"I've got two brothers, and a whole lot of
"

The first part is a combined eye-witness account from several people. All the "clearly visible quotes" I copied from several emails I got from around the globe.

This biography starts off at the Flat Chested Fiesta 3, an all-ages show in Huntington WV in the spring of 1994. "At that time Karma To Burn had two guitarists, William and a guy named Jim Davison, whom they thank in the notes on their self-titled debut." Another reliable source elaborates: "It was quite a show During their last song, some drunk kid snuck up to the roof, then fell through a skylight (a 40 ft / 12m drop) and got smashed on the concrete floor. I got the whole deal on video."

"From what I've been told (by people who would know) was that Davison left the band due to his incarceration in a mental institution. So they carried on as a three-piece." But that didn't stop them from playing live, or continue the quest for a vocalist.

"A guy by the name of Karim Chatila used to sing for Karma To Burn way back in 1994. His previous band LEECH played a show at Gumby's (now Drop Shop) which Karma to Burn opened. Band members spoke with Karim after the show and Karim explained how Leech was breaking up after the summer was over, thereby making him bandless. To make a long story short, they sent him a tape of the songs, Karim came up with some vocal parts, and they eventually played some shows. He was with the band for a couple of months before he made the decision to leave and go to college."

Of course I had to check this story thoroughly, and confirmation followed soon afterwards. "LEECH recorded an album for Coda Records (Lexington, Ky), former Black Cat Bone and current Supafuzz leader) David Angstrom's label, a few years back. After that, nothing else was heard from them. As for their vocalist singing with Karma To Burn, that is something I'm sure I can confirm."

Karim Chatila later got involved in a band called LEBHEAD. Quite coincidentally LEBHEAD is featured on the Freebird compilation. For more info on the band and Karim Chatila, check out this site.

So Karim didn't last as a singer and the trio went on. "Then a friend of theirs (the guy who booked the shows at the now infamous but defunct Gumby's here in Huntington) called Roadrunner claiming to be a member of DIE MONSTER DIE (who also is no longer around), one of the label's bands, touting this virtually unknown band. As the story goes, the label bought it and signed them. That was more than two years ago." So probably somewhere in the spring of 1995. Karma To Burn went ahead and recorded an instrumental record for the label, but they would not release it, claiming the band needed a vocalist.

There is an instrumental EP, to which Dickie is referring to in an interview. You can see sleeves and tracklist at the discography page. The songs just have numbers as titles and most of the songs returned on their debut album. Some of them are pretty different from the album versions, but according to Dickie, that was just a matter of mixing...

Anyway, the album was still on the shelve and Roadrunner wanted a vocalist with Karma To Burn. This was where JOHN GARCIA comes in for the first time. Although he was still with KYUSS at that time, he went ahead and did some recording and touring with Karma To Burn. In the end, the cooperation didn't work, according to the band due to his vocals being too metallish. "We've spent two weeks with him in San Francisco. A crazy time. But that ended as soon as Jon started singing. He sounded way too heavy. Like we had Ronnie James Dio on vocals. On top of that, he had some difficulty with the southern edge in our music. John was born and raised at the west coast and life over there is a bit more exuberant."
source: Dickie in an interview with WATT, see the interviews page

I thought it is at least entertaining to see what John Garcia had to say about his temporary involvement with Karma To Burn. And I found an interview with John Garcia by Dominic Giampalo from february 19th 1997, with a question about this episode:

"Well, Karma to Burn was something that happened when I was in Kyuss. They had asked me to come out and sing on one song of theirs. I wound up doing it. Elektra let me do it and Roadrunner let me do it.

I went out there and did one song for them. As time went on, they wanted me full time. They pretty much wanted me to quit Kyuss and come to sing for them full time. That was something that at the time I couldn't do. I was singing in Kyuss and that's my main love and that will always be my one true love. (...) I couldn't leave. They called me and said they wanted me. I said there's no reason I can't be in two bands, it's been done before.

I went out there and sang on 8 of their songs. We never recorded anything. We went on a short little tour down south and played Kentucky, West Virginia and all these states down south. They wanted twelve songs and Elektra would only let me do eight. So I told them, let's do eight. There's no rule that says there has to be vocals on every song. Ya know, there could be 3 instrumental songs. Look at Kyuss, it's a prime example of having something instrumental. They [Karma To Burn] were really really a great band, a fucking awesome instrumental band. After they found that I couldn't do the twelve songs that they wanted, we parted and went our separate ways and it just didn't happen.

Hopefully Karma To Burn and SLO-BURN, the two "burns", are going to go to Europe at the end of April [1997] and do a month long tour. It should be pretty cool, we're trying to hook it all up. We've got 9 shows in Germany and 6 in Italy another 6 in England and Belgium, a few festivals, a few tv shows. Hopefully it will all work."

interview by Dominic Giampalo, for the entire interview click right here!

The search for a singer continued, while the master tapes with the instrumental tapes were rusting away in some Roadrunner vault. "The band then tried out a number of vocalists, Davison being among the nominees, but his mental status kept him from filling the void. In comes friend J. Jarosz, whom I believe the band accepted just so they could put the record out."

So in the end they dragged Jason in front of the microphone. Rumor goes, that he was asked after they saw him singing some ZZ Top songs at a party while he was very drunk... It was a desperate action according to the band: "We didn't have any choice, otherwise we would have lost our contract with Roadrunner [*spit* pk]. They weren't ready for this instrumental stoner rock sludge. Happily Jason could produce some sound".
source: Dickie in an interview with Walter Hoeijmakers, see the interviews page

With the album finished, the Roadrunner *spit* machinery started to work. A European tour was being planned. Promotion materials were produced (there even is a promo cd, same songs, different order, different cover). And of course there had to be an official biography.

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