China Adventure!!!!

Hey! So we traveled to China, and it was literally so kickass.....I can't think of another time in my life where I felt more proud to be alive. It was the most exhilarating experience. The band and I literally made friends with people from all around the world, and we cannot believe how kind and generous everyone was to us, we were true kings!!!

Seeing the culture was also amazing for us, from the authentic food to the insane traffic, everything was incredible. So much fun, yet so exhausting. 

The highlight of the trip of course was the performances. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! Playing for that many people on such a big stage, what a freakin rush!!! Here are the links to our last performance. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Spp13FE0gI&index=1&list=UUIXgfFXKEv3wQfG1jBc_gQA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpiBqjhOxcs&index=2&list=UUIXgfFXKEv3wQfG1jBc_gQA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVwC2nLExCQ&list=UUIXgfFXKEv3wQfG1jBc_gQA&index=3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUCPmeSzgyo&index=4&list=UUIXgfFXKEv3wQfG1jBc_gQA

Literally an insane experience. We would love love LOVE to do it again soon. 

Thank you to everyone for all the incredible support, now its time to write an album:]

-Ben Valdez

-AIK

All is King Leaves for China!!

Hey everyone!!! All is King leaves for China tomorrow morning!! We have been preparing and rehearsing everyday leading up to it, and we are certain we will put on quite the show.

This is without a doubt the biggest adventure I will face in my life, including Lucas and Dylan. We want to thank you all for the support this past year, and also a big shout out to the backers on the kickstarter, thank you so much.

Alex Sipes, thanks again for giving us this opportunity, without you we wouldn't be preparing for this adventure. You're very professional and made things easy for us, we cherish you for that.

We will be recording the performances with our cameras, and we are definitely going to take plenty of pictures of our experience.

Thank you everyone again for your amazing support, we will see you all when we return!

China, I hope you're ready for us, because we are going to put on quite a show.

-Ben Valdez
AIK

Update #3

Hey!!! So All is King made it in the Ahwatukee Foothills News paper! Here is the article:

http://www.ahwatukee.com/community_focus/article_4617603a-0491-11e4-bfc9-0019bb2963f4.html

Besides that, China is approaching so so fast!!!! We are working really hard to prepare and are confident in our material; we are ready.

The kickstarter is also approaching its end!!! We really want to push this goal and reach it before its too late! Every donation counts, and we love and charish those who have shown us support over the past year, lets make this goal!!!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/598642513/help-all-is-king-go-to-china?ref=nav_search

Stay tuned for further updates, and new All is King material. We are always writing, and excited to show you all what we have up our sleeves:]

We love you all.
All is good, all is great, and All is King.

-Ben Valdez

Update #2

HEY! China is getting closer and closer and we are becoming extremely excited. We started up a kick starter to help benefit the trip, since of course travel expenses are tense.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/598642513/help-all-is-king-go-to-china?ref=nav_search

Every donation helps us tremendously. no matter how much, and we are extremely thankful for those who have donated so far. We have passed the half way point and are truly confident we can break $1000 by July 20th!

Besides the kick-starter, we have been working on new material that will be recorded very soon. After getting some new microphones and gear, we can start to record again. I am extremely confident in these new songs and hopefully everyone enjoys them.

Thats about all that needs to be said about whats going on right now, keep your eyes peeled for further information regarding the kick starter, new material, and the entire trip all together!!

-Ben Valdez
AIK

Update #1

Hey, its Benjamin here:] just wanted to let everyone know to keep an eye on the newspaper! Why? Well, a couple of nights ago the Ahwatukee News interviewed All Is King about our China adventure and other band related subjects. This is super exciting since none of us have been interviewed before, so keep an eye out!

It is said to be published before we leave, which is July 21st, so it shall be available for your viewing pleasure soon!

Besides the interview, along with performing three nights during the festival, we are also going to rock out at a belgium beer bar, which will be amazing. All Is King is going to tear it up in Asia.

Stay tuned for further updates!

-Ben Valdez, AIK!

Our Story

Hello, my name is Ben Valdez, guitarist and lead singer of All Is King. I started this band in early 2013 with my bassist, Lucas Blanchard. From the start I had a general idea of what I wanted as for song writing, since I already had a couple songs lined up ready to go. Lucas, being new to the whole "band" thing, wasn't quite sure if it was going to be as legit as I brought it out to be. So I told him, "look up your favorite bands, and study their bassists like crazy. Watch them play live, how they play live, what bands they listen to....". Once that mindset was in place, then we started writing. I taught him basic easy riffs to play along with me, and eventually he began teaching himself, it still amazes me how fast his skills have progressed in such a short time. From then to now we constantly watch live performances and interviews of the musicians we admire most, and trust me, it freaking helps.

After a few weeks we had about 4 simple acoustic style originals ready, since of course we didn't have a drummer at the time, we had to compromise. With that said I played my 12 string acoustic guitar, a kick drum, and sang, while Lucas complimented me with some sexy bass grooves. After a while it got kind of bland, and we got more interested in electric style instrumentation. So we got a drummer, Elliot Travis. This is when we really got excited. We jammed weekly and it was amazing, however with school, it was hard for Elliot to be there. So I had to make a choice, and even though Elliot is an amazing musician, I realized we needed someone else. Thats where the final member comes in.

Dylan Skaggs, drummer for All Is King, was introduced to that band late 2013. With a solid line up, and a serious practicing schedule, we were non-stop writing, practicing, and jamming almost every day. After realizing how fast we were progressing every week, we wrote an EP, which was recorded and produced by myself. (This EP is free to download on our soundcloud, here is the link...  

https://soundcloud.com/ben-valdez/sets/studio-b

Once we had solid recorded material to listen to, we realized we became fans of our own music, and still are. Having the mental power to listen to yourself without even thinking that its you, is an amazing accomplishment in my book.

Once that was done, we wrote an album! An entire 11 track album, which was recorded at Tempest Recording Studio in Tempe, Produced my Clark Rigsby. What an amazing opportunity this was. We spent a weekend recording all the tracks live, with vocals being done in post. It was one of the most amazing experiences we have ever had recording in a legitimate studio, especially with someone as amazing as Clark Rigsby, thank you sir. (http://tempestrecording.com/about/ ).

Now, since I am moving closer and closer to present time, we are awaiting our biggest adventure yet. In late July, All Is King will be traveling to Cheng Du, China, to be performing in the International Youth Music Festival, where we will be staying there for 10 nights, performing for three of those nights, for nearly 6000-8000 people a night! Words really cant express the amount of excitement that we all have being given this opportunity. We sincerely want to thank Alex Sipes, ultimate badass extraordinaire, for giving us this chance to show our music to the world.

Stay tuned for further information regarding our journey, and always know that all is good, all is well, and All Is King!!!