2 weeks Ago
Sydni Myers, co-lead vocalist of Karma and the Killjoys BY JAN RISHER | Staff writer A note to Johnny Palazzotta from Keith Richards BY JAN RISHER | Staff writer Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save A frayed Muddy Waters poster, a hand-written Keith Richards note, an oversized framed Janis Joplin and dozens of decades-old black and white photos — the walls of Johnny Palazzotto's music studio barely scratch the surface of his story. The Baton Rouge native has helped shape music careers for more than 50 years. But on a recent Monday night, standing on the sidewalk outside his downtown Baton Rouge studio with the sounds of Karma and the Killjoys oozing through the walls, Palazzotto was still looking to the future.
Johnny Palazzotto, music promoter and manager of Karma and the Killjoys "This is the most exciting band I've been involved with from the ground up," he said. "I've got gold albums from Loggins & Messina. I worked with Boz Skaggs.
I worked with Ian Matthews. This band excites me more. I can't wait until they start getting on big stages out of town.
" Without question, the band of 20-somethings exudes an on-the-edge-of-everything vibe. When I saw them perform in September at the Manship Theater in Baton Rouge, their talent, presence and innovative showmanship blew me away. Though their music is generally appreciated by a younger, hipper crowd, my husband and I were wowed by the classical piano-turned-rock.
Weeks later, when I joined them at practice with Palazzotto inside his studio, I felt that same buzz again. Palazzotto yelled to me over the grand piano, guitars, vocals and drums: "This is the most important band in Baton Rouge these days." Karma and the Killjoys practice in Johnny Palazzotta's downtown Baton Rouge office and music studio.
Karma and the Killjoys have a palpable magic to them. Watching the band made me think of what it must have been like to attend early concerts of groups who went on to become musical legends — like R.E.
M.'s first performance at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Athens, Georgia, or U2's first gig at St.
Fintan's High School in Dublin. "Coming out of the LSU Theater Department, their songs are so ready for multi-use — radio, commercials, in film soundtracks. They've got plenty of material for that," Palazzotto said.
"They're so talented. They're so smart." I understood why a man who has been doing the musical discovery thing for going on six decades is as excited about them as he is.
Their performances are dramatic but not overdone. Their music is a far cry from the same-ole-same-ole — in large part, thanks to the piano chops and vocals of Rain Scott-Catoire, 25. That said, Sydni Myers, 24, holds her own when it comes to the band's vocal sound.
Rain Scott-Catoire of Karma and the Killjoys Both are songwriting, small-town Louisiana girls. As we sat down to chat, I told the young musicians that it feels like they're just on the cusp. "For us too," Scott-Catoire said.
"Always on the cusp." Scott-Catoire graduated from Central High School. Myers is from Iota.
"Public school girls," Scott-Catoire says in a sing-song sound. "You can definitely hear it in our music. It gives you character to go to public school.
" Though generations apart, the three of us bonded over our public schoolness. "All of my friends went to private schools in Lafayette growing up, but I feel like going to public school in the middle of nowhere — it does something to you," said Myers, who off-handedly added that she was valedictorian of her class. Sydni Myers and Rain Scott-Catoire, lead vocalists of Karma and the Killjoys "I was third (in my class).
They don't have a name for that," Scott-Catoire said. The two looked at each other and laughed. "Well, we both work in the deli now," Myers said of their work at Cannatella Grocery on Government Street.
Scott-Catoire, who also makes a living teaching piano, didn't mind the academic one-upmanship by her bandmate (or two-upped, as was the case). "I don't blame you," Scott-Catoire said. "It's like, how often do you get to brag about being valedictorian?" Myers' answer was simple.
"Literally, never," Myers said. "Nobody cares. Nobody says, 'Like, hey, so where did you place in your high school graduating class?'" Sydni Myers and Rain Scott-Catoire, co-lead vocalists of Karma and the Killjoys The pair continued to laugh as I brought our conversation back around to "the cusp.
" "Yeah, the cusp sucks. Quote me on that," Scott-Catoire said. "Maybe from the outside, it looks different, but for us, it feels like we've been on the cusp for so long.
I think the cusp is actually like a purgatory of sorts where you don't know how long you're going to be there." Myers added that she feels like Karma and the Killjoys have been in "career purgatory" for as long as they've been a band. Again, they are 24 and 25, but relatively speaking, they've been at it for a significant chunk of their lives.
"There are so many moments when you think you're about to get out — and then you don't, and then it's like, 'OK, I'm not doing this to break out. I'm doing this because I love it,'" Scott-Catoire said. "It's a constant battle of, 'I want to be successful.
I want to be able to live off of my music.' I have never been in it for the profit. I'm here to do it because I love it.
' It is a constant battle." Other band members include Tim Marchand (bass) and Thomas Vercher (drums)..
