Interview with Darn It All

Have any of you played in other bands?

Andy has played in too many bands to count. He started out playing in extreme genres like grindcore, goregrind, death metal, crust punk, black metal, hardcore, stoner, grunge, sludge, goth, grunge and doom. That said, extreme underground music was never his only passion. He also listened to a lot of classical composers and as child played trombone and contrabass in orchestras, quartets, jazz ensembles marching bands. He also had an inkling for traditional folk music from Europe and North America and performed as a solo troubadour in various countries. This, in tandem with an understanding of studio recording and a multi-instrumental spirit, was able to keep him pressing forward during times when finding reliable bandmates seemed futile.

Tara had always been an avid music fan and consumer, yet always felt timid when it came to playing music herself. She grew up performing in a dance-ensemble for 10 years which now contributes a great deal to her stage presence and sense of rhythm and "pocket" in Darn It All.

How is it that you started playing music?

Andy started writing stupid songs as a toddler, played trombone as a child and was performing live in rock clubs on bass guitar by age eleven.

Tara's mother bought her an inexpensive acoustic guitar when she was in her mid-teens, yet inspiration had not yet struck her. She'd yet to find her musical muse. The first musical project she was a part of was an EDM project with Andy and another friend while the two were living in Belize. The music was very strange and the videos even stranger. She was mostly talking and having Andy sample her voice and co-produce it with a friend back in Sweden.

When Tara and Andy moved to Ensenada, Mexico, they lived on a ranch and were homesteading in the middle of nowhere. They built a studio by finding used equipment at Mexican pawn shops and started an experimental stoner band in which Tara would play bass guitar, Andy would play drums while overseas our old Swedish friend would play guitar. Three quarters of the album was recorded in Mexico, and the rest in Sweden. Our friend back in Sweden struggled with living abroad, so the band never got to dig its heels in.

When Tara and Andy arrived in USA, they messed around with trying to start many different projects as a two-piece, though Tara never felt secure enough in her abilities as a musician to perform live without a third member. In an effort to put her at ease, Andy switched from drums to guitar/lead vocals and brought in a third member to fill in on drums. Tara would continue to play bass and was now learning to sing backing

vocals. This was the first incarnation of Darn It All and Tara's first chance to play live, a reverie she never expected to manifest.

The drummer, however, never managed to perform with Darn It All live, so Andy and Tara toured the New England open mic scene as a duo with only bass and guitar. They had a setlist full of songs and no drummer, yet people seemed to love the duo despite the lack of percussion. They eventually ran into a great guy who loved to fill in on drums, but couldn't do it full time. Thanks to him, we were able to book many gigs and keep performing live while Andy started to teach Tara drums and write new songs for a power-duo version of Darn It All. The shows became an amalgam of the trio and the duo for a while until there were enough songs written to play an entire set as a two-piece.

Darn It All went on tour as a two-piece in October 2017 and haven't looked back since. The new line-up is better than we ever could have expected and now, Tara has even started to coyly sing lead on a song called Oopsie... scheduled for release later this year.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?

The current line up is Tara Cotta on drums and vocals and Andy Spickler on guitar and lead vocals. Occasionally, they will play other instruments, depending on the song and what is needed. For instance, there are a couple songs from the old 3-piece days that are now done solely on bass and guitar. We have other songs in the works that will most likely have Andy on drums and Tara on guitar. That said, the lion's share of our songs feature Tara on drums/backing vocals and Andy on guitar/lead vocals.

Government issued identification cards in this realm often accuse us both of being 28 years old, although, we feel that is an oversimplification seeing how it only takes into consideration a very tiny plane of existence and fails to take into consideration the totality of the human experience, maturity, wisdom and the innumerable different planes of existence in which we reside simultaneously.

Have you had other previous members? Yes, we had two different part-time drummers, however, we eventually found that a two-piece is what really suited us best as artists. At this point, it would seem that neither one of us would be expendable.

Did you make music even when you were young?

When Andy was a toddler, he used to make up songs about anything he was doing. Sometimes he would give his toy cars names and start inventing lyrics and melodies praising them as he drove them all over the walls, countertops, lamps and anything else he could find around the house. Later into his childhood, when he would be upset with his parents or just want to play a joke on his sister, he would also invent catchy tunes

which illustrated his emotion and wit.

Lying in bed at night, not being able to sleep, he would let the fractals behind his eyes perform symphonic masterpieces inside his head. He found that if he would just relax, his mind would do all the composing for him. These were the unique lullabies that would by-and-by sooth him to sleep. His dreams were often filled with strange music that seemed to stem from his subconscious mind and often, upon waking, he would try to remember what they were and hum them throughout the day.

