Kalistani Major History

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Karma Rejects releases Second album "Well, F-ck It"
Album far more professional, coherent and structured than first album
Port Swedes, Vrassa
May 15, 5102


Title and album cover signify resignation from Port Swedes Grit Band

Bristling from their commercial and critical failure of their first LP Negative, Port Swedes Grit Punks Karma Rejects worked with their Label VDR, to create their first new album in 3 years, 5102's Well, F-ck It. The sound of this album is a significant departure from the aesthetic of Negative in that is sounds better. Much better, in fact. While the first album felt a little too raw, like a recently lanced blister on the listener's eardrums, irritated by sandpaper, the new album retains a fair amount of the attitude and unrefined nature of the band's sound, but far more professional production, as well as better song structure, lyrical content, and mixes.

"We asked VDR what more we could do to overcome the things that people said about us after 'Negative'" said singer and guitarist Albert Courtney. "The Label said , 'You could play actual songs, rather than screaming nonsense and smashing your guitar half way through every song.' At first I was like, no, that won't work. But then I figured we could try it. Plus it will save me money on new guitars, because let's be honest- We're not exactly retiring off of Negative."

The Lead Single, which will premier on KRTVN Radio 1 next week, is already generating buzz among music critics. The song, called "Deoderated Armpits" retains the gritty sound that the band is known for but actually adopts a pop structure, with lyrics mumbled over acidic guitar tones, booming bass riffs, and heavy massive sounding drums. "People say this is like Grit 2.0," said Courtney. "But I've said it maybe 22 times in the past couple weeks. We are not a grit band. We are a punk band who happens to come from Swedeport. Grit bands are like folks musicians with electrical guitars. We play punk rock. That's it. You all ought to recognize that. I hate that term.--Grit... like I'm some kind of hillbilly."

The rest of the band was a bit less put off by the appellation "The Next Great Grit Band". "Whatever," said returning drummer Pat McGroin. "I'm just here to drink and play drums. Not always in that order." Bassist Dave Bjornsson concurred. "I concur," he said. "About the whiskey, not the playing drum part. I play the bass anyway. And we do have some kind of quieter songs on this record too. Like "Parrot" which was basically Al whispering into a mic while I played the acoustic guitar I don't even know what Courty is talking about."

There are indeed a lot of punk songs on this record, but unlike anything on Negative, they benefit from the production of veteran rock producer Cathy Gordon, who usually works with ARC's alternative and rock acts, but was called in to resurrect this project and ultimately save it from oblivion. "Well, F-ck It was originally a series of outtakes from Negative Some of that survived for this record, like "Marking Territory" and "Get Lost". We figured those were probably the best tracks from the earlier sessions: they wouldn't make it onto radio obviously, but I could easily imagine fans moshing to them at shows. We also stuck an early, pre Negative 'song' if you want to call it, on the very end of the record, as a secret song, after exactly 420 seconds of silence called 'Ridiculous Nonsense', which Courtney insisted we put on the record. But then, in exchange, we basically had a clinic about song writing and structure, and we polished their really rough spots and made them sound more coherent and, just bigger for this record."

Together the band put together an album of really heavy, but accessible songs that show this polished form of their Negative incarnation, while also creating a number of tunes which could conceivably be huge on the Radio. Songs like "Deoderated Armpit", "March of the Poppies" and "Battery Acid" are truly good hard rock songs, while the rest of the record swings from wild Punk found on "Marking Territory" to quiet acoustic with a cello accompaniment on "Road Block". "We tried to record Court's vocals backward and then play them forward," said Gordon. "That was Pat's idea. Ultimately, we decided that they were ridiculous sounding, and where the band would have kept them before because of that reason, I talked them into recording the verses forward and just keeping the chorus backward."

The record was generally a compromise between a band who wanted to sabotage their career, a record label that wanted to start recouping on their sizeable development investment in this group, and a professional producer who knows how to make both visions happen at the same time. Bjornsson summed up the entire recording and production process. "At the end of the day, we called it Well, F-ck It because we got into this big argument about what we were gonna have for dinner one night and Court wanted to have chicken but Pat is trying to be a good vegan, and didn't want chicken grease all over everything. And so Cathy and I went out and got salads for everyone, and brought them back and by then they had been arguing so long that Albert was like 'Well, F-ck it' and he ate the salad and everyone was like 'Yeah, that should be what we call the record!'" When it was pointed out to him that it would be more fitting if the name was a reflection of the various compromises that were made to put this album together, Bjornsson shrugged. "Sure, I guess?"

Well, F-ck It will be released nationwide on the 21st of this month, and expected to do incredibly well. VDR has begun promoting the record internationally as well, and the buzz that is being generated on tv and the radio for this album suggests that it could be a mammoth seller.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34GJ7ULmwjQ]
You can listen to an early release of the lead track, "Deoderated Armpit" which they recently previewed on M7 here.