Look up “Rolling Stones fanatic” in the dictionary, and there’s a picture of Neko guitarist Karla Tipton. Admittedly, her main influences are classic rock sounds by Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Ronnie Wood, but she also digs virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai. Her playlist shuffles through Bob Dylan, Alice Cooper, the Faces, Green Day, Gram Parsons, Nirvana, Patti Smith, T-Rex, Type O Negative and Billie Holiday. Once upon a time she was a rock journalist for a local newspaper, and for a dozen years wrote about artists and performances in every genre of music, including classic rock, punk, pop, country, jazz, blues, metal, alternative and avant garde. From this background, she draws inspiration for her original songs that feature twisty philosophical lyrics set against catchy guitar riffs that Keith Richards would be proud of (she hopes).