Fort St. John music lovers, prepare to be astounded.
It has been reported by Crash Karma base player Amir Epstein that lead singer Edwin will thoroughly entertain the crowd in more ways then one, as he tends to strip down to his skivvies and do a little dance while the rest of the band totally rocks out.
Okay, not really.
That was an April Fools' joke.
But seriously, the guys of Crash Karma will be rocking out in Fort St. John this weekend.
"I'm excited, I've never been (to Fort St. John), so I'm stoked, looking forward to it," said Epstein in a phone interview Tuesday.
Crash Karma is made up of the aforementioned Edwin, formerly of I Mother Earth; guitarist Mike Turner, formerly of Our Lady Peace; drummer Jeff Burrows, formerly of The Tea Party and Epstein, formerly of Zygote.
Crash Karma was Epstein's brainchild - he decided to give the music industry another go after leaving Zygote and earning a law degree.
Seeing that Burrows and Turner were no longer with their former bands and Edwin was taking a hiatus from his solo work, Epstein went through the appropriate channels to bring them all together.
"Thankfully I had enough credibility in the industry that they listened," he laughed.
An accomplished songwriter, Epstein brought in a number of songs to give the others an idea of the vision he had for Crash Karma.
"I brought 25-26 songs, sat down, sang them all out and they thought 'yeah this is really cool.' We could all picture how it would turn out when we recorded it few years later, here's a album," he said.
The band took awhile to find their vibe, with Epstein having to travel back and forth between Canada and Australia.
But once the guys put a song together, everything started to click.
"Once it started sounding like a song, it was sounding really good and slowly became a priority for everybody," he said.
There is a stigma attached to being a super group - that the band members all have big egos, which tends to lead to a lot of infighting within the group.
But Epstein says that's not the case with Crash Karma.
"We all get along, creepingly, a little too well, being in a band you're supposed to hate each other a little bit," he said. "(But) there's no ego, there's no attitude. Everyone wants in this because it's fun and only because it's fun."
Being as the members of the band are from groups that were popular in the 90s, Epstein said he's heard some criticism that they sound like they're still in the 90s.
"It's rock, you know? It's exactly what you expect it to be. I've read people saying, 'oh this is the continuation of I Mother Earth' well yeah, wouldn't it be weird if Edwin came out and sounded like Eddie Vedder?" said Epstein.
"I wouldn't think it's a good idea to be in this band if these guys changed everything they've ever done their whole lives that they're so good at to try something different."
The guys have no qualms about sneaking a few I Mother Earth, Our Lady Peace or The Tea Party tracks into the set.
"They're proud of what they've done it's not a full cover tune, it's half a cover tune," laughed Epstein.
Crash Karma will be playing at On The Rocks nightclub April 3, with guests Soul Side In and Wauntid. Doors open at 8 p.m. For more information, call 250-261-6942.
