How could The Inoculated Canaries have any clue a 35-year-old family friend would be the precursor to future success for some of the band members?
For Michael Rubin, who was on TIC, the idea started to form when James Terranova—the 35-year-old’s nephew—showed up to an audition after adulthood claimed another victim.
“James is the only one who showed up,” recalls Rubin. “I thought it was weird he played drums the wrong way because he’s a lefty. Honestly, as the only to show up, he got the gig.”
The pair of Canaries, Rubin and Terranova, have flown the coop and grown into King Falcon, a rock band that recently released “Shake! Shake! Shake!”.
The band has even initiated a social media COVID-19 challenge for high schoolers. The challenge was also picked up by PANDA’s Danny Meyers, who helped promote the video on Facebook.
ED Magazine spoke with King Falcon—on behalf of StripJointsMusic.com about their new single, transitioning from TIC to King Falcon, and how the New York-based band is coping with COVID-19.
ED: After your work with TIC, how did the pair of you decide to branch out? Was it organic (i.e. TIC broke up) or something you guys had been considering?
RUBIN: Originally, the four of us were going to be King Falcon. As we started getting deeper and deeper into it, the other guys realized this is a huge time commitment and they couldn’t pick up and go on tour for a month. James (Terranova) and I have no lives so if tomorrow we’ve gotta go on tour for a month, we absolutely can. People always ask if there’s any beef or friction—it’s still really cool. We’re still tight, the four of us.
ED: What was the inspiration for “Shake! Shake! Shake!”?
RUBIN: Los Angeles and shenanigans in Los Angeles. You guys work around the strip club industry, you can probably put two and two together.
ED: How did you choose to go fun and lighthearted for “Shake! Shake! Shake!” versus the more serious route other rock bands take?
RUBIN: I guess that’s the reason. You’ve got plenty of rock bands that are really serious. We wanted a video that was light, we wanted people to dance in it. No one wants to see James and I dance. James and I and the other two guys in TIC took a dance class, a hip-hop dance class and we filmed it. We’ve never put it out. It’s five minutes of four dudes who absolutely cannot dance. It’s the cringiest thing you’ll ever see.
ED: How are you promoting the single and the dance?
RUBIN: A lot of social media. We’re making a bunch of stuff on Tik Tok, Instagram. We’re trying to create a buzz around it.
ED: New York City has been hard hit by COVID-19 and so I’m curious how you’ve turned to music during these crazy times? (Playing for others, practicing, penning new ideas, etc.)
“If you can spend 10-15 minutes, maybe more, a day working on something and just making a little bit of progress, at the end of two weeks you have something that’s finished and that helps you get through.”
— Michael Rubin
RUBIN: Unless you have tasks, you could have three, four days go by and you don’t know what day of the week it is. But if you can spend 10-15 minutes, maybe more, a day working on something and just making a little bit of progress, at the end of two weeks you have something that’s finished and that helps you get through. I’ve been trying to spend at least a half-hour a day not even writing music, but just sitting and playing guitar and playing things I haven’t played before. Now, I’ve got nothing but time.
ED: StripJoints services DJs at gentlemen’s clubs nationwide, so in your words, why would “Shake! Shake! Shake!” be a good choice to play at a gentlemen’s club? What would your reaction be if you went to a gentlemen’s club and that song was playing?
RUBIN: Have you heard the title? What else do you need? I’ve been to a strip club once—Hustler Club in Manhattan. My two friends took me for my 21st birthday. We did it all wrong, we went at 8 pm and were home at 10:30 pm, hammered. My girlfriend found out about it and I got in a lot of trouble but it’s OK. She knows, so I can talk about it on the radio now. If I was there and I heard “Shake! Shake! Shake” playing and I told her about it afterward, I don’t think she would’ve been as mad.
For more information, visit stripjointsmusic.com.