Tara joined a dance ensemble at the age of five. This inspired her to begin choreographing her own dances to the music bouncing around her head. She would occupy herself for hours trying to perfect the moves. Strangely enough, she also started developing some sort of nervous tick whereby she felt a compulsion to set herself with her back against the wall or sofa and pound out a rhythm by repeatedly striking her body against the surface behind her. Apparently, she was a natural drummer many years before she ever contemplated picking up a pair of sticks. Although she no longer slams her body against inanimate objects, you will catch her inexplicably rocking herself in a similar fashion during periods of stress. Rhythm has always been the ultimate healer for Tara.

Where are you from? We're told that we are from Earth, but many seem to disagree with that notion. Some authorities even accuse Andy of being from Tyresö, Sweden and Tara from being from Vishen'ki, Ukraine, however, the jury is still out on that one.

What year did the band form? One could say that the band officially formed in early Spring 2017, although, the makings of it had probably begun much earlier than we were aware of. Some of this was explained in the paragraphs above. That said, we wouldn't say that we really found ourselves until the development of the two-piece which hadn't solidified until mid-Autumn 2017.

What's your style of genre?

We like to call ourselves Grind Pop, although, this is an imaginary genre which we've invented ourselves and has yet be recognized by the music industry at large. Perhaps someday it will be. After all, who wouldn't want to be a band responsible for the creation of a new genre? Darn It All would most certainly like to be known as the founders of Grind Pop, so we're putting it out there to see if it sticks...just remember, we were the first!!!

The idea for Grind Pop stemmed from the fact that we love to write and perform "pop" songs that everyone can easily sing along to, mostly in the style of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. We also have a general bubbly-ness about us along with a stark, iconic and

cocksure brand. On the other hand, our productional and sonic ethics, sense of humor and caustic wit tend to lean much more towards that of grindcore, crustcore, beatdown, goregrind, doom etc.

So what happens when you take a band like Aqua and smash it together with bands like Carcass, All Pigs Must Die, Upsidedown Cross or Skitsystem?...Darn It All...we suppose, or not.

By-and-by, it's up to the audience to decide, and up until now, no one can seem to agree. We've gotten comparisons to Frank Zappa, Die Antwoord, Alice Cooper, Weezer, Rob Zombie, The Who, Clutch, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen...none of which really sound anything like we do.

Alright, that was a long-winded answer for a short question, so let's just say that in the parlance of today that our genre is...hmmm...Heavy Pop Rock??? or perhaps...Alt Rock???

What inspires you?

Our rejection of every sacred cow that gets figuratively rammed down our throats by the mainstream media, government, status quo, voguish activists, and anything or anyone else trying to impose a worldview, meme or weltanschauung upon us.

Besides that, mostly old books, classic literature, philosophy, travel, conversation and nature...not to mention our goofy red golden retriever and each other.

How often and where do you rehearse?

We rehearse in our home. At one time we used drum pads, but with all the neighborhood din around here, we just decided to use the full drum set and have yet to hear any complaints. Let us hope this trend continues. We rehearse whenever we find the time. Currently, we are running the entire business of Darn It All ourselves, so there isn't much time left over for rehearsing. We've actually managed to weave our lack of "tightness" into our live schtick which comes off more as a satirical sketch comedy rather than a rock concert. We feel no shame over the fact that we are not as well-rehearsed as many other bands. We are much more focused upon making a memorable performance and connecting with the audience, making them laugh and have a good time. So far, it has served us well.

Admittedly though, we have been getting much tighter lately through no fault of our own. Recording and simply the passing of time has made us tighter, forcing us to be even more creative during our live show....arggg...haha...c'est la vie.

How have you developed since you started with the music?

We believe that if pursued earnestly, music can be an ever-evolving source of

self-discovery and personal growth. We feel lucky that we can look back on the music we've listened to in the past and still feel inspired by it. This is most likely due to the fact that neither of us was ever part of a "scene" nor into following underground and mainstream trends. We're not trying to inflate our egos by saying this, it's more of an observation that has honed itself over time.

Growing up, we both noticed many people who "liked" certain bands or genres simply because they were "supposed" to, according to the rules of their "scene". Interestingly enough, although we grew up in different cultures, we both intrinsically felt a need to reject the notion of being told which artists we should or should not like/respect.

Developmentally, we've obviously matured since we were 14 and have refined our way of dealing with being outcasts. Most fans or musicians "join" a "scene" as a response to feeling like an outcast. They feel as though they don't fit in with any of the obvious "scenes" and look towards "underground" or "alternative" scenes to join in an effort to belong.

