Imagine Roky Erickson backed by the Sun Ra Arkestra or Wilson Pickett and The Velvet Underground, or picture the love child of Anubis and Kali. King Khan & The Shrines is more than a psychedelic soul band with a spectacle of a stage show. They are a cult musical phenomenon with more than 10 years of international touring, multiple studio records and a fan base of fervent punk, soul, free jazz and garage rock heads.

King Khan, the spiritual guru and front man, cobbled together a fierce line-up of musicians while in Berlin in between reading Tarot cards and raising a family. What he ended up with in 1999 is one of the most entertaining groups the world has seen and heard since the days of Ike & Tina. The line-up includes Chicago-born, Ron Streeter (veteran percussionist for Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder), a horn section consisting of trumpeter Simon Wojan (member of Kranky Records recording artists Cloudland Canyon), tenor sax man Torben Wesche (Germany’s John Coltrane), and famous French rockabilly baritone saxophonist Frederic Brissaud. The rhythm section of the Sensational Shrines has been called a German/French version of the Freak Brothers – Till Timm on guitar, organist Frederic Bourdil, Jens Redemann on bass and drummer Mirko Wenzl.