Gods of Kansas

Detroit gets the lion's share of attention in any story about the music scene in Michigan, and rightly so. As the birthplace of Motown Records and the launching pad for Iggy and the Stooges and the MC5, that's a fair cop. But nearly everyone who has claimed the Motor City as their home has ultimately come from some other locale within the state.
These days, the Detroit bullet point on your Rock résumé is not as important as it seemed to be in the old days, and Gods of Kansas is an interesting case in point. The Kalamazoo quartet is a sonic throwback to the halcyon days of '80s Hair Metal with a minor in Classic Rock and an emphasis on melodic riffs and elaborate stage presentation. It would seem that GOK fits the bill for a band that would embrace Detroit as a surrogate home, or at least a base of operations, but in fact lead vocalist/bassist Reo Youngs and guitarist Mike Beurge formed the band four years ago when they relocated from rural Clinton county to Kalamazoo (not Detroit, thank you very much).
GOK's early lineup rotated frequently, but the late 2006 additions of drummer Danny Hough and guitarist Chris Youngs (Reo's brother) has given the band a stable and potent roster. Gods of Kansas -- named after a magazine article about UFOs and aliens -- has maintained their independence, recording both of their albums at home in Kazoo and building a grassroots fan base. Their eponymous debut came out last year, and their sophomore album, Ride the Dragon, is due next month.
With acclaimed opening slots for Nazereth, W.A.S.P. and Winger, an ass-pocket of thunderously suggestive tunes and a swaggering take-no-prisoners attitude, Ted Nugent had better watch his bowhunting back -- Gods of Kansas might just out-wango his tango. - BRIAN BAKER-APRIL 30TH, 2008-CITY BEAT, CINCINNATI, OHIO

For those about to rock, this band salutes you! There is a band in Kalamazoo that will satisfy those urges to rock! They are not punk, they are not death metal, they are surely not bluegrass! They are the Gods of Kansas and they will melt your face with their incredible wall of rock! There will be no acoustic intro to any song, no crying love power ballads either at any of their shows or on either of their two albums. It's full on loud arena rock for the masses. These guys bring their own lights and sound guy to shows. They cover a few classic heavy metal tunes by such artists as Motley Crue and Ted Nugent to name a few, the rest is all Gods Of Kansas! I have not heard a band in this town or surrounding areas that rocks this hard for people. I have had the pleasure of witnessing the Gods of Kansas several times, and I must say I would gladly pay $28.50 to a ticket seller to see these guys again! So catch them now before YOU have to pay more than $5 cover at a local bar. Check them out for yourself at www.myspace.com/thegodsofkansas and check out some tunes? To see them live will require a two month wait as they embark on their first American tour starting May 2nd. They will be back to rock in the Zoo around the beginning of July so you'll have time to memorize all the words to the songs. - WEST MICHIGAN MUSIC

As I write this, the little Kansas town of Greenburg has been blown away by a tornado. It looks like Godzilla stomped the town flat. The Gods of Kansas are at it again!
Strangely enough, the CD art for this band's debut is festooned with pictures of rampaging tornadoes. The analogy is easy to draw. These guys arent real heavy metal, but they make a lot of noise and kick up one hell of a racket. This is the kind of bare-knuckled "real" rock and roll that our Danish brother Jens Hellroute laps up like cream... no proTools, no emo, no rap but plenty of sweat, sleaze and swagger. A lot of this stuff is sounding very derivative but these dudes have that authentic feeling.
It's all based on stomping guitar riffs, rowdy vocals, screaming bluesy solos and atmosphere. Lead singer Reo Youngs is far from a picture perfect vocalist but I'll bet he whips up a storm live. Tracks I really liked here were the catchy "Don't Touch the Radio", the heavy and menacing "Hey Buddy...Where You Going?" and the final epic of "Sisters of the Poor", where the Gods put it all together for a rocker reminiscent of The Dictators meet Motorhead. A couple tunes seemed a little too long and wandering for this kind of music, but keep in mind, this is a debut.
Hook these stormchasers up with the likes of Supersuckers or Last Vegas and head for the nearest tornado shelter!
- REVIEW BY DR. MALITY

