Karate (band)

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Karate


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Origin = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
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Genre = Indie rock
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Years_active = 1993–2005
Label = Southern Records
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URL = [http://www.southern.com/southern/band/KARAT www.southern.com]
Current_members =
Past_members = Geoff Farina Eamonn Vitt Gavin McCarthy Jeff Goddard
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Karate was an American jazzy indie band. The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1993 by Geoff Farina, Eamonn Vitt and Gavin McCarthy. In 1995, Jeff Goddard joined the band as bass player, and Vitt moved to second guitar. Vitt departed Karate to pursue a medical career in 1997.

Farina developed hearing problems due to twelve years of performance with Karate and was forced to disband the group in July 2005. Their final show was played in Rome, Italy, on July 10, 2005. Their music was primarily released on Southern Records.

In 2007, the former band members decided to release a live album '595'. Often, Karate was sent live material from their own performances (often from sound technicians). This happened also after their performance on May 5th at Stuk, Leuven, Belgium. Karate was so astonished by the quality of the recording they decided to release this 'posthumous' live album.

Discography

* "Karate" LP/CD (1996, Southern Records 18534)
* "In Place Of Real Insight" LP/CD (1997, Southern Records 18543)
* "The Bed is in the Ocean" LP/CD (1998, Southern Records 18554)
* "Unsolved" CD/2xLP (October 2000/March 2001, Southern Records 18584)
* "Some Boots" LP/CD (October 2002, Southern Records 18599)
* "Pockets" CD/LP (August 2004, Southern Records 28114)
* "595" CD/2xLP (October 2007, Southern Records)

EPs and 7-inch records

* "Death Kit/Nerve" 7" single (1994, The Self Starter Foundation PSP1)
* "Karate/The Lune" split 7" with The Lune (1995, Lonesone Pine Records LPR1)
**song - "The Schwinn"
* "The Crownhate Ruin/Karate" split 7" with The Crownhate Ruin (1995, Art Monk Construction ART11)
**song - "Cherry Coke"
* "" (1998, Southern Records 18553)
* "Cancel/Sing" EP CD (2002, Southern Records 18594)
* "Concerto al Barchessone Vecchio" EP (2003, Fooltribe [http://www.fooltribe.com] FT02)
* "In the Fishtank 12" EP (February 2005, Konkurrent Records - Netherlands)

Related bands

*Apology - Jeff Goddard
*Jones Very - Jeff Goddard
*The Lune - Jeff Goddard
*The Secret Stars
*Ardecore
*Glorytellers

External links

* [http://www.southern.com/southern/band/KARAT Karate] at the Southern Records website
* [http://www.myspace.com/karateband Karate] at MySpace
* [http://www.geofffarina.com/ Geoff Farina] 's official website
* [http://www.gavinmcarthy.com/ Gavin McCarthy] 's official website
* [http://www.timmcmahan.com/karate.htm Lazy-i Karate interview] from October 2002
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4138925] Interview with Geoff Farina from Talk of the Nation, November 2, 2004.