Taking a cue from the third wave of Ska revival acts like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake, Chase Long Beach erupted onto the scene with an updated traditional high energy ska-template with a dark cloud. At the forefront of the band stood Karen Roberts. She has done it all since arriving on the scene, acting, improv, singer songwriter, she has drunk her fair share of the Hollywood dream. Let’s sit back, open a cold brew and kick our feet up with this Hollywood starlet as she gives us a glimpse of her life so far.  

Where do you find inspiration? Wow. I guess really from anywhere. Life experiences, especially hardships, hard times, and heartbreak. I also find inspiration by surrounding myself with people who inspire me and fill my cup. 

Who are your musical influences? that’s a wide array from Sam Cooke to RX Bandits from Radiohead to OK Go. It’s allll over the place, anything that moves me  

Chase Long Beach recently released Rico’s Cocktail Club how has your sound evolved since LeBeC and Gravity? Oh boy. Short answer, A LOT, haha. Long answer: there are even vast differences between LeBeC and Gravity, especially because between those two albums we switched to our current guitarist, Joe Cooper, who undeniably added musicianship that really changed and expanded our sound. And now, even more so, Rico‘s is a completely different beast than Gravity. Even though it’s all the same members on Gravity and Rico’s (minus our original bassist), the years of living, experience and continued growth both individually and together as musicians, made for an even more layered, rich and complex sound. We’re bringing so many other genres into the band and are simply not just a ska punk band anymore. 

CLB was on the verge of some major success with Victory records and Reel Big Fish behind you. What did those tours teach you? to never sign with a record label again!  we learned a lot from every tour we did. How much we could get away with drinking, how fast to drive through a snowstorm, to pick the right strangers to share beds with…. In all seriousness though, those tours helped shape us as the family we are today. Made us grow closer together… and also want to kill each other at times lol 

Are you still driving 75 in snow storms? Per my last response, luckily, we did grow from that and learn to never do that again. And even more luckily, I don’t think snowstorm driving is really on our bingo card these days.  

Did Aaron Barrett produce again? Yes, Aaron produced his own band as well as a couple others after producing LeBeC for us. But as for CLB, Aaron only produced LeBeC. He played a guitar solo on Gravity as well but we have yet to work together again. Hopeful of working together again though, now that RBF is reuniting!  

You mentioned the latest song from CLB took 10 years to create, what does the finished song mean to you? I am so happy with how “Aftershock” has turned out. The song is especially important to me as I was the one who initially created it for a solo album. I had been really sad thinking it was never going to see the light of day. So when the band so graciously took it on and let me produce the whole thing, it meant even more. It’s a song about my first love, who was also in our band at one point in time. It allowed me to honor him but also be honest about the sometimes toxicity of our relationship. All while also helping give me closure for his untimely death. 

What’s next for CLB? “Aftershock” will be the first single on our next EP. We have a couple other songs already partially recorded, one of which will have a couple very exciting featured performers on it… 

What tour or lineup is your dream? One where were we each get to sleep in a bed and are fed meals other than pizza every night  

Any Unicorn sightings on the horizon? Sadly, Unicorn Injection is no longer and will never reunite again. 

Fistful of Improv was great, any chance the troop is heading back out? Oh Fistful is still together! I just unfortunately had to take a hiatus for almost 2 years because the job I had didn’t allow me to make it to the performances/rehearsals. But I’ve actually been back rehearsing with them as of a couple months ago. Hoping to play in the October show  

What’s the latest you’ve been cast? 

Unfortunately, the business has been really rough and slow these past couple years but in March I did a really fun “play in a day” performance. Where the writers had 12 hours the night before to create the script, finishing by 6AM. Actors arrived at 7 AM and we were given our roles. Then we had to memorize lines, block, props, costume, makeup all by the 7PM performance that same night. It was a spectacular and unbelievably fun experience 

Who are your favorite actresses/actors? Funnily enough as an actor myself, I don’t have a lot of “favorites”. I’m more about each performance. Every actor is good at different things and I think it’s more about capturing a particular performance that was meant for you. For example, someone I’m absolutely in love with right now is Jesse Buckley, from her performance as Agnes, William Shakespeare’s wife in the movie Hamnet. 

What bands are you listening to? Currently reliving my Saves The Day love from high school, RX Bandits “…And the Battle Begun” getting ready for the 20th anniversary show at the end of this month + been vibing with Runaway Ricochet since we finally got to play with them in April. 

What do you want to be remembered for? Wow, no pressure lol. One of the things that has always brought me so much joy in my life is being able to make other people happy. Whether it’s cracking an inappropriate joke, touching their lives in some way through my various art forms or being able to uplift someone, especially when they’re feeling down on themselves. It’s important for me that everyone knows that they have a place in this world and deserve to be loved. I wanna be remembered for making others’ lives just a little bit brighter 🙂