Karma to Burn: The Long Version, Pt 3

Check out Parts 1 and 2, then get 'er done here.

Which one thing do you wish you knew back then?
RM: What we didn’t know back then is you really can’t force lyrics onto an existing piece of work. We went in and recorded a record instrumentally, then Roadrunner’s idea was to get someone to sing on top of what was already there, rather than have us sit down and rewrite all the songs and record them for vocals. We worked with a couple of producers, and no one ever suggested that as a thing to do. [Laughs.] We had no idea.

WM: We went at it as hard as we could in the ’90s, and people kicked us in the dick every fuckin’ time we had a chance to shine. We tried to do what we wanted to do, yet people always wanted to change that or manipulate us.

How do you feel about the term “stoner rock”?
WM: The first time we heard of the term, Rich and I hadn’t even smoked pot yet.

RM: I like it. I always liked it. I liked it for a different reason back in the day because people would always bring us weed, which was great. Now I enjoy it because it was its own little thing back then and it was cool to be a part of it.

The first single off Appalachian Incantation, “Waiting on the Western World,” features Year Long Disaster vocalist Daniel Davies. What made that song so special?
RM: We actually wrote it for vocals. It was our first time where we sat down and wrote a song with a singer. He also plays guitar on that song.

Karma to Burn and Year Long Disaster are touring right now, but Rob is filling in for drummer Brad Hargreaves in YLD [who had a conflicting tour with his “day” band, Third Eye Blind] and Daniel is playing guitar with KTB. What’s that like?
RM: It’s all merging into one band. [Laughs.] It was really fun to do that one song with Daniel, so we thought we’d try to do some more stuff along those lines and do it soon… like record a whole record this year. The four of us are really good together, so we want to pursue that no matter which name we use, it’s all the same guys. It’ll be fun.

What’s the oddest thing about being back on the road?
RM: The weirdest thing is we have so many kids at the shows, and I thought it would be all be older people. That’s kind of great.

What are you out to prove this time around?
RM: We just have musical goals. I just want to show that our band can do exactly what I thought we could do back in ’99, when everyone was like, “you gotta check this band out”… and take it to a higher level.

Read Parts 1 and 2 here.