What William has to say...
(like we care a pig's rear end)
What Are Words For?
by Craig Regala and Anthony T. Barnett
This interview with William took place in the spring of 1997. The band had just added,
then ditched a lead singer, opting to return to their strong suit: a powerhouse
instrumental attack.
MOO: (Craig whispers) Hi. What are you wearing?
WILLIAM: Khakis and a golf shirt.
MOO: And galoshes?
WILLIAM: Cleats.
MOO: Damn jock. It doesn't seem that heavy is a very good word right
now.
WILLIAM: I'd say I'm about 165-170.
MOO: I figured you were probably more dense than heavy.
WILLIAM: I'm thick. I don't know if you want to call me heavy.
A few months ago, when Craig Regala (MOO's minister of
rock) and Anthony T. Barnett spoke with William of Karma To
Burn , the band had a lead singer. Why is that worth pointing
out, you ask? Well, since 1993 these hard hitting gut punchers
from West Virginia consisting of guitarist William, bassist Dickie
(also known as Rich), and drummer Nathan, (now replaced by
Nicholas) have been an instrumental powerhouse.
MOO: Nathan played on part of the album, right?
WILLIAM: He played on 11 out of the 12 tracks, and then he quit.
MOO: What happened there?
WILLIAM: He got kinda burned out on it, and he had this serious girlfriend
that wanted him to quit, so he did. She basically gave him an ultimatum: Stay
with the band or me. He picked the girl, and they recently broke up, too.
MOO: Sucker.
WILLIAM: He's kickin' himself in the ass, I think. He got whipped and lost
the drive to play, I guess.
MOO: When did you guys hook up with Nicholas?
WILLIAM: October of last year. We got him three days after Nathan quit.
Karma To Burn's 1995 self-titled EP, on Roadtrip Records,
showed the band to be a tank rolling across Black Sabbath's
graveyard, Kyuss' desert, and Monster Magnet's cosmic
countryside; only there were no words, no statements, no lyrics;
just thundering rock. To say Karma To Burn's debut was a
heavy affair would be an understatement, and to say the band
was nothing but a bunch of noise terrorists pounding the face of
hard rock would be unjustified. The music was intricate, loud,
and dynamic with each one of the songs given a numbered titled
to further extend the notion that words need not apply.
MOO: When you've played in Columbus (Ohio), have you ever walked up
and down High Street?
WILLIAM: Yeah.
MOO: Have you ever been to Magnolia's? (Magnolia Thunderpussy -
Infamous Columbus, Ohio music store and home to owner Chuck Kubat and
rock demon Artero DeLeon)
WILLIAM: The Thunderpussy? They carried our 10" for a while.
MOO: They were really fuckin' juiced on it. A really huge fan of yours, who
works there, plays in an industrial band and in a goofy kind of humor metal
band.
WILLIAM: The owner?
MOO: No, a big Mexican kid who works there, Arturo DeLeon. We were
trying to figure out how the hell he ... he plays you guys! He bugged
Roadrunner and got a promo, and he works that record hard. Did the band
start in 1993 or 1994?
WILLIAM: We started in March of 1993. It's four years, this March, that
me and Rich sat down and actually wrote some songs.
MOO: How did it all come together? Where did you meet Rich?
WILLIAM: I met Rich in Morgantown. I was in a band playing at one of the
clubs here, and we were opening up for Royal Crescent Mob, which is
actually a Columbus band. Rich was in a band from Pittsburgh. His band
opened for us, and we opened for Royal Crescent Mob. We hit it off pretty
well, and then he went his separate way for a while and did a couple of other
bands. I quit that band and didn't have anything to do. Rich called me up in
the middle of making a burrito at one of the Mexican restaurants in Pittsburgh.
He asked if I was doing anything, and I said no, so he moved from Pittsburgh
down here to Morgantown, then we started playing.
MOO: Were you guys students at the time?
WILLIAM: No.
MOO: So, are you originally from Morgantown?
WILLIAM: I'm not. I've lived here for six years.
MOO: Why move to West Virginia why Morgantown?
WILLIAM: It's a cool town. There's stuff goin' on here. I figured if I wasn't
going to school I might as well be around people my own age. The band I
was in before, we played here in Morgantown twice on tour, and I met some
people and liked the town a lot. I just kind of ended up here.
