artist The New Kings

The New Kings existed from about October 2003 till early 2007, then were reborn briefly in 2008-09.  The band was mostly the outlet for frustrations of leader Michael Louis Johnson.  They played club dates opening for Rancid, The Felshtones, and New Model Army, had one successful Canadian club tour, but were most notorious for public space reclamation shows around Toronto.  They released a five song ep, STREET FIGHTER (Feb. 2004), TAKE BACK THE STREETS (April 2005) and a live ep GET DOWN! (June 2006)

Their slogan was YOU ARE THE NEW KINGS

Democracy is reality. We vote with our dollars each and every day. This means we are the NEW KINGS, you and I. We can buy anything from anywhere at anytime. We fill our skies with jet fuel so we can sip our rum in the palm tree shade. We drive our cars to the shopping malls so we can look like the stars on our TV screens. Every purchase we make is a stamp of royal approval. Every credit transaction is a wave of our royal scepter. We are the NEW KINGS and our Kingdom is in a shambles. The peasants are losing their right to breathable air, potable water and arable land; and all we can offer is Sex, Drugs and Rock'n'Roll ...Does that come with cake? It's time to Wake Up! It's time to shake up the castle and make a change. Evolution is a choice and it's ours to make. We can adapt and survive or we can drive ourselves to extinction. Now is the time for liberation from consumer addiction. So activate the self and agitate for change. Rearrange the values and life will sustain. There's always something we can do to create a twist of fate. We are the NEW KINGS and it's up to us to make a change!