Karma to Burn, since 2011
Introduction
Our story with Karma to Burn started in 2011 and it will end with Will Mecum's death on April 29th, 2021. The soul and the music of this band will still live on. What Lemmy was to me in the 80s and 90s, Will was from 2011: the reason for a new understanding of music and a new technique of composition.
Hellfest 2011
Left, there was the Friday and on the right, the Sunday in the Terrorizer Tent during Hellfest 2011. Never saw a similar killer line-up for a Stoner Rock Festival. And instead of Buzzov-en played Ghost. `Nuff said. And actually, this edition was far away from nowadays perfection and with just 80 bands in three days, it was easy to see a lot of real good groups. They should think about a reduction of their huge amount of groups.
I never heard of this group before and due to the rain in Clisson, we were packed in this tent, which had the best sound I´ve ever heard. After spending the half of the concert in front of this guitar player and wondering about, what is this guy going on his guitar and where is the pedal-board for this sound?, we walked over to the bass-player for wondering about his posing. And isn´t that the Animal form the Muppet´s Show on the drums?.
We were deeply inpressed and I bought all their CDs, when we were back home. And: I bought myself a guitar, at the age of 45, to fulfill a lifelong dream and to play along this fantastic riffs at home.
The main problem was to find a suitable drummer to play a kind of karma to Burn. So I passed hours to create drummers on my drum computer or to find songs with a groovy and heavy drum intro. I record this from 2012 unil 2014 and it was just raw and straight foreward.
Karma to Burn, Heidelberg, Kosmodrom, 2011
I arrived way to early to this venue and so I had a lot of time to talk with Will Mecum. But I forgot to take a selfie with him. So shortly before the concert, Rich and his girlfriend arrived from having supper and I took the oportunity to get a selfie with him.
After this concert, I understood Karma to Burn: no effects on and off stage, pure sound and power and groove. I left with ringing ears for two or three days.
This shirt was the last one to buy on this tour. Never saw this later during their concerts.
Karma to Burn, Hellfest 2013
This was a strange concert, because two third of the band had changed. The new guy on drums was great. And it was hard to stand Will´s guitar sound without having a bass to grind his edgy sound. We left with ringing ears. Rich and Rob left the band shortly before the Hellfest; Rich took the rights and the money with him, so Wil came along with this new kid on the drums, beating the shit out the drums and grooves the whole concert. Evan Devine, so his name, was a perfect and a different replacement on drums. But K2B without a leading bass?
Karma to Burn & Sons of Morpheus, Lindau, Club Vaudeville, September 2014
Same ritual as ever with Karma to Burn: Having beers with Will before the concert and leaving the concert with ringing ears. The Irish Rob from Exploited did a good job on bass and Evan on drums is a grooving metronome. Thanks to Karma to Burn for their support Sons of Morpheus from Switzerland which became good buddies of us.
Karma to Burn & Sons of Morpheus, Munich, Feierwerk, April 2016
Despite the 300 spectators in the Feierwerk, we had a family reunion with Sons of Morpheus and Karma to Burn. Karma to Burn forced 300 people to dance like a tribe. And as always. ringing ears after the concert.
All above was the prologue for what was happening with this foto I took during the concert. This was a quite intimate moment, as Will stood in front of his rig and produced a huge feedback as intro for the encore. I wanted this picture as a birthday present four months later. So I wrote to my kids to print this and send it to the Canarian Island of La Palma in August 2016. But there was a puzzle, made out of this picture, arriving in August. I hate puzzles and so I was quite upset about the "present".
Christmas, 2016: My wife tokk the cover of the puzzle box, glued it on canvas, visualised the power of the picture and gifted it as a christmas present. So that´s how my small studio looked like during making music.
April 2020: Covid-19 goes around and some bands and brands launch puzzles of cd-covers and stuff. So Will Mecum was the first rockstar on a puzzle in 2016.
Karma to Burn, Stoned from the Underground, Alperstedter See, July 2017
So finally I managed to get a selfie with Will. It took six years. And I told him the story and my wife showed the picture to Eric and Will. We had a great laugh
Review on www.heavystoned.eu
Karma to Burn has changed my way of composing music, the instrument I have played for years and also my way of playing guitar. So we are very exciting about to see our favourite band for the first time on a real open-air stage. K2B are just pure and consequent in their creating music based on hooks and riffs. You sing them along as long as you will have a sore throat and you dance until your legs are hurting and you bang your head until your neck aches. This was our best K2B concert.
Guest room offer, August 2018
We published these pictures for our advertising on Airbnb and booking.com until April 2020. Two out of all our guests slept surrounded by Karma to Burn and other heros. Some of our guests even asked if there is a kid living in our house.
4-29-2021
Will died due heavy head injuries and so did Karma to Burn. Still I´m sad.
9-22-2021
Our house with all the physical memories on that wall of fame were buried under 16m of Lava three days after the beginning of the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja vulcano.