With 2024’s sophomore album, Promised Land, crashing into the Top 20 UK Chart, The Karma Effect began the build-up to their next offering with an acoustic set at Gibson Garage, London. Cruel Intentions will be released via Earache Records on 15 May 2026, and, with a full UK tour to be announced soon, the anticipation is already building.
The Karma Effect
Gibson Garage London – 5 February 2026
Words: Sean Titley
Photography: Aggie Anthimidou
A cold, drizzly January afternoon at 2 pm does not feel like the natural habitat for rock ‘n’ roll until you step into Gibson Garage London, the UK flagship of the legendary guitar makers. It is a fantasy world for musicians who goggle at the flying V’s and Les Paul’s, like visitors to a Coyote Ugly bar.
The descent from the ground floor is lined with rows of immaculately polished guitars, leading to a hyperrealist stage area in the underground part of the store. Overlit by white Tron-style ceiling lighting, Gibson logos glow in neon purple behind the stage with amps arranged in a crenellated, castle battlement style, interspersed with Hollywood strip lights, providing perfect curation. The piece de resistance, a red guitar taking centre stage, a sculpted beauty, aching to be played.
The gathered audience looks effortlessly rock ‘n’ roll cool family, friends, industry types and fans due to the restricted capacity of the venue. Anticipation is clearly high for the acoustic set from The Karma Effect, who describe themselves as “modern vintage.” Think Aerosmith for the cyber era.
The five band members come on stage like veterans but young enough not to have the wear and tear in place. Perched on black bar stool-style chairs, positioned for maximum visual effect, lead singer, Harry Gottelier, fronts up, with the other guitarists, Robbie Blake and Nate Keevil, staggered behind him playing red, orange and blue Gibson guitars.
Off to the side is the keyboardist, Tom Pitt and on drums Alan Taylor, offsetting the band’s generally black-themed clothes with a white singlet. Visual composition of this gig is off the chart, and the attention to detail is about to be reflected in an equally polished, knock your socks off set.
They open with All Night Long, the lyric “she drives me wild all night” instantly pulling the room into a sing-along. What hits is the sound, driving groove snaps like melting ice cracking are sharp, controlled, modern.
Wrong Again follows. Hailing from South London and probably having more experience of Peckham and Camberwell, The Karma Effect have a knack for landing you mentally in an LA rock bar, which this song does with a gorgeous rhythmic bluesy style.
Jackets come off and the image sharpens. The lead singer, in John Lennon glasses and a black-and-white polka-dot shirt, evangelises about his lifelong love of Gibson guitars. It could have been an excruciating, sell your soul to the corporate, moment, but instead it projected as genuine passion and love of the tools of music.
Be My Salvation slows the pace and becomes the emotional centre. Something of a Rod Stewart sound to me in the vocals, for this song alone, shows the timbre of a rich and rewarding voice. Heads nod instinctively across the room, the familiar dashboard-nodding dog effect of a song landing exactly where it should. Applause is enthusiastic and cheers fill the room at the end of each song.
They introduce Waiting On A Miracle as the first song from what they describe as a new band, not just a new album, which is their best work so far, they say. The songs that have been released so far are only the tip of the iceberg. Given this tune has not left my playlist since first hearing, the other new songs are a tempting prospect. A little bit trepidatious about pulling off the song unplugged, they need not have worried.
Doubt She’s Coming Back is, for me, an absolute standout of the half-hour set, sharp, pulsing, again immaculately clear and enormous fun. The band are in full flight.
They close, as they say they always do, with Steal Your Heart from their debut album, complete with joyful whoop-yelps that puncture any lingering polish. They are at one with the audience.
The band have said they want the audience to feel like they are “watching something in a giant stadium in New Jersey, or something like that. I want them to feel like the band that they are seeing is not just putting on a gig. They’re putting on a massive show.”
In the hyper-controlled environment of Gibson Garage London, The Karma Effect do just that.
The Karma Effect’s third album, Cruel Intentions, is scheduled for full release on 15 May 2026, via Earache Records. Signed editions, limited alt artwork editions, limited coloured vinyl and much more are available to pre-order at earache.com/collections/the-karma-effect.
The band play The Patriot on 14 March 2026 and The Forum, Tunbridge Wells on 15 May, with appearances scheduled at SOS Festival 2026 and Nozfest 2026 this summer. A full tour will be announced soon.
