Lawrence based punk rockers KTP tour Midwest, stop in Emporia Saturday

Courtesy of KTP

The Midwestern punk rock band KTP are coming to Emporia to promote their latest record, ‘Rockers.’ The band is scheduled to play with The Dead Idols and Eight Legs on Saturday.

Eight years is a long time for any band to be together, but Lawrence’s KTP has managed to stay together and make music on their own terms.

“We never really set out to accomplish anything besides get out of our hometowns and not be strung out on drugs,” said Al Moews, the band’s singer and bass player. “We love this lifestyle and we are focused now on finding every possible way to be able to keep doing what we are.”

KTP has been supplying fans with a steady stream of no frills punk rock since the band formed in 2000.

“We have had a few lineup changes but we have a solid chemistry and everyone is dedicated to making real and honest music,” Moews said. “Nothing we do is embellished, something that may have held us back from success in a commercial sense, but at the same time has kept us grounded. Plus it helps that we are all friends before we are a band.”

The band released their full length record ‘Rockers’ last May and have been steadily touring ever since.

“Its our first album as a four piece band,” Moews said. “A much more cohesive blend of all of our styles. we spent a lot of time working on this record. we took about five months to write and record these twelve tracks. We are very proud of the end result.”

The band was fortunate enough to record ‘Rockers’ at the famous Black Lodge recording studio, which just happens to be owned by The Get Up Kids’ Ryan Pope and producer Ed Rose.

“We had recorded a demo there before, so we were familiar with the layout,” Moews said. “It was really nice to get to know our engineer Josh Browning on a personal level. Though, I’m not sure he knew what he was in for when he signed on to do the record. The drunken antics, burnouts in the street, arguing over movie quotes, and being dubbed the ‘stinkinest, fartingest band’ to have recorded at the Black Lodge studio. We had a good time.”

Living in Lawrence, the band has taken advantage of the town’s vibrant music scene.

“It has definitely helped us break into a more prolific scene,” Moews said. “Coming from small town, southeast Kansas it also has helped us realize just how hard we have to work as a band in order to keep progressing.”

‘Rockers’ is the second record KTP has put out through Zero Year Records. The record label is based in Bolivar, Missouri and hosts a number of Midwestern bands.

“We met Matt [head of Zero Year] a few years back playing a show in Joplin, MO. After we put out our record ‘S/T’ in 2006 and started working on ‘Rockers’ end of ‘06 or the start of ‘07 he contacted us about the touring we were doing. after talking with him a bit, he said he had wanted to work with us.”

During their existence, KTP has accomplished what many bands only dream about.

“We have toured the entire continental U.S., been talked about in magazines, been on the radio, put out two full-length albums,” Moews said. “All kinds of things I used to only dream about. It never gets easier, always just more to figure out. But we have a story to tell, and we want to make sure people have the chance to hear it beginning to end.”

KTP is playing at 8 p.m. Saturday at The Wagon Wheel, 2909 9th street, with The Dead Idols and Eight Legs.