Fish Karma

Fish Karma (real name Terry Owen, born 1959) is an American punk rock/comedy rock/folk rock musician from Tucson, Arizona, United States.

Biography

Fish Karma has also described as "one of the worst vocalists ever to have the gall to step in front of a mic, his voice falling somewhere between Neil Young after a swift boot to the naughty bits and the dying screech of a depleted air horn". His career in creative antagonism began at the University of Arizona where Fish worked with a student run comedy troupe. An early incarnation of Owen's stage persona featured Karma garbed in elf shoes and a full-length burlap gown (purchased at a Tucson thrift store) festooned with bottle caps.

While performing at a club called Tequila Mockingbird, Karma so offended musician Al Perry (who was employed as a bartender at the club) with his perverse renderings of Delta blues that Perry intentionally disrupted Karma's performances by running an electric drink mixer during his songs. This early antagonism led fortuitously to a musical collaboration lasting more than two decades. Recording on only the cheapest and most inferior equipment, Perry, like a revolted yet somewhat intrigued biographer, began capturing Fish's songs on tape. Karma's concerts made him a cult figure. Byron Coley of The Village Voice said "Fish is a great entertainer. Live, he strums along at whatever tempo he wants & rants & raves the funniest observations this side of George Carlin." Karma worked with Al Perry & The Cattle, Mojo Nixon and Jello Biafra who says "Fish's music is your basic FUGS-style electric grunge folk, and his lyrics feature some of the meanest put-downs of American consumer culture I've heard in years." Sunnyslope (1993) (Triple X) The Dangerous Playground (1998) (San Jacinto) Lunch With The Devil (2001) (Deep Shag Records) The Theory of Intelligent Design (2006) (Alternative Tentacles) Halloween in America (2010) (Alternative Tentacles) Lethal Fairy tales (2012) (Alternative Tentacles)