About K.K. Reaper

K.K. Reaper has had a lengthy career in the entertainment industry. Since he was young, there was a clear fascination with any and all aspects of art. As he entered his teens and became intrigued by the macabre and “shock culture”, the two passions combined to create the character of K.K. Reaper. K.K. got his start with his friends, making short horror films that would eventually be turned into a mini YouTube series called “Cemetery Stories”. His two longtime friends, Zac and Luke, who helped him form Keith Klaw Pictures & Z.K.L. Production, went on to pursue different fields of work as they got older, while K.K. continued on in the entertainment industry. He worked on another mini-series called My Undead Experience with a few friends from a neighboring town. Sadly, not much came from the production. However, K.K. still keeps in touch with co-writers Mike and Jon, and there may be plans for the series in the future.

At this point, K.K., now sixteen and able to work legally, would spend the next eight years acting and managing at Hollowgraves Haunted Manor. It was a truly bizarre but thrilling experience. Scare acting was the epitome of K.K.’s passion for shock art. It was also the perfect learning experience that furthered his makeup/special FX skills as well as his showmanship. Proving his craft and love for the attraction, owner Stan Ambro eventually gave him more responsibility over that time, having him teach scare acting to new actors, keeping track of the books, being the main makeup artist, and learning to repair both the animatronics and the house itself. It wouldn’t take long before local director Joshua Bruce would reach out to K.K. for a few other film projects.

While running the Haunted Manor, K.K. began a friendship and partnership with Josh and became a makeup/special FX artist for his independent films. They worked together on such titles as Burn In Hell, Draco, The Reverend Blood Red, leading up to the highly anticipated Streets of Havoc. Between that time, not only was K.K. involved in makeup and special FX, but later went on to act, co-write and direct with Josh, as well as become executive producer on a few projects. Working with Josh also opened the door to an independent film circuit that K.K. quickly found himself absorbed into. Often times, this included some smaller positions like key-grip on “Boys Will Be Boys” or a zombie extra in “The Soulless”, but these experiences built up both his portfolio and the K.K. Reaper brand. It was not long after these experiences, while still working with Josh and at the Haunted Manor, that K.K. began more actively pursuing a career in music.

K.K. grew up in a family of musicians with a deep appreciation for rock music. Many of them were responsible for teaching him how to play. Most notably, his grandmother started him out on the piano. Born with a natural flair for the instrument, at just three years old he began picking up the concept of playing very fast. As time went on, he only became better with practice. Many pushed that he learn to sing along while playing, though that wasn’t fully put into practice until a few years later. His father and uncle taught him songs on the guitar, and then he subsequently picked up the bass. These were less his primary instruments but having enough skill to play out a composition proved useful when explaining the compositions to other, more well-rounded guitarists and bassists when in the studio. K.K. had played a few school talent shows and coffee houses solo and began realizing his love for singing above all else. Throughout the course of building up the abilities on these instruments and as a showman on stage, K.K. grew a great appreciation for theatrical, musical artists such as Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Meat Loaf, and David Bowie to name a few. At this point, with a vision in mind, K.K. assembled what would be come the original Carnies of Chaos.

K.K. Reaper & The Carnies of Chaos formed for what was supposed to only be one show. A High School Coffee House in 2015. K.K. was a senior and wanted to go out with a bang. Accompanied by George Ford on drums, Karl Kim on guitar, Jenna Marsac on keyboards, and Chris McKay on bass, plus a slew of stagehands and on-stage actors, K.K. put on an Alice Cooper tribute show. It included Welcome to My Nightmare, I Never Cry, I’m Eighteen, Ballad of Dwight Fry/Killer/I Love the Dead (complete with straight jacket, an evil nurse, bodyguards, and K.K. being decapitated), and School’s Out, at which point the principal had to break up a mosh pit. It was K.K.’s first taste of the spotlight and he wanted more.

