Ready Room*
09/16 Iowa City, IA - Blue Moose Tap House*
09/17 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue*
09/18 Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon*
09/19 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium*
09/20 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall*
09/21 Columbus, OH - The A&R Music Bar*
09/23 Cincinnati, OH - The Southgate House Revival*
09/24 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick*
09/25 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre*
09/26 Montreal, QC - Club Soda*
09/27 Portland, ME - Port City Music Hall*
09/28 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club*
09/30 New York, NY - Irving Plaza*
10/01 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg*
10/02 Washington, DC - Black Cat*
10/03 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle*
10/04 Atlanta, GA - The Goat Farm*
10/06 San Diego, CA – the Casbah
10/07 Los Angeles, El Rey Theatre
10/08 San Francisco – the Great American Music Hall
10/10 Portland, OR – Dante's
10/11 Seattle, WA – Crocodile Café
10/12 Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl *
* with the Black Lips
