Karla Schickele is a bassist/singer/songwriter who has been a member of several indie rock bands, including Ida and K.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, her first show was seeing Adam and the Ants play on a pier. Adam Ant rode up on a real pirate ship.

In 1993, she started the band Beekeeper with her brother, Matthew Schickele. They released a 7″ record on Feldspar records,  then joined forces with wunderkind drummer Jan Kotik and recorded an EP  (Anywhere Will Do, Muss My Hair Records, 1997), and a full-length (Ostrich, Southern Records, 1998).

Karla joined the band Ida in 1996 as bassist, singer, and contributing songwriter. She has recorded at least five full-length CD’s and toured nationally and internationally with the band.

Karla started K. in 2000 as a quasi-solo venture. Karla writes and arranges, and does almost all the singing in K. — but the project is very much a collaboration. The first K. releases were a 7” on Tree Records, a split EP and 7” with Low (Those Girls, Tiger Style Records), and a split 7” with Ted Leo.

The debut K. album (New Problems, Tiger Style, 2001) was recorded at houses and studios around New York City by Tara Jane O’Neil, who also played drums on a few songs, and involved Ida bandmates Dan Littleton and Liz Mitchell and other New York musicians.

In 2001, Karla joined forces with drummer Ruth Keating and guitarist Matt Sutton of The Malarkies, who became steady K. bandmembers for a series of tours, adding harmonica, bad-ass pedal steel guitar, a general party-down spirit to the mix. The second full-length record, Goldfish (Tiger Style Records, 2002), was recorded by Tony Lockwood at Karla’s parents’ house in Woodstock, NY.

The latest K. release, entitled “History Grows,” was recorded primarily by Warren Defever of His Name is Alive at Levon Helm‘s barn.

Karla has also played as a guest in the bands Low, The Naysayer, Saturday Looks Good to Me, the Malarkies, and the M Shanghai String Band. She has performed as a singer in many contexts, including as teenage back-up singer on the soundtrack of the movie Eddie and The Cruisers.

Karla Schickele lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn with her family. She is the Founding Executive Director of Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, a non-profit music and mentoring program.