What comes around

“If you’re looking for an honest rock ’n’ roll band, you found it,” says Carter Stellon, drummer for the band Karma.

Assembled from members of the Grimtones duo and the Kanes trio, Karma has been portrayed as something of a “super group.” Since its formation in September, the Reno band has garnered a reputation of mythic proportions, receiving praise as though they were human manifestations of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.

Judging by the surplus of leather, nicotine and great tunes, it’s not hard to see why.

Under the dim lights of the Red Rock Studios’ basement, the members of Karma sip their gin and tonics and drag from the cigarettes effortlessly dangling from their lips, exuding a kind of cool that seems only to exist in the backs of record shops or in 1980s cult classics.

Alongside Stellon, Karma’s lineup includes Michelle Belle on guitar, Adam Springob on bass and Greg Gilmore on guitar, with the latter three equally contributing to vocals.

Characterized by visceral, growling melody lines underpinned by tight vocal harmonies and an energetic foundation of guitars, bass and drums, Karma’s music shows old and new influences. Their songs act as snapshots of musical events and movements, from the British invasion and garage rock of the ’60s and ’70s to the rock revival and indie-rock explosion of the 2000s.

Another aspect that sets Karma apart is their egalitarian method of music-making. The lack of a lead vocalist changes the collaborative songwriting process, fostering an equality in artistic input that increases melodic intrigue as the songs switch from one person singing lead to another.

Karma’s lyrics often comment on existing hypocrisies and a refusal to submit to complacency. However, much of it is also tongue-in-cheek.

“We talk about boring [stuff] sometimes,” Belle says with a laugh. “Other times it’s nonsense, and then sometimes it’s just about dominatrix girls and falling in love with mermaids.”

Recently, Karma finished recording their debut EP, Aural Pleasures, set for release on Dec. 20. The collection offers a biopsy of the musical heterogeny Karma has developed, loosely revisiting the general ambiance of rock ’n’ roll of the ’60s and ’70s.

With Stellon and Belle’s work with the Grimtones and Springob and Gilmore’s role in the Kanes, it seems inevitable that their experience would color the work of Karma.

But the impact seems to have fallen more on the logistical side of performing than on the musical style itself.

The knowledge of how to rehearse effectively, record a song, book a show and promote it, as well as establish a presence in the local community have undoubtedly been key to the current triumphs of Karma.

In a matter of weeks, Karma have written songs, performed three shows, recorded an EP and booked a release show.

But in case that wasn’t enough, Karma has just announced a U.S. tour, starting early next year, running all the way to places like New York and Texas before coming back to the West Coast.

In the midst of sharing the microphone, creative license and even clothes, Karma embodies the spirit of the guitar-playing, smug-faced, chain-smoking rapscallion that your parents prayed you would never be caught with under the bleachers at school.