The Seattle Times proclaimed King Youngblood as Seattle’s Alt Rock Princes and this young and mighty tight band has a sound that is the definition of “thunderous alt rock for a new generation” (Under the Radar). No wonder the highly ranked Seattle Kraken Hockey team picked them as one of a handful of PNW bands chosen for a 5 game residency performing for hockey fans right above the ice in Climate Change Arena. Hockey fans rocked hard, as hard as their favorite hockey players on the ice with King Youngblood throughout all 5 games. “I think we are a good luck charm for the Kraken because when we performed the Kraken won 4 of the 5 games and all the games were hella intense” says Cameron Lavi-Jones founder and front man guitarist for King Youngblood.
The Seattle Kraken are on a great path clearly embracing BIPOC fronted bands by booking King Youngblood and their good friend Zach Person who are part of the Black and Loud musical movement building in Seattle and across the country. King Youngblood’s members are literally a mini United Nations with Alix Daniel on drums being Filipino, Samy Garcia on bass being Latino, Cameron Lavi-Jones on guitar and vocals being Black & Jewish and their comrade in arms ally Chet Peterson on cello. Playing the Kraken game that honored the fight against Cancer was deeply personal for Lavi-Jones inspiring him to dedicate a song at one of the games to his Grandmother who succumbed to breast cancer and his Mother who is still dealing her own cancer fight.
The most thrilling part of King Youngblood’s time with the Kraken and thousands of fans was seeing the band’s photo, logo and info for their non-profit Hold Your Crown on the Jumbotron right over the ice. Lavi-Jones founded Hold Your Crown to address dismantling the stigma of youth mental illness and providing resources and peer to peer sharing to help young people to get on the path of mental wellness. “Now Hold Your Crown has started talks with the Seattle Kraken’s One Roof non-profit to align given mental health issues arise in youth sports all the time,” says Lavi-Jones.
With plenty of big shows coming up -, two new album release projects out now – Big Thank and the AfroThunda Soundtrack, and the first ever Afropunk Sci Fi Rock and Roll comic book also entitled AfroThunda out in all kinds of formats, King Youngblood’s chance to rock for nearly 15,000 people 5 times has been more than icing on the cake – it has been upfront and personal. King Youngblood is looking forward to more fun with the Kraken in 2023 as a fresh new NFL Hockey team and a young Rock and Roll band on the rise are all about going the distance.
King Youngblood’s sound and energy match the intensity of professional hockey perfectly and given the band’s own experience in youth sports, a future relationship with King Youngblood, the Kraken, Hold Your Crown and One Roof is just the ticket.
Recap Video credit Eric Luck cp 2022 RECAP: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bw90f0jmyrmq5ws/KrakenxKYB.mov?dl=0
New Website coming in 2023 for www.holdyourcrown.org