A Dirty Dozen with JAMES MAGRUDER from KALLOHONKA – February 2026

Photo credit: Kathleen Kennedy Magruder

According to a recent press release: ““Psychic Surgery” is the latest single from Texas-based, self-proclaimed slug metal berserkers KALLOHONKA. Now playing courtesy of Everything Is Noise, the track appears on the band’s full-length debut Lazer Blood, set for release on March 13th through Memory Terminal Records. Stoned out slugs from the Dark Wood of Olde! Originally hippy Christian cult members, the quasi-discernible minds of KALLOHONKA were conscripted by CIA-run hallucinogenic brain mutation research programs, fracturing their individual reality tunnels. As accusations swirled of sowing the seeds of both Jonestown and the Hale-Bopp fiasco, KALLOHONKA fell into the stuff of legend. Eventually escaping a dark site lab in 1997, KALLOHONKA became a festering hive ego composed of primordial goo. In the mid-2000s, KALLOHONKA returned to its roots, reforging the bear cult feasts of the elder days. While gorging on ursine flesh, they sang craven arias to the souls of the phantasmic beasts, hiding with style and aplomb, the true method of dispatch used to fell the creatures. Rising through the cacophony, a final opus to the animal’s skull rang true and beautiful as it was placed atop a century pine, casting the bear’s spirit back into the stars to be perpetually born anew. Join us in grotesque bacchanals of these feral hymns. !Behold KALLOHONKA!” We get bassist and jack-of-all trades James to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Lazer Blood is likely the last record on which free jazz legend Dennis González will appear. We were extremely lucky to have the chance to work with him. Dennis was a guiding light against the unending onslaught of drab, cookie-cutter music that plagues us, one and all. He acted as a patriarch and mentor to our oddball scene. He left us and this corporeal realm in 2022. Track 6 on the album features both Dennis and his son, Aaron. Together with Sarah Alexander Ruth, they serve up high weirdness for all. We are forever grateful to you and everything you have done, Dennis. May your rest be easy, untroubled by the world.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

WHAT THE FUCK IS A MUSICIAN?

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

When we were prepubescent little bastards, it was: Grunge, Goth (not emo, kids), Early 90’s Alternative (especially its weird little nooks and crannies), and Industrial from the mid 90’s that shaped us in the twisted tea concoction we have become. So we’re talking Nirvana, TAD, The Gits, Butthole Surfers, Shonen Knife, L7, Mudhoney, Bjork, Marilyn Manson, The Cure, The Smiths (yeah, he sucks, ok? ok), Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, etc.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Gibby Haynes on acid, 1981.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour? What do you like to do to unwind?

Chewing up four grams of mushrooms and trying to find an unmarked cemetery by the state-run mental hospital to “hang out in.” (unsuccessful) Doing poppers with some dude ran into at 2:30 am in another cemetery while your friends are getting down just out of sight. Gardening.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe, or disagree with?

Imagine being flung into an Einstein-Rosen bridge, but your wormholes get crossed, and you rematerialize with your body and brain rearranged, but, like, it’s a good thing. Misnomers reign supreme: KOWABUNGA, HONKA CHONKA, HONKERS. CHUNKY KOW (WY)MEN, NYARLOTHOTEP’S REVENGE. Why care? THEY LOVE US. Everyone fucking loves us, and if not fuck ’em.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Look, don’t worry about what we’re doing. Ya’ll have a good fucking time. We are. Acoustic with people around = BAARRRFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

8. When was the last time you were starstruck, and who was it?

Starfucking is for dorks.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

We would die if we stopped, so that’s not great, but also awesome. Dream Job: Super Massive Black Hole Sucking in a Galaxy that is Actively Colliding with Another Galaxy. We would take a pay cut to make this happen. Hit us up. Also, would take Nebula, but we must demand extra pay, plus benefits, and five weeks PTO.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

Q: What the fuck is wrong with ya’ll? A: By the Grace of Jevhovah One, Blessed Xian, our task is demanded; “Consume thyselves and be born anew to a field of stars. Revel, my children, beyond time. Ignore the myopic petty smallness of humanity.” What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Nah, man, you live, you learn, you love, you learn, you cry, you learn, you lose, you learn.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Aphrodite’s Child – 666, hands down. Absolutely no contest. “ I was. I am. I am to come.”

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Category: Interviews