THE FUNK TRUCK
The Funk Truck is the musical and ideological vision of bass player/ vocalist/ multi-instrumentalist John “Kingvegas” Kiehne. It’s purpose is to be a collaborative effort by musicians, artists, videographers, community activists, educators and so forth to create some great and empowering music while also creating opportunities for members, fans and the community in general. Below is a summation of our goals.
- To create fun, inventive, positive, fun and musically progressive music as a means to elevate, energize and enlighten humanity.
- To be artistically and ideologically inclusive by including a diverse array of sounds, styles, ideas and approaches.
- To create artistic opportunities for the members of the collective as well as draw in more opportunities for and from the community that we serve.
- To create a framework from which the collaborators on The Funk Truck can create, produce, distribute and promote their works.
- To learn and grow by participating in networking and educational opportunities to further expand our minds and spirits as well as improving our business acumen and professional network.
- To give back to the community by providing workshops for music, art and business students regarding performance, production, business, etc. as well as community-building events to promote a more peaceful and progressive future for St. Louis and beyond.
Be on the lookout for the first Funk Truck releases and shows coming in 2017! Check out the Funk Truck website to see what else we have going on.
SMOKSTIK
Smokstik is a St. Louis- based original music group featuring Kingvegas on the Warr Guitar, vocals and other stuff (including drums). Smokstik has released two albums including “Bugs” in 1998 and “2″ in 2010 as well as releasing a number of singles including “Fill Me Up”, “Corn Cob Bob”, “Money Tree”, “The 500 Song (The Abarth Rocks)”, “The Shameless Smokstik Promo Song” and “Running Things”.
Smokstik was born in Boston, MA in 1995 with drummer Gary Morrell who was replaced by Hillary Koogler who appeared on the Bugs album (1998). A number of drummers have performed with Smokstik in Boston and St. Louis including Joe Meyer who appeared on the “2″ album, Troy Velazquez, Dave Westner, Leon Lamont, and Shawn Marquis. Recent tracks have featured Kingvegas on the drums as well as Radomir Ratkovic.
Smokstik has performed extensively around the Northeast and Midwest regions in the US. Past performances have included the Middle East, TT the Bear’s, The House of Blues, CBGB, the Hi Pointe, Sally T’s, a variety of colleges and festivals and many others.
Check out Smokstik videos at YouTube.com/Smokstik as well as YouTube.com/kingvegasstl.
Kingvegas is in the process of producing new material as well as preparing a live set for shows coming up in the fall and winter of 2016. Check the Smokstik website to stay up with current Smokstik events.
Kingvegas on Patreon: Patreon.com/kingvegas
You can also find Smokstik on Twitter: @smokstik
Smokstik on Facebook: Facebook.com/smokstik
Smokstik on Instagram: @smokstik
Smokstik on Soundcloud: Soundcloud.com/smokstik
Smokstik on MySpace: MySpace.com/smokstik
Smokstik on Reverbnation: Reverbnation.com/smokstik
THE VEGAS JAZZ ODDITY
The Vegas Jazz Oddity features the instrumental music of Kingvegas.
Releases are forthcoming on Bandcamp!