Sundara Karma singer Oscar Pollock: ‘It’s not easy to live off making music’
Coming soon to Cambridge are indie rockers Sundara Karma, who will release their third studio album, Better Luck Next Time, tomorrow (Friday, October 27).
Recorded with producer Rich Turvey (Blossoms, Courteeners, The Wombats), the album is a collection of nine songs, including the singles Friends of Mine, Baby Blue, Wishing Well, and the recently-released Miss Again.
The band, which consists of childhood friends, Oscar Pollock (vocals, guitar), Ally Baty (guitar), Dom Cordell (bass), and Haydn Evans (drums), have toured extensively over the past 10 years, appearing at major festivals such as Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, SXSW in the US, and Summer Sonic in Japan.
Oscar says of the new record: “I think the songs are pretty good, and I think the sentiment is something that isn’t too hard to get behind with a lot of the songs.
“I hope people can find something of themselves in the songs – or even in one of the songs.”
Oscar notes that subject-wise, he has pretty much written about things that have happened in his own life over the past two years – “and things I’ve had to face and deal with”, adding: “That seems to be the main motif.”
After gaining significant recognition with the release of their debut album, Youth Is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect, in 2017 (they have also put out a number of EPs, the most recent of which came out last year), Sundara Karma have received critical acclaim from the likes of NME and Rolling Stone UK. They have also been added to BBC Radio playlisting and sold out two shows at the Brixton Academy.
Asked how old he was when he decided a career in music might be for him, Oscar replies with a laugh: “I don’t think I’ve reached that age yet!
“I hope that I can continue to do music and be able to live off it – it’s not always easy… We’ve always been quite lucky; because we’ve been a band for so long, it’s just something we’ve always done – we’ve never thought about it too much.”
Oscar has known Haydn the drummer since they were seven years old and met Ally and Dom when he was 13. He says they formed a band “literally there and then”.
Which of the new album’s songs particularly stand out for the singer? “I think Wishing Well is one of my favourites,” he says, “I also really like Miss Again.”
The quartet’s upcoming tour, their first since 2018 (the pandemic is the main reason it’s taken them so long to get back on the road), kicks off in Newcastle on November 20.
“I like travelling and I like seeing new places,” observes Oscar, who says he would love for the band to perform in Brazil and Mexico, “or revisiting other parts of England – or the world – that I haven’t seen for a while.
“It gives me a fresh perspective on everything else, and it’s great to actually go and see and play in front of people who are into our music.”
Sundara Karma will be playing the Cambridge Junction’s J1 on Monday, December 11. Tickets, priced £23.50, are available at junction.co.uk. For more on the band, visit sundarakarma.com.
