Karma To Burn Announce Release Of New Album 'Karma To Burn - Slight Reprise' & UK Tour Dates
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Written by Jon Stickler
Karma to Burn are set to release ‘Karma to Burn – Slight Reprise’ through Maybe Records on 17th September 2012. The band land on UK shores the same month for a full tour in support of the release.
Forged deep in subterranean West Virginia in 1994 by two careless and angry young men, William Mecum and Richard Mullins, Karma To Burn initially gnashed its teeth at the conventional wisdom you need a whining, posing douche-bag at a microphone stand to play rock and roll. They were of a mind to create a power trio free of this biologically inferior component. In the absence of lyrics, they titled the songs by number. Before they’d counted as high as their educations permitted, Roadrunner Records offered to release their debut album... on the condition that they get a singer. The base beliefs of Karma To Burn that true power was in the instrument, the extension of the body, free of the eviscerated flesh and mind—never wavered, except when they were offered cash. Then it fell like Satan from the stars.
The first record, compellingly titled ‘Karma to Burn’, featured such nods to convention as vocals, lyrics, and song titles. However, just as Dr. Frankenstein could not make his creation a man by swaddling it in men’s clothes, our heroes were likewise unable to make Karma to Burn anything but an instrumental outfit. Exercising their God-given right to stick to their baseless, narrow-minded convictions, they responded to those trying to convince them that their hatred for lead singers was misguided with the trained response, “Now not having a singer, that's what’s called being a man.”
Karma to Burn’s latest release ‘Karma to Burn – Slight Reprise’ is that album as it was originally intended. Rich explains that “This is our first ever album, these are the instrumental versions of our first record. These are the versions we wanted to release, along with the song sung by John Garcia as our first record, unfortunately, Roadrunner forced us to add vocals to these tracks and would not let us put the John Garcia song on the record, basically this is our first record as we originally wanted it to be released. 15 years ago. Ouch. But its cool to hear it like this after all these years”.
They carried on as a three-piece, jettisoning drummer hither and yon before recruiting the madman Rob Oswald. They released two more albums of instrumental heavy rock, 'Wild Wonderful Purgatory' and 'Almost Heathen', to astonishment and accolades. Accolades almost begat money. Almost money begat opiates. Opiates begat differences, and differences decimated Karma to Burn in 2002.
In 2009, with the maturity of three screaming, biting five-year-olds Mullins, Mecum and Oswald put aside their differences. Soon after minting the phrase “L.A. C*nt,” Karma to Burn booked a small reunion tour, to the consternation of all innocent bystanders and the furious joy of all participants. They followed that tour with a summer stampede across Europe, including Download Festival (UK), Hellfest (FRA) and Graspop Metal Meeting (BEL), where they unveiled the latest in their numbered paeans to pandemonium. Bees attacked. LPs sold out. They have no choice but to carry on, and so there will be more to come. In November 2009, Karma to Burn returned to Europe, and in December supported Monster Magnet in the UK. The band released Appalachian Incarnation in 2010.
Tracklisting for ‘Karma to Burn – Slight Reprise’ is as follows:
1. Ten
2. Fourteen
3. Three
4. Seven
5. Eight
6. Two Times (ft John Garcia)
7. Thirteen
8. One
9. Six
Aug 27th - Manchester Sound Control
Aug 28th - Bristol The Fleece & Firkin
Aug 29th - Cardiff The Owen
Aug 30th - Bournemouth The Anvil
Aug 31st - Reading Sub 89
Sept 1st - London The Underworld
Sept 2nd - Leeds The Well
Sept 3rd - Newcastle Trillions
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