{"id":10001,"date":"2026-04-06T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/utahs-krooked-kings-drop-their-protective-barrier\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:00:00","slug":"utahs-krooked-kings-drop-their-protective-barrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/utahs-krooked-kings-drop-their-protective-barrier\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah\u2019s Krooked Kings Drop Their Protective Barrier"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/leadPress-Photo-Horizontal-Photo-Credit-Orchee-Sorker.jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" alt=\"Krooked Kings. (Credit: Orchee Sorker)\"><figcaption>Krooked Kings. (Credit: Orchee Sorker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Krooked Kings\u2019 Oliver Martin sits in a nondescript room, <\/strong>wearing a shapeless, oversized sweatshirt and an unstructured cap. The space is devoid of character\u2014the paint and d\u00e9cor indeterminate. I hope this isn\u2019t where the Utah-based group created their latest album, <em>In Another Life<\/em>, as the setting is uninspired, to put it politely. But then I spot three analog cameras hanging on one wall. They lend the room some visual interest, as does Oli\u2019s wispy mustache, which provides a focal point during our conversation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know a lot of people are like an onion and you have to peel the layers?\u201d he asks. \u201cMy mom, she says I\u2019m like an egg: you crack the egg a little and it\u2019s all yolk. I like the deep stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/radiohead-coachella-kid-a-film\/\">Radiohead\u2019s Coachella Moment Is An Archival Film<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/lady-gaga-doechi-devil-wears-prada\/\">Lady Gaga, Doechi Team For \u2018Prada\u2019 Sequel Song<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/the-strokes-new-album\/\">The Strokes Tussle With \u2018Reality\u2019 On New LP<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Scanning the lyrics of <em>In Another Life<\/em>, I don\u2019t doubt him. On the group\u2019s fourth album in six years, there are songs about doomscrolling, drinking, drugs, and self-loathing\u2014alongside themes of breakups, addiction, and the yearning for a different future. Music is how Oli conveys his thoughts; in person, it takes at least 45 minutes before he offers the yolk analogy. The more he talks, the more I realize that at 28, he is still quite young. He maintains a protective barrier, and I suspect the neutrality of his environment reflects a similar guardedness in himself.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1800\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-4-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey.jpg\" alt=\"(Credit: Travis Frey\" class=\"wp-image-657487\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-4-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-4-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey-340x510.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-4-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-4-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-4-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey-498x747.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Credit: Travis Frey)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>In Another Life<\/em>\u2019s producer, Yves Rothman (Blondshell, Yves Tumor), first worked with Krooked Kings during the recording of their 2024 album, <em>Shiver<\/em>. Oli says the band \u201ckind of had a crush on him after that. He\u2019s handsome, he\u2019s cool, he\u2019s stylish. He\u2019s a Hollywood producer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Oli credits Yves with pushing Krooked Kings musically, and especially lyrically, by challenging the group to get specific with their messaging. Previously, the band wrote quickly and without edits, primarily due to a lack of time. According to Oli, \u201cOnce we hit a vulnerability, Yves\u2019s inclination was to dive into it instead of skipping over it and getting to the next idea. There were verses we spent hours on compared to the previous records. He reminded us to really focus and tap into that side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking over the phone some days after my conversation with Oli, Yves says, \u201cI want to hear a good story. I want to hear words that evoke my own story. What makes every artist unique is their own story. You\u2019re always hearing songs about New York, L.A., London, Paris, but you\u2019re never hearing stories about other places and smaller-town upbringings. It felt interesting to have a voyeuristic view into a group of guys growing up in Utah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before recording officially began, Yves set Krooked Kings up in his Los Angeles studio as he would for a band practice. They played for two weeks, and in the process, it became apparent that musically, the album was going to be the sound of the band playing live together. Lyrically, for Yves, <em>In Another Life<\/em> captures the heart of who Krooked Kings are.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/ialalbumcover.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-657488\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/ialalbumcover.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/ialalbumcover-340x340.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/ialalbumcover-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/ialalbumcover-498x498.