Karina Rykman Is Throwing a Party at Homers Music and Everyone Is Invited

The bassist and songwriter talks about her debut album Joyride, working with Trey Anastasio and more.

Bassist, songwriter, and performer Karina Rykman has created a fascinating debut album with Joyride. It’s an album that can bring together a lot of music fans who all come from different fringes of music fandom. Dream pop mixes with jazz, Prince and George Clinton funk meshes with jam band guitars, and Rykman is singing and laying down bass lines the entire time, showing young women that they can also do this.

Rykman has been a touring musician for many years, both solo and with other artists. Joyride was produced by Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio, who also plays on many of the songs. We connected on the phone in anticipation of her show at Homers Music this Monday. We talked about the debut album, being on the road, working with Trey, and more. I have a feeling this is going to be a pretty incredible performance. Tickets are available here.

MarQ Manner- Your album is very interesting. It starts off with dream pop and synths, and then the next thing there are jazz elements, jam band guitar, and then even funk, ala George Clinton and Prince. What is influencing all of this? 

Karina Rykman- All of the above that you just mentioned and more—I am a musical chameleon, if you will. I am inspired by so many different types of music, and some of my favorite bands are Ween, Phish, and Beck. Those three in particular have emboldened me to not shy away from having eclectic tastes and eclectic influences, and I feel like songs just come out as they are. So one will be more rock, the next will be more funky, the next will be dream poppy, etc., and at the end of the day, the cohesive element is me. Hopefully that shines through all of it, my Karina-iss. 

MarQ- A lot of artists, and especially young artists, focus on banging out singles these days. What was it like to release your first album? Was that a desire of yours, or did you feel more obligated to do that? 

Karina- I referred to myself as ‘Six Single Rykman” for quite a long time. My first single was in 2019, and I had six singles to my name until last year, when Joyride came out. It was one of those staggering things where you put out one song, and all of a sudden I had all of these offers coming in and these support slots and festivals, and things were happening very quickly, and I felt very strongly after….a pretty short amount of time that I needed to put together a larger body of work. All of my favorite bands are album artists, not people who are a flash in the pan with a hit song and then they disappear.

I started culling together all of these tunes and wanted to, like, hold the floodgates, if you will, until I had a larger body of work that I was proud of. It was many years in the making. I am thrilled with the singles I released, including “Dirty South” and “City Kids."  They are live staples of mine, and they go over great and people love them, Same with “No Occasion,"  but it’s really nice to have this body of work that is Joyride, that one emblematic thing that sort of represents who I am as an artist. I feel strongly about it. I was very happy to start doing that, and I fell in love with the process and hope to make records until the day I die. 

MarQ-The song “Fever Dream” reminds me of the French band Air, and a lot of the music you have lends itself to remixes, and I wondered if you had toyed with that idea. Right before we started talking, I noticed you had a remix on your Spotify. 

Karina- If you are familiar with dream pop, then I hope you know Vansire, as they remixed "Joyride." They are sort of the mid-western dream pop kings. Welcome to your new favorite band. They are younger than I am, and they started making bedroom dreampop music in their dorm rooms, and what not. They are incredible, and I have been a huge fan of their music, and because of that, I thought I would get their take on "Joyride." So thank you, I am a huge Air fan. I am open to all that sort of thing. I think it’s fun to have musical collaborators and musical conversations as often as possible, in whatever form they may take. I was so thrilled when they wanted to remix my tune and jumped at the opportunity. 

MarQ-You have worked in many parts of the music industry, you have booked bands; you have worked in the music press; and you have been in some significant touring bands. Has that helped you navigate things as your solo career has grown? 

Karina-Oh big time, my job at Rocks Off, that was the big concert promoter here in New York that I worked at for seven and a half years, all while touring in other bands and doing a million things on the side, including going to NYU. Having a very deep understanding of the business side of things has helped me immeasurably in dealing with my own career. You know, just to know what a deal looks like, what an offer looks like, and what a settlement looks like, those are invaluable skills to have as an artist. I feel like I’m in the minority of people who know what they are looking at when they go to settle with the venue. I do not have a touring manager yet, so I basically do all of that myself, and I feel very well equipped to do so. I could very much understand that many artists would not be well equipped at all to do so. Not that I want to continue doing that forever, as it would be nice to have someone do that for me. 

