It’s Karma It’s Cool’s new single is “Crashability,” from their forthcoming album “One Million Suburban Sunsets.”

1). “Crashability” addresses the world as we know it in 2025…”We’re
all waiting for something to happen”…and it does so from a point of
strength and optimism, while equally acknowledging that “these are
dangerous times.” The words “WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN” appear on
a wall behind the band, throughout the song, and as the song fades,
they’re projected on you. I always want listeners to decide what the
song’s saying to them, rather than putting it under the microscope, but
what does this song mean to you?

Jim – There’s no doubting we’re living through troubled times, and we really are waiting for something to happen. Common sense seems to be in short supply at the moment. We couldn’t, as a band, simply ignore and not be influenced by what’s going on in the world. ‘Crashability’ is saying, ‘look, we’re living in troubled times, but we’ll get through this, it’ll be tough, but we have each other.’

2). It’s Karma It’s Cool has always been a band that, while having a
masterful grasp on melody and song structure, has admirably avoided the
extremes of lightweight pop and its polar opposite, proselytizing. The
songs have substance, there’s a message. How conscious of this are you
when preparing new material? Do you ever sense you’re heading too far
into one of these extremes and then dial it back? Is there a sense of
balance (and mystique) that you strive for?

Jim – We don’t normally write to any blueprint or plan, but this time we decided it had to be our ‘guitar’ record, the acoustic instruments were locked away and we turned the amps up. We wanted to write a bunch of songs with attitude, that will work well live. There’s always going to be melody in there, and I guess folks will always recognize my voice, but we really allowed the songs to go where they needed to. If they needed to be heavier this time around, so be it. It was all about capturing moods and emotions.

3). I think I’ve asked you this on each occasion that we’ve spoken, but
what advice do you have for artists writing and performing in 2025? Do
you see the events of our current world as something to be expressed via
tone and mood, or addressed directly in the lyrics? How do they balance
entertainment with enlightenment?

Jim – There should be some great songs being written at the moment, times like these inspire musicians for sure, they almost demand a reaction. Just look back through the years, some of the greatest rock and roll songs were written through uncertain times. But I avoid being political in my lyrics, or too direct, there’s bands that do that far better than me, I prefer the listener to make their own mind up, it’s more important what they think the song is about, than what I had in mind. And the lyrics are always inspired by the guitar ideas that Martyn and Mikey send me anyway, so blame those guys!

4). Please tell us about the rest of the upcoming album. Listeners have
come to expect a refreshing sense of creativity from the band and a
commitment to exploring uncharted territory. How does the new album
differ from your past efforts?

Martyn – Without giving too much away, it’s definitely a bolder and bigger direction than we’ve taken before. The guys kinda gave me the ball and let me run with this one, and once we got the original aim and vibe of the album from a couple of jams, I went full steam ahead with the writing and the concept. You’ve heard this version of ‘It’s Karma It’s Cool’ before, in fleeting moments across all our previous records, but this time we’ve honed in on the bigger and badder side of us, and turned it up to 11.

It’s also probably obvious at times that myself and Adam (drums) used to be in a heavier, more rocky band together, Regulus, and that band folded a little before Adam joined the fold, so maybe you’ll hear a bit of that influence throughout. If you’re a fan of the power-pop jangly stuff, don’t let that make you think we’ve jumped off a cliff into a sea of distortion and fuzz pedals – this album to me is closest to our second album ‘Homesick’. It provides emotion, a story, and a journey throughout the 12 songs, its just presented in a more up close and personal way

5). Do you have live shows planned this year?

Jim – We took a break from playing live, so we could be 100% focussed on making the new album. There will be dates later in the year, so please stay tuned. And we’re sure to play an album launch in our home city of Lincoln, for the Lincoln Karma Army, those nights always feel special.