After four years of playing the acoustic guitar, Justin King has put one priority on his music: “It’s more important to be moving than impressive.”
At the age of 22, the local guitar wizard has already released two albums and traveled the world pursuing his craft and finding new ways to affect people with his music. His skill has earned him a regular spot at Café Paradiso on Wednesday nights at 8:30 p.m. and taken him to England to record material for a third release.
King started playing music with a drum set but quickly found the electric guitar at the age of 14. However, it wasn’t long until he grew restless.
“I was playing a lot of stuff that was angsty, like every teenager goes through, and I realized, like probably every teenager realizes eventually, I didn’t like feeling like shit all the time,” he said. “Part of my movement away from that kind of sound was a longing to be a little bit more creative and a little bit less down on everything.”
King made the switch to acoustic guitar at 18 and since then said he has viewed the electric guitar as purely a melodic instrument that “feels like jelly.”
King fuels his progress on the acoustic guitar with passion and motivation but not with teachers and books. He has studied with other musicians, but never in a strict teacher/student relationship. King defines them as “interactive relationships.” King also briefly attended both Lane Community College and the University — but never to study music.
“What I’ve seen happen is if you remove the mystery completely from music and make it just math and formulas, you remove some emotional aspect to it,” he said.
Despite King’s lack of formal training, he said he fears that many people limit his music to its more formal aspects.
“A lot of people see me as a technical guitar player, and that’s OK I guess, but I really wouldn’t like to be thought of that way. You can’t cuddle up to technical,” he said.
King learns through experience and collaboration. He spent a week in France at the home of guitarist Pierre Bensusan gathering new ideas. He also traveled around Spain learning about flamenco guitar by hanging out in traditional flamenco bars. There he found a guitarist named Carlos who played nightly at a bar called El Cabaret.
“He didn’t speak a word of English, and my Spanish is like, total caveman, but I would sit there and watch him, and afterward he’d come over and we’d just fuck around on the guitars. I would just try and figure out what he was doing, and he was trying to figure out what the hell I was trying to do,” King said.
King doesn’t claim to play in any traditional guitar style because he adds his own flavor to everything he learns. He is influenced by other musicians, such as Michael Hedges and “a bunch of artists who you would have no idea who they were.” King is also inspired by ideas, as was the case with a song called “Locomotive,” which was born simply by his thinking about how to represent the sound of a train with a guitar.
Sometimes, King’s ideas surpass physical capabilities. A year ago, he began toying with the idea of using a guitar technique called tapping, making notes by hitting the strings at select points with the fingers, on a double-neck guitar, using one hand for each neck. When King committed to the idea, he approached Portland guitar-maker Mike Doolin about making an instrument to fit the bill.
Doolin said he is “always interested in doing new projects,” and so began the creation of his first double-neck guitar. King also approached Doolin about making a signature series guitar, the goal of which is “to have a symbiotic relationship with another entity like a guitar-maker.” Doolin joined what he considers to be a “gentleman’s agreement” because he has confidence in King.
“He’s amazingly talented. He’s a great singer, player and songwriter. (Success) is always a matter of luck, but if the luck comes his way, he’ll run with it,” Doolin said.
King has also been fostering a relationship with local drummer James West. The two musicians met less than two months ago, and King quickly decided he wanted West to accompany him to England to record, West said. They went to the Real World Studios in Wiltshire, England — a venture for which King said he had been planning and saving. King returned to Eugene earlier in November to polish the Real World material at local haunt Gung-Ho Studio.
West is not a stranger to the recording process, having done professional studio work for hire as well as having played in local bands, such as the Freedom Funk Ensemble and Theurgic Seed. West said the experience of recording at the Real World Studios was “a reference point” for where he would like to end up in his career.
“If we didn’t go (to England), (Justin would) be doing what he’s doing forever. There’s a point where you need to shoot a grappling hook out there and make some ripples in the industry,” West said.
West, 23, said now is the perfect time for them to take career risks. King said he tries to do anything to push himself forward by meeting and playing with different people in “projects.”
West said he is trying to focus on only a few projects to keep from spreading himself too thin, but working with King is a worthwhile commitment. West said his other focus is a group called Rise, in which he plays with friend and keyboard player Rob Simonsen.
Already looking ahead, King plans to include West, Simonsen and other musicians in another recording session at his home studio in Eugene early next year with the intent of making a fourth album. But King said while he enjoys recording with other musicians, he prefers to keep performances solo.
Though King said he often receives praise from fans and peers, he still keeps his career in perspective.
“I still have a long way to go, for sure,” King said.