Rival Karma Premiere Their Thought-Provoking Single, “1803”

The topic of death typically makes people very uncomfortable, but artists like Rival Karma illustrate that it is also one of the most interesting topics to consider. That’s what they’re doing on their new single “1803.” It’s an introspective song about meeting your maker when your time has come.

The duo didn’t necessarily start out with any grand plan to make a song about death; it just kind of turned out that way. The lyric “are you the undertaker” came unexpectedly to lead singer and guitarist Martin William Ross. And from that, a song began to take shape. It then just materialized into a song about death, not meant to be ominous but rather thought-provoking. As you can hear, it’s not meant to creep you out; it’s meant to open up your mind and make you think.

Discussing the song, Ross offers:

“The song’s inception is something quite incredible, actually. Picture a slow Saturday morning, (drummer) PJ (Piergiorgio Ciarla) and I are shot to shit, hazy, brainfoggy, you name it. PJ from memory might’ve been a bit hungover; I hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep in a week. And I had this riff I kept circling around (the one in the verse). I stubbornly thought it needed to stay dead simple, and PJ, with the insistence true to his Italian character, pushed me out of my comfort zone and suggested we open up the chorus into an epic staccato Tom drum part, almost orchestral. I was an instant convert. And a melody line, as well as some random lyrics, started coming out as we were jamming.

“The Die-er meets his maker, pardon the disbelief, are you the undertaker? Beneath those golden wings…. I started telling PJ it could be a song about someone who was in between life and death, push and pulling between the call of his time on earth and the desire to keep going. We ended the session, content with the progress we’d made, thinking no more of it, that it would become a sick song we were excited to work on in the future. That night, I  had a birthday dinner with some friends, and received an ominous call from my dad at an unusual hour. He said that my uncle had passed that day, rather unexpectedly!

“Neither PJ nor I are particularly religious, but we are spiritual in the philosophical sense of things. What an experience. Almost as if my uncle’s passing on was being channelled through this moment of jamming and writing in the studio… I still get chills thinking about it!”

Rival Karma is a North London duo with lots of power and swagger. Featuring lead singer and guitarist Martin William Ross and drummer Piergiorgio “PJ” Ciarla, they are one of those acts that show that you don’t need a quintet to have a heavy, convincing sound. They actually were a larger unit at one point. Ross broke his spine years ago in a horrific boating accident, and around the same time, two founding members departed. Rather than focus on the negative, Ross and Ciarla turned it into a bona fide positive and haven’t looked back since. Many might look at such turns of events as a major setback, but Ross and Ciarla viewed it as an opportunity. It was a chance to start afresh with a new sound and a new outlook.

They feel freer to pursue the music they want to with the dynamics they see fit. Their sound is hard to define, somewhere between stoner blues rock and southern rock. Over the last six years, Rival Karma has become a known commodity in Europe. They employ a DIY approach to everything they do, which is easy to respect. Both raw and melodic, Rival Karma is succeeding at making the best music they can, with little concern for classification.

Tour Dates:

07/09 – Bologna
07/10 – Roccamandolfi (IS) – Festival
07/11 – Recanati – Festival
07/12 – Recanati – Festival
07/13 – Velletrí
07/17 – Tuscany
07/18 – Reggio Emilia

Rival Karma “1803” single artwork