MarQ- Trey Anastasio produced the album and performed on it. Tell me about that experience. 

Karina-It is one of the greatest honors of my life. I would be hard pressed to find another musician who would mean more to me. He took such a huge interest and helped so much with the songs and recorded such beautiful guitar parts and helped arrangement wise, and he gave me his barn up in Vermont, where Phish has recorded a lot of music and where he has recorded a lot of music. He gave me Bryce Goggin who has engineered a lot of Phish music and produced a lot of it, as well as Spacehog, Swans, Pavement, and other incredible bands. He is an incredible engineer. It’s almost beyond description how I feel about how Trey has helped me and just his support. We talk on the phone often, and he has just incredible insight and incredible advice that I would never take for granted. 

MarQ- Are there any songs on Joyride that stand out to you or have a special story to go along with them? 

Karina- A lot of them have quite a bit of personal meaning; writing lyrics was never a thing I did growing up. This is all kind of new. You have to dig deep and say, 'Alright, what do you want to say, Karina? What do you want to convey here?' It’s a lot of grappling with what has happened in my life in terms of this sudden up and down movement of being on tour and coming down from it, and all of those things that musicians deal with there is a lot of that present on the album. I feel like that theme goes from “Trampoline” to “All That You Wanted"; and even “Elevator” if you want to get super meta about it. There are also two instrumentals on there which can tell a different story by the sounds they evoke and the emotions they evoke through no words at all. I am very proud of the whole thing as one big picture. 

MarQ-What kind of fans come to your show? I could see it being jam band fans, of course, pop music fans, but also people that would go out and watch Tony Levin play bass solo at his show. 

Karina-I think that is a pretty accurate snapshat. A lot of jam band fans, and I am seeing more and more younger women and girls. Especially ones who are learning to play guitar or bass, which is really meaningful for me. There are a lot of virtuoso music nerd types, but it’s very varied. Older persons, young people, men, women-I am throwing a party and everyone is invited. That is the main thing I want to convey in my personhood and, of course, in my music. When I go on stage, here is two hours where there is no judgement; everyone is in it for a good time. There is going to be moments of improvisation, but also moments of hard hitting grooves and songs you can sing along with. I feel like people are responding to it. It has been an incredible few months of touring behind this record, and it’s just going up and up and up. We are going to all of these places I have never been, including Omaha. I have never set foot in Omaha. I am excited to get into all of these markets and see what is going on. It's kind of one of the better parts of being a touring musician. 

MarQ-You have been touring for awhile now. Do you feel like in the last few years it has gotten harder to tour, and if so, what keeps you doing it? 

Karina- There is no doubt about that, and to quote the great Levon Helm, “I ain't in it for my health,"  because ain't that the truth. People who haven't lived it can't understand how different it is. I had to stop the other day, and we make our money on Fridays and Saturdays, so people who work for a living or work 9-5 or more Monday through Friday often can't wrap their heads around that. So you are missing life events, weddings, parties, funerals, and get-togethers that if you led a more normal life, you wouldn’t miss.

Of course, the cost of touring is absolutely ridiculous, and without the amazing friends, fans, and family that I have made and have all over the country that put my band up when they can, it would be economically devastating, and it often is economically devastating, and you are relying on merch a lot of times to break even. Once you get bit by the bug, and if you are the kind of person who is drawn to this kind of thing, you sort of can’t imagine yourself doing anything else. Also, when you see your act growing, it is a really intoxicating feeling, and you want to keep doing it, even if some shows are fantastic and some shows are bad as far as attendance or whatever it might be. It is something you get super addicted to. I hardly ever drink and don’t do any drugs, but I am addicted to this lifestyle. 

MarQ-What can people expect from your show. 

Karina-It’s a party, and everyone is invited.