After more than a decade of performing under the King Tuff moniker, Kyle Thomas hit rock bottom with a thud. Fatigued by relentless touring, burned out on playing the same songs he’d been playing for 10 years, and feeling disconnected from the freaky rock ’n’ roll “party monster” persona he’d come to embody, Thomas experienced a major identity crisis.
“People just had this idea about me that wasn’t real,” the Vermont-born, Los Angeles-based musician explains. “I think I was maybe hanging onto a younger version of myself. Especially with Black Moon Spell, I made the record I thought people wanted me to make. Which is not really a way to make art, I don’t think.”