Roaring of guitar, strumming of bass, crashing and banging of drums, belting out a song; a Friday night weekend is about to start. Multiple live shows take place throughout Arcata—the plaza buzzes with lights and the crackle of sound at the local venue, Outerspace. People are gathered around singing along to covers and dancing to original songs. But just who are these amazing musicians?
Queen Karma first came together in the spring of 2022 in a classic way. As drummer Gavin Kingsley put it, “Our guitarist Bailey put up posters looking for musicians. So I called.” What started as a flyer became a full band with members meeting through Cal Poly Humboldt and the local music scene.
Now, 4 years later, Queen Karma has evolved into a local alternative band with lead singer and guitarist 22-year-old Alexus Roberts, 31-year-old bassist Alannah Guevara, and 22-year-old drummer Kingsley.
Some would call these types of bands niche and underground, as seemingly nobody knows about them. Queen Karma has performed at Outerspace, The Basement, Humgrown Music Festival, and Porch Fest. Queen Karma performed at Blondies in Arcata for a closing show before it became Froth.
When choosing a band name, it can be difficult to decide on one. For Queen Karma, the band wrote down a handful of name ideas and slowly voted them out until they had two words left: Queen Karma.
“What I proposed was ‘ Queen ‘ because Queen is my number one inspiration musically, Freddie Mercury, Brown, and Roger Taylor,” lead singer and guitarist Alexus Roberts said.
“I met Alexus and Gavin last September when we played a show together at Outer Space Arcata,” Guevara said. “Alexus thought it would be fun if I learned a couple of songs to play with Queen Karma. I agreed, but I was also really scared.” After inviting Guevara to play as a special guest in Queen Karma a few times, Guevara decided to join.
The local support in Humboldt is what makes the music scene special. “I feel like Arcata is a perfect place for especially young people to start a band,” Roberts said.
Although Humboldt is supportive of the music scene, bands face numerous challenges. “Humboldt feels more pay to play rather than get paid to play,” Kingsley said. One time Queen Karma played with a touring band, and they took all their money. “People will rip you off, and you have to make sure you have contracts and trust one another.”
Over the years, Queen Karma has been able to build a reputation with one of their recent shows at the No Kings protest. Queen Karma is known for original songs such as “Ace of Pentacles,” “Summer in October,” and “Singing Daze”. They have also covered popular songs such as Black Sheep by Metric and Fade Into You by Mazzy Star.
For the future of Queen Karma, the group hopes to record an album of original material and promote and play more shows. Listen to Queen Karma on Spotify and YouTube, and support them @queenkarmaofficial on Instagram.
