GREG REESE
Arts Editor

“The Sheaf, is that a condom company?” demands the hipster-garage rocker King Khan from the passenger seat of a vehicle driving somewhere in Texas.

“Uh, no, like a sheaf of wheat. We’re a paper in Saskatchewan.”

“Oh”¦ Do you know what corn-holing is?”

Interviewing King Khan is like talking to your elementary school best friend’s older brother; certainly he’s going to be a juvenile prick, but on some weird level you still think he’s cool.

“Yeah, I’m listening to a lot of Car, Jewelry, Kanipshin Shit, Gould’s Gym, Fedex, Discount Tire Company, Firestone, Pterodactyl,” said Khan, snickering about his favourite modern bands. (I must admit, I thought at first that Khan was spouting total shit like a broken sewer pipe, but it turns out at least half these bands do exist — and kick ass, too!)

Still, a combination of rock star ego and adolescent sense of humour nearly eclipses all attempts at real conversation. And a huge yawn, directed straight into the receiver, tells me the King isn’t digging the college paper interview.

As one of Vice Records’ stalwart acts, vulgarity is almost a prerequisite. And King Khan and BBQ Show (presumably driving the car during the riveting interview) play sexed-out ’50s and’60s style rock music that manages to sound as fresh and raw as it was in its heyday. Though Khan’s ego is clearly as healthy as his beer belly, his music is unquestionably some of the best of the garage rock scene today.

Once based out of Montreal, King Khan and BBQ Show began playing music together in a band called the Spaceshits. Since then, they have relocated to Berlin where their brand of Iggy Pop-esque drugged-up, sex-riot stage show is received with even more enthusiasm than the notoriously sex-crazed audiences of Quebec.

“It works better in Berlin than in Montreal. That’s why we started doing this thing (there). In Berlin and Hamburg people started dropping their pants. It was wonderful,” said Khan. “I don’t know (about other bands in Berlin). I don’t go out very much. I live in a plastic bag living off the moisture that’s in my body. It’s a wonderful place to live. It’s where I go to be a normal person and not tour; we do a lot of touring all year.”

In various other incarnations — the most popular of which is the still happening King Khan and the Shrines — King Khan and BBQ Show have toured Canada before. Their show at Amigos on Nov. 27 is sure to be another fantastic spectacle.

“We played Sled Island last year and Vancouver has always been really good. We have played jazz festivals in Winnipeg. I found Winnipeg a strange place. It’s like the Detroit of Canada,” said Khan. “(This tour) is going great.”

Though they’re not the only band doing the mildly disgusting, sex freak-out thing (check out Monotonix if you want to dodge flying boogers and see a grown man stick a microphone in his ass), King Khan and BBQ have kickass songs backing them up every step of the way. In other words, the freak show is a sideshow and it isn’t all novelty.

“We just went to the greatest barbecue place in Texas: the Saltlick,” said Khan. “Which is also something you have to do after corn-holing.”

Shortly after our conversation, rumors began circulating that King Khan and BBQ Show were arrested in Kentucky, near the border of Tennessee, allegedly in the possession of some magic mushrooms. However, this shouldn’t affect their gig at Amigos — though they could be out of mushrooms.