Thank Mountain Dew for inspiring the songwriting of Naseem Khuri, the founder and frontman of the much-acclaimed band Kingsley Flood. Khuri was in college and graduate school — preparing for a career in international relations — when he’d find himself sipping the soft drink and reflecting on various aspects of life.
“It sounds overly dramatic but I’m [one to] stay up late at night with a lot of Mountain Dew and try to make observations about the world and what goes on around me,” said Khuri, who lives in D.C. although the rest of the band lives in the Boston area. “I’d capture that on paper and if it can [create] stories and make people move at the same time, that’s a great one-two punch.”
So great, in fact, that the band landed prime coverage from NPR music and other critics and was recently voted “Best Roots Act” in the Boston Phoenix’s Best Music Poll.
| IF YOU GO |
| Kingsley Flood with Typefighter and Sounds from Atlantis |
| » When: 8:30 p.m. (doors), 9:30 show Saturday |
| » Where: Rock ‘N Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE |
| » Info: $10; 202-388-ROCK; rockandrollhoteldc.com |
What’s ironic to Khuri is that he wasn’t an Americana fan growing up. Like most kids in the United States, his musical taste slanted toward mainstream rock. Once he got a “crappy guitar,” he thought rocking was the way to go.
But as he matured and experienced the music of Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams and even punk rockers such as Joe Strummer and the Clash, Khuri’s interests broadened.
“I love that they can bring so much energy … [while making] astute observations about the world around them,” he said. “Writing is different every time, that’s the beauty and frustration of it.”
Take Khuri’s critically acclaimed song “Cathedral Walls.” Although some might guess that it’s rich textures took significant amounts of time to sculpt, Khuri said the song came together “in about two minutes and I don’t know how to credit it except that I stole the line ‘Nobody gets out of life alive,’ ” from the movie “Hud” starring Paul Newman.
That’s perhaps one of the clearest indications of how Khuri and his band mates developed the band’s sound that takes Americana for a bit of a ride along other formats.
“We have a vision to make Americana music and push that genre around a bit,” he said. “We use Americana instrumentation … and [add] punk influences and the beat the crap out of the acoustic guitars. It’s awesome to put your own spin on it.”
