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Nearly 20 years after releasing their first album, Colchester band Karilla are back with their original line-up, new music on the way and a show at Three Wise Monkeys this Saturday, 19th September.
Karilla will be joined by Mr B & The Wolf, Frontier City and Y me for a night of guitar-driven live music, continuing a story which began during Charlie Rogers’ university days in the early 2000s.
Charlie was singing and playing rhythm guitar then, with his then-housemate, another guitarist. They went to a rehearsal studio intending to put an advert on the noticeboard and spotted one from a drummer with similar influences, including Smashing Pumpkins, Rage Against the Machine and Nirvana.
“We met and jammed. Chemistry was obvious,” Charlie says. “We played some Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin songs, and then I introduced some songs I had written. It worked.”
The following week the new recruits arrived at Charlie’s 21st birthday party. For the first year or two they played under the name Big Finger, which Charlie now describes as a “poor choice of name”.
After university, the band was put on hold while some of its members went travelling. When drummer Phil Cave and bassist Tom Edwards returned, they wanted to get things going again. Original guitarist Richard was no longer involved, but Tom knew singer and guitarist Mike Bardo. They started rehearsing in Phil’s mum’s dance studio in Black Notley.
“We were a full-stack loud band, and the complaints about noise came thick and fast as we would rehearse for hours and hours at a time,” says Charlie.
By then Charlie had moved to lead guitar, and Mike was lead vocalist. The band changed its name to Karilla and began recording, with local shows followed by dates in London and a short tour of Germany.
By 2007 they were part of the legendary Essex Rocks movement alongside bands including Kuru Smile, New Town Kings, CAV OK, F451 and Silverlight Reaction.
“The rock, indie and metal scene was strong,” Charlie says. “I always thought we fell somewhere in the middle, and in those times, we were more Pearl Jam than Rage Against the Machine, so we often got booked with metal bands and it didn’t work; sometimes with indie bands and that didn’t work either.
“Eventually we did our thing and made it work depending on who we had to play with.”
From Karilla to The Audacity
Karilla released their self-titled debut album in 2008 and were playing bigger shows, including the Barfly in Camden. Eventually, though, other things took over.
“Life! Kids, mortgages, careers. A lot took over our lives, and we got so close to that breakthrough moment, but the game had changed. Suddenly streaming became a thing, so there was very little money in record sales. Ultimately, our journey had come to an end.”
Charlie continued making music with Drive Through Therapy, but the COVID lockdown eventually brought most of Karilla back together. Original bassist Tom had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and was unable to return at the time. Without him, Charlie didn’t feel it would be right to call the band Karilla.
A conversation with AJ Jones from Black Cactus Studios and TWM Live provided the new name.
“AJ said something about someone having the audacity to do that, and it hit.”
The Audacity featured three-quarters of Karilla and began playing live. After later encountering problems with the bass position, Liam Hooker and Jim Reynolds both stepped in to cover shows, but Charlie began to wonder whether the band could carry on. Then Tom got in touch.
“Tom messaged and said he was all clear and had just bought all the gear. Karilla was instantly reborn, and the energy and intensity as soon as we were in the room together was amazing.”
Karilla back together
Karilla now has the same line-up again, with around 25 years of history between them.
“I think we have matured into making the music we want to make,” Charlie says. “We know how we want to sound and we don’t have to be apologetic about that. Given that this line-up has around 25 years of history playing together, we have a little bit of that telepathy on stage together.”
There’s also a second Karilla album on the way, 18 years after the first. The band are recording at Black Cactus Studios and hope to have it out next spring.
Supporting Colchester’s music scene
For Charlie, it comes after almost 30 years of being involved, on and off, with music in and around Colchester. He points to The Meffs and She’s In Parties as among the local bands doing well now, while support among bands, audiences, and venues remains an important part of the scene.
“The community of people in Colchester who support the bands, who hang out together and support each other – we have all been friends for years, and it’s great to see people cross their genre divide to come and support another. That’s what makes a scene. Good music is good music, right?”
Charlie admits it’s become harder to bring the numbers to local shows that Karilla once relied on, but remains a firm believer in the importance of supporting live music.
“Venues need support, local bands need support. Some venues have closed, others have opened, but from what I can tell, the Colchester scene has brilliant talent and places that can nurture them and push them further, as it did for us many years ago. Live music beats everything in my book.”
Karilla play Three Wise Monkeys on Saturday 19th September with Mr B & The Wolf, Frontier City and Y me. Expect original, loud, guitar-driven rock with influences including Audioslave, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine.
Doors open at 7.30pm. Tickets are £7.50 in advance or £9 on the door.
