From LA to AL: Metal band Karkaza has built home base in Montgomery
A lot of Alabama musicians have dreams of making it big one day in a flashy city like Los Angeles. But it’s kind of the opposite for the metal band Karkaza.
Though they love rocking a packed mosh pit, that elbow-to-elbow life isn’t how they want to live off stage. Their solution was to trade LA for spacious country living in Montgomery.
“We don’t like the crowded hustle and bustle of (LA),” said Lilia Bogoeva, a San Diego, California native, who brings the band’s powerhouse vocals and guitar.
The California scene was also stifling them, said drummer Bruno Parente, who is also the Karkaza’s booking agent.
“We played all the good venues in Los Angeles that we could have played,” Parente said. “It’s like, you get to a point where you’re going to be playing the same venues over and over.”
“In LA, no matter how good you are, you’re just another entertainer in the entertainment capital of the world,” Bogoeva said.
Since the move in 2020, Montgomery is Karkaza’s home base, and they often book shows within driving distance — mostly in Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky. In August, they’ve got four shows lined up in Tampa, Florida.
Saturday, March 9, 6 p.m. at True Story Brewing Company in Birmingham, Karakaza is part of an all-ages show that also includes Spirit Guardian, Devastate, Skeptic?, and Pleasant Valley. Admission is $13.
“And then next month we’re going to Mississippi,” Parente said. “We go all places.”
That includes international travel. In November, they’ll be branching out to South America, with shows in Brazil and Argentina.
So far the only place they’ve played in Montgomery was a music convention at Warehouse231. While they haven’t booked any other shows here yet, they’d like to.
Follow their upcoming shows at karkaza.com.
Listen, join in, and let the stress go
Cathartic is a word Bogoeva would use to describe Karkaza’s sound. Her vocals are just wild and off the chart. She encourages audiences to join in and let out anything they’ve been keeping bottled up.
“It’s really fun,” Bogoeva said. “It’s not the kind of music that provokes people to be aggressive. It’s actually the opposite. You know you have some pent up tension. It entices you to want to let it go, in a fun way. You don’t need to hold on to that baggage.”
The crowds mosh and sing, and some folks even cry, Parente said.
“It’s a relief feeling, you know?” Parente said.
Along with their metalhead followers, they enjoy seeing first-timers come in for a show.
“Even those who have never been to metal shows before really enjoy our set list,” Bogoeva said.
The Montgomery motivation
So, again, why move an LA metal band to Montgomery, besides a chance to enjoy Southern life and warm temperatures? Two words: property costs. Here, they were able to buy a home big enough to include a built in studio.
“We have the kind of place that would be very difficult to even find available in California, especially in cities like Los Angeles or San Diego,” Bogoeva said.
It also gives them room to offer music lessons. Back in California, they had to rent a separate space for that.
“The amount we paid for this house here is like 10 percent of what you would pay in California,” Parente said.
“It’s practically free in comparison,” Bogoeva said.
How they met and rebuilt Karkaza
The two met in California after Lisbon, Portugal native Parente came to the U.S. in 2016. Bogoeva had already brought Karkaza to life with other LA musicians, but they didn’t work out.
“In Los Angeles, a lot of musicians don’t have high commitment,” Bogoeva said.
She was looking for a drummer to restart the band, and found one in Parente.
“We had a casual meeting at Guitar Center in Hollywood,” Parente said. “Then we started the band from there. We had our first rehearsal the day after.”
At first, it was a chance to collaborate and flesh out song ideas they’d each had before meeting.
“It was a dream team when we got together, because we both had the intention of committing to this band,” Bogoeva said.
While Bogoeva and Parente are the group’s core, they do bring in others to play bass. In Los Angeles, they had the “tall and cool” Brian Bodt, a guitarist who Bogoeva met at a Halloween party. He played with them for the band’s first four years in LA.
Bogoeva and Parente moved to Montgomery in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. That was another thing that opened the pathway to Alabama. By then, their music students were learning online anyway.
Since the move, they work with hired musicians on bass, including audio engineer Nate Washington of Montgomery who does music videos, promos and photos for Karkaza.
“He’s like the promo guy. This is the same guy who recorded our album,” Parente said, referring to the 2022 release “Let It Rise” — their third studio album.
Will they ever go back to LA? Well, they did in 2022, to play bonus shows. It was also a fun reunion with Bodt.
“That felt good,” Bogoeva said.
They’re not a ‘one topic band’
“We play and teach and listen to all types of music,” Bogoeva said.
On the instrumental side, of course that includes a lot of rock and heavy metal, but that’s not all. They get inspired by everything from classical to country.
The subjects of their songs vary also. “We sing about everything we see around us,” Parente said. “We sing about our lives. We sing about what’s going on in the world.”
Aside from Karkaza, they also have a side project called Lilia & Bruno, which is all acoustic music. They just released a three-song EP project from that called “Worship Songs 1.” It’s available online at liliaandbruno.com.
“One thing that’s really unique about us is that we don’t isolate ourselves to just the world of music,” Bogoeva said. “We dig into all forms of arts entertainment and media.”
One growing part of that is Bogoeva's new mental health online comic on WEBTOON, "Lilia The Inner Demon Crusher."
Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel covers things to do in the River Region. Contact him at sheupel@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: From LA to AL: Metal band Karkaza has built home base in Montgomery
