Crash Karma is more than just a supergroup including members of the Tea Party, I Mother Earth and Our Lady Peace. They have become their own entity, even though it has taken three years to release “ Rock Musique Deluxe,” the follow up to their independently released debut CD.
The band includes former I Mother Earth lead singer Edwin, The Tea Party drummer Jeff Burrows, former Our Lady Peace guitarist Mike Turner and bassist Amir Epstein from the band Zygote who actually brought the band together after meeting Turner while recording in his studio.
“The first record was was about an angry, confused young man. This one is a man more at peace, questioning love and relationships, friends and family. This one has a lot of love to give. That’s the biggest difference,” described lead singer Edwin who brings the band to Average Joes, Sunday, Oct. 6. with One Bad Son.
He noted this CD took a lot of time to pull together.
“Jeff is still the drummer for the Tea Party and is an on air DJ, Mike has a busy recording studio, Amir manages young artists and I have m music,” said Edwin, who also has a successful solo career.
“So it was difficult to find time to record the studio because we don’t have a big record company behind us. But we don’t have to do this, we do this because we love doing it,” he continued.
They even hired big name producer Terry Brown who produced early Rush albums as well as Max Webster and Voivod to expedite the process.
“We were hoping he’d help us get it done faster. We recorded some drums and bass and I recorded some vocals with him,” but we finished it ourselves, which isn’t a knock on Terry,” he said.
“I’m never going to record another record this way again, though I do love it,” he continued adding the band focused a lot of the vocal harmonies for this CD.
“ We’ve played a lot live. So this record doesn’t sound like a band that just met and is just feeling each other out, this sounds like a band, not that I don’t like the other record, I love it, but this one is more refined,” he described.
“ This sounds like us rather than our previous bands, well previous except for Jeff because he is still in the Tea Party,” he said.
They all work together on lyrics and music.
“We’ll all contribute to the lyrics. If I’m in the studio with Mike we’ll bounce ideas off each other. If I’m in the studio with Amir we’ll bounce ideas off each other. It doesn’t really matter to me whose idea it is as long as it’s the best idea,” he said.
Crash Karma’s set is an amalgamation of their careers.
“We’re playing our favourites from the first Crash Karma Album and a lot of ‘Rock Musique
“ Songs that don’t necessarily stand out on the record really do stand out live. I enjoy singing ‘Finally Free.’ ‘ Everything’ also sounds great live. And when we play the single ‘Tomorrow,’ I like to see the crowd’s faces light up,” he said.
“Touring is like a vacation for us. We genuinely enjoy each other’s company. A lot of band members will go and do their own thing after their show. We like to hang out in the dressing room after the show and have a few drinks,” he said.
They just began their cross Canadian tour in Ontario.
“It’s getting better and better,” he said.
“ The middle of the set is when we play our legacy material. And we play it acoustically and get the crowd to sing along. I thought it was going to be slow part of the show, but it has turned out to be really great,” he said.
Edwin has a very powerful and distinct voice, which he makes sure he takes care of.
“ I take care of it. I’ve stopped smoking and I make sure I get eight hours of sleep a day. I do proper exercises before the show and after it as well which is important for the next show,” he said.
Due to their schedules, the band doesn’t see a lot of each other unless touring or writing.
“We’ll do one off things. ( In the spring) We went to Egypt before the latest madness, and we played for our troops in the Gaza strip in Syria. Which is great. They tell us it really helps them. It helps rejuvenate them. So it’s a great experience to help our troops and meet these people.”
They are excited about returning to Lethbridge.
“I don’t have any Lethbridge memories I can say in an interview but we always have a good time there and I’m not just saying that. I didn’t even know where Lethbridge was when I started in the ’90s. But the crowd is always good. They have a good energy. We’ll go and hang out with them after the show, which we won’t always do at other shows. They’re always fun,” he said.
“ I hope our fans will come out and check out the show. Because they won’t be disappointed. We really enjoy ourselves,” he said.
More information about Crash Karma is available at http://www.crashkarma.com or on Facebook.
Tickets for the show, which begins at 9:30 p.m., cost $20.
