Kalas
When you ask Matt Pike how he got involved with Kalas, you’ll get a pretty nonchalant, “No big deal”-type answer.
“It started out, I just started singing with them, and it was really good vocal practice for me,” Pike explains. “And then it started getting somewhere, and they got a deal. I started playing shows with them, and you know, it started going well so I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll make an album with you guys. Let’s see what we can work out and do as far as touring goes.’
“They were looking for a singer desperately, and I happened to be in the same room.”
But consider the position Pike took: singer. He had never been only a vocalist, and in fact only started singing in 1999 when he formed High On Fire, for which he also serves as the sole guitarist. Before that he was a guitarist in stoner metal goliaths Sleep. The comforting grip on a Les Paul is like a puff from a Marlboro for a nicotine addict, and Pike admits he occasionally feels those nasty withdrawals. “It’s been a little uncomfortable just standing there singing . . . It’s kind of weird.”
“It’s strange, he’s the most shredding guitar player, the most shredding musician in our band, and he’s not even playing an instrument,” guitarist Andy Branton says with a laugh. “He thinks he’s awkward and doing weird things with his hands, but I think it’s great because it leaves him free to do whatever he does. I mean, he’s got great stage presence.”
Branton (who was selling merch for Neurosis when he met Pike during a Neurosis/Sleep tour), drummer Scott Plumb, and bassist Brad Reynolds formed Kalas — pronounced kuh-lahs — in 2003. Because they had little tolerance for the growling, screaming tough-guy vocalists who dominate the band’s Oakland scene, finding a frontman wasn’t easy. Pike started jamming with the band during the little High On Fire downtime he had, and it quickly became apparent it was a good match.
For their part, Branton, Plumb, and Reynolds were looking for a vocalist with a rough delivery and solid scream, but someone who could put together a decent melody was as important.
“Right off the bat, since [Pike is] such a killer guitar player and can hear different things, when he started doing his thing vocally, it came off melodic, and he wasn’t afraid to express that side,” Branton says.
And Pike, who has been the definition of a road dog since High On Fire released 2005’s Blessed Black Wings, couldn’t keep busy enough.
— Trevor Fisher
For the rest of Kalas’ story, pick up the June issue of Illinois Entertainer, available throughout Chicago.
i wouldn’t care if matt spit in a jar and marketed it. I’d be there waitin to buy it. God Bless Matt Forever!!!!!