NiniaPimp Magazine

CBS

9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. CST

This week’s episode of the hit medical drama once again lulls the nation’s fiftysomething moms to fall asleep on the couch, while the “code blue” commotion at the end is just loud enough to rouse them, make them look around groggily, and announce they’d better get ready for bed.

Pete Mitchell
Pete Mitchell – No More Kings

No More Kings are a Los Angeles-based rock band fronted by lead singer Pete Mitchell (born September 7th, 1973 in Providence, Rhode Island). No More Kings’ music is known for its frequent references to figures in pop culture, most notably Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid, Michael and K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider, Johnny 5 from Short Circuit, and Dungeons and Dragons. The band’s songs are written by Pete along with his longtime friend Neil Robins of the Louisville-based band Dirt Poor Robins.

No More Kings have played shows all across the U.S. since 2006, playing most frequently in Los Angeles.

The name “No More Kings” comes from an episode of Schoolhouse Rock!, one of many of No More Kings’ inspirations. The particular episode dealt with the Pilgrims leaving England, seeking freedom and independence.

Pete studied fine art in college and has worked for Disney and the Jim Henson Company; he is an accomplished animator and also speaks Japanese. He designed the interior album art for the band’s first album as well as the album art and packaging for their second album. Pete claims his main sources of musical inspiration are the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Radiohead, Billy Joel, Beck, and Genesis.

Gentlemen, welcome to NinjaPimp Online Magazine. How are you doing today? Doing great! Today is a beautiful day in sunny Los Angeles. The birds are singing. The dogs are barking. Love is all around.

Can you introduce the band members for us? Sure. There are six of us: six young strapping lads. On guitar, we have Christian Wojcik and Josh Taylor. Playing the super-bass we have Beau Burtnick. Kicking the tasty grooves on the drums, we have David “D.G.” Grant. Tickling the keys is my man Timmy Maglothin. And I’m Pete Mitchell. I sing.

So how did your come up with your band name? Can you tell us about it? The band name is from an episode of School House Rock. I grew up watching those little animations. I pretty much got all my history lessons from those things. Anyway, “No More Kings” was a song about the pilgrims coming over from England. I loved the sense of the American independent spirit that the song evoked.

We love your “Sweep the Leg” video. Whose idea was that? Thanks! Yeah, that video was a lot of fun to make. We are going to be rolling out a bunch of behind-the-scenes footage of it on www.sweeptheleg.com very soon. The idea really came from Billy Zabka, the guy that played Johnny Lawrence in The Karate Kid. He really just went nuts with it, and got everybody from the movie back together. It was so fun to be part of that, and watch it unfold.

What was the best part of filming that? Great question. There was a lot about that video that I loved. Probably the best moments for me were all the wire stunts – jumping up onto the bus, the Matrix crane kick stuff, and falling through the ceiling of the tournament. I mean, I had never done anything like that before. It was really exhilarating.

What do the fans thing of the video? The fans love it. Even people that don’t like the song or the band love the video. I think it tapped into 23 years of fan subculture.

Who or what inspired the song “Leaving Lilliput”? I really enjoy the Gulliver’s Travels theme. Ted Danson.

“Zombie Me” is also a great. Who wrote that? I did [Pete]. I write all the lyrics and melodies for the songs. And my buddy Neil Robins [of the band Dirt Poor Robins], writes all the instrumentation. We’re like Batman and Robin. Or Batman and Robins…Dirt Poor Batman.

Are all of those songs on one CD? If so, what is it and where can we buy it? They are! Thanks for asking. It’s all on one action-packed CD, available on iTunes, amazon.com, and most retail stores.

Our website is www.afro-squad.com. What do you think of the site? I love “Episode Zero”! Neil and I used to make tons of ninja movies in my backyard. We broke my parents’ camcorder at least three times. So the Afro-Squad stuff brings back happy memories for me. I also love that the speedometer says “holy crap”. Great stuff! Mad nunchuck skills, too.

What do you think of our band the Protagons and our video “Episode Zero”? Featured Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFrGLbBMow4 You know, you are always welcome to use our characters SnowMan and KrazyMan in your future videos. I couldn’t get any of the music to work, but as I said, I loved the video. Great stuff.

What NMK projects would you like to talk about? Right now, we are gearing up to shoot the next video for our song “Michael (Jump In)”. So I’m really excited. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Lots of crazy stunts.

What does the future hold for NMK? We’ve got high hopes for the future. Flying cars. Talking robotic servants. Fluffier dogs. But specifically for No More Kings, we are currently working on our own ice-cream flavor. Due out next year. We’re getting ready to head back out on tour. The road. The long and winding road. And then hopefully start recording our second album. Can Afroman sing?

What would you like to say to your fans? I know everyone does this, but I really want to thank our fans for continuing to support us. Because of our MySpace plays, we are able to book better shows, and more of them. So in our case, the fans really do make all the difference. We love getting messages from our fans, and we always love meeting people at shows. We’ve got some exciting plans for our street team as well. So we encourage anyone who’s interested in joining to please go to www.nomorekings.com. You can shoot zombies there, too.

Is there anything else you would like to talk about? I think that’s all. Thank you so much for interviewing us. I look forward to the next Afro Squad episode! Maybe someday we can match our kung fu skills and join forces!

