In 1993, Karate was formed by Geoff Farina (vocals, guitar), Eamonn Vitt (bass) and Gavin McCarthy (drums). In 1995, Jeff Goddard joined the band as bass player, and Vitt moved to second guitar. Vitt left Karate to pursue a medical career in 1997.
Breakup and post-breakup projects Farina developed hearing problems due to twelve years of performance with Karate and was forced to disband the group in July 2005. Disbanding with fanfare, the group had recorded six studio albums and had almost seven hundred performances in twenty countries. Their final show was played in
Rome,
Italy, on July 10, 2005. In 2007, the former band members released the live album
595. It is a recording of the band's 595th performance, on May 5, 2003 at Stuk, Leuven, Belgium. The recording was sent to them by a sound technician, and Karate were so astonished by the quality they decided to release it as an official live album. Karate's perfectionism and attention to detail is well known among the music scene, which played a part in the naming of the album. It was originally to be called
594. However, McCarthy discovered a flyer for a forgotten early show, so the band quickly changed the title to
595. Goddard played in the band Jones Very along with
Vic Bondi and Jamie Van Bramer. In 2005, Goddard played bass on the
Chris Brokaw album
Incredible Love. Farina developed a solo career, releasing three albums and a number of EPs. He also worked with Chris Brokaw, releasing work as Geoff Farina & Chris Brokaw. McCarthy has been part of a number of bands including E, which released albums in 2016 and 2018.
Reissues and reunion In 2021,
The Numero Group announced they would be reissuing the band's music after long periods of their music being unavailable due to Southern not allowing the band to. The first releases to be reissued was the band's first two albums and first single. In 2022,
Stereogum reported that the band would reunite for their first tour in 17 years. It was announced in November that the band would play
Primavera Sound festival in 2023. On September 15, 2023, the Numero Group released
Complete Studio Recordings, compiling their six studio albums, the
Cancel/Sing and
In The Fish Tank EPs, singles, and split 7"s. The 69 tracks were split across eight CDs. The
box set included an 80-page book by Leor Galil containing essays and photographs. On January 7, 2024, Numero Group posted on Twitter teasing new music for the band, featuring a short video of the members at the end of what they said was the "first Karate session in 20 years". Numero would later mention that a "new Karate record [is] currently in the works". The album was formally announced with the name
Make It Fit with a release date of October 18, along with the
Defendants b/w Silence, Sound single released on July 25. == Influences ==