The Philosopher Kings: Rebuilding the Kingdom

Words: Adam Grant Shutter: Sony/BMG

Canadian Band, The Philosopher Kings.

It's not often that a band reaches their commercial peak only to decide that it's the right time to take an extended hiatus. For The Philosopher Kings that happened, but it wasn't exactly planned that way.
After touring incessantly in support of their commercial breakthrough, 1997's Famous, Rich and Beautiful, and the release of 1999's One Night Stand live album, the members of TPK temporarily rested their crowns and went off to explore new artistic forums.

These explorations treated the band well, as everyone found themselves engulfed in several new projects that, while different from TPK, always somehow managed to keep the group's name in the news. Lead vocalist Gerald Eaton and guitarist Brian West became the notorious production team, "Track and Field," who produced albums for home-grown Grammy Award winner Nelly Furtado.

Beyond that, Eaton would release a solo project known as Jarvis Church, while James Bryan (guitars) and Jay Levine (bassist) formed Prozzak, while Jon Levine (piano, vocals) and drummer Denton Whited worked on various touring and recording projects.  Fast-forward about seven years later, and Jay Levine has since been replaced by bassist Marc Rogers, while TPK has released their first album of this millennium, Castles.

"We started talking about doing another record now...or else it probably wasn't going to happen," explains James Bryan from the band's westbound tour bus.

"Our first concern when we got together was, are we going to make a good record? It was really important to us that we were going to have a good time making it. If it was going to be hell to make, I don't think it was going to happen."

Bryan cites the aforementioned projects as the main reasons why TPK ceased to truly exist for the past couple of years. They didn't break up; they all just became really busy while exploring separate, creative endeavors. Take for instance Bryan's time within the animated, radio friendly, dance/pop musical group Prozzak, which took over places like MuchMusic by storm.

He recalls, "Prozzak was always just about having a good time. It started off as a whim, or a joke."  What was no joke to TPK after years of not sharing the same studio space or stage was how exactly the group would again find their groove.

"Obviously, we're so busy doing other stuff, we really all came in (the
studio) with the attitude that we all love to play together, and we really respect what the band was," says Bryan.

"We didn't know how we were going to make this record—if everyone was going to be butting heads or trying to be the producer—but it was actually the opposite. Everyone was so confident and relaxed, having done other things; there was nothing really to prove," he continues.

"We just wanted to do what we do best together, which was (re-capture) whatever chemistry we have while we're in a room together playing live."

Interestingly enough, that is exactly how Castles came together. After a period of organic jamming, the band came up with its first new tune in a matter of moments, and would wind up recording the bulk of this album live off the floor. Naturally, there was a bit of production work done after the fact to bring it all together, but the end result is a disc that brings TPK fans the soulful, romantic sounds this band has become known for.

What's new for TPK this time around is that they are not solely relying on the success of Castles to butter their bread.
Collectively, the group has written more songs for other artists than the fingers of 10 people can count, while continuing to pursue solo production and musical ventures aside from the band—because at this stage of the game for The Philosopher Kings, it's all about building a kingdom to call their own.

"We're not relying on the success of this record to pay our bills, because we all have a lot going on that is able to sustain us," relays Bryan.

"We all love music. I think most of the guys in the band love doing a bunch of different things: being behind the scenes as producer/writer, or being on stage. More and more bands are saying that you can do more than one thing—whether it's Broken Social Scene or Puff Daddy or Kanye West—everyone's building their own empire."