Pigeons Playing Ping Pong  •  Karina Rykman atWhite Oak Music Hall
Thursday, March 03
Doors 7:00PM
Show 8:00PM

Change grants clarity. As our circumstances shift, we recognize and realize what truly matters and appreciate it a little bit more. Pigeons Playing Ping Pong translates the joy of such realizations into the buoyant psychedelic funk odyssey of their sixth independent full-length album, the aptly titled Perspective. The Maryland quartet—Greg Ormont [vocals, guitar], Jeremy Schon [guitar, vocals], Ben Carrey [bass, vocals], and Alex “Gator” Petropulos [drums, vocals]—delivers a musically thrilling and emotionally endearing body of work propelled by sonic fireworks and chantable hooks. After piling up millions of streams and selling out countless shows, the musicians project their vision widescreen across the most expansive vista yet.

In 2016, Karina joined Marco Benevento’s band on bass, replacing Dave Dreiwitz (Ween /Joe Russo’s Almost Dead). In the many U.S. tours, trips to Japan and the UK since then, Karina has developed a permanent and powerful presence in the band, playing headlining shows, festival sets, and opening for bands such as Vulfpeck, Dispatch, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, Guster, and many more.

Aside from her gigs with Benevento, Karina’s musical résumé has almost grown too large to keep track of, but includes highlights we’d be remiss to exclude: a performance on the Today Show with Julia Michaels, a now-famous soundcheck at Madison Square Garden with Phish, playing in the backing band (in front of Howard Stern and co. at Radio City Music Hall) on America’s Got Talent with a flame-spewing helmet on her head, gigs with the Everyone Orchestra alongside members of moe., The Disco Biscuits, Soulive, Robert Randolph, + many more) and finally, the formation of her own band.

Karina put out two singles in 2019: Plants and Elevator, as well as two more in 2020 (City Kids & Dirty South) – the songs have garnered six-figure streaming numbers + air time on Satellite radio. A few live highlights include opening for Khruangbin at The Capitol Theatre, playing moe.down and Hulaween, and a plethora of headlining shows for ravenous fans. The group has welcomed special guests including Nels Cline, Robert Walter, Skerik, + more. And this is just the beginning for the young NYC-based bassist.