There's no getting around the fact that humans feel a need to be accepted by other humans. Unfortunately for us, we never felt comfortable conforming to a particular "scene" in order to belong, no matter how underground or exclusive that scene was. We set ourselves up for failure. We wanted to belong, yet we refused to bend. In this way, we have not changed. We are just as mule-headed as ever. Experience, however, has led us both down the path of self-acceptance. This is who we are. Social hermits living in musical exile. Poetic notions, yes. However, not entirely delusional.

We've been fortunate enough to find each other and create our own society/scene with a population of two. Besides our dog, it is doubtful that any other human will be granted citizenship to our land. Perhaps that makes us snobs, but we are very friendly snobs and want to be as helpful and supportive as we can to other humans, so long as they are pleasant toward us. Our snobbery does not equate to our being judgmental, quite the contrary. We feel as though it liberates us and aids in ths appreciation of others. This is all part of our living zen koan.

To recapitulate, music has aided us in not only finding ourselves, but has also helped us to accept ourselves for the odd ducks that we are. We may not have close friends, however, we hope to accumulate more fans by being transparent about what kind of humans we are when it comes to expressing ourselves both on-stage and off-stage.

Do you have other interests of work outside the band?

Honestly, we don't even really enjoy most of the work that comes with running a band. As of the time of this interview, we are our own managers, publicists, booking agents, graphic designers, web designers, social media managers, tour mangers, producers, engineers, distributers, merchandisers, photographers, videographers, media editors, backers, songwriters, and anything else not listed here. There's never enough time to do anything properly. This is why, as we mentioned earlier, rehearsal is just one of the

priorities on the list and for now, just being "tight enough" will do.

We've managed to outsource a few shows and live photos to some friends, but besides that, everything is in-house. Well, we also had a very nice friend of ours named Amanda DeFilippo do a couple of lyric videos and photos for us. We are very grateful and hope to have her doing more nice things for us in the future. After having done everything ourselves for so long, we really count our blessings when we find someone who is willing to help out.

By the way, thank you Robex Lundgren for giving us this opportunity to be interviewed. We hope your readers find it interesting. Tack som fan!!!

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that?

As of now, we are in the midst of trying to work something out with a couple different booking agencies. At this stage, it's difficult to find someone who can book the kind of tour that we can afford. Our popularity isn't at the level yet where we can survive a tour solely on the honoraria that clubs will pay us without going deeply into the red. Moreover, as everyone is aware of, merch tends to be a band's "bread and butter" on the road, although, this also requires quite a large up-front investment which we currently lack the capital for.

If you or any of your readers know any bookers in the USA, please send them our way! [email protected]

Our thoughts? Any musical act that wishes to pursue its art full time, will eventually need some assistance.

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that?

We are always looking for more team members. Whether that means our generating enough money to hire our own staff or recruiting a staff from a record company would depend on the circumstances. Obviously, having the capital to hire our own staff and stay independent would be ideal, at least that's how we feel today. We really want to maintain as much artistic control as possible. We are always welcome to outside advice, but we'd like to be able to have veto-power if we feel a member of our team wishes to push us in a direction we would feel uncomfortable in.

We would never want to feel like "phonies". Yes, this is our job, however, we would like it to be on our own terms. That doesn't imply that we are unwilling to eat shit-sandwiches every now and then, but we would hate to not be able to stand behind what we do 100%. After all we are the ones on stage. Our faces, our lives and our personalities play a major role in our brand identity.

Darn It All is indeed a brand, but right now, it is our brand and we'd like it to stay that way. We don't want to become corporate shills for our own product. Nothing would feel

more icky or unclean. We wouldn't be able to live with ourselves.

If there is a record label out there that will never get in the way of our being ourselves and wants to make sure that we maintain our artistic integrity, then we would make very shrewd negotiations with them for short term contracts. Again, that doesn't mean that we don't know how to compromise or make realistic sacrifices, so long as we can stand behind our brand at the end of the day and sleep with a sound conscience.

To reiterate, if you or your readers know any record labels that would "get" who we are, what we do and how we want to do it, please have them contact [email protected]

What made you decide to make this music?

At the risk of sounding corny or cliched, this music danced into our lives very organically, though, that's wasn't the intention. We had originally intended to create a sound that our "first drummer" could get behind while maintaining as much of Andy's songwriting "flavor" as possible.

When it became manifest that the "first drummer" could not perform any live gigs, we made arrangements with a friend of ours to fill in for a couple of months while Andy started working on a new sound that could stand as a two-piece with Tara playing drums. Having been a skilled drummer in the past, Andy started writing songs in a way that could teach Tara to play drums step by step. He incorporated new skills into each new song and Tara, although often frustrated by the learning curve, took to the drum set very quickly and naturally.

