By Claire Dietz
Nobody would’ve expected this.
In October 2015, the Iowa band King of the Tramps discovered it had an unlikely fan base in Germany. After the discovery, and thanks to some unusually heavy radio play, the “whiskey-gospel” band ended up playing 26 shows in 30 days across Germany. And in the fall, it will return for more.
“[The crowd] cheered, and we gave them an encore,” said Todd Partridge, the lead vocalist and guitarist, “They cheered, and we gave them another encore. We said, ‘We need to get out of here’… There was a language barrier, but it was crazy; we created something a little crazy.”
At 9 p.m. Saturday, the band will perform at the Mill, 120 E. Burlington St. There, the musicians will take the crowd along for what, Partridge said, compares to “the gospel in the church, except everyone is drinking.”
The name King of the Tramps was influenced by Tex, K.T. (King of Tramps), one of the first tramps of the 1930s who spent years wandering the country, riding the rails, and in Tex’s case, leaving his signafure in thousands of locations. Partridge found the comparison all too fitting.
“Musicians are kind of like tramps,” Partridge said. “We come into town, play some music, make some money, and leave.”
That belief, Partridge said, eventually helped to evolve the band’s sound to make it what is has become.
“It created this tramp ethos that led us down the road of roots music, foot stomping, hand clapping,” he said. “Something someone called ‘whiskey gospel.’ ”
Partridge said this music was an evolution of their sound over time; after playing more than 300 shows together, each band member seems to have his own space on the stage.
With influences ranging from ’90s alternative to electronic music, each musician plays at the intersection of what he loves, thus creating the whiskey-gospel sound.
Partridge — who is also the lyricist for the band — said he also found somewhat unlikely inspiration and commonality in the work of famous poets such as Rumi and Keats.
“There was a lot of drinking going on in [those] days,” Partridge said. “A lot of red wine, a lot of debauchery, and retribution, a lot of the themes that run throughout our music.”
One of the things that sets King of the Tramps’ music — and Iowa blues in general — apart from the rest of the country is its naïveté, he said.
“I’ve been an Iowa musician my whole life; Iowa has a sound,” Partridge said. “[If you] go to New York, to Chicago, even Minneapolis or Des Moines, they have a scene; but if [the cities] were people, they would be jaded and burnt out.”
What excites him most about the release of the band’s newest album and the concerts is the potential the group has to continue growing, he said..
“What excites me is the potential of where it’s going,” he said. “As a musician, what always excites you is the potential for what comes next.”