Purveyors of: Flowing, tumbling improv for drums and processed trombone
File next to: KC Accidental, Do Make Say Think, Can, ragas

King Weather is the combined musical effort of talented trombonist Steve Ward (Pick A Piper, Lone Bone) and the inimitable percussionist D. Alex Meeks (Hooded Fang, Holiday Rambler). The result is a sweeping, entrancing ocean of looped, electronically manipulated brass and crackling improvised drumming. Music for the avid mind traveler. Adam Bradley mind-melded with Steve Ward via cyberspace. 

Can you describe the series of events that led to the germination of this project? 

I was doing a lot of Lone Bone shows at my Monday night Somewhere There series; one night D. Alex was playing duo with a piano player (I forget who) and I thought D. Alex's groove-based improv would work well my Lone Bone stuff, kind of Lone Bone with drums. D. Alex came up with the name, I'm not sure how.

Do you two fellows engage in any kind of pre-show ritual? Vulcan mind-meld? Body-switching via some arcane talisman?

We usually play at the Tranzac the last Sunday of the month at 10:30pm. I get off work, and after a quick nap, I love a good cold beer in the shower to wake me up, then I drink more beer.

Do you ever find yourself completely entranced by your own music making?

100%. For me it's all about performance. I don't really care about websites or recordings that much (notice we don't have either). When we're onstage we get in the zone and it feels heavenly.

Are there deliberate homages paid to predecessors in your song craft or does it flow simply from a delved galaxy in your minds?

No deliberate homages but strong influences. For me it's Stuart Dempster's cave and church recordings that influence my playing style and electronics (trying to emulate natural reverberation) and we both really love Arvo Pärt, you can hear that as well.

The combination of drums and looped trombone is certainly unique. Do you find this arrangement limiting at all, and if so is that limitation in any way a creative blessing?

Embracing our limits is a big part of our aesthetic. For example, I just use a Boss DD-7 delay pedal. It's old and a little clunky. I often have to make musical decisions on the spot to smooth out the imperfections of the pedal and I love it.