Writing songs that expressed the sentiment of the couple, while at the same time being complex enough to sound skilled and simple enough to teach Tara songs was quite a task. He also wanted the songs to be fun and catchy for the audience, not just sound like a drum lesson. The melodies and lyrics also had to be on point.

In order to make the sound bigger, the guitar needed to be retuned and Tara also needed to learn how to sing in unison/harmony with Andy. Tara had never sung much before, so now she was taking on two new instruments simultaneously. Not only did she need to learn how to sing and play drums but she had to learn how to do it at the same time.

What's more, is that Andy wanted the live show to have a strong visual element to it, so stage presence was paramount. That meant that Andy had to not only bring his guitar skills up a few notches, but also had to learn how to dance and move while playing and singing, all the time being locked behind a microphone stand.

Tara too, needed to learn how to incorporate dance into her drumming/singing routine. Fortunately, this came more naturally for her since she grew up performing in a dance ensemble.

The final key to the live show was communicating with the audience. Establishing rapport with an audience in a improvisational, honest and comedic way is perhaps the most valued part of the duo's live show. Although, Andy was fluent in public speaking, making it work for Darn It All in tandem with Tara whilst remembering all the new musical skills, arrangements and lyrics was a daunting challenge. That said, we couldn't think of a challenge more worthwhile. So we just dove in head-first, so to speak.

If we falter, we incorporate it into our show, normally, as transparent comic relief.

What are your songs about?

Although Andy is the "wordsmith" and the one who sits down and crafts the lyrics, inspiration stems from our conversations. We spend an inordinate amount of time in dialogue with one another. Since we are generally a pair of hermits, who not only live together but also work together, we know each other very well.

Lyrics can touch upon any subject really, however, generally deal with social commentary. Sometimes we will use personal stories or metaphor to convey that message. Often times, we can write in voices of satire or irony, which may confuse the listener. That's fine by us. The main goal with our lyrics is for people understand the fractal nature in regards to the entirety of the human experience and that there is no idea or concept that cannot be deconstructed both logically and illogically.

Slaughtering sacred cows (even our own) is the Darn It All's purpose and lyrics play one role out of many. Melody, vocal/instrumental delivery, arrangement, live performance, banter, and the way we run our business all equally play a role. Even the way we give interviews. We satirize others as well as ourselves. We create a puzzle for the audience to solve. We want everyone who encounters us to be submerged in a world of self-reflection, confusion and ultimately a new level of enlightenment.

We aim to be a phenomenon, not simply a rock band, if you will. A cross-dimensional, multi-faceted cartel of philosophers and artists, gurus and clowns, genii and imbeciles, prophets and cavemen. We want people to see the hypocrisy in their consistency, the religion in their science, the idiocy in their genius and cultivate a hopeless hope with a sense of oppressive freedom in the dystopia we call existence.

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Andy writes the music and lyrics, however, as we mentioned previously, they both come from a mutual frame of mind and always get Tara's "stamp of approval". Also, certain details are worked out in the band room and Tara will often help polish the "final" version of the songs.

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? It's normally a side-by-side process. Andy finds it very difficult to divide the two. It's a symbiotic experience.

Do you compose in a certain environment? Andy composes wherever he happens to be at the time. We've moved around quite a bit and whether we've been living in a crab-shack in Belize or a landfill in Nezahaulcóyotl, he's always found a way to write and compose.

Have you done any covers live? So far, we've never done any covers. We don't like to have any "band policies", but due to the state of music we have been exposed to lately, covers have, in a way, become "the enemy", so we can't really picture ourselves doing one any time soon, though it could happen someday. It would most likely be done in the spirit of irony or camp.

What language do you sing in?

Right now, all of our songs are in English. Most likely because we are performing in the United States. That said, we both have different mother-tongues (Swedish and Russian) and may end up using those languages in Darn It All lyrics someday. Perhaps, we'll even sing in French or Spanish someday. After all, we spent a large chunk of our lives in Mexico and used to speak Spanish quite well. Mexico is like a home to us, so we would love to tour there and sing some songs in Spanish for them.

If China really does take over the world, perhaps we will need to start writing songs in Mandarin just to stay in business! ...not that we know any Mandarin yet...

Incidentally, we once formed a black metal project in which we sang exclusively in Latin.

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? It's difficult to say. The most has likely been just north of 100, maybe more.... and the least would be...hmmmm...18 or so? We can't say for sure. We really don't pay attention to things like that. We play every show like it's the most important show or our life. For all we care, it may as well be in front of 20,000 people.

