Fan Of The Month: Ken Karp
Interview By Kayt

For the record, what is your name?

Kenneth Karp

Where were you born, and where did you grow up?

Aurora, Illinios -the home of Wayne’s World, though nothing in the movie is from there.

I moved around a lot between a few surrounding towns after grade school.

What were your main interests, entertainment and otherwise, growing up? Any obsessions you don’t mind people knowing about?

I have had many many hobbies and influences all changing at different stages of my life. To sum it all up in order it would probably go like this:

Star Wars, Twisted Sister, fat boys, skateboards, anything I could take apart, my train set, guitars, electronic goods, things with a lot of buttons, hot girls in plaid skirts, lots and lots of hot girls in plaid skirts, more hot girls in plaid skirts, more guitars, computers, music instruments, recording gear, cameras, and I think art of different sorts through the whole process.

Tell us about your musical endeavors and the musical instruments you play…

Well, I started playing guitar when I was about 13. Funny story how I got into that. I had a friend who had a terrible temper who played and had a rich father. He’d break a guitar, his dad would get him a new one and he’d leave the broken one at my house to fix since I was handy like that. Eventually I had a collection of his stuff at my house and began playing and fell in love with it. About midway through high school I was a 4-track kid. Had drums, bass, guitars galore. I just loved to play around with stuff. I was in an instrumental band for awhile on backup guitar playing with a really incredible guitarist who was a student of Toshi Iseda (one of Joe Satriani's friends). Right after high school we formed a band called The Last Hip White Boys. We did a lot of rock music but we were really into funk music. So we became pretty dancey. We did a lot of crazy stunts and theatrics with it as well. We had a song called Funkasaur where we had a friend in a disco outfit with a dino head and gloves on dancing with it; lots of perverse props and jokes always. It was a fun thing. We really are not active anymore but I still like to play around with recording stuff and I work at a really great recording studio part time as well.

What accomplishments are you most proud of at this point in your life?

Probably having released an album with my band on the small out here and having produced and mixed one song on it which was proclaimed by the engineer as the best one on the album. That and working with bands in the area helping them out doing stuff promotionally and art related.

What are your favorite movies?

Breakfast at Tiffany's, Indiana Jones trilogy, Star Wars, old Vincent Price stuff, most Tim Burton material.

Do you have any favorite books?

I really don’t read much. I am not a novel person but am fond of philosophy, short stories and poetry. Mainly beat poetry; I adore Jack Kerouac.

What music are you into, in addition to Red Elvises?

I love a lot of techno-industrial if that’s what you call it. Names always change for genres and people get uptight about it. I'm really into Garbage, Ministry, Smashing Pumpkins, Stevie Wonder… I have been listening to a lot of jazz lately. Most mainstream music today I’m not too thrilled about so I have been listening to Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, etc.

When, where, how, etc. did you first hear and experience Red Elvises?

I actually remember where I was when I first heard of the Red Elvises (like the Kennedy phenomenon). I used to work part time at a guitar shop doing repairs and the singer of my band worked across the street at Borders Books and Music. I would go over there every Wednesday and listen to most of the CDs that were out for play and new releases just to find new music. It was Shake Your Pelvis which was just released that week. I listened to it and it was real dancey but funky and way different than anything I had heard. I went back in and bought it a few days later, downloaded some tunes off a few other albums and ended up getting most of the collection in a few months.

About how many times have you seen them?

Four times so far and by the time this has been published, who knows! They are playing two Chicago dates and two Wisconsin ones and I’m not sure how many I will be at but hopefully at least two. I have seen them in Tempe, AZ, Chicago and Berwyn (basically Chicago as well), IL and Madison, WI.

What is it about Red Elvises that draws you to them, that you like the most?

They are a fun magnet. Anything that is fun, they are wrapped up in colorful music and tasteful shows. HAHAHAH. More like I finally found a band that is as nuts as they need to be to keep me interested and can be musical geniuses without the egos.

What’s the furthest you’ve traveled to see them? And do you have a good story around that?

I actually planned my trip to Arizona around them. I was going to check out a school and visit my buddy who was attending. We got to see them both for our first time out there. It was great, we got to meet the guys and all. They were so goofy live that it is hard to not be hysterical with delight. And I though their stage presence was much more lively than most of the bands that are "bigtime."

NEW LAW: Bands that are commercially potential are "BIGTIME." Red Elvises are "BIGTIME FUN." Not to say they don’t have commercial potential. I think they would do well on the market of today but only in college area. I think they are way too upbeat and experimental to match the boredom of most the mainstream today.

Any other standout, all time great memories of shows you’ve seen so far?

The last show I went to was at the Elbo Room in Chicago. That was the best show yet. Mr. Z was the most smoking I have seen him ever on that guitar. Oleg had improved on the drums to where you would be surprised to see him play a bass if you didn’t know it was his main instrument. And Igor, come on, he is like the big brother of fun, the guy to always make you smile and smile wider if you already are. I was surprised to see Mancow and Freak at the show as well. Mancow is the Howard Stern of the Midwest and Freak is his sidekick.

What are your favorite Red Elvises songs?

All of them. hahaha. I really love "Stewardess in Red" (Avi's snare in that song is totally rocking tone-props to engineer) I like "Everybody Disco," "Hawaii," "Rocketman," "Lovepipe," "Closet Disco Dancer" (which I had done a cover of with my band) and the list is eternal (or as many songs as they have… LOL).

What would you like to see them do in the future? Any ideas?

I would love for them to play at the Metro in Chicago. It is the coolest club and I think they would do great there. I'm not really clear on their favors and intentions on touring but I wish they could play with some bigger bands like Reverend Horton Heat and the Donnas and other bands to get more people familiar with their music. I just really really enjoy the Red Elvises music and their showmanship so much I feel greedy not playing them for everyone in the world! Everybody I have let on to them has fallen in love with them. Everybody should experience them.

Okay, last question… Do you have anything you’d especially like to say to all the fans?

In the words of Oleg: “Drink whiskey, it’s good for you"