Area songwriter, musician and Tik Tok notable Dylan Wilson has two concurrent cases moving through life.
One case involves an ongoing civil dispute that’s run Wilson into some serious binds under Tennessee state law, while the other on the docket here is under an alias, King Lazy Eye, the stage name of Wilson that grew popular due to his posting his authentic backwoods Tennessee comedy and solo acoustic folk-punk performances online for few years now. With both the legal and the artistic cases as genuine as they are public, it’s easy to see they’re both fights in the same upward direction. Wilson’s musical direction is currently fueled by anticipation of King Lazy Eye’s full-band, debut album, All Cops Are Boyfriends, which Wilson predicts will be available by late fall.
Meanwhile, King Lazy Eye will make an appearance showcasing his extraordinarily genuine solo work at Murfreesboro’s Liquid Smoke on Saturday, July 22.
The Murfreesboro Pulse sat down with Dylan to talk about the progress of both his cases:
I went to elementary school [in Lawrence County]. I moved to Columbia when I was in . . . I didn’t go to school for an entire year. Me and my family were “on vacation,” but they weren’t on vacation. They were on the run. We were staying at this hotel, and a bunch of cops just kick the door in, and I was like, “Why were they kicking our door in on our vacation?”
It’s Thanksgiving, guys! Everyone’s here!
They were like, “you don’t have to go to school anymore.” I was like, “awesome!”
Is that when you learned how to play guitar?
I learned how to play guitar when I was in seventh grade. That’s when I started. My dad showed me, like, three chords. . . . Then I started smoking pot and I stopped skating, locked myself in the bedroom for . . . years.
I started a band in high school with my best friend, Greg. We started playing shows in Murfreesboro. I was 17, he was still in high school. We were playing Three Brothers, when it was still open. Playing a bunch of house shows. We were . . . a punk band. Really loud. Really fast. We were a two-piece for a long time. And, I started using drugs; I had already been using drugs, but it was definitely out of control. The reason why I started doing acoustic music is because, well, I burnt my bridges with literally everybody else I played with. So I was just by myself. I started doing acoustic music out of necessity more than because I chose to. We’re good, now, but, yeah, I was getting really drunk and being an asshole.
I stopped performing for a little bit when I turned 25. Went to jail. Started getting into a lot of trouble . . . kept going to jail and getting into trouble. My Mom started [a] TikTok [account] . . . I did, too, and it really helped out. It kinda like pushed my music further out there for other people to hear, and I was also doing comedy videos, so I developed a following.
I have a few shows coming up just to keep people somewhat happy; [followers are] really bothering me about playing out, [but] I’m just working on this album. That’s my main focus, right now, and it sounds really good.
Running into any hiccups anywhere during production?
Weirdly enough, no. It’s coming together pretty fluidly. It’s the first time I’ve ever recorded anything sober in my life. And, it’s awesome. I’m just going in there and putting it all on the line, just trying to . . . give it my all this time, y’know.
[Regarding KLE’s Musical Influences]
My favorite song, period, is Dwight Twilley Band, “Looking for the Magic.” . . . They were kind of like a one-hit wonder. I am a huge fan of the way the vocals are recorded on that song. They tremeloed it, but tremeloed it in a way it cuts out . . . It’s amazing.
(Editor’s note: The vocal effect referenced here is produced by tape echo, reminiscent of the “slapback” echo used on early rock ‘n’ roll recordings, particularly those from Memphis’ Sun label, which released Elvis Presley’s first records and employed this then-novel vocal effect. Twilley, as a solo artist, scored an MTV hit in 1984 with “Girls,” featuring Tom Petty; Dwight Twilley Band’s 1975 single “I’m on Fire” reached the Top 20.)
Any projected release date?
We have, like, a season. Late fall. . . . I write all my songs in a broke-down Saturn that sits on our property, and I’ve just been pumping songs out left and right. I don’t know if it’s because I’m manic, or because I’m medicated and happy and sober, or what’s going on, but motivated, y’know. I just wait for everybody to go to sleep and take my guitar and I’ll go sit in that cramped ass, old two-seater Saturn—it’s a little coupe. And, I’ll just sit in there and write songs. I can’t stop.
I was kind of in disbelief with the acoustics, and just the audio quality of your Saturn; just sitting in the back of a car.
There’s been several cars I’ve happened to be doing this: a Jeep, a Grand Marquis—that was the one Grand Marquis my dad stole and turned into a demolition derby car when I was in jail. There was a Nissan . . . we have a running joke in our family me and my dad can’t be out of jail at the same time.
Everything I recorded online, everybody thinks I’m playing to a pre-recorded track, I’m not. I’m playing on my phone, and I mix the audio in an app. I just used an app to lower the mix down so it doesn’t make that clicking sound, then I put a compressor on it and reverb, and that’s it.
Are you lyrically motivated between life you’ve been going through and the excitement of developing the debut release?
Absolutely. Absolutely. I’m writing a song called, “Blue’s Your Favorite Color, Now” pretty much about trying to fix somebody while you’re trying to fix yourself.
First line is, “I’m digging up landmines I found on the front lines from a war you wage in your own mind,” basically, you feel like you’re walking on eggshells around someone who’s not taking their mental health seriously. While you’re trying to fix yourself, you’re trying to fix them, and it’s just not working out.
Do you catch a lot of comments on your vocal stylings?
I used to. But I’m like the clapback king . . . the cool thing about TikTok is that you can reply back with a video. And I’ve embarrassed a lot of people. Actually the song, “Ha Ha,” . . . somebody said “you should stick with the standup act,” so I wrote an entire song about cool ways to kill yourself. And, he got a lot of hate mail for it. So, I will embarrass you on the internet or sing a song about f***ing your mom, if you try to embarrass me.
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Dylan Wilson, a.k.a. King Lazy Eye, with all his stories, comedy, music, banter and clapbacks, can be found on Tik Tok @kinglazyeye and on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram and at kinglazyeye.com.
Murfreesboro beer bar and smoke lounge Liquid Smoke is located at 2 N. Public Square, Murfreesboro. Liquid Smoke can be reached at liquidsmoke.biz or 615 217-7822. King Lazy Eye performs July 22.
“Loaded Gun,” by King Lazy Eye, as submitted to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts.
“I just wanted to be able to make a song that gave someone chill bumps . . . that’s the goal,” he said.
Dylan wrote this song for his lawyer as an apology, according to Dylan’s Tik Tok account.