In addition to searching for the correct answer, sharp players can be on the lookout for the wrong answer of the game. A wacky sponsor (such as Romanticlip Tandem Toenail Clippers) for each episode contains a clue to a special answer that, while actually wrong for the given question, will yield a big bonus to any player that finds it. This provides a strong incentive to pay attention to all the wrong answers in addition to searching for the right one, which is a novel challenge for a trivia game. You Don’t Know Jack’s signature move is also included, which will delight anyone who has enjoyed previous incarnations of the franchise. Each player is given one screw per episode that, when activated, will force the opponent of your choice to answer the current question. A successful screw earns you a big cash bonus, but if your screw attempt backfires, then, well, you know.

You can thank your fellow contestant for that one.

There are two big departures from the multiple-choice format, which occur in the middle and at the end of episodes. About halfway through, the player in last place is selected for a Dis or Dat challenge in which he or she must sort a list of things into two categories. Differentiating between nonprofit organizations and brands of designer jeans is fairly difficult, and while deciding whether a tweet came from Taylor Swift or the Dalai Lama isn’t quite as tricky, the juxtaposition is very amusing. Each episode ends with a Jack Attack, which is a matching game that challenges players to buzz in when the right pairing appears onscreen. Only one player can claim each correct pair, so unlike in the other question types, fast reflexes are crucial. Unless the scores are very lopsided going into the Jack Attack, this is where the game is almost always decided, given the large dollar amount attached to each pair. The disproportionate value placed on this round may disappoint those who relish a test of wits over a test of reflexes. It can be a bummer when your smart answers get swept aside in this high-stakes reflex test, but on the other hand, staging a dramatic comeback with your quick wits and quick fingers is a great feeling.

The pre-episode stage banter and post-episode advertisements provide some extra chuckles, but the voice you hear the most is your host, Cookie Masterson. His comedic timing and inflection is very good, and though he can sometimes sound smarmy or braying, he deftly avoids being obnoxious. This is largely a credit to You Don’t Know Jack’s excellent writing, which consistently entertains, episode after episode. Each episode takes about 12 minutes to complete, and there are 73 episodes on the disc, making for about 15 hours of amusing quiz content. And while other trivia games repeat questions within a few hours of play, You Don’t Know Jack keeps the fresh material coming in a steady stream. This combination of quantity and quality makes it a great value, especially at the $30 retail price. Despite the limited gameplay options, the occasional comedic miscues, and the unbalanced Jack Attack, You Don’t Know Jack is a great prospect for parties, family face-offs, and solitary self-assessments.

Previous page

In addition to searching for the correct answer, sharp players can be on the lookout for the wrong answer of the game. A wacky sponsor (such as Romanticlip Tandem Toenail Clippers) for each episode contains a clue to a special answer that, while actually wrong for the given question, will yield a big bonus to any player that finds it. This provides a strong incentive to pay attention to all the wrong answers in addition to searching for the right one, which is a novel challenge for a trivia game. You Don’t Know Jack’s signature move is also included, which will delight anyone who has enjoyed previous incarnations of the franchise. Each player is given one screw per episode that, when activated, will force the opponent of your choice to answer the current question. A successful screw earns you a big cash bonus, but if your screw attempt backfires, then, well, you know.

You can thank your fellow contestant for that one.

There are two big departures from the multiple-choice format, which occur in the middle and at the end of episodes. About halfway through, the player in last place is selected for a Dis or Dat challenge in which he or she must sort a list of things into two categories. Differentiating between nonprofit organizations and brands of designer jeans is fairly difficult, and while deciding whether a tweet came from Taylor Swift or the Dalai Lama isn’t quite as tricky, the juxtaposition is very amusing. Each episode ends with a Jack Attack, which is a matching game that challenges players to buzz in when the right pairing appears onscreen. Only one player can claim each correct pair, so unlike in the other question types, fast reflexes are crucial. Unless the scores are very lopsided going into the Jack Attack, this is where the game is almost always decided, given the large dollar amount attached to each pair. The disproportionate value placed on this round may disappoint those who relish a test of wits over a test of reflexes. It can be a bummer when your smart answers get swept aside in this high-stakes reflex test, but on the other hand, staging a dramatic comeback with your quick wits and quick fingers is a great feeling.

The pre-episode stage banter and post-episode advertisements provide some extra chuckles, but the voice you hear the most is your host, Cookie Masterson. His comedic timing and inflection is very good, and though he can sometimes sound smarmy or braying, he deftly avoids being obnoxious. This is largely a credit to You Don’t Know Jack’s excellent writing, which consistently entertains, episode after episode. Each episode takes about 12 minutes to complete, and there are 73 episodes on the disc, making for about 15 hours of amusing quiz content. And while other trivia games repeat questions within a few hours of play, You Don’t Know Jack keeps the fresh material coming in a steady stream. This combination of quantity and quality makes it a great value, especially at the $30 retail price. Despite the limited gameplay options, the occasional comedic miscues, and the unbalanced Jack Attack, You Don’t Know Jack is a great prospect for parties, family face-offs, and solitary self-assessments.

Previous page