Audio Karate.

AUDIO KARATE ARE NOT who you think they are. They are signed to Kung Fu Records and are playing this summer's Warped tour, but they are not punk. They may look like four tough Mexican guys in press photos, but contrary to popular stereotypes, they are not thugs. While they address issues of faith in a song like "Jesus is Alive and Well (and Living in Mexico)," they are not a "Christian band". They are not ones for classification, yet guitarist Jason Camacho declares, "I'd like to think that we could kick every single emo band's ass in the US."--Bryan Reesman

The most aptly-named group in recent memory, Audio Karate espouses a rock rage born from a melee between punk, emo, and metal, one that is propelled by hyperactive guitar assaults and stop-on-a-dime rhythmic changes but all tempered with melodic sensibilities. On the band's infectious sophomore album Lady Melody, frontman Arturo Barrios sounds like he's going hoarse, his angst-ridden vocals sparring with the bruising sonic punches thrown during tunes like "Party at the Lexington Queen," "Gypsy-queen," and "Who Brings a Knife to a Gun Fight". But the album isn't just aggression; the band explores a variety of mood and tempos throughout its eleven songs, plus the members show off their chops.

Controlled chaos is a good way to describe this Southern California quartet. "The Descendents are a big punk rock influence for us," says Camacho. "They're the most musical guys around in punk. They're kind of like old school metal in that regard--songs need guitar solos and big drum fills and some interesting things to show we can shred at every opportunity."

Camacho acknowledges that the late Randy Rhodes is an influence on him. "I hope there's a day where we're doing full-on classical, arpeggiated stuff, provided it works," reveals the guitarist. "That's what was so cool about Thin Lizzy and everyone like that. They didn't mess around. When they wrote a song, they had to have a solo and do some cool shit."

The members of Audio Karate got a golden opportunity when Bill Stevenson, former drummer for the Descendents, produced Lady Melody. "That was surreal," admits Camacho. "I think it took us a week to be like, 'All right, he's actually down with us. We can be ourselves.'" According to the guitarist, some of the songs were one-take keepers, and the whole album only took a couple of weeks to make.

The synergy within Audio Karate comes from the members' longtime associations. They're practically bonded by blood. Camacho and drummer Gabriel Camacho are first cousins. The guitarist met bassist/ supporting vocalist Justo Gonzalez in kindergarten, then Barrios came into their lives around age 12. They are all 22 now, and have never played in any other bands with other people. Although Audio Karate had a different singer originally, the current quartet has written songs for the past several years and been together as this band for the last four.

Barrios' lyrics often have a stream of consciousness feeling, but the songs on Lady Melody generally have concrete themes. "I know that with this record, Art had severed a lot of personal relationships," explains Camacho. "A lot of them are almost sarcastic apologies--'You expect me to apologize for this, but there's not much I can really do about that. Sorry, you're crazy.'"

"Miss Foreign Friendly" was inspired by an obsessed German fan that followed the quartet to England. "She expected Art to marry her," recalls Camacho. "She dropped out of school, quit her job, and spent all her tuition on coming to England to see us. That's really weird. He swears up and down that he didn't sleep with her or lead her on or nothing, but some people are kind of crazy. Or maybe she thought it was her ticket out of Germany."

The band also touches upon politics with the album's frenetic opening track. "'Jesus is Alive and Well' is about as political as we get," remarks Camacho. "The US has gotten to a point where there's no spirituality or accountability for anything, so if Jesus and his philosophy is alive, they're in countries like Mexico where all the poverty is. Jesus is pretty anti-war. If Bush was the good Christian he pretends to be, he would just pull us out of Iraq and count the losses, but I don't think that's going to happen."

It has been noted that Lady Melody is darker than Audio Karate's debut, Space Camp. Camacho says that the band's earlier melodies "were noticeably brighter" and that their tuning was a half-step higher. He also adds that at the time they made their debut, they were 18-year-olds performing songs they had written when they were 16. "They're good songs for what they are--they're catchy and complete--but we were really young when we wrote them," he says. "It wasn't so much a conscious thing about going darker and heavier [this time]. It was just a progression with time."

While Audio Karate grows in popularity, they plan to take some time to write their next record, so fans can expect further evolution and maturation. "In 20 years I most likely won't care about anything, so I want to have these records and songs that we actually cared about," declares Camacho. "We could get kicked off our label tomorrow, so we might as well have a collection of songs that we really dig."