Review Fix Exclusive: Zr. King’s Griffin Liotti Talks ‘Welcome to Bearizona’ And More

April 24, 2019 Patrick Hickey Jr. Music 0

Review Fix chats with Zr. King’s Griffin Liotti, who discusses his creative process, origin in music and the band’s latest effort, “Welcome to Bearizona’.”

Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?

Grffin Liotti: We’re not qualified to do anything else.  Plus our parents played a lot of Van Morrison and Traffic when we were growing up, and despite kinda digging it now, at the time we hated it and wanted to make something to rebel against it.  So we put 1990s hard rock in a blender with 70s woolly mammoth rock and whatever good stuff we could find from the noughties and it sounded like an absolute disaster.  And we loved it.  So here we are.

Review Fix: What performers inspire you the most?

Liotti: Eagles of Death Metal.  Clutch.  Anything Dave Grohl is a part of.  And Dropkick Murphys, especially around the 3rd week of March.

Review Fix: What’s on your musical bucket list?

Liotti: Barbecue with Foo Fighters.  Chili cook-off with Lamb of God.  Probably some sort of hot sauce eating contest thrown in there for good measure.  Our goals are around music and food, so, you know, things we need to survive.

Review Fix: Goals for 2019?

Liotti: Release sophomore album

Finish recording 3rd album (would that be the “junior” album?  Zr. King, Jr.?)

See MUSE on the Simulation Theory tour

Play a show with RED FANG

Spend at least one day on a beach somewhere tropical

Continue to survive

Review Fix: What makes your music scene special?

Liotti: The people that do exactly what they want, and make no bones about it.  We like to think we’re a part of that group.  You can find us at a Tigerman show one night, a Cancion Franklin show the next, and in the audience at Walter Parks doing Swamp by Chandelier on the weekend.  That all being at our immediate reach is amazing.  

Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?

Liotti: A melodic jet engine chewing up geese as it screams through the sky.   

Review Fix: Bottom line, what makes you special?

Liotti: We’re not special.  We just make really kick ass rock’n’roll music — so if that matters to you, that part of what we do is pretty damn special, we think.  Take a listen to our new single Welcome to Bearizona and let us know if you agree.

Review Fix: What next?

Liotti: Our second album Musically & Morally Bankrupt will be out on 5/17/2019. Then, maybe a sandwich.  And always, more rock songs to be recorded, released, and danced to.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Liotti: You can connect with us on Instagram (@zoctorking) or at our website: www.ZrKing.com.  We’re on the Facebook wall too.  If you’re in New York City, look us up.  We’re always down to party.  

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14263 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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