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Instrumental Forever: The Story of Karma to Burn
No singer. No compromise. Just riffs that shook the underground to its core.
Instrumental Forever is the raw history of Karma to Burn—the Appalachian power trio that threw the singer out of the van and let the riffs do the talking. From beer-stained West Virginia bars to European festival stages, they built a cult of defiance, persistence, and wall-shaking volume.
Author Justin Johnson, a lifelong witness to the West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio underground music scenes, pulls from interviews, archives, and personal memories to capture their Roadrunner Records clashes, near-misses with Kyuss’s John Garcia, busted vans, brutal tours, and the devastating losses of Will Mecum and Chuck Nicholas.
This isn’t nostalgia—it’s the view from the front row and the back alley of a band that never played the industry’s game, yet left an indelible mark on heavy rock.
Inside you’ll
The most complete discography and tour history ever compiledFirsthand reflections from the front lines of the sceneA raw tribute to the band and the community that shaped themEssential albums from the West Virginia–Kentucky–Ohio undergroundA curated playlist that captures the wider scene that shaped Karma to BurnEditorial Review
“Instrumental Forever is a fierce and unsentimental chronicle of Appalachian underground rock—part memoir, part cultural history, and wholly authentic. Justin Johnson writes with the authority of a journalist and the conviction of a believer, delivering a definitive account of Karma to Burn’s uncompromising legacy. Gritty, reverent, and unflinchingly human, this is underground music history done right.”
Instrumental Forever is the raw history of Karma to Burn—the Appalachian power trio that threw the singer out of the van and let the riffs do the talking. From beer-stained West Virginia bars to European festival stages, they built a cult of defiance, persistence, and wall-shaking volume.
Author Justin Johnson, a lifelong witness to the West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio underground music scenes, pulls from interviews, archives, and personal memories to capture their Roadrunner Records clashes, near-misses with Kyuss’s John Garcia, busted vans, brutal tours, and the devastating losses of Will Mecum and Chuck Nicholas.
This isn’t nostalgia—it’s the view from the front row and the back alley of a band that never played the industry’s game, yet left an indelible mark on heavy rock.
Inside you’ll
The most complete discography and tour history ever compiledFirsthand reflections from the front lines of the sceneA raw tribute to the band and the community that shaped themEssential albums from the West Virginia–Kentucky–Ohio undergroundA curated playlist that captures the wider scene that shaped Karma to BurnEditorial Review
“Instrumental Forever is a fierce and unsentimental chronicle of Appalachian underground rock—part memoir, part cultural history, and wholly authentic. Justin Johnson writes with the authority of a journalist and the conviction of a believer, delivering a definitive account of Karma to Burn’s uncompromising legacy. Gritty, reverent, and unflinchingly human, this is underground music history done right.”
365 pages, Paperback
Published October 16, 2025
About the author
Justin Johnson
1 book5 followersJustin Johnson tells stories rooted in the noise of the Appalachian underground, capturing the places where riffs, people, and history intersect — and making sure they’re never forgotten.
From the beer-stained clubs of Huntington, West Virginia, to the record shops and DIY spaces that kept the amps buzzing across Appalachia, Johnson has spent three decades inside the scenes that rarely made headlines but shaped countless lives. A former writer for local newspapers, zines, and blogs, he logged hours in record shops and bars, standing shoulder to shoulder with the lifers who carried it all on their backs.
His first book, Instrumental Forever: The Story of Karma to Burn, is a raw, unfiltered history of the band that rewrote the rules of rock by letting the riffs do the talking. True to its subject, Johnson released it in the spirit that first fueled Karma to Burn and the underground community around them — independently, directly, and on their own terms.
He adds, “I learned how to do this by watching the bands I write about do it themselves. A book that started the same way was made the DIY way — written like a fan, released like a band.”
Upon release, Instrumental Forever broke into Amazon's Top 25 Rock Music Books and the Top 10,000 Books overall, standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the most celebrated works in modern rock literature.
From the beer-stained clubs of Huntington, West Virginia, to the record shops and DIY spaces that kept the amps buzzing across Appalachia, Johnson has spent three decades inside the scenes that rarely made headlines but shaped countless lives. A former writer for local newspapers, zines, and blogs, he logged hours in record shops and bars, standing shoulder to shoulder with the lifers who carried it all on their backs.
His first book, Instrumental Forever: The Story of Karma to Burn, is a raw, unfiltered history of the band that rewrote the rules of rock by letting the riffs do the talking. True to its subject, Johnson released it in the spirit that first fueled Karma to Burn and the underground community around them — independently, directly, and on their own terms.
He adds, “I learned how to do this by watching the bands I write about do it themselves. A book that started the same way was made the DIY way — written like a fan, released like a band.”
Upon release, Instrumental Forever broke into Amazon's Top 25 Rock Music Books and the Top 10,000 Books overall, standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the most celebrated works in modern rock literature.
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