Crash Karma Interview with Amir Epstein

When you hear the words Crash Karma what is the first thing that comes to your mind? For me it is the next Canadian band that will be bigger then Nickelback (cross our fingers). Crash Karma started by one man that thought it would be a fun project. So rather then start a garage band like most musicians with a wet dream. He decided to ask a few guys that were the Canadian music scene a decade ago. Granted it has changed a little in 10 years but music is music.

Introducing Crash Karma… with vocals: Edwin (I Mother Earth/Edwin Solo), Drums: Jeff Burrows (The Tea Party), Guitarist: Mike Turner (Our Lady Peace) and Bassist: Amir Epstein (Zygote).

I spoke with Amir Epstein, the man with the wet dream and here is what we discussed.

Each member of Crash Karma has a great musical history. What brought the 4 of you together?

What brought us all together was my undertaking. I was hoping that these guys wanted to play together in a band with me. I originally approached Edwin to write with him on his next album, and it kinda turned into me asking him to join the band. I used Mike and Jeff as my lure, without really speaking to either one of them. I guess you can say i was optimistic. Anyway, he said he would think about it, so i went on to approach Mike. I had worked with Mike on a previous Zygote album so it was a lot easier for me to reach him. I spoke to him and asked him to join, using Edwin and Jeff as my lure....He too promised to think about it. I finally spoke with Jeff, after a mutual friend Andy Curran who had co-managed the Tea Party gave him the heads up that was interested in playing with him. Anyway, we all met, and I guess you can say that the rest is history...or mystory..haha


I know that Jeff lives in Windsor, are the rest of you in the area as well? How does the band practice, write, record etc.?

Jeff is indeed in Windsor, but the rest of us are T.O. I think that Jeff being 4 hours away does put a little bit of a strain on him, more then us, cause he is constantly training it up here, for rehearsals, recording etc. He grew up there, his family is there and I don't think he is interested in living in T.O. I have to give him credit, cause he makes it work. He is here almost every weekend, and he NEVER complains, so it doesn't feel like he is far away. You would need to ask him that question. What i can say is that he kinda takes away our right to complain about having to drive through traffic jams to get to rehearsals.

With the name Crash Karma, there has to be a story there do tell.

Truthfully, we struggled with a band name for about a year or so. We finally came up with it, while we were altogether, at the studio, recording. It was said out loud, and each of us thought about it, and agreed that it worked well. I think in that moment, we all thought about different things, like, how did it sound, what did it look like on written, what it meant to us, and how we would spell it!!! Krash Karma or Crash Karma?....we decided on the latter for easy googling navigation, hahaha.

Because each of you in the band have had previous success's in the industry, do you feel the extra pressure for Crash Karma to succeed? Or are you finding this band is more about what each of you want.

Absolutely not. There is ZERO pressure. These guys were the entire music industry for about a decade in Canada. They each sold a crazy amount of albums, toured the world, played with rock legends, from the stones, pearl jam, and Page and Plant, to the Who, stone temple pilots and blind melon. You name them, and these guys have played a show(s) with them. What more can they ask for. This is not about needing to be famous again, or wanting to prove something. This is about fun. Its about playing music. If this stops being fun, we will return to our lives doing whatever it is we do. There will only be pressure if we are lucky enough to record another album and the first one sells millions of copies. Let that be the worst thing that happens! Also, the dynamics in this band are amazing! There is no fighting, no ego problems to deal with. No one has any attitude. Its all about playing shows and seeing where this takes us.

If or should I say when Crash Karma starts selling out shows and winning Junos is the band ready to quit their day jobs so to speak and go balls in?

Sure, why not. Reality is that for us to quit everything we are doing for this band, we would need this band to pay for our bills. Thats the biggest difference between being 19 years old, with no responsibilities and in our 30's, with wives, kids, houses. I have a baby coming next month so I need to make enough money to feed that baby. If it means not having to be a lawyer, awesome! Music is the most important non human thing in my life. I've been playing and writing forever. If i can do it full time, i will.

When it comes to writing is it a collective experience as a band?

I am what you would call the 'chief' songwriter in Crash Karma, and so I bring acoustic songs over to the boys and they all contribute their ideas to make the songs even better. Its collective in that way, but I come to them with the song first.

What are the lyrics for songs mainly about? Life, love, politics etc??

The lyrics are about everything. I think that any writer for a band writes about what he or she sees, feels, is angered about, is excited about and what makes him or her really tick. These songs are about everything from love, to acceptance, to realization. It really touches on emotions. Don't get me wrong, there are also stories, but i think the focus was on human emotion, understanding and just wanting to live fully. Im not going to say that this song in about a rabbit that hunts turtles, because someone listening to it will interpret it completely different, and I would not want to be the one to tell them they are wrong. These songs are meant for interpretation. That is how people connect. I would never take that away from anyone.

How has being a band today changed from being a band 10 years ago?

For me, being in a band 10 years ago was very stressful. Zygote was my only priority, and we were desperate to make it work. The outside eventually got inside and the band fought like crazy. I think over the years I have had the chance to mature. I moved to Australia for 3 years and got a different perspective on life. Being in this band, is not something any of us have to do. Its something we want to do. We have no commitment to any labels (yet), we're just loving playing together, and hanging out in general. We all have other priorities in life that are meaningful. Jeff has a beautiful family, and a beautiful house, I'm in law. We are really all happy people.

When can we expect a full CD release?

I believe we are setting a release date for March 2010. I know, i know, we originally said the summer of 2009. I can say that at least its not our fault. The album is pretty much done. The business people involved are putting together the whole release date, and the plan of action. Unfortunately, the music business is not all about music. Its also about business. People have money invested as well as valuable time. We need to make them happy as well as the fans. You can expect radio releases as early as mid october. You can hear 4 songs on our myspace page (which is about one third of the album!!) www.myspace.com/crashkarma

If the "business people" are holding back the release does this mean the album is already recorded its just logistics now?

The album is 90% done. A few little things here and there. Mixing the second half of the album and mastering still needs to get done, but otherwise, yeah, the album is done. Logistics are slow moving in this industry.

So does this mean Crash Karma is an Independent band and will continue to be an Indie band?

We will continue being Indie, if we do not sign a record deal. Do we want to? Well that all depends. We have a bit of clout in this industry so signing a deal kind of needs to be on our terms. That’s not to say we are being selfish and difficult, because we are not. We just don't want a record deal that isn't good for us. I kind of like the idea of staying indie, and doing shit our way.


With the full CD release will there be a tour?

You can expect a cross country tour soon after the release of the album. In fact we are expecting to hit Australia too, which I am very excited for!

Crash Karma have a couple shows coming up... Blind Dog Saturday October 10th in Windsor for charity with Ian Thornley, as well as Bingemans in Kitchener for Oktoberfest on Friday October 16th, also with Thornley...

For more info on any shows, go to www.myspace.com/crashkarma
Check out their FB page and become a fan http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/pages/Crash-Karma/48125038858?ref=nf (if link doesn't work just search for Crash Karma in FB).

Their first single "Awake" has been added to radio stations in Windsor, St. Catherines, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and Edmonton!
Congratulations and can't wait for the full CD release!