Karling Abbeygate

Biography

Originally from a small town called Norwich in England, Karling spent many years battling the urge to be outrageous. Her up bringing was poor but still none the less English, so Karling was seen as quite the rebellious spirit during her school years. A brief fling with a teacher stamped the end of her schooling, at which time she was sucked up into the world of modeling by a London model agency rep visiting Norwich on vacation (the town has a very historical and sinister background). Her natural aptitude for music was always prevalent in her younger years. Karling was quite well known for impromptu songwriting and story telling, usually about the teachers. She says it made her popular in school, if it hadn't been for her talents as a composer, she thinks she would have been beaten up instead.

After her brief stint as a model, Karling took to the streets of London, living in the down town East end where she made friends with some homeless people. This is where she got the inspiration for the song "Mumbo Jumbo Man".

Karling was offered a job on a cruise ship as a photographer, she whole heartedly took the opportunity to see the world, and wrote many of her songs on lonely nights out in the middle of the ocean. She says it was this isolation period that really made her kick in to getting on with her life goals. This along with the fact that in Thailand she suddenly became very sick and depressed, and was flown back to England where she stayed with her motherconvalescing for six long months.

After recovering, she packed her bags, kissed her heritage good bye, and set off to the bright lights of Las Vegas.

Karling bought a four track recorder with the remains of her cruise ship earnings, and set about making some demo tapes of her songs. She soon discovered who was the happening producer in town, and hence she hooked up with Donnie Whitbeck. Whitbeck says "as soon as I heard her tapes, they were a little rough around the edges, but I could see a very unique talent. I was hooked".

Whitbeck and Karling produced their first album "Tin Town" in Las Vegas. It received great reviews and was quite unexpectedly picked up in Australia, where it was played regularly on over 60 of the college stations. Whitbeck says

"we were unprepared for the Australia thing, in fact, we didn't really know how to take the album any further than the recording process, it just kind of got out of our hands".

Karling still not quite happy with the direction of the finished product, decided to take a different approach to the next batch of songs. She told Whitbeck, they should loose the smooth studio approach and just go for that raw honest place in your "gut". Whitbeck agreed. They moved to Boulder City to recorded their second album.

This time without the distractions of "lite brite city", they were able to really focus and like magic came across all the right players for the material. "It just fell together" says Whitbeck, "it was just meant to be. It's strange being around Karling, since I've known her my life has been like a whirlwind, she flys by the seat of her pants so to speak".

After finishing the album, they were left with a harsh reality that Boulder City is just not the place to promote a new artist. They headed off to Portland. Upon arriving in Portland, they slept in truck stops for a week or two, Karling says that was a low period, they had been doing coffee shop gigs along the way to earn money for gas and food, but she came down with the flu, and the money dried up. When Karling was well again they started playing in some local coffee houses as a duo, and caught the attention of a wealthy business lady who gave them a place to stay rent free. "We really are lucky" says Karling "it's like something always come through at the last minute, I was getting tired of sleeping in the van and cooking breakfast at rest stops!"

Getting down to business they started advertising for and auditioning other band members. And so became Karling Abbeygate & The Monks Of Love. Soon after, the band was signed to Northwest label W.T. Records, and hit the road on several lengthy tours to promote the new "Glory Girl" album, including a recent tour of Europe. The media has been quick to notice this original and charismatic new band. Their shows are different, "English Art Rock" at its weirdest. Karling has been accused of being a witch more than once, an accusation she neither denies or confirms. She simply says

"hey, call me what you will, just keep calling me!"