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>In Another Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As they worked together, he observed the band grow more comfortable around him and eventually loosen up. \u201cI just kept chipping away at any facade or any insecurities they had and got straight to the heart of who they are and what they\u2019ve been trying to say over the last few records,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel like we finally started to crack that with this album. They took it seriously and that compelled me to push as hard as I could to get the best out of them. Not everyone I work with is willing to open up and share on that level. We were punching in and revising lyrics and melodies all the way up until we were mixing. It came full circle where musically and lyrically we were able to harness this energy of truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When discussing songwriting, Oli consistently uses the word \u201cwe,\u201d emphasizing that everyone in the band \u201cchimes in\u201d and \u201cleans on each other,\u201d especially during unsure moments. This collaborative practice is particularly vital when he struggles to translate personal experiences into direct lyrics while under the spotlight. Yves noticed this hesitation, specifically identifying a deep-seated self-criticism that Oli was afraid to verbalize\u2014a breakthrough that Yves eventually brought to his attention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce [Yves] said that, it made me so emotional I could almost cry,\u201d says Oli, who is wary of imposing his points of view on the band\u2019s collective identity. \u201cI don\u2019t know what the fuck I\u2019m doing. I don\u2019t know what the fuck is going on. And Yves was like, \u2018Write lyrics that scare you.\u2019 I went home and wrote the verse to \u2018My Friend Max,\u2019 which is about taking drugs, stealing, doing all these things I really despise, that my parents taught me not to do, but then saying, hands up, this is me. Even the relationship songs\u2026we were not writing cutesy love songs, but what hurts about it, what\u2019s happening in your brain while it\u2019s happening. What\u2019s the unfiltered version of what\u2019s going on? Yves really tapped into that. Once that happened, it was cathartic.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1800\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-2-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey.jpg\" alt=\"(Credit: Travis Frey)\" class=\"wp-image-657490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-2-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-2-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey-340x510.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-2-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-2-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/03\/Ranchers-Daughter-Press-Photo-2-Photo-Credit-Travis-Frey-498x747.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Credit: Travis Frey)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Of the 10 to 15 songs the band arrived with at Yves\u2019 studio, only the title track survived intact. Some were axed immediately; others were rewritten and re-recorded, keeping Oli\u2019s voice pure, stripped of the vocal doubling that had been his signature on previous records. Yves cited Coldplay and Radiohead for their singular, personality-driven voices, convincing Oli that not hiding behind doubling would push the vulnerability of the songs. Other influences referenced during recording included Fontaines D.C. (specifically 2024\u2019s <em>Romance<\/em>), the Shins\u2019 <em>Wincing the Night Away<\/em>, and Third Eye Blind\u2014naming the song \u201cJumper\u201d as an example of an uncomfortable track to write due to its subject matter of bullying and suicide.<\/p>\n<p>The band members have left their Latter-day Saint upbringing behind, but Oli doesn\u2019t downplay the difficulty of that decision. \u201cI wish I was able to believe honestly,\u201d he says. \u201cI hated that I couldn\u2019t. I think it broke me as a person. Even on this record is maybe something that still lingers in my soul. Having friends and family with such a structured life, they\u2019re all doing things that I grew up thinking I was going to do, then fucking none of it happened. There are so many people that have had this fabricated life they imagined and it came crashing down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While \u201cflawed and confused\u201d is Oli\u2019s catchall term for the band\u2014and the concept to which <em>In Another Life<\/em> is pinned\u2014he remains hopeful about the connection the music creates. \u201cWhat we want to get across is: You\u2019re not alone. These experiences happen to everyone. We don\u2019t have the answers. We\u2019re asking the questions in songs, and maybe there\u2019s no answer. We\u2019re just figuring it out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>Catch Krooked King on their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.krookedkings.band\/pages\/inanotherlifetour\" target=\"_blank\">North America tour<\/a> now.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/spinmagazine.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Krooked Kings. (Credit: Orchee Sorker) Krooked Kings\u2019 Oliver Martin sits in a nondescript room, wearing a shapeless, oversized sweatshirt and an unstructured cap. The space is devoid of character\u2014the paint&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,5809,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-krooked-kings","category-pushly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10001\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}