Since the group's EP, the group has toyed with singers, including
former Kyuss singer John Garcia. They finally settled on a man
who went by the name of Baka for their first full-length release,
simply titled Karma To Burn. Baka had a dark, brooding voice
that hinted of Ian Curtis of Joy Division, but with more of a
curled lip that exposed the cosmic fangs of a Dave Wyndorf
crossed up with an occasional post-apocalyptic Rob Zombie
growl. The addition of Baka added more shadows to a canvas
already painted pitch black. However, the collaboration did not
last long. Due to a few bad habits that Baka held dear, Karma
To Burn and the reckless singer parted ways. However, with a
tour to support the new material looming on the horizon, the
band needed another vocalist to take the place of the ousted
Baka. So, the search was on once again. But why?
MOO: So it was you, Rich, and Nathan?
WILLIAM: Yeah, and we started playing out instrumentally. We tried Jim
out as a singer, and it didn't work out.
MOO: So then Jim fell off, and it was you and Rich and Nathan?
WILLIAM: Then it was me, Rich, Nathan, and the singer from Kyuss.
MOO: Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that. You guys never recorded
anything with him, right?
WILLIAM: We did one song with him.
MOO: Is it released?
WILLIAM: Oh no no no ...
MOO: Will it ever be released?
WILLIAM: I don't think so.
MOO: What happened?
WILLIAM: It just didn't work out. It was there musically, but we came from
two different worlds. We're from West Virginia, and he's this California desert
rat. It just kinda clashed with what we were trying to do. Plus we didn't want
to be known as the band with the singer from Kyuss. We wanted to be
Karma To Burn, you know?
MOO: Did his vocal style really not fit in with what you wanted to do?
WILLIAM: The vocal style fit in fine. It was just other things here and there,
like personal differences. He didn't want to move out here, and we weren't
ready to move out there. He wanted to go to school, too. It just didn't work
out and kind of fell apart.
MOO: They've mentioned you a number of times. How did you initially hook
up with Kyuss?
WILLIAM: We played a couple of shows with them when they were on
tour on the east coast. We caught their eye, I guess, and they actually got off
their tour bus and came and saw us. We got along with them really well. John,
the singer, especially liked our stuff and wanted to work with us. We got to
talkin', and Kyuss wasn't doing too well at the time. They had a lot of inband
problems and problems with their label, so he kind of wanted to get out.
MOO: How did you guys hook up with Baka?
WILLIAM: He was my next-door neighbor for a while. We just started
going out, having drinks and stuff, and then he said, "I'll do it."
Given their run of bad luck regarding frontmen with
microphones, weren't these rowdy gentlemen from the state of
the wild and wonderful willing to face facts? Like oil and} water,
Karma To Burn and singers did not mix. Their reasons were
obvious. But obvious doesn't always mean better.
MOO: I talked to two people I'll classify them as ... I don't know more
underground. I'm a little older. They're like, "Why did they add a singer?" It's
like you're going to be too populous, like kids that beat them up might like
you.
WILLIAM: We might actually sell records and become the indie jewel we
used to want to be.
MOO: I guess that kind of rolls out of people when they hit a certain level or
they're warped from rock'n'roll, and they're retarded forever.
WILLIAM: We don't want to have anything to do with being indie jewels.
+
MOO: That's a good thing to hear.
WILLIAM: You can quote me on that. We do want to sell records.
MOO: I was thinking today, there's no fucking musical reason why you
shouldn't be able to tour with Corrosion of Conformity. (Since this interview,
Karma To Burn had picked up a number of dates with COC. - Do we know
how to pick 'em or what --editor)
WILLIAM: That'd be great.
When Karma To Burn first hit the road to unveil the new sound
and new band to the rest of the world, they grabbed a skinny,
dark haired kid from their stomping grounds of Morgantown;
one of those guys they'd known for years. His name? It doesn't
matter. He didn't last long, either. In Columbus, one of the first
stops on the tour with the new blood, a trio of die-hard Karma
fans showed their displeasure with the band's decision to move
towards a more accessible format. They held up a small
handwritten sign that read on one side: KARMA to SELL
(OUT)! TO ROADRUNNER. The other side of the sign,
though a bit off the mark, still got it's message across: BAKA
YOU SUCK! SHUT UP & GO HOME!
It wasn't too much longer into the tour that Karma To Burn took
the advice of their fans. Now, back to being an instrumental trio,
the boys are back in the saddle again. They're ready to lay
waste to the world with lethal instrumental bombast. It's the way
that Karma burns best.
