King Kendall

Jason "King" Kendall is an American vocalist and videogame designer^[1] associated with three bands from Providence, Rhode Island. An online zine published by his employer Harmonix Music Systems (a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company located about an hour from Providence) refers to Kendall as a "local legend."^[2]

Early career

Kendall was a member of the Amazing Royal Crowns rockabilly band that began in Providence in 1994. They won the 1997 WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble in Boston, were nominated for seven Kahlua Boston Music Awards, toured extensively with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and were interviewed by Rolling Stone.^[3][4][5][6] The Amazing Royal Crowns song, "Mr. Fix-it" is featured as a playable track in the videogame Guitar Hero II.^[7]

After the Amazing Royal Crowns called it quits Kendall formed the Deterrents. The Deterrents never released anything formally, only putting out 3 demos on their now defunct web site.

Recent career

As of 2009, Kendall was a member of Megasus, a heavy metal supergroup which started in Providence in as a side project formed by ex-members of Amazing Royal Crowns.^[8] In 2006, Kendall was joined Ryan Lesser (from the band Laurels), Paul Lyons (from the band Scared Stiffs), and Dare Matheson (from the band Made In Mexico) to record the song "Red Lottery" for the PlayStation 2 game Guitar Hero II. After this initial recording, Matheson was replaced by Brian Gibson (from the band Lightning Bolt) and their music has appeared on subsequent Harmonix games.^{[1][9][10][11]} Early demos of Guitar Hero II used "King Kendall" as the name for the character who eventually became Eddie Knox. Rock Band 2 features Jason "King" Kendall as an in-game band manager.

Film role

In 2005, Kendall appeared in the role of "Kentucky Bob" in the film Die You Zombie Bastards!^[12]

Interviews

• Still Royal to the Loyal: An Interview with Jason "King" Kendall of The Amazing Crowns
• Royal Crowns – An interview with Jason "King" Kendall, vocals

References