Kyle Thomas, known professionally as King Tuff is an American musician recording on

Sub Pop Records Sub is a common abbreviation of words beginning with the prefix "sub-". Sub or SUB may also refer to Places * Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia, IATA code SUB Computing and technology * , an HTML tag for subscript * SUB designat ...

. King Tuff and his band have released several music videos and have continually toured across the United States, Australia and Europe since 2012. He is also the lead guitarist and singer of

stoner rock Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep. ...

band

Witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

, and was a member of

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

musician

Ty Segall Ty (stylized as ty) is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. It was founded by Ty Warner in 1986. It designs, develops and sells products, most notably Beanie Babies, exclusively to speci ...

's backing band The Muggers, formed following the release of Segall's studio album, ''

Emotional Mugger ''Emotional Mugger'' is the eighth studio album by American garage rock musician Ty Segall, released on January 22, 2016 on Drag City Records. The album was produced by both Segall and F. Bermudez. To tour in support of ''Emotional Mugger'', Sega ...

''.

Life and career

Thomas grew up listening to music from his father, who was a music fan. Prior to his father getting a

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

when Kyle was seven, he played on a keyboard and drum kit. According to Thomas, the Stratocaster served as a source of inspiration. Thomas never decided what he would do with his life, therefore was hesitant to attend college. After high school, Thomas wrote songs and played with bands, saying: "I would go on tour, but I never really took it as a serious job up until a couple years ago, when I decided to really make an effort at it. It's been a real long, slow practice." Tuff's first release was a self-made

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the in ...

distributed by Spirit of Orr records, the majority of which consisted of rough versions of songs later released on ''Was Dead,'' King Tuff's first 'official' album. Tuff received scant publicity following the beginning of his career as King Tuff, so he moved on to other projects such as the bands

and Happy Birthday. "King Tuff" eventually began to gain popularity, leading Thomas to revert to his former stage name of King Tuff.

''Was Dead''

King Tuff's 2008 debut album ''Was Dead'' was originally released by

Tee Pee Records Tee Pee Records is an American independent rock music record label in New York City, prominent for releasing music by Sleep, Witch, Graveyard, Earthless, High on Fire and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It has housed many stoner rock bands. Rost ...

sister-label The Colonel. It is now considered collectable because so few were pressed. In 2013,

Burger Records Burger Records was an American independent record label and record store in Fullerton, California, United States. The label was founded in 2007 by Sean Bohrman and Lee Rickard, members of the power pop band Thee Makeout Party. The record/video s ...

re-issued a Deluxe blue edition, which charted in the No. 8 position on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''s

Heatseeker Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is rad ...

chart dated June 6.

''King Tuff''

His second album, ''

King Tuff Kyle Thomas, known professionally as King Tuff is an American musician recording on Sub Pop Records. King Tuff and his band have released several music videos and have continually toured across the United States, Australia and Europe since 2012. ...

'' was produced by Bobby Harlow and released by

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

on May 29, 2012, charting at No. 21 on ''

''s

Heatseeker Albums Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radi ...

chart. The album also debuted on the CMJ charts at No. 14, eventually climbing to No. 2 and knocking

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...

's ''

Blunderbuss The blunderbuss is a firearm with a short, large caliber barrel which is flared at the muzzle and frequently throughout the entire bore, and used with shot and other projectiles of relevant quantity or caliber. The blunderbuss is commonly consid ...

'' from its top charting position.

''Black Moon Spell''

On September 23, 2014, King Tuff released his third album, ''Black Moon Spell'', on Sub Pop Records, again produced by Bobby Harlow, and featuring

as guest drummer on the title track. Upon release, the album immediately became

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

's "most added" for the week of September 23 on college radio airplay. The album debuted at No. 1 on ''

in the "Hot Shot Debut" position chart for the week of October 11, and immediately pushed to the No. 1 position on the CMJ College Radioplay chart for the week of October 14.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Mindblow'' (2006) *''Was Dead'' (2007) *''

'' (2012) *''

Black Moon Spell ''Black Moon Spell'' is the third studio album by American musician King Tuff Kyle Thomas, known professionally as King Tuff is an American musician recording on Sub Pop Records. King Tuff and his band have released several music videos and ...

'' (2014) *''

The Other In phenomenology, the terms the Other and the Constitutive Other identify the other human being, in their differences from the Self, as being a cumulative, constituting factor in the self-image of a person; as acknowledgement of being real; he ...

'' (2018) *''Smalltown Stardust'' (2023)

EPs and singles

*''Hex Dispensers, The / King Tuff – Agatha's Antlers / Hands'' (2011) *''Wild Desire'' (2012) *''

Screaming Skull A screaming skull is a paranormal object, a human skull which per legend speaks, screams, or otherwise haunts its environs. The legend is most found in England and other English-speaking regions. The Bettiscombe screaming skull of Dorset, Englan ...

'' (2012) *''King Tuff / Lentils, The – Biggest Hearts / That Sweet Disease'', Pitchfork Review 7" Single Series Vol. 3 (2014) *Psycho Star (2018) *"Smalltown Stardust" (2022)

Live albums

*''Live at Third Man Records'' (2013) *''Live at Pickathon: Ty Segall / King Tuff'' (2015)

Witch

*''

'' (2006) *''

Paralyzed Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...

'' (2008)

References

{{Authority control Suicide Squeeze Records artists Sub Pop artists Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 2006 Third Man Records artists