Review Fix Exclusive: It’s Karma It’s Cool Frontman James Styring Talks Future

Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter and It’s Karma It’s Cool frontman James Styring to discuss the band’s new work.

Review Fix: How did this project begin?

James Styring: I’d been in a previous band with our bass player, Mikey (Barraclough). We’d written a bunch of new songs together with no real plans, other than maybe taking some time recording them in the studio. Martyn (Bewick) guitars, and Danny (Krash) drums, came onboard to initially play on the studio sessions, but things worked out so well, we became a full-time band soon after.

Review Fix: What makes this group different?

Styring: We don’t necessarily strive to be different, just for the sake of being different. We lock ourselves away in the rehearsal room and just do what we do;  we don’t consciously follow trends, or try to fit any category or label, I think that can be limiting. We have no blueprint; we allow the songs to grow and take us wherever they need to be. That’s not to say we don’t have influences, every band is the total of its influences I guess,  but we really just write and record in the It’s Karma bubble. 

Review Fix: What about you? Why did you decide to get involved?

Styring: I’ve been involved in music since I was young, I’ve never known any different, really. From discovering my parents record collection, to getting involved with my first bands. Once music is in your blood, it’s with you for life. I can’t imagine my life without it.

Review Fix: Six digital tracks- what makes them awesome?

Styring: Yes, we are currently in the studio recording six brand new songs, that we’ll be releasing over the coming months, as digital only singles. I truly believe they’re some of the strongest songs we’ve written. And we have a very special guest joining us! The one and only, Peter Holsapple, will be guesting on three of the new songs. Peter was a member of legendary The dB’s, and played with REM on their huge Green World Tour, also playing on their multi-platinum selling Out Of Time album.  He’s also played and recorded with Hootie & the Blowfish for over 25 years, and is currently a member of Continental Drifters, whose ranks have included Vicki Peterson from The Bangles, and Mark Walton from the Dream Syndicate. There’s some big guitar kind of things, some Beatles jangle kind of things, even some mandolin on there. To say we’re excited for folks to hear these songs is an understatement. 

Review Fix: What are your goals here?

Styring: Again, no real plan, other than recording and releasing a bunch of great songs. All you can really hope is that people will enjoy them. I’m sure folks who have followed us this far won’t be disappointed; anyone just hearing us for the first time, welcome along for the ride!

Review Fix: How do you want this group of tracks to be remembered next year at this time?

Styring: I would hope that people will be singing along to them at our shows! We’ll definitely be including some of them, if not all of them, in our live set. We write songs to be played live, I believe that’s where they truly come alive, and these new songs are no exception. There’s an anthemic quality to some of them, I guess that’s a direct result of the last few years of living with the pandemic. There’s a feeling we might have just made it through, things might just be getting better. Tough times don’t last.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Styring: The release and promotion of the new songs comes first. We’ll be releasing a new single every few weeks, which will take us through summer and into winter. We’ll then turn focus on writing for our next full-length album. And we’ll be putting some shows together, and possibly some stripped back acoustic dates. 

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Styring: Thank you for reading. Please check our social media for single release dates coming very soon and everything and anything else we’re up to. 

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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