WILLIAM: We usually try to concentrate on playing 4/4 so people don't get
messed up when we're playing.
MOO: (Laughs) The drinking time.
WILLIAM: Exactly. When I'm out at a bar drinking (usually drinking
heavily), I don't want to listen to a band that's going to make me fall off my
stool.
WILLIAM: Khakis and a golf shirt.
MOO: And galoshes?
WILLIAM: Cleats.
MOO: Damn jock. It doesn't seem that heavy is a very good word right now.
WILLIAM: I'd say I'm about 165-170.
MOO: I figured you were probably more dense than heavy.
WILLIAM: I'm thick. I don't know if you want to call me heavy.
A few months ago, when Craig Regala (MOO's minister of rock) and Anthony T. Barnett spoke with William of Karma To Burn , the band had a lead singer. Why is that worth pointing out, you ask? Well, since 1993 these hard hitting gut punchers from West Virginia consisting of guitarist William, bassist Dickie (also known as Rich), and drummer Nathan, (now replaced by Nicholas) have been an instrumental powerhouse.
MOO: Nathan played on part of the album, right?
WILLIAM: He played on 11 out of the 12 tracks, and then he quit.
MOO: What happened there?
WILLIAM: He got kinda burned out on it, and he had this serious girlfriend that wanted him to quit, so he did. She basically gave him an ultimatum: Stay with the band or me. He picked the girl, and they recently broke up, too.
MOO: Sucker.
WILLIAM: He's kickin' himself in the ass, I think. He got whipped and lost the drive to play, I guess.
MOO: When did you guys hook up with Nicholas?
WILLIAM: October of last year. We got him three days after Nathan quit.
Karma To Burn's 1995 self-titled EP, on Roadtrip Records, showed the band to be a tank rolling across Black Sabbath's graveyard, Kyuss' desert, and Monster Magnet's cosmic countryside; only there were no words, no statements, no lyrics; just thundering rock. To say Karma To Burn's debut was a heavy affair would be an understatement, and to say the band was nothing but a bunch of noise terrorists pounding the face of hard rock would be unjustified. The music was intricate, loud, and dynamic with each one of the songs given a numbered titled to further extend the notion that words need not apply.
MOO: When you've played in Columbus (Ohio), have you ever walked up and down High Street?
WILLIAM: Yeah.
MOO: Have you ever been to Magnolia's? (Magnolia Thunderpussy - Infamous Columbus, Ohio music store and home to owner Chuck Kubat and rock demon Artero DeLeon)
WILLIAM: The Thunderpussy? They carried our 10" for a while.
MOO: They were really fuckin' juiced on it. A really huge fan of yours, who works there, plays in an industrial band and in a goofy kind of humor metal band.
WILLIAM: The owner?
MOO: No, a big Mexican kid who works there, Arturo DeLeon. We were trying to figure out how the hell he ... he plays you guys! He bugged Roadrunner and got a promo, and he works that record hard. Did the band start in 1993 or 1994?
WILLIAM: We started in March of 1993. It's four years, this March, that me and Rich sat down and actually wrote some songs.
MOO: How did it all come together? Where did you meet Rich?
WILLIAM: I met Rich in Morgantown. I was in a band playing at one of the clubs here, and we were opening up for Royal Crescent Mob, which is actually a Columbus band. Rich was in a band from Pittsburgh. His band opened for us, and we opened for Royal Crescent Mob. We hit it off pretty well, and then he went his separate way for a while and did a couple of other bands. I quit that band and didn't have anything to do. Rich called me up in the middle of making a burrito at one of the Mexican restaurants in Pittsburgh. He asked if I was doing anything, and I said no, so he moved from Pittsburgh down here to Morgantown, then we started playing.
MOO: Were you guys students at the time?
WILLIAM: No.
MOO: So, are you originally from Morgantown?
WILLIAM: I'm not. I've lived here for six years.
MOO: Why move to West Virginia why Morgantown?
WILLIAM: It's a cool town. There's stuff goin' on here. I figured if I wasn't going to school I might as well be around people my own age. The band I was in before, we played here in Morgantown twice on tour, and I met some people and liked the town a lot. I just kind of ended up here.
