An Interview with Kings and Liars

Gritty, grimy, chugging and swerving with a sometimes nasty little groove, heavy in a time with a definite need for that, and proving that “metal” can be both that and be “melodic”, Kings and Liars are here to show you what rock & roll should be. Not content to blend in with the mediocre or downplay their heaviness, Kings and Liars bring nothing but their rock & roll grit and swagger to each and every show.

Pulling from a pure love of early metal and larger doses of 90’s grunge rock, Kings and Liars moves past the “classic rock” ear tag and drives their sound forward with the volume up and the pedal flat. After years of touring as utility members in bands (Dee Snider, JASTA, Kingdom of Sorrow and Toxic Holocaust), Charlie Bellmore, Nick Bellmore, Chris Beaudette had the desire to give a nod to their influences but not re-hash them.

Kings and Liars is a powerhouse of a band coming out of Connecticut with influences ranging from Metallica to Alice in Chains to 90s east coast hardcore. We sat down with Charlie Bellmore to discuss how the band came together, his favorite songs, upcoming music, and more. 

Hey, thanks for chatting with us. Tell us a little about the band.

We’re a power trio that loves big giant riffs, 3 part harmonies, focusing on slower Sludge metal heaviness, and then going full pop in the choruses. Both string players sing lead at different times and our lyrics are introspective and deal with loss, self-therapy, and just old-fashioned anger.

How did the band form and when?

The band formed in 2009 when songs I wrote for a solo artist were denied, my band had also broken up and I decided to make a band that would never be damaged by other people. It began as a solo project and has had rotating members. Chris and I (Charlie) have always been in but my brother came in in 2015 with a singer. Since 2009 it was always a “project band” as I was always touring with others, and in 2019 our singer left a month before a show. We decided we would do all the singing and that this was the lineup. So in a way, the band almost “started” in 2019, but the 3 of us have been friends since we were 13/14 years old.

Who or what inspires the band’s music?

Metallica, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Crowbar, Queens of the Stone Age, the Black Sabbath album dehumanizer, and 90s east coast hardcore.

Tell us a little bit more about putting together your first two EPs—Machines, and It’s Your Fault.

All the songs were the first we ever recorded as a band at once, we then split it into two pieces. We still play many of those songs with the 3 piece lineup. We recorded it all ourselves at Nick’s studio and still get compliments on the guitar and drum tones.

What’s your favorite song you’ve released thus far?

Probably “Heavy Lies” or “Burn to the Ground”, both are what I believe to be the epitome of what Kings and Liars is – very heavy riffs for a verse and having the vocals “lighten” the feel so it’s more palatable and then just going completely pop on the choruses and having undeniable hooks hidden inside more heavy, occasionally atonal riffs.

I heard you’ve got some awesome music coming out. Tell us some more about what we can look forward to.

You can look forward to some really incredible songs, musically they’re sharpening the blade of what we tried before. Incredibly tough and aggressive sounds for verses and then just attempting to write the biggest choruses ever. Not to “sell out”, just because a big chorus can be sung by everyone and it can live forever. Lyrically the album is almost an “exit interview” of sorts. Our singer left the group and we needed to figure out how everything would go and some of the songs deal with that. I also went through a divorce, a dark depressing time post that, and then found an amazing person and had my first child. The lyrics reflected my failures in my past life and about moving on, and how following those paths would never leave to a better life. I also dealt with a sexual assault from my youth and coming out a bisexual. In the end, you must ask yourself is this who and what I want to be? If it’s not, how do I move on?

You’ve got your debut project on the horizon. What’s the creative process like behind creating your debut album?

The three of us share ideas, I will write music and Nick will “produce” it (move parts around, redesign the song I had), and then collectively we write melodies and lyrics.

What are your plans for 2022?

Touring when we can, Nick and I are also in Dee Snider’s solo band and wrote (and Nick recorded and co-produced) 2018’s For the Love of Metal and 2021’s Leave a Scar so there will be shows with.

Have any shoutouts?

My shoutouts would be all who we’ve worked with and got us here – Jasta, Kingdom of Sorrow, Toxic Holocaust, and Dee Snider!

Want more from Kings and Liars? Head over to Spotify to listen to their full discography, and stay tuned for more music coming soon!