Karyn Kuhl

Story by: Melissa Colangelo

Photos by: Dina Regine and Alan Rand

Lead singer and guitarist of The Karyn Kuhl band is a Hoboken music veteran. Influenced by the early 80s post-punk scene, Karyn Kuhl started joining bands in Hoboken. In the late 90s, Kuhl decided to go solo. Having played a lot of heavy music in the past, Kuhl wanted to focus on melody and developing her singing. She started playing solo with just a guitar, and then slowly started to form a band. The Karyn Kuhl Band was formed in 2010. Lou Ciarlo plays bass while Jonpaul Pantozzi is on drums. The latest addition to the band is Hoboken guitarist, James Mastro. “I feel like the band is really at its best right now,” Kuhl said.

The band’s most recent album, “Songs for the Dead,” won the Hoboken Music Award for Outstanding Album. “This record has some really heavy songs, which are part of my past in a way and mellower stuff, which is sort of bossa nova influence or even slightly jazz influence.” Kuhl said. Being part of the Hoboken music scene for decades, Kuhl has seen several changes. “When I moved here, you could find cheap places. For people to really be creative they can’t be consumed every minute by how they are going to make money to pay high rents. It was an organic music scene because people could be more relaxed about that. There’s still are a lot of musicians here trying to keep the music going which is great, but it’s really hard. The best example of that is Maxwell’s closing.” Visit: www.karynkuhl.com ••