Now You Know: Kata

“We’re a bunch of positive people playing dark stuff,” says Demetrius Antuna (vox, guitar) of the nine-piece, cinematic, art-metal band Kata. “It’s a release. A way to get it out. Something about darkness feels good in sound and visuals. Positivity is great in life, but it really moves you more when it has a dark edge.”

“Demetrius and I are the same in that respect,” says Matthew Baker (vox, piano, guitar). “I’m endlessly optimistic, but darkness is a good release. Some people release it by becoming a serial killer. We release it through music.”

“I went through a very bad sickness and thought I was going to die,” Antuna says. “I became very positive and read all this self-help stuff that said not to watch horror movies. But for some reason, I can’t leave it alone. Sometimes I think touching on the dark side of things is a means of connecting with something beyond.”

Kata has played around 14 shows over the past year and a half and found that the logistical challenges of facilitating a nine-member band (which has included members past and present of Ilya, the Locust, Goodbye Blue Monday, Get Your Death On, Manuok, Hot Nerds, Hostile Combover...“half of San Diego”) are not few.

“We have a hard time finding a venue that fits us,” Antuna says over a beer at Toronado in North Park. “Touring would be difficult. We would need three vans! Hey, if anyone wants to pay for us to tour, we’ll do it.”

The band, which their Facebook page describes as “Godspeed You! Black Emperor meets Neurosis-esque epic doom,” consists of two drummers, guitars, bass, keys, three vocalists, violin, and two cellos.

You can listen to two of their tracks on Facebook, including “Ithiah,” a cover of a John Murphy composition featured on the 28 Days Later soundtrack. The group recorded the song for the second Black Box compilation, which showcases San Diego musicians recorded at Black Box Studios in Golden Hill.

Kata is currently tying up a six- or seven-song, as-of-yet-unnamed album. Preview the material on October 22 at Eleven or October 29 at Bar Pink with Baker’s other band, Ilya, which will be performing for the first time in two years.

Got a wicked pissah new band? Let us know by sending the interweb thing to barnaby_monk@sandiegoreader.com. We’ll check you/them out for our next installment of “Now You Know.”