The Karma Effect: Bringing Classic Rock To The Modern Age
The New Wave of Classic Rock scene has proved to be a breeding ground for talent over the last ten years, boasting bands like THOSE DAMN CROWS, FLORENCE BLACK, and MASSIVE WAGONS among some of its more successful alumni. Even down to the grassroots level, its dedicated following has supported all bands that fall under the genre, building them up from small pubs to arena shows and further beyond, never letting them forget their roots. The next band to catapult out of this scene is THE KARMA EFFECT, a group that brings irresistible melody, raw soul and huge choruses into the 21st century. With their new album Promised Land releasing this spring, they hope to bring a taste of the 80s to the modern day.
THE KARMA EFFECT has the same ‘old school’ values that a lot of bands today lack. We’re not talking about the more questionable extracurricular activities that bands of yesterday are famous for; this band has a work ethic that many today just simply don’t have.
“When SLASH writes and album and they get in to rehearse, he expects his band to be able to play at any time, on any night of the tour, his entire back catalogue,” muses frontman Henry Gottelier. “He knows all his songs, if its VELVET REVOLVER, GUNS N’ ROSES, SNAKE PIT, or his solo career, he knows his entire back catalogue and he expects his band to be able to play it too. If he goes ‘I want to do this deep cut’, he expects them to know it.”
THE KARMA EFFECT operates the same way, rehearsing their entire catalogue to keep their minds sharp. “When we get into pre-production for a record, for a tour; we’ll run our albums and our EPs and anything we have. At any point we could be like ‘let’s do this tonight’ and we could play it.”
This way of operating has clearly resonated with audiences, gaining them a devoted following not just from the dedicated New Wave of Classic Rock scene but also further afield. People are beginning to take notice of their old school sound, bringing them back to the glory days of THE ROLLING STONES and BLACK CROWES, both groups that the band list as huge influences on everything they do.
“We got into this to play the kind of music that we love playing but what’s happened is that we’ve developed this kind of amazing fanbase. We’re seeing now, especially in the New Wave of Classic Rock genre that’s having this kind of resurgence. It’s always been there but I think that it’s now rather than being a kind of underground scene, it’s becoming an actual scene.”
After the last few years of grafting away in the scene and working hard to build a name, all the blood, sweat and tears finally seems to be paying off for THE KARMA EFFECT. After recently signing to Earache Records the band has seen an uptake in their listeners, with their music being played across the globe on radio stations like the prestigious Planet Rock – a station that so many can only dream of hearing themselves on. “Since we’ve formed this team with Earache it’s just been go, go, go. I don’t think any of us have actually taken a second to sit back and take it in yet,” says Gottelier. The notion that they have such an incredible team supporting their every move is not lost to them, and their gratitude for backing radiates throughout everything they do. “We’ve got such faith in our band and the sound, and we just want people to hear that. To be on a station like [Planet Rock] is just incredible; it’s such a ‘pinch me’ moment.”
This success for THE KARMA EFFECT did not come without its hardships. The sophomore slump is a genuine issue for so many bands and at a time when they were DIY and without the backing of a label, the group were doubtful for their own future. “We were very worried, mostly financially, about whether we were going to be able to do a second album. We had the music there and it was recorded but we genuinely were concerned whether we could put it out,” says Gottelier.
Financial issues are so prevalent among DIY bands, but THE KARMA EFFECT found a way to persevere through the uphill battle that is ‘making it’ in the music industry until they had the financial backing they needed to really show the masses what they are made of. They are incredibly self-aware of the position they have found themselves in and their gratitude is abundantly obvious in the way they praise their label-mates and any person on their team the second they are given the chance to.
The main difference between this sophomore release and their debut is that THE KARMA EFFECT is finally able to reach those that should be listening. “It feels like the first album all over again, because we’re on this different journey now than we were on; it just means that we now have the capability of getting out there and reaching a bigger audience and being able to do the things that maybe once upon a time we would only have dreamt of doing,” Gottelier says. His appreciation of THE KARMA EFFECT’s dedicated fans, his bandmates, and collaborators is a clear undertone of everything he expresses, never letting his gratitude go unnoticed. “I’m very humbled and I don’t take it for granted ever.”
Promised Land is out now via Earache Records.
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