King Tuff on embarrassing Uber rides and broken headstocks

Sharing airspace with someone while they listen to your music is among the most mortifying things a working musician can experience. It often happens at the most unsuspecting moments, and it never gets any less embarrassing.

During our call, Kyle Thomas – aka King Tuff – recounted an example of this humiliation ritual during an Uber ride. The former L.A. but now Vermont-based singer/guitarist is one of those insanely prolific rock ’n’ roll lifers who always seems to be recording or touring in one of his bands: King Tuff, Witch or Ty Segall’s backing band, the Muggers. Naturally, Thomas had his guitar in tow. It’s a late-’90s Gibson SG that Thomas painted with metallic blue craft paint.