Three years ago, a persuasive essay changed the dynamics of local band Ki.
Back then, the band was just forming and the members were auditioning singers - male singers - for the lead vocals when they received an essay from Ashlee Ek, a friend from high school.
"She wrote us a persuasive essay on why she should sing for us," drummer Matt Orio said. "When we finally let her audition for us, we were floored. Ashley can write hooks for songs like it's nothing."
After the lineup was in place with Ek, bassist John Powell, guitarist Troy Sorrell, Orio and later Carl Bennett as a second guitarist, the band needed a name.
Orio said Ki means inner energy.
"I found it on a tantric Web site," he said. "I thought it would be awesome to learn how to have sex for twelve hours straight."
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Thus, Ki was born. The group's second CD, tentatively titled Learning Helplessness, is due out in August.
After the album's release, the band wants to hit up the high school scene and build their all-ages shows.
"High school crowds are great," Orio said. "A lot of those kids don't know Albuquerque has this great music scene going on. So we figure we will bring the show to the kids."
He said these shows make the members of Ki feel like rock stars.
"We'll come home after the high school performances and our Web site will have had 70 hits," he said, "It's great."
The band has a stage presence that attracts quite a following. Most of the time the members perform without their shoes, and now it's become habit to spit on each other and bum rush members into the wall during a set.
"It's funny because we play pop music, but we throw a hardcore show," Orio said. The band has been compared to the Deftones or Faith No More, and to the dismay of the members, some people also compare them to No Doubt and Evanescence.
"That's just because we have a girl singer, or because we're a little heavy," Orio said.
Ek and Powell dated for many years, and when they broke up last year, it was a trying time for Ki.
"A lot of our songs were about their breakup, so every time we performed, it was a constant reminder to them," Orio said. "It was difficult because the entire band dealt with it. But we struggled through it for the sake of the music."
Orio said the ordeal brought the band closer, and now they get along really well.
Ki has a mini-tour coming up where they will go through Phoenix, Las Vegas and Albuquerque.
"Eventually there will be less performances in Albuquerque," Orio said. "But it is hard because we have to travel so far to hit any other big cities. We are geographically screwed."
For now, the band is back in the studio trying to create music no one has heard before.
"We come from such different areas, and we try and do music that we all want to hear," Orio said. "We aren't just trying to get ahead."
Who: Ki with Evenkeal
When: Saturday 9 p.m.
Where: Golden West
Info: $3
