John Reis' Sultans Hang up the Crown
"I always thought of the band as a sand castle out of grease and chicken guts and now the tide of blood and seminal fluid will wash us back out to the sinister abyss from where we came."

Retreating yet again from the kingdom of blistering, balls-out rock he helped erect in San Diego, John Reis-- who pulled the plug on his two other bands in 2005, Rocket From the Crypt and Hot Snakes-- has opted to hang up his remaining hat, the jeweled headpiece he dons as frontman for Sultans.

Already on permanent hiatus, Sultans will reemerge but for a night to play the January 10 Fourth Project benefit at San Diego's the Casbah. The event's being billed as the last Sultans show ever, and also features fellow Swami Records acts the Heartaches and Beehive and the Barracudas, as well as Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects. All proceeds go to filmmaker and graphic designer Marc Garris' Fourth Project, whose San Diego offices burned down on December 17.

Oh, dear Sultans, but why? Turns out it all boils down to baby-making. Wrote Reis on the Swami Records message board, "Mario [Rubalcaba, drummer] and his wife had a baby and a couple months after my wife and I had one too...I am no longer interested in playing in different bands and spreading my efforts thinly."

However, there's hope. "I came to the realization," Reis continued, "that I needed to slam the door shut with an intention of permenance so a new musical identity would have room to germinate." We don't know what that identity is yet, but we're fairly sure it will kick our asses.

As of now, Reis will continue to run Swami, which plans to release DVDs from both Rocket From the Crypt and Hot Snakes. Behold John's complete statement on the Sultans break-up after the jump.

The Sultans have been on permanent hiatus ever since the last time we played. Mario [Rubalcaba, drummer] and his wife had a baby and a couple months after my wife and I had one too. Prior to this I was already thinking of wrapping things up with all the musical endeavors in my life and to simplify things by focusing on one thing at a time. I am no longer interested in playing in different bands and spreading my efforts thinly. So, I came to the realization that I needed to slam the door shut with an intention of permenance so a new musical identity would have room to germinate.

So now, The Sultans play one more time in hopes of helping out our good friend. If it wasn't for this benefit we would not be playing again. It will not be a teary goodbye. I definitely don't want to say we will never EVER play again, but I just don't see it happening. So we are letting everybody know, 'hey check it out if you wanna because this is most likely the last time we will be playing'. The Sultans do not have the history or the dediction of the other musical endeavors I have preoccupied myself with. That was the intention of the band in the first place. I always thought of the band as a sand castle out of grease and chicken guts and now the tide of blood and seminal fluid will wash us back out to the sinister abyss from where we came.