Features
New Album From King Llama
JGT contributor Joe Barth interviews guitarist Ryan Bailey – they discuss the new King Llama album Fata Implexis.
Some describe experimental fusion-influenced jam band music as the style of the Los Angeles band King Llama. Led by guitarist-songwriter Ryan T. Bailey, the ensemble also includes bassist Anthony Crawford, guitarist Billy Paulsen, and drummer Luis Briones. They just released a new album fata implexis, which means “fate intertwined.” I talk with Ryan about his approach to the guitar as well as the new album.
JB: Did you grow up in Colorado before coming to Los Angeles and how old were you when you started playing jazz guitar?
RB: I did grow up mostly in Colorado – Denver/Boulder, and Vail/Aspen… I was there for most of my high school and college education, and I came to Los Angeles in the early 2000’s with some music friends to start a music recording business. I suppose I started playing guitar when I was sixteen and probably got into “jazz” when I was nineteen. My original band from those days, “billspeering” was very experimental with jazz and improvisation.
JB: You studied at the Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles, what was most helpful in your development as a guitarist?
RB: I have studied music at various institutions, and indeed, I did enjoy my time at the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. I have also studied with many private teachers, and I spend a good amount of time looking for useful instruction online, through social platforms and recommendations. I think the most helpful thing for me in developing myself as a guitarist, other than learning techniques and music theory, is a drive to personalize the experience. I am always writing and creating my own ideas with new things I learn, and I play and perform those ideas with other musicians, and in personalizing my musical knowledge base as it grows, the challenges become fun and not discouraging, etc…
JB: To you, what are three of the most influential jazz guitar albums and why?
RB: As far as “jazz” guitar albums are concerned, there are so many, and it is of course very difficult to consider what is most influential … However, here are three that I personally felt inspired by in my youth:
Return to Forever’s. Romantic Warrior. I discovered this album a bit later than the others I will mention, but it is an amazing and very inspiring album, and being able to work with the man who recorded and mixed that album, Dennis MacKay, is a dream come true for me!
Then Wes Montgomery’s. The Incredible Jazz Guitar. This album was a big part of my jazz study, especially with private instructors. Wes Montgomery is such a classic in the guitar jazz world, and all of these melodies and musical themes, and especially solos are so iconic… It is a master class of a jazz guitar album.
Lastly, John Scofield A Go Go. This album was always being enjoyed within my circle of friends and band mates, throughout my high school and college days. Scofield’s eccentric and unique phrases are inspiring in themselves, and really gave me a good perspective on embracing my own natural sound.
I also have to add Al DiMeola’s Elegant Gypsy. I have always loved Al’s sound, and this album was very inspiring to me. The tracks are all structurally excellent with very creative melodies and groove. I think it was mostly inspiring to my desire to be unique and creative and my jam phrasing.
Again, there are too many wonderfully inspiring jazz guitar albums out there for me to narrow it down to three, and there are probably twenty-five more that are just as inspiring to me…
JB: Talk about how King Llama came together as a band.
RB: The original band was formed around the late 2000’s, between Luis Briones, me, and our friend Nico Staub (who is no longer in the project). We all met each other through musical situations, and the band was formed as an original instrumental jazz-rock band. It was a very stripped-down rock trio, with a very broad range of inspirations coming from each of us, such as punk, funk, R&B, jazz, jam improv, math rock, etc. Before Covid, we played many local scenes in Los Angeles, and toured across the country a few times, also internationally in Argentina and Chile. Post-COVID, we spent many years cultivating an expansion of the band, more production, tons of new material, and a new full-length album. We work with Dennis MacKay, our bassist now is Anthony Crawford, and we have a second guitarist, Billy Paulsen.
JB: Tell us about the joy of having Dennis MacKay produce and record you. Dennis has worked with “giants of fusion” like John McLaughlin, Return to Forever, and others.
RB: Indeed, it is quite a pleasure to know and work with Dennis. I have known and worked exclusively with him for years, so I do feel he is a very good friend. Professionally, he is an excellent producer. Not only is he a genius with melodies and vision but is also very smart about perspective and relationships. And of course, his recording techniques and his mixes are certainly perfect as well. It really has felt seamless and purposeful including Dennis within the entire scope of our creations, and we all admittedly surprise each other with our musical ideas… We have been working on so many ideas since we met each other, and we really pour ourselves into what we do, so this whole thing is very personal to all of us.
JB: Tell us about your earlier album Return to Ox.
RB: It was recorded in 2015. A few years before that we did record an EP called Serving the Multiverse, and it was more of a homemade album, and few of those original songs were re-recorded on Return to Ox. We recorded Return to Ox at East West Studios in Hollywood, with Dave Shiffman. Those tracks really do well to represent the “live-band” sound we had going on at the time, as we were a very performance-focused trio, and those songs evolved into what they are over years of performance. So, we did minimal overdubbing and layering on that album and did our best to make it feel live and raw.
JB: The new album Fata Implexis was recorded with new songs the band has written. Were these songs written as a band effort? Reflect upon the material selection for the recording.
RB: Some songs have their own answer to this question… “Lora Ky” was mostly composed by myself and Luis, and its original concept is part of a vault of material I composed during the lockdowns because of COVID-19. A lot of “Sir Isaac” also comes from that writing period, however, parts of that song were also composed as a “band” with some of the other bass players that we were playing with (after Nico departed the band), such as Chase Bryant and Nate Haiden. Also, “Sir Isaac” was the first recording we did with Dennis (five years ago), but that was before we added a second guitar, and I ended up writing and recording second guitar parts for that entire eleven-minute song three years after the first recording session. The song, “Hamilton,” is actually an upgraded version of an older way we used to perform it (pre-Covid) and is definitely a “band” written song. We really added a lot to that particular song, and everyone really contributed. The last three songs, “Bus Stop,” “Level Z,” and “Vita et Mors” are all connected in a particular way. They were original compositions I made about 15 years ago, before King Llama, and Dennis wanted us to remake them, so we used them as inspiration in remaking them into what they are now, on Fata Implexis.
JB: Bassist Anthony Crawford and drummer Luis Briones are a wonderful rhythm section. (I know that you used some other bass players on the album) What do you appreciate about them as musicians?
RB: They are both amazing musicians who live and breathe the music they play. Plus, we are all good friends, having good times, with similar tastes, and are on the same page musically. That really goes for almost all of the musicians we have played with and recorded with. I would say the same for my past bass players, featured players, and my other guitarist. Overall, I appreciate the dedication that I recognize in them towards their passion for playing music.
JB: Talk about what you appreciate about the guitars with which you recorded this album.
RB: The album was 4 years in the making, with many recording sessions, and many different guitars were used, and I’m not sure I can recall everything… But, I do appreciate the blend we achieved between the 70’s guitar sounds, and some modern guitar sounds, and some acoustic guitar layering. I recall us using a PRS custom for a lot of stuff, a Danocaster (Strat model) custom, a Fender Jazzmaster, a Taylor 12 string acoustic, a Spanish Nylon acoustic, and an ES-355… Not to mention, plenty of outboard effects and pedals, and amplifiers.
JB: You live in Los Angeles where there are many musicians. Talk about the gigs you do and how you make a career in music work for you.
RB: I guess, every musician is kind of on their own path, and I don’t quite feel qualified to advise on how to find work or gigs, as that really depends on personal specifics… However, I guess I would advise this: try to maintain a passion for the actual music you are doing, separated from, but respect toward the work aspect. Personalize your experiences, and find love in the music you do, and that will feed your motivation.
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