Pylon Poets & Call Yourself Karma Unite for Explosive Live-Recorded Collaboration ‘Not to Blame’

Pylon Poets and Call Yourself Karma have collided for a heavyweight alt-rock/nu-metal crossover on their new single Not to Blame — a track born from instinct, pressure, and pure live-room energy. What started as a last-minute idea in the final week of recording Pylon Poets’ album Demise of the Divine quickly became a full-blown collaboration, recorded live, genre-blending by design, and built on the musical chemistry between two bands who refuse to play it safe. Below, they break down how the collaboration came together, how remote writing shaped the process, and what they hope fans take from this raw, hook-packed release.

Not to Blame is a collaboration between Pylon Poets and Call Yourself Karma, blending alternative rock and nu-metal. How did the idea for this collaboration come about?

We were in the final week of recording for our album 'Demise of the Divine' when the studio producer Tom asked us if we would like to work together on a track with his band Call Yourself Karma....we jumped at the idea as we're always wanting to expand our creativity and blend genres in anyway shape or form. Our sound and theirs isn't a million miles apart but still different enough for each band to shine through whilst sounding whole and like it was meant to be.

The track was recorded live in the studio with only vocals overdubbed. How did recording in that way influence the energy and feel of the song?

Recording the instruments live definitely helped capture the energy and raw sound of the room. It's always nice to play as a full band when you're feeling out a song and in this case we were all on the same page from the off and everyone was bouncing ideas around the room for each other parts for the benefit of the song. It was a great idea of Call Yourself Karma's to record it live as it kept us all on our toes and made us proud of the final outcome as everything had to be bang on for each take. We like a bit of pressure in the studio as it helps to bring out the best of your abilities.

The song mixes memorable hooks, eerie synths, and hard-hitting riffs. How did you approach combining your distinct sounds while keeping the track cohesive?

Tom (Vocals/Guitars - Call Yourself Karma) produced our album so he knew how we work and what ideas from their sound would compliment ours. Call Yourself Karma supported us for our album launch which was where we first met Chris (Synths/Keyboards - Call Yourself Karma) and seeing and hearing them live definitely sat in our minds when it came to the initial writing of the track.We all hit it off musically and personally again when we rejoined to record the track, it was just a matter of us collaboratively putting the puzzle pieces together in a way that would bring out the best of both bands. Luckily our song writing processes and thought lines don't differ too much!

Writing via file sharing seems like a very modern process. How did remote collaboration impact the creative dynamic between the two bands?

In a way, it helped to paint a picture of how the track would (almost) sound and gave everybody the time to finalise parts and melodies etc and to make sure we were all happy before finally playing the track together to record the final version. The only way in which it hindered was having to wait to execute certain ideas vocally but overall it helped the creative process more as we each could pinpoint exact moments we liked and didn't like to give the track what it deserves.

With Not to Blame following your album Demise of the Divine, what do you hope fans take away from this track in terms of sound, energy, or message?

We hope that everyone who enjoys it delves into both band's back catalogues to see what led us to this track. We also hope that with the track being recorded live is that it gives everyone an idea of what it would be like to see each band live and to see us perform the track together on stage would be like too (we're working on it!)