Kratom is a local band trying to shake up typical metal music. The band consists of four Inspire High school music students: drummer Brad Messerschmidt (17, senior), vocalist/guitarist Joey Hail (17, senior), bassist Lucas Burcham (16, junior) and guitarist/sitarist Julian Beeler (16, junior).
The band has been performing and is recording a Camp Fire-influenced song called “Ashes of the Dead.” Messerschmidt, who wrote the lyrics, is one of two Camp Fire survivors in the band.
“It’s like more of a heavy song, but I have some of the ways I saw that day and I wrote from my perspective about that,” Messerschmidt said.
He wrote the song a month after the fire while in piano class. He said it expresses how much life changed for everyone in the area.
Beeler explained how Kratom evolved from typical metal over time.
“We started to branch out and try to get more psychedelic and adding different scales and tones to sound more Egyptian,” Beeler said.
Messerschmidt described their sound as thrash metal and said they are trying to bring back “skater metal” with a twist.
Kratom has been recording an album called Zykodelyk. The album will drop at the band’s release show at 8 p.m. Jan. 25 in The Naked Lounge,118 W. Second St. The album will also be released on all streaming platforms and CDs.
