I spoke with Australia’s latest hard rock machine, Strange Karma. They specialize in creating atmospheric hard rock akin to Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Sabbath and more.
How did the band begin?
My brother and I started the band. We were playing together for as long as we can remember. We were doing acoustic stuff. We took a previous line up to the UK. We had a tough grind in the UK. So we came home to Australia and regroup. We found some better, more dedicated musicians. It’s always been me and my brother pushing this forward.
Do you have everything figured out before you go into the studio?
We had a mixture of new songs and songs we have been playing live for awhile. We spent some time with this record and feel like we pulled out the best songs we could. We just want to stay true to ourselves. We wanted to make a record that shows some diversity as well.
Touring plans?
Yeah. Look, I mean we are trying to get out to the us to do a tour. And in Australia. Our focus is really on doing a us tour. Hopefully the second half of the year.
How important is social media to you?
I mean we recognize the importance. But it is a mixed bag really. It’s interesting that some things you post get comments on and some things do not. It’s interesting how that whole thing works. We prefer to do a live show and get people out to the shows. We look for the personal interaction. It gets us out all over the world. So it is a good thing. I just prefer live shows. That is where the power is at.
What is the craziest thing that ever happened to the band on the road?
We had a guy come out to one of the shows. He came out with a knife. They locked down the whole place and the security guards tried to calm him down. He ended up putting his girlfriend's head through a window at the venue. That was pretty shocking. He was heckling us all night. I have no idea to this day what the dudes problem was. It was pretty crazy. Apart from some of the other stuff that goes on. It’s a tough question.
Is it tough living and working with a sibling or do you get along?
It’s cool. We both know what we want. We both know what our job is. That helps. Conflicts happen in bands when people don’t know what they are supposed to be doing. We are fiery guys and we can yell at each other. It’s nothing personal just us trying to get the best out of each other. We work really well together. We are actually to have each other going through this.
Straight guitar to amp or do you use pedals?
Very simple. I’m using a Les Paul through a jcm800. As far as pedals just a few. Mostly straight amp. In the studio it was just straight amp. Just a Gibson and a Marshall that is it.
Who were some of the bands you were influenced by?
People hear the zeppelin in our sound. We are subconsciously influenced by what you listen to.
A lot of Zeppelin, pink Floyd, Sabbath, Hendrix. We grew up on that and then went to the 80’s bands as well as the 90’s.
MetalRising
