Mark Sultan (of The King Khan + BBQ Show)

MARK SULTAN / BBQ is a cult figure, sorcerer, nutcase, and underrated gem. His legacy of LPs and 45s on labels like In The Red, Goner, Crypt, Wick/Daptone, Sub Pop, Dirtnap, Vice, Fat Possum, Bomp!, Norton, Dirtnap, etc... and his impressive list of rock n roll projects (The King Khan & BBQ Show, Ding-Dongs, Almighty Defenders, Les Sexareenos, Spaceshits, etc...) are an influential secret handshake. And that's just the way he likes it.

“I’m a music fan. When I was a kid, finding some crazy, magical 45 nobody knew felt very empowering.” His unmistakable vocals and instantly transportive melodies use time as a tapestry, and mood as color, while retaining the sexuality and primitivity of the genre. “Some of my favorite music acts like a portal to me. It’s time travel. It’s a way to shift into parallel worlds. It's like magic.”

Mark's notorious one-man band, ‘BBQ’, has long been lauded as an anomalous delight: an intense, improvised (and uncomfortable) show from which he rarely surfaces to take pause. He's toured the world over, from the Americas to Australia, Europe to Asia to Russia, and everywhere in between. He’s played hallowed venues like the Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall, as well as all of the giant, unnamable festivals.

His fans include many strange, paradoxical artists across the spectrum. Generations cover his tunes, heard as a mysterious xerox throughout the ‘underground’, simultaneously miscredited yet grossly over-exposed to the max, online. His song (as performed by The King Khan & BBQ Show), 'Love You So' has achieved Gold Status (and possibly whatever the next level is, as well) in the US (and a few other countries), and with streams, downloads, and plays totaling in the tens of BILLIONS, he has become an unlikely, subversive force as a modern-day torchbearer for real rock n roll. “It’s strange to me how (my music) is consumed, but I guess I’m just happy it is sometimes beloved.”

File Under: doo-wop, garage, rock’n’roll, farts, pizza, EC Comics, RnB, punk…

“My name is Mark Sultan. I am a real rock n roller. And I will do this until the day I die.”