Will there be vocals on this album? From Marco or yourself?

Marco definitely! Me, probably not, but if he calls for some backing chick vox, I’m into it. Whatever he wants me to do, to help his tunes sound how he envisions them to sound: I’m in.

I ask because your cover of the Butthole Surfers “Pepper,” has become pretty relevant in your setlist rotation, and you sing the vocals! How did that come about?

Great question. We had those two bus tours, like I mentioned, and on the first one, on the East Coast, we played a bunch of still-unreleased tracks. So, we actually did play a handful of those on that tour.

But then, when we moved to the West Coast, we were listening to “Pepper” in the van once and Marco was like, “Holy shit. We should cover this.” I of course know every word to that song, so he assigned me to do the verses, and then we would sing the chorus together. And it has become a huge one. We encore with it a lot, and people just lose their shit over it. I didn’t realize the extent to which people are hip to that song. It’s awesome. Within the first few notes you can tell people start to realize. It’s a really good vibe.

The chorus is also just so iconic and fun to sing all together with everyone:

“I don’t mind the sun sometimes the images it shows/I can taste you on my lips and smell you in my clothes.”

Everyone just kind of screams it at the same time and it’s been a beautiful thing. The other two we’ve been covering are “You Don’t Know How it Feels” by Tom Petty, and I sing harmonies on the chorus with Marco. We do it in drop-D. I have a bass with what they call a “hip-shot,” where basically you can hit this thing on the bass and it takes the tuning from normal to drop-D, without getting too nerdy to explain.

The intro is a rocksteady bassline with very simple drums, when Marco comes in and goes crazy twisting knobs, and makes all these atmospheric sounds. It’s when he plays the classic harmonica riff on the keys when people really start to know what song it is, and they totally bug out when they realize! So, that’s been really fun too.

One other cover we’ve done a lot recently is “Swingtown,” by The Steve Miller Band. That’s a really fun one, because everybody screams the melody and everybody somehow knows that one! It’s been cool to throw in some covers like that.

And do the songs come up because you’re listening to them in the van?

Yeah, sometimes. Or other times Marco gets an idea and we just throw it out there. Just this past weekend, our sound guy and tour manager who also is a DJ in Philly on XPN Radio, Julian Booker, was playing The Feelies. They do this cover of The Beatles “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey” that’s kind of fast and punk, it’s all distorted. Marco heard it, freaked out about how awesome it was, and we just learned it right then at soundcheck and played it in Raleigh that night. It was amazing.

So, yeah, we can really put something together on the fly and work it out at soundcheck. So, if there’s something Marco is inspired by, or wants to try out, we try it out! It’s super cool in that respect.

Really cool. And are you writing your own music these days as well?

I am! I’ve been exploring making sounds, it’s been cool. For whatever reason, it feels good. I’ve been making riffs and melodies and laying stuff down. It feels like the right time to be doing so, somehow. I’ve been in a lot of bands growing up, but other people in the band have always been the main songwriters. So they give me a part, and I might add tasty things here and there, but I haven’t been the main songwriter. Sometimes I get in the band and have to learn 20, 30 new songs, too. There is no new music to be writing.

So, I guess I just have this creative bug and it’s the right time. I’ve been working it all out on bass and guitar at my apartment in New York. We got this little fatty Moog synthesizer there, which actually belongs to my roommate, but I’ve been dabbling on it. It is a slow process, as it kinda should be. It’s been a fun exploration. I’m just, you know, throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Well said. And on that same note, can you speak to the recently announced SuperJam you put together for Farm Fest?

They asked me to put together an hour of improvised music, so I made some phone calls. It’s really kind of insane to me, to be put in that position. When you think, man, who do I want to play with?

Last October, Marco did the Luna Lights Festival that was Medeski, Martin, Benevento & Russo. Right beforehand, John (Medeski) said to me, “Karina, you’re gonna come on and help us out, right?” My bass was still set up, so I asked him when to join them, and he said, “Come up whenever you’re feeling it.” Of course, then I was standing there spellbound as an observer, and I see John look over at me over his keyboard and he’s literally waving me in! And, well, you don’t say “No” to John Medeski. So, I ended up playing most of the set with them. I think for about a half hour. Holly Bowling came up, who is awesome, and Andy (Borger) joined too, and did some aux-percussion with people shifting around on drums and stuff.

So, based on that night, I was thinking it would be awesome if we could get Billy Martin and Medeski, Marco, and me together. And I’m just obsessed with Nels Cline and the way he plays with Medeski Martin and Wood, and I love their improv Woodstock Sessions record they made. I knew him from ToneConcepts stuff, so I asked him, and asked Marco and got everyone’s blessings, and here we are. I’m really excited and humbled to be playing an hour of improvised music with these guys, and I think its gonna be super fun. A great time to kind of just play and see where things go. It’s really cool to walk into a gig knowing that you can’t play a wrong note.

It seems like Medeski has been there since the beginning, as he was a part of the “pass the torch” show as well right?

He was! Yeah, he is just an incredible player, and it’s so cool to see him play together with Marco on double keys. It’s gonna be a great time.

Have you had any standout moments from the past year touring with Marco?

Oh, wow, you know, there are a lot. It’s been such a whirlwind of craziness. But I do have one particularly special night in mind. We were in Atlanta, last October. We played Terminal West with the Eric Krasno Band, who I love. It was a great tour, and on this particular night, Phish had the night off in Atlanta.

After our show, we were backstage hanging out, in the green room that Marco had set up. He brings a “green room roadcase” full of Christmas lights and vinyl, speakers and a record player, and we have a huge dance party every night. Well, on this night when I get back there, Mike Gordon is there and Fishman is there. And maybe ten other people. I’m spellbound, but it’s a blast, so I’m just dancing and listening to music with half of Phish, cool. (Laughing)

Then all of a sudden, I get the urge to check out what’s going on in Krasno’s dressing room. So, I bust in there, swing open the door, and it’s the starkest difference you’ve ever seen in your life. Halogen lights beaming on you, there’s no music, it was so bright it took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to be honest. Then as they adjusted, who do I see sitting there with Krasno, but the Colonel Bruce Hampton! I think I actually YELPED! But tried to be cool.

Krasno introduced us and immediately The Colonel says, “Your birthday is November 24.” And I totally freaked out, because that’s my real birthday!

Wow, that’s crazy. He was pretty much known for that, right?

Yup, he was known to get it within a day or two and he was dead on, right on the spot. I keep thinking back to that night since he passed, and just thinking how totally cosmic of a guy he was. That was the one and only time I’d ever met him, and it was so, so special. It was such a stark contrast from our dressing room, but both special moments to me and on the same night. A night I’ll always remember. I know so many people were close with the Colonel, and had personal relationships with him, but to even have a glimpse on that one night of what kind of cosmic power he was, was just incredible. And, of course, hanging out with the Phish rhythm section wasn’t too shabby either.

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