Gods of Kansas
Gods of Kansas
Do you like your beer cold? Do you like your chicks hot? Do you like to pump your fist out the window of your bitchin' '79 Camaro when Judas Priest comes on the radio? If you answered "yes," to any of those questions, then The Gods of Kansas are for you.
It's a shame Gods of Kansas don't have a time machine a la Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, so they could go back to the '80s and make it big. Despite how talented they are and how hard they rock, the basic fact is that Gods of Kansas are 20 years too late; the kids these days are into being pussies, not into rocking out. A track like "Don't Touch the Radio" would've been an instant radio hit, and one like "Oh! The Magic" would've been a stadium rock mainstay back in the day. Despite the fact that The Gods of Kansas aren't going to be selling out stadiums, they can at least have the satisfaction of knowing it's their CD being played by the dudes who beat up emo kids at the mall. Rock on... (Manfred Hundhammer // 08/10/07)

- SPACE CITY ROCK .COM

KALAMAZOO — Gods Of Kansas is a band tired of the dark, morbid side of rock music that gained prominence in the early 1990s through the new millennium. Music, in the band's mind, is supposed to be ruckus and celebratory.
That is why the Kalamazoo quartet forwent the introverted undertones of grunge and nu-metal and wrote music that harked back to 80s rock bands like Motley Crue, Ratt and Poison.
"I think rock 'n' roll is coming back in force," said drummer Danny Hough. "That big show, escape from reality rock 'n' roll is coming back. People miss that.
"Grunge was really terrible for music," he said. "It showed a lot of depression. You feel things from music. If you go feel a bunch of depression and a bunch of anger, that's not fun. You go listen to good rock 'n' roll that's fun and you'll have a good time."
The band, rounded out by Reo Youngs on bass and brother Chris Youngs on rhythm guitar, plays music that is fast and heavy, with quick chops and sharp, melodic licks from the lead guitar.
"A lot of our stuff is written as rhythm and blues," Chris Youngs explained. "Then it gets kicked in the ass with, like, steroids and whiskey and ends up high-powered."
The musicians call on a variety of influences, from classic rock to 80s metal to rockabilly.
"It's when we all come together and start putting the songs together and we pull from all those influences that we get that Gods Of Kansas sound," Chris Youngs said.
The point of most GOK songs, the musicians said, is to entertain, rather than explore angst-ridden emotions.
"There's some songs of ours that tell stories and there's other songs that are just a general idea or concept," Chris Youngs said. "We're kind of bass-ackwards when it comes to that. A lot of bands will write lyrics and then find riffs to fit into the song. We get riffs from jamming. Then, if we end up with a heavy song, we talk about something upbeat or in-your-face. If it's something slow and raunchy it might be something sexier. A lot of our songs cover a wide variety of topics, but a lot of it just what rock 'n' roll can do for you."
GOK also brought back the high-energy, flashing lights, costumed theatrics of 80s rock.
"We'll wear leather to sweet 16-year-old birthday parties," Reo Youngs said with a laugh. "We do everything but pyro. We bring a show every time we walk in."
The band, taking its name from a magazine cover about aliens, formed in 2004, after Reo Youngs and Beurge moved to Kalamazoo from Clinton County in search of a "bigger city."
"Of course, we found out it wasn't as big as we thought it was," Reo Youngs said.
Still, the band has found success. After going through several lineup changes, the band settled on its current lineup at the end of 2006. It has released two albums and is currently recording a third at Kalamazoo's Brown & Brown Studios. It expects to release that album in May.
It has one national tour under its belt and has plans for another. In October, the group signed to the Lexington, Ky.-based Blast Zone Entertainment Group, which will distribute the forthcoming album.
"Our music and our live show has taken us far on the business side of this band," Hough said.
While preparing for a busy year in 2008, the group said it's ambitions are simple.
"If I can do what I love and support myself, then I'll be content," Buerge said. "Of course, when I get that, then I'll probably want to push it farther and a little farther, and a little farther."
Justin A. Hinkley can be reached at 966-0698
- jhinkley@battlecr.gannett.com.

We were a little late getting to the festival grounds due to a classic case of my navigation skills and some issues with my friend's Aquanet. The first show of the day we caught was the wildly entertaining Gods of Kansas on the south side stage. They acknowledged that most of us have no idea what songs they're playing and threw in a great cover of my favorite W.A.S.P. song, "Wild Child". I noticed in most of their own songs they seemed to be throwing the word "Rocklahoma" into every other line. I believe they hold the festival record for Most Uses of the Word "Rocklahoma" In One Set. It was fun, though, and a great start to the festival for me. - ROCK EUPHORIA