Karate is an American band, formed in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

in 1993 by Geoff Farina, Eamonn Vitt and Gavin McCarthy, with Jeff Goddard joining in 1995. The band split up in 2005 before reuniting in 2022. The band is characterized by fusion of

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, with the jazz influence becoming more dominant in later releases.

History

In 1993, Karate was formed by Geoff Farina (vocals, guitar), Eamonn Vitt (bass) and Gavin McCarthy (drums). In 1995, Jeff Goddard joined the band as bass player, and Vitt moved to second guitar. Previously in 1988, after moving to Chicago, Goddard had form the band Jones Very, with

Vic Bondi Vic Bondi is an American singer-songwriter and one of the founding members of political Chicago hardcore punk band Articles of Faith. He went on to form Alloy, and Jones Very after AoF's demise. At the time of AoF's original breakup Bondi was wo ...

and Jamie Van Bramer. Vitt departed Karate to pursue a medical career in 1997. Their music was primarily released on Southern Records.

Break-up

Farina developed hearing problems due to twelve years of performance with Karate and was forced to disband the group in July 2005. Disbanding with fanfare the group had recorded six studio albums and had almost seven hundred performances in twenty countries. Their final show was played in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, on July 10, 2005.

Post break-up

In 2007, the former band members decided to release the live album ''595''. It is a recording of the bands 595th performance on May 5 at Stuk, Leuven, Belgium. Sent to them by a sound technician, Karate were so astonished by the quality they decided to release it as an official live album. Karate's perfectionism and attention to detail is well known among the music scene; which played a part in the naming of ''595''. It was originally to be called ''594''. However, McCarthy discovered a flyer for a forgotten early show, so the band quickly changed the title to ''595''. In 2005, Goddard played bass on the Chris Brokaw album Incredible Love. Farina has developed a solo career, releasing three albums and a number of EPs. He has worked with Chris Brokaw, releasing work as ''Geoff Farina & Chris Brokaw''. McCarthy has been part of a number of bands including E which released albums in 2016 and 2018. In 2021,

The Numero Group The Numero Group is an archival record label that creates compilations of previously released music, reissues original albums, and creates album reconstructions from a variety of musical genres. The label, known as Numero, was founded in 2003 b ...

, digitally reissued the band's first two albums and first single. In 2022,

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

reported that the band would be reuniting for their first live tour in 17 years.} It was announced in November that the band would play Primavera Sound festival in 2023.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Karate'' LP/ CD (

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, Southern Records 18534) * ''In Place of Real Insight'' LP/CD (

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, Southern Records 18543) * ''The Bed is in the Ocean'' LP/CD (

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, Southern Records 18554) * ''Unsolved'' CD/ 2×LP (October

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

/March

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, Southern Records 18584) * ''Some Boots'' LP/CD (October

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, Southern Records 18599) * ''Pockets'' CD/LP (August

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, Southern Records 28114)

Live albums

* ''595'' CD/ 2×LP (October

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, Southern Records)

EPs and 7-inch records

* ''Death Kit/Nerve'' 7-inch single (

, The Self Starter Foundation PSP1) * ''Karate/The Lune'' split 7-inch with The Lune (

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, Lonesone Pine Records LPR1) **song – "The Schwinn" * ''The Crownhate Ruin/Karate'' split 7-inch with

The Crownhate Ruin The Crownhate Ruin was an American short-lived post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C. Formed by ex- Hoover members Fred Erskine and Joe McRedmond, the band also featured Vin Novara (ex-1.6 Band) on drums. History Hoover disbanded after a 19 ...

(

Art Monk Construction Art Monk Construction was founded by Eric Astor and Garrett Rothman in State College, Pennsylvania in 1993.Jason Cherkis"Duo makes punk work, even here", ''The Daily Collegian'', Jan. 19, 1995 When Rothman left State College to study abroad, Astor ...

ART11) **song – "Cherry Coke" * ''Operation: Sand/Empty There'' (

, Southern Records 18553) * ''Cancel/Sing'' EP CD (

, Southern Records 18594) * ''Concerto al Barchessone Vecchio'' EP (

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, Fooltrib

FT02) * ''In the Fishtank 12'' EP (February 2005 in music, 2005, Konkurrent Records –

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

)

References

External links

Geoff Farina
s official website
Gavin McCarthy
s official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Karate American post-rock groups Indie rock musical groups from Massachusetts Musical groups from Boston Musical groups established in 1993 1993 establishments in Massachusetts