Not many pre-teens in Cincinnati in the late 1970’s were exposed to the nascent sounds of the local punk and underground scene which included such now-legendary outfits as The Customs, The Verbs, and The Ed Davis Band. At that time, however, the lines were blurred between the music and art scenes, and Karl’s mother was the Curator at the Contemporary Arts Center. Tagging along with his mother to art openings and gallery parties featuring music and performance art, Karl was inspired to pick up the guitar and the bass and start making his own music.

As a sophomore in high school, Karl co-founded the hardcore punk outfit Sluggo, whose 8-song Contradiction E.P. (1983) is still regarded as a genuine article of DIY midwestern thrash from the glory days before heavy metal invaded the genre. Despite his young age, Karl earned a local reputation as a solid, fast bassist and was soon sought after by established bands SS-20 and The Edge who were looking to upgrade their sound. By the time he left town for college in 1986, Karl had performed dozens of gigs at the legendary Jockey Club in Newport, Kentucky, recorded six records, and co-founded the notorious Human Zoo.

After moving to Chicago in the 1990’s, Karl started his second musical career as a hustling, bass-playing sideman in the local blues scene, performing with many legendary artists including Little Mac Simmons, Eddie Taylor, Jr., Tail Dragger, Little Arthur Duncan, Alex “Easy Baby” Randle, Willie Buck, and many others. Along the way, Karl developed an interest in authentic blues harmonica and produced three harmonica blues CDs for established labels Random Chance Records and Wolf Records.

Fast forward to 2015. On a whim, Karl responded to an advertisement for a bass player for a punk band, and within a few months, he found himself writing a fresh batch of songs to perform with his new bandmates Sabrina, Ted, and Nicole. They named the band LC/50, and in 2017, LC/50 released their first E.P., Lovebirds and Lies, available on Bandcamp and many other digital platforms.

A confluence of events -- hitting the 50-year mark, returning to punk, returning to songwriting, and befriending two-time Emmy-winning sound engineer Tim Reisig -- prompted Karl to fulfill a lifelong dream of making his own album, on his own terms, with concessions to no one. The album is called Career Ending Move -- 10 crisp original songs that race past the listener in a brisk 22 minutes. The lyrics for two of the songs (“Dead Weight” and “Rehash”) were penned by friend and author Brendan Halpin, who has followed Karl’s career since the Jockey Club days.

On Career Ending Move, for the first time ever, Karl steps up to the microphone to deliver his songs in his own, full-throated voice. Along the way, LC/50 vocalist Sabrina Betancourt joins Karl for four songs, and leads the anthemic “Still Angry”. Karl also brought in two friends from his Chicago blues connections to help tell the story -- vocalist Sandra Lee sings on “Next Year’s Lover” and guitarist Mondo Cortez delivers the face-melting guitar solo on “Dead Weight.” Aside from Mondo’s brief appearance, Karl performs all of the guitar and bass work on the album. Tim Reisig played the drums and organ.

One person who listened to an early version of the album remarked that Career Ending Move is “punk for adults”, a description which nails it. The lyrical themes on Career Ending Move range from scumbag bosses to failed relationships to learning how to deal with the leeches and detractors who try to bring you down. The message is this: life is not over yet, but there’s a lot to reflect upon at this point, so let’s take a few minutes to deliver those reflections now, at top volume.