KING'S X Guitarist Discusses New Solo CD, Dealing With A 'Stalker'

1340mag.com recently conducted an interview with KING'S X guitarist Ty Tabor. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

1340mag.com: How do you personally feel that this [new solo] CD ["Rock Garden"] has evolved from "Naomi's Solar Pumpkin", "Moonflower Lane" or "Safety"?

Ty: I don't know. I don't ever really think of it in categories or comparisons. I kind of attack everything with the same philosophy and that is be true to who you are right now, or musically do what you want to do right now. I think you have to enjoy what you're doing in order for it to be good. So I always try to be true to where I am in the moment. On the other solo stuff it was during different time periods in life where I was going through different things and they reflect those things. Musically, it was more introspective and even soft at places. Personally, when it came time to do this record I was about sick to deal of sappy stuff like that and I just wanted to play rock and roll again, which is what I do. I figured it was about time that I made a solo album where I was doing what I like most and that is rock and roll.

1340mag.com: Your press release says you have a more optimistic outlook on this album as opposed to your previous ones, why do you feel that was so?

Ty: Well, the last record was pretty much based on the break-up of my marriage. So that album reflected a lot of pain and horrible stuff. It's the kind of thing I don't ever go back and listen to. It was just a period and it happened to be where I was at during the making of that record. This record is more of what I have always wanted to do and what I was trying to do on the "Naomi's Solar Pumpkin" album but it was my first time out and I didn't know what the heck I was doing. This time around I knew more about what exactly I wanted to do and decided to take my time and make be exactly that.

1340mag.com: Could you talk a little about the second song "Stalker"? Is this based on a real-life event?

Ty: This is unfortunately based on a very true story that ended up involving the police and the FBI. It's not even actually based on one song, it was the catalyst of a recent event but it made me realize how many were out there and how many were potential dangerous situations. I just had to deal with that for a while; I had to call people that were much more famous than me and get help on how to deal with it… psychologically and everything. It kind of really freaked my life out to feel like I couldn't walk around any corner without feeling like somebody was going to kill me. That still is a real ongoing current thing that is and it is involving more than one psycho. So I had to write a song about it. I really had to fight myself about this because I don't want to antagonize anybody that is already somewhat delusional and on the edge. But I really needed to write about it because it has such a horrible negative affect on my life.

1340mag.com: So by listening to the song we can get a better understanding of the experience you had?

Ty: Well, the song is a little more general and is about one person in the song, but the song is actually not the one person. So it is a little more general but definitely inspired some really, really scary and dark moments in life recently dealing with a scary situation.

1340mag.com: We know this is a real concern for musicians because all we have to do is look at Dimebag Darrell and see that there truly are deranged people who are out to "get" musicians.

Ty: This is very real to me because Dimebag was a friend so it is very, very real to all of us. It can and does happen. It is out there more often and prevalent than people realize, it's something that is there always and we just don't talk about it or focus on it because you live in fear. I had two situations that just forced themselves into my life and I had to deal with it. Like I said I had to get the FBI involved.

I must say though, that if the FBI ever gets involved in something with you, my experience is that those guys kick butt. They are amazing! I was stunned as to what all they were able to do. It was truly, truly amazing.

Read the entire interview at 1340mag.com.