Feature

FEATURE

Karma Kids’ track-by-track guide to vibes

With their brand-new album officially out this Friday, we caught up with Karma Kids to take us behind the lyrics of each song of the record.

Welcome to the vibes track-by-track.

Karma Kids

vibes.:

Coming in with a bang, we welcome you to the experience. No matter how it connects with you, we want you to feel something for this record. And if you’re anything like us, these songs will all hit differently depending on your current mood. That’s why we named it vibes.

Nightmare (featuring Kellin Quinn):

Nightmare was one of the first few written specifically for this album. It’s an empowering anthem portraying the feeling of harvesting and manifesting your darkest, most powerful energy. Don’t fuck around. Or fuck around and find out.

Favorite line: “I’m reaching into the deepest thoughts inside my mind”

Vice (featuring Alexandria Edington):

When you let your demons win, you feel the most empty darkness. A tunnel with no light at the other end. Where do you go when you’ve fallen too hard to get back up?

Favorite line: “When our bones are broken/and the mind is weak/and we’re at our gallows/we don’t dare to speak”

Victims:

Victims is about a toxic person in your life that is soon to be in the past. The song describes it as an assumed relationship, but it can be anyone you cut off. 

Favorite line: “The light in the kitchen starts to flicker/this nightmare painting like a picture”

Burn Rinse Repeat:

As shitty as 2020 was, there was a very distinct silver lining. People from all kinds of backgrounds united to take a stance against a corrupt, prejudice, and unforgiving social system. Voices were loud and the spotlight was taken. A lot of eyes were opened and while it’s only the beginning, the anchor has landed towards our demand of reformation in law enforcement, government, and society. 

Favorite line: “We sow the seed of a reformation”

Karma Kids

Fading:

Fading is the reminiscing of a period of time that you miss. That period is different for everyone, but everyone has one and you know you’ll never have that same feeling again. A part of you identified with that period and it becomes more of a distant dream as time moves on.

Favorite line: “I wear my heart on my sleeve for a moment/but it’s fading away”

Nothing Left to Lose:

As the lead single for the record, this song just has balls. It’s a big “fuck you” of an anthem to your closest peers who became your closest enemies. Strike a match and burn those motherfuckers’ dreams to the ground. 

Favorite line: “Black teeth and empty hearts your eyes roll back to play the part of the victim in disguise/the wolf and sheep are telling lies”

Save Myself:

Save Myself is a statement of apathy and angsty desperation. Your life sucks, you’re miserable, and everything’s so shitty that you just want to embrace the sadness. You push away those closest to you because you know you’re not worth their time. It was also the first track we’d started on specifically for the record, just with completely different lyrics and titled “2AM”

Favorite line: “Maybe I don’t wanna save myself/leave that for someone you’re playing”

Running Thin:

Like thousands and thousands of other families, COVID hit us hard. This song started the day Zaac’s stepdad was taken off of the ventilator and passed away. I wrote the lyrics off of the texts he’d sent me that day and I pieced them together into a snapshot of that day. The idea died in the demo stage after that. The album was finished and the master was turned in. Then when my wife’s grandpa passed away from COVID about a month later, it became clear that this hard topic affects a lot of people and we pulled the album, and went back to finish this track which took the place of a song called “Empty” that got left off of the record.

Favorite line: “When the rain washed away how I feel inside/I’m running thin”

Lost in the Headlight:

This is one of the few optimistic songs on the record. It paints a picture of finally being in a good headspace and meeting your soulmate. Not everything is a dark, gloomy storm. They see you in your most vulnerable state and love you more for that.

Favourite line: “It’s all the same, the faded gaze/your hazy eyes are seeing my black heart”

Okay Again:

Sloan brought this track to the table. It was originally an emo rap song he was working on that as soon as I heard, I knew it had to be Karma Kids. He wrote it about a few years ago being at the lowest point of his life. Originally, there was only his verse so I basically mirrored it into a juxtaposition that was basically the same thoughts but on the other end of the spectrum. The emotion in the song comes across so well. My favorite part is during the last chorus when it builds up, stops, and comes in super powerful. Things do get better with time.

Favorite line: “I just wanna be okay again/but I just keep on drowning”

The Moon Looks Different in Texas:

I had the idea for this song while I was on tour in Texas a few years ago. I missed my now wife after being gone for so long. When looking up at the moon in such a drastically different place than home, it just felt surreal that the moon in the sky was the same moon she was looking up at at home. Before we started working on vibes., our previous EP “Chemical Drugs” was intended to be the next album, but we started working on this record and knew we had to take this avenue as soon as possible. The Moon Looks Different in Texas was originally recorded during those sessions, but got cut from the final track list. This song meant a lot to me so I revisited it when working on vibes. and revamped and re-recorded it in the vein of the rest of the record.

Favorite line: “Motion sickness/be my witness/the moon looks different in Texas/so deep, so deep into this”

Watch this space on Friday to check out vibes. in full.

You may also like

Famous Last Words talk about new concept EP, The Negative

Famous Last Words talk about new concept EP, The Negative

FEATUREAn interview with Famous Last WordsFeatureLong time fans of Famous Last Words might know that the band have not only become a staple in the metalcore scene, but they've in part done so by fully embracing concept albums. Each one of theirs have told a story...

Mirrors chat forthcoming debut album, The Ego’s Weight

Mirrors chat forthcoming debut album, The Ego’s Weight

FEATUREAn interview with MirrorsFeatureWith only a week to go until The Ego's Weight hit the 'shelves', we chat to Aussie metalcore band Mirrors about recording, lyrical content and the beautifully atmospheric spin they've put on their new material. There might only...

Calling All Captains talk new album, Slowly Getting Better

Calling All Captains talk new album, Slowly Getting Better

FEATUREAn interview with Calling All CaptainsFeatureHaving closely followed Canadian pop-punk-hardcore (?) band, Calling All Captain this year as they released one solid track after another, we couldn't have been happier as they released their debut album last week....

Pin It on Pinterest