Since the group's EP, the group has toyed with singers, including former Kyuss singer John Garcia. They finally settled on a man who went by the name of Baka for their first full-length release, simply titled Karma To Burn. Baka had a dark, brooding voice that hinted of Ian Curtis of Joy Division, but with more of a curled lip that exposed the cosmic fangs of a Dave Wyndorf crossed up with an occasional post-apocalyptic Rob Zombie growl. The addition of Baka added more shadows to a canvas already painted pitch black. However, the collaboration did not last long. Due to a few bad habits that Baka held dear, Karma To Burn and the reckless singer parted ways. However, with a tour to support the new material looming on the horizon, the band needed another vocalist to take the place of the ousted Baka. So, the search was on once again. But why?
MOO: So it was you, Rich, and Nathan?
WILLIAM: Yeah, and we started playing out instrumentally. We tried Jim out as a singer, and it didn't work out.
MOO: So then Jim fell off, and it was you and Rich and Nathan?
WILLIAM: Then it was me, Rich, Nathan, and the singer from Kyuss.
MOO: Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that. You guys never recorded anything with him, right?
WILLIAM: We did one song with him.
MOO: Is it released?
WILLIAM: Oh no no no ...
MOO: Will it ever be released?
WILLIAM: I don't think so.
MOO: What happened?
WILLIAM: It just didn't work out. It was there musically, but we came from two different worlds. We're from West Virginia, and he's this California desert rat. It just kinda clashed with what we were trying to do. Plus we didn't want to be known as the band with the singer from Kyuss. We wanted to be Karma To Burn, you know?
MOO: Did his vocal style really not fit in with what you wanted to do?
WILLIAM: The vocal style fit in fine. It was just other things here and there, like personal differences. He didn't want to move out here, and we weren't ready to move out there. He wanted to go to school, too. It just didn't work out and kind of fell apart.
MOO: They've mentioned you a number of times. How did you initially hook up with Kyuss?
WILLIAM: We played a couple of shows with them when they were on tour on the east coast. We caught their eye, I guess, and they actually got off their tour bus and came and saw us. We got along with them really well. John, the singer, especially liked our stuff and wanted to work with us. We got to talkin', and Kyuss wasn't doing too well at the time. They had a lot of inband problems and problems with their label, so he kind of wanted to get out.
MOO: How did you guys hook up with Baka?
WILLIAM: He was my next-door neighbor for a while. We just started going out, having drinks and stuff, and then he said, "I'll do it."
Given their run of bad luck regarding frontmen with microphones, weren't these rowdy gentlemen from the state of the wild and wonderful willing to face facts? Like oil and} water, Karma To Burn and singers did not mix. Their reasons were obvious. But obvious doesn't always mean better.
MOO: I talked to two people I'll classify them as ... I don't know more underground. I'm a little older. They're like, "Why did they add a singer?" It's like you're going to be too populous, like kids that beat them up might like you.
WILLIAM: We might actually sell records and become the indie jewel we used to want to be.
MOO: I guess that kind of rolls out of people when they hit a certain level or they're warped from rock'n'roll, and they're retarded forever.
WILLIAM: We don't want to have anything to do with being indie jewels.
+ MOO: That's a good thing to hear.
WILLIAM: You can quote me on that. We do want to sell records.
MOO: I was thinking today, there's no fucking musical reason why you shouldn't be able to tour with Corrosion of Conformity. (Since this interview, Karma To Burn had picked up a number of dates with COC. - Do we know how to pick 'em or what --editor) WILLIAM: That'd be great.
When Karma To Burn first hit the road to unveil the new sound and new band to the rest of the world, they grabbed a skinny, dark haired kid from their stomping grounds of Morgantown; one of those guys they'd known for years. His name? It doesn't matter. He didn't last long, either. In Columbus, one of the first stops on the tour with the new blood, a trio of die-hard Karma fans showed their displeasure with the band's decision to move towards a more accessible format. They held up a small handwritten sign that read on one side: KARMA to SELL (OUT)! TO ROADRUNNER. The other side of the sign, though a bit off the mark, still got it's message across: BAKA YOU SUCK! SHUT UP & GO HOME!
It wasn't too much longer into the tour that Karma To Burn took the advice of their fans. Now, back to being an instrumental trio, the boys are back in the saddle again. They're ready to lay waste to the world with lethal instrumental bombast. It's the way that Karma burns best.
WILLIAM: We usually try to concentrate on playing 4/4 so people don't get messed up when we're playing.
MOO: (Laughs) The drinking time.
WILLIAM: Exactly. When I'm out at a bar drinking (usually drinking heavily), I don't want to listen to a band that's going to make me fall off my stool.
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