Today we’d like to introduce you to Sulo King.
Hi Sulo, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Well, I did my first interview with you guys back in November 2019, 1 month after I had closed down my beloved recording and rehearsal studio, Iacon Sound, which was based in the Golden Hill community of San Diego. That interview covered my music industry career. So, I would highly suggest you read that one first before reading this current addition to my story, as I’m on the verge of starting a new studio. I launched a solo project finally last year, and I have several other endeavors to discuss, including a full-time career as a Health & Wellness Coach at a Holistic & Integrative Medical Center based in La Jolla called Pacific Pearl La Jolla.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There’s never a smooth road in life. Is this a trick question? There were many hurdles I had to face to get to this point of my life and career 4 years later. I’m still rolling with the punches and keeping my mind set on all the goals I want to fulfill this year now that Covid is starting to appear in the world’s rear mirror.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m most known for working in the San Diego Music Industry going on 24v years as I write this interview. Those chapters in my life are in my last interview.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Well, my ultimate mentors are definitely my family and friends, who I also consider family. Below are a list of some of the many mentors I have surrounded in my life. There are too many to mention. I will be mentioning all of them in the book I’m writing called the Musician’s Guide to Dating: The Struggle is Real, which is going to be my self-memoir of my career in the music industry and also a self-help book for musicians, artists and other creatives like myself.
My Mother, Rauni King, has always inspired me to be creative, journal my thoughts, write stories, and always follow my heart and pursue my dreams. Now I currently work for her clinic, Pacific Pearl La Jolla as a Health & Wellness Coach and work in conjunction with her Non-Profit Miraglo Foundation.
My Father, Mark King, has always been my main musical influence in life from as old as I can remember. He showed me a better way to discover music and pulled me away from the radio at such an early age. He taught me the 3 values of life when I was a little kid. They were that music is life, surfing is balance, and that 91X was the best Rock station in SD. He inspired me to become a musician and work in the music industry. I talked a lot about this in my Union & Metro Podcast interview with Jerm & Jerry, who were the integral forces behind the first 2 incarnations of all-ages music venue, SOMA, and its 3rd and current location, where Jerry worked until about 2005 or so. My Dad started dropping me off at SOMA when I was 14 years old as he discovered that gem of a club when he wanted to go see Social Distortion and ended up meeting the owner, Len Paul. That was all the inspiration I needed to work on both the stage and behind the scenes as both a musician and businessman in the industry. You’ll just have to listen to that Union & Metro Podcast interview to hear that story though.
My only sibling and younger Sister, Sanna King, is one of my inspirations. She has been in school all her life, fresh out of high school, and currently is a professor, Dr. Sanna King, at MSU in Starkville, Mississippi. She wants to help educate people to just simply find unity in society. To me, that is a very challenging and amazing quest, and I applaud her for her bravery and dedication to that career.
My current mentor for my Health Coaching career is Dr. Mimi Guarneri. She is such an amazing woman and has really helped me carve out my path in a new and very challenging career in the healthcare industry. I owe her a lot for always being there for me and like my mom, her business partner, never giving up on me and always pushing me to be the best version of myself.
Tim Mays, the owner of the Casbah, is also someone I have always admired and respected in the San Diego Music Scene. He’s our Godfather of Music. Next in line to him is his loyal sidekick, Tim Pyles, who’s our Mayor of Music in San Diego. Tim, like me, is working on rediscovering his next chapter of his career in the music biz after leaving 91X in May of 2022 due to creative differences. I stopped listening to 91X after that happened and have been by his side picking him up when he’s down, just as he did for me when I had to close Iacon Sound down due to the building being purchased and turned into some posh liveable workspace. At least the front of the building that was formerly a Russian restaurant became Kingfisher, which is a really cool place but a bit on the pricey side. Everything in San Diego is turning into this gentrified image of Main St. Disneyland in my opinion. It’s actually quite appalling.
Ken Foree, my dude. He is my acting / entertainment mentor. He and I were bonded at the hip when I first started running Brick by Brick, and we met back in 2003. He has opened up a huge network for me because of this. We met at Comic-Con through my friend, who is now the Vice President of Comic-Con, Craig Fellows. Ken saw something in me and still does to this day, and I hope one day that he and I can finally work on a project together. Check out his IMDB credits. He has quite the resume. He’s mostly known for being the hero, Peter, in the original George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead film. He was also in Devil’s Rejects and Rob Zombie’s Halloween. Because of him, I made many connections and threw many Comic-Con after parties in the mid to late 2000s, as well as attended a lot of fun Comic-Con after parties he would take me to. We still check in on each other all the time.
Gerard McMahon is another amazing friend that I want to mention. He and I go back 20 years or so. We met through Brick by Brick and started doing our own Comic Con after parties together as well as reunion events with him and various cast members of the movie Lost Boys as Gerard wrote and performed the theme song for the original film, the Lost Boys. We just recently reunited and rejoined forces back in fall of 2022. We got some fun stuff in the works together. Just you guys wait and see.
Max Paul, my brother from a Mexican Mother. He gave the ultimate shot at the title by taking over the booking, talent buying, and event planning at Brick by Brick back in 2002. My mentor at the time, Vincent Crudo, Jr, aka Big Vinny, introduced me to the underdog club that, in his words, they could use a kid like you over there to help them see the next wave of music. I sure am glad he did. Unfortunately, Big Vinny passed away a few weeks after his 49th birthday. One of the urns with his ashes that was given to Max is now with me and currently resides in my house. It has since become a shrine for my deceased friends in the music scene. I keep them protected with gemstones and other spiritual trinkets from India.
Frank Torres he’s like a brother to me. He conceived the idea of us joining forces to open up a recording studio back in 2011 when I was down and out, missing working in the music industry. Together, we went on to purchase the pre-existing studio Black Box and successfully ran it for 7 years until we were forced to close in 2019 when the property was sold. You can read more about that in my last interview with this publication.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/suloking
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/suloking
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/suloking
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sulo-king-72425130/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@therealsuloking
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/sulo-king
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/@AuthenticSelloutband
Image Credits
Tim Pyles