Later, K.K. attempted to keep the momentum going. It wasn’t easy. K.K. Reaper & The Carnies of Chaos as the band name was confirmed after that show and advertised as mainly an Alice Cooper tribute opened to some original song ideas. The band would go through many iterations before confirming an official lineup, and only after dropping the Cooper concept. By 2018, the band took its final form with Yeti on guitar, Nyx on the sample pad, Twizzle on bass, and Cardiac on drums. A year or two prior, some of these members had already started working with K.K. on the storyline of the band, as well as a debut album. When all members were confirmed and dedicated to the part, it was time to hit the studio and the stage. Obvious to the name, the storyline would follow a ringleader K.K. Reaper and his “freakshow” of a band. Costuming and props used on stage were representative of this, also including elements of shocking, sexual and Halloween-type imagery. When working on the debut “Admit One” album, these were also the themes in mind. The story within the album followed the deranged K.K. as he attempted to create a real freakshow to compete with the frauds. According to lore (which was never released before the bands breakup), K.K. with the help of a long-time friend and scientist, found a way to teleport to interdimensional realms where he discovered the characters that were the band. The scientist is incidentally killed during this excursion, leaving the machine in K.K.’s hands. In K.K.’s dimension, he lived with best friend and business partner Luna Reaper as a snake oil salesman. Desperate for the money, he finally puts together the circus with these real acts after returning home. Enraged and the obscenity that takes place, the townspeople chase the circus out killing Luna in the process. K.K. and his freaks hop to another dimension just in time. K.K. becomes distraught and, while also helping to liberate “fellow freaks” from other dimensions, begins to look for his Luna in an alternate timeline. This brings us up to speed where “Admit One” begins. The Carnies host a private late-night show in this conservative town for freaks only. Sally, a young lady grounded by her parents for listening to “the devil’s music”, sneaks out to come to the show after being convinced by a second in command to K.K., Ferris. She’s not sure how she fits into the whole scene, but K.K. is well aware that she is meant to be Luna Reaper. She just doesn’t know it yet because her parents are oppressing who she truly wants to be.

After a year of gigging out the album, with some covers and new songs not yet recorded, allot of band-infighting, and running out of steam, The Carnies decided to attempt hitting the studio to record the second album, “Carnival of Chaos”. It was going to further the storyline along about Sally finding out her “true purpose”, the townspeople of that reality growing weary of the shocking show in the carnival, introduce a main antagonist determined to see that this obscene circus would never find work in any reality, and show Ferris’ true colors as he became jealous of K.K. and Sally’s relationship, feeling as though he’d been pushed aside. The album was also set to include the commonly played live tracks “And Her Name Was Syn”, “Suburbia Will Be the Death of us All” and “RIPTIOS”. Unfortunately, tensions between members only rose as the recording process continued, ultimately forcing the band to break up due to personal, financial, and creative conflicts in November 2019.

It took no time at all, however, for K.K. to get back on his feet to start working towards a solo career. Between several personal and professional issues in his life, K.K. decided it was time for a complete overhaul. In the months that followed, he would sober up, get a job to support his passions, cut out people who had created a toxic environment, and carried on. He wanted to keep that same spark with shocking theatrics, intriguing lore, funny lyrics, and a great rock and roll sound going forward. Times were tough while deciding where to go from there. Experiencing such struggles with alcohol and then getting sober and feeling it’s effects after four years created a euphoric feeling like being lost in space. Through these experiences, by December 2019, K.K. had finally decided on an artistic direction entirely based on that feeling. The album “A New Era” was born. Somewhat unintentionally, the concept of the album is metaphorically an autobiography. You see a new K.K. Reaper, redesigned stuck in a spaceship in the middle of space. He describes his experiences going again from reality to reality and watching as each one destroys itself, not heeding his warnings. While in his ship, headed to the next reality and a new planet, he receives transmissions from Earth. He sees all these interesting things and pictures himself in these transmissions as he sings along about it. His engines fail in orbit after viewing these and, realizing he’ll never get to experience all these things for himself, begins to lament over his inevitable demise. Meanwhile, the boy Tommy who is sending him the transmissions from Earth is attempting to still reach him and get him to come back and help his planet that is in great distress. Finally, Earth’s gravitational pull brings K.K. down for a crash landing. There’s more of that story to come when you listen to “A New Era” on June 25th, 2021. It will be available on all digital streaming and download platforms. Physical copies are coming soon and will contain four bonus tracks exclusive to them. The album is an incredible effort made over the course of the pandemic with the tremendous help of Secret Sauce Studio and T. Chase Home Studio, both operating out of Hazlet, NJ.

K.K. Reaper is happily working on the second studio album “The New Normal” currently and coordinating a live show with his new band consisting of previous Carnies of Chaos members Nick Cardona on drums and Tanner Chase on bass. Now accompanying them is Marissa Cifelli on keyboards, samples and backup vocals, and Erik Busse on guitar.

“It’s exciting to be working on this latest project and I am very excited to share my heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears with you through this new music. ‘A New Era’ is very personal to me and I think those who have struggled in similar ways that I have through these past few years will appreciate that.”

~ K.K. Reaper