Words by Mollie Dowling and Leela Brunsdon
Header image by Saskia O’Hara
31st July. Mark your fucking calendars. Greedy Karl‘s debut EP “Room 3” is here to show you what a no-frills band in full flight should sound like.
This London-based four piece has been disrupting the scene since early 2023, packing out venues in some of the city’s hottest spots. If you haven’t managed to catch one of their shows, fear not, as the boys have temporarily swapped the stage for the studio, laying down their debut EP.
A modern day Motörhead, Greedy Karl are standouts in the underground music space, known for their raw, unadulterated approach to rock and roll. Reminiscent of the classic 70’s grit, the band inject their own venom into the formula, creating something familiar, yet with a ‘post-everything‘ twist. Rewriting the playbook, their sound balances homage with evolution, making them one of London’s best undiscovered gems.
Clocking in at just over twelve minutes, “Room 3” is a brazen semblance of hard rock in its purest form, from a band who clearly know what they want to say, and now they’re learning how to shout it. In just three songs, Greedy Karl have managed to both set the bar for modern rock bands and smash it to smithereens.
The EP’s title serves as an ode to the band’s conception, a homage to the space that fostered everything from the quartet’s earliest experiments to the songs that grace your very ears. Tucked away inside Rockbottom Music Store, Studio Room 3 birthed the sound of the future, and so it only made sense to honour this very occasion.
Track One – Deep Sea
Setting the tone for “Room 3“, “Deep Sea” tells listeners that Greedy Karl aren’t afraid to get loud and certainly don’t play it safe, throwing you straight into the deep end. It feels alive and urgent, like it was recorded in one sweaty, cathartic take.
Here, there’s a careful bridging of styles, pulling blues roots into a heavier rock context that shows the band’s range without coming across as gimmicky.
“Deep Sea” has an unforgiving groove that you can’t help but fall into, supporting an undoubtedly calculated riff mimicking the force of waves that drive you back and forth, whether you like it or not. The vocals in this track have a raw, lived-in feel that demands attention, dragging you under and not letting go. There’s a real sense of tension and release in the way the track builds with savage riffs that grind against deep, rumbling bass lines, while the vocals wail with just the right mix of pain and swagger. It’s blues at its core, but it’s been roughed up by Greedy Karl’s rock and roll.
Track Two – Paint His Life
Sandwiched in between two relentless pure rock and roll tracks is “Paint His Life”. Being the first song that Greedy Karl worked on as a group, it’s emotionally charged in more ways than one.
Underneath the noise is something surprisingly tender; this song is a sonic tribute to vocalist, Ash’s son, framed in feedback and grit.
This song encapsulates that now-established Greedy heavy rock groove. The vocals are fierce but never lose their clarity, delivering a performance that shows we’re being let in on something that’s real. A melancholic yet heavy wall of sound surrounds you with this one, pulling you into its sway before grounding you with the weight of the noise. The drumming is particularly impressive on this song, commanding and guiding the track’s rises and falls in tandem with the honest emotion of the lyrics.
Track Three – Greedy
What a hell of an introduction to Greedy Karl. Lulled in by the sweet dulcet tones of the innocence of youth, and then sucker-punched by the pure corruption that expels from that first hit of the snare. This is Greedy Karl in full swing. The fuzz of the guitars are almost suffocating, trapping you in its militant riff until the song’s denouement. It’s violent and it’s feral.
The bass line doesn’t just sit underneath, it presses down on you, hitting you with so much weight that it transcends anything sonic. It becomes physical, like a pressure behind your eyes that for some reason you’re not ready to get rid of yet. The vocals, however, alleviate a lot of that pressure. A hypnotic rhapsody that when accompanied with the pre-chorus harmony become the answer to all your problems. It’s a complete juxtaposition, an ethereal malediction that builds you up before knocking you straight back down again.
Through and through, this is much more than a song. It’s the band’s anthem. Closing out each chorus, they hammer home a line so sticky it feels ritualistic, more like a mantra than a lyric. “Don’t be so fucking greedy.” An earworm lodged so deeply inside your head that if you don’t already know their name, you sure as hell won’t forget it.
As an introduction to the sound that is Greedy Karl, this EP is more of a punch in the face than it is a handshake.
If you’re hoping to catch them for yourself, Greedy Karl are hosting a launch party for “Room 3” at Blondie’s Brewery on the 27th of September, joined by London’s finest south-western gothic blues bandits Brides and South London’s unorthodox punk duo Lost in Space.
You’re invited. Find tickets HERE.
Find Greedy Karl: SPOTIFY / INSTAGRAM
Find “Room 3” Out NOW HERE.
LDN 