MP3 Glory Girl - ROCK: Glam

A highly original yet rootsy sound--lyrically herculean and touching with firm and edgy instrumentation.

11 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Glam, POP: Power Pop

Glory Girl Songs


Details:
Karling Abbeygate & The Monks Of Love

Originally from Norwich, a little town in England, Karling gone many years battling the urge to be steep Her up bringing was poor but still nonetheless English. Karling was seen as quite the rebellious spirit during her school years. Karling's 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 picked on instead.

A brief but scandalous fling with a teacher stamped the end of her formal schooling, and shortly after, she was sucked up into the world of modeling by a London model agency rep visiting Norwich on vacation. (Norwich, complete with two cathedrals and a castle sitting on a mound dead center of town, has a very historical and sinister background.)

Moving to London and embarking on a career in modeling may have seemed like every young girl's dream, but Karling quickly became frustrated with this life. She bought herself a little keyboard and gone many long evenings in her flat writing songs. While walking, she would often encountered a homeless man dressed in rags who stood on a rickety wooden crate by Marble Arch, preaching and declaring doomsday was neigh. This scene stuck in her head, and later would be the inspiration for the song "Mumbo Jumbo Man".

Not inspired by the life of a model, Karling took to the other side of the camera, and 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 in these periods of isolation that she really came to know hat her soul had other plans for her, and that she was not on the right track. In Thailand she suddenly became very sick and was flown back to England where she stayed with her mother convalescing for six long months.

After recovering, she say's she was a changed person. Karling packed her bags, kissed England goodbye for a while, 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 demo tapes of her songs. While taking a class in home recording at a local recording studio, she met Donnie Whitbeck, the happening producer in town. Whitbeck says, "As soon as I heard her tapes, even though they were a little rough around the edges, I could see a very outstanding and 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 was on fire in the studio," Whitbeck recalls, and we started right in on the next batch of tunes. "We went for that raw honest place, right in the gut." This next album was to become GLORY GIRL.

"It was just meant to be." Karling says. "The pieces all fell together, the band, everything." Whitbeck adds, "It's strange being around Karling, since I've known her my life has been like a whirlwind, she flies by the seat of her pants so to speak."


After finishing the album, they relocated briefly to Portland where they received great reviews. The band then moved to Los Angeles where they are based out of a Melrose Studio. Writing songs for movies and gigging, and working on their next album. Karling Abbeygate and the Monks Of Love are show stoppers.

"We love LA," Karling says. "We get to be more expressive and creative than ever. It's wonderful. Expect great things!"