What ages are most of your concert attendants?

Usch, that's a tough one. We still haven't pinned down our demographic. Our fans seem to be all over the map. Anywhere from 13 to 70, seriously. We have pensioners who buy our t-shirts. They really seem to love our song "When We're Sixty". That's fine by us. Older people spend more money on art and music. They came from a different era when there was a deeper appreciation for the arts.

They also came from a generation that enjoyed paying for things that they valued. It

tightens the bond between artist and fan and enriches the experience of the art. It may not sound politically correct, but if you devalue art, then it inflates as a currency and in turn becomes valueless. This is one of the reasons why art is in such decline across the board. It's not just music that's suffering, rather every art form, from novels to film and everything in between. Art is has become insipid and functionless. It's unfortunate, because art is really what drives culture, science, politics, technology...anything you can think of, art is at its core.

Streaming doesn't seem to be fixing anything. In fact, it seems to restrict art even more by forcing artists to conform to the modern standards of homogeny. Groundbreaking art offends, not because it set out to be offensive, but simply because it questions the assumptions of the zeitgeist. Without the freedom to offend, art loses all value and becomes little more than flowery wallpaper. Something mildly pleasant filling up space in the background.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We like to get a feel for the audience/venue when we arrive and tailor a set to match the "vibe". We don't censor ourselves as artists, at the same time, we feel obligated to give the audience the most fun and enriching experience we are capable of. If they are willing to give us their money, then we feel that we owe them the best we can offer. Even if they haven't paid entry, they're still in the room. They are forced to deal with our presence, so we want to make our presence a blessing for them, rather than a nuisance.

Do you have a regular place you play live often? We have played several places more than once, however, we don't really have "residency" at any one venue.

What was your first gig like?

We aren't quite sure what we could call our "first gig", however, the first time we got on stage under the name "Darn It All" was at an open mic in the most remote venue we could find. It was a 90 minute drive into the countryside. It was Tara's first time ever performing music in a live situation. It was a two-song set and there was a house drummer sitting in with us. Our drummer, of course, never made it.

Tara was shaking in her boots, she was very nervous. Andy had decided last minute that he wanted to go out and play live. He hadn't done it for a long time and just had a hunch that "tonight's the night". He threw Tara into the car along with their guitar and bass and started driving. The entire reason why they had commenced rehearsing with the "first drummer" was because Tara was frighted to death of playing in a band. Originally, they had tried forming a two-piece with Andy on drums and Tara on bass. Tara was too apprehensive. She wanted a guitarist to "hide behind". So now, they had a "drummer" that could never

specifically for a 3-piece.

Andy and Tara were the first ones to arrive at the open mic. They signed up and waited, watching the room fill with local musicians. Andy was also a bit nervous. He hadn't been on stage for while. These were new songs and Tara was convulsing with jitters. He had to remember all his guitar parts, his lyrics and melodies while simultaneously conducting both Tara and the house-drummer.

They made it through the songs and did their best to charm the crowd. After the show, they actually got complements from the other musicians and one of them even invited them to play a festival he was putting on in the summer. Little did he know, that would be the show where Tara would play drums live for the first time...

What was your latest gig? Hmm...we opened up for the band "First Jason" lead by Ari Lehman who played Jason Voorhees in the original Friday the 13th film from 1980. The show was in Massachusetts and it went over extremely well. We somehow managed to win over a room full of metal-heads. We were very fortunate to play that show.

Have you had to cancel a gig?

Not yet (knocking on wood), although you would be surprised how many bands actually cancel gigs when their not even sick or in trouble. Very strange. We've played quite a few shows in Brooklyn, all of which turned out very well for us, however, every show had one band who just didn't show without any explanation. They just didn't feel like coming or forgot they had a show, or who knows?

We regard that as very unprofessional and ludicrous behavior, especially in NYC where shows are difficult to come by. Getting booked in general is nearly an impossibility for bands these days. We've been fortunate enough to get booked and actually get paid to play our original music. I think we were able to do that because we've always shown up early and helped out with the show in any way we could.

We've let countless bands borrow our equipment. We've run the sound when they didn't have a sound man. We help bands load their equipment and set up. We've always been humble and befriended the owner/promoter and other bands overtly showing our gratitude for being given an opportunity to play live.

Now, we just need to get to the point where promoters are beating down our door and then we can negotiate higher pay and not have to live in abject poverty. We believe that if we keep giving the best shows we can and networking intelligently, we can achieve this in the next year or two. Only time will tell. Please wish us luck!!!

Where have you played live this year? We've played many different pubs, teen centers, indoor festivals, live radio broadcasts, etc around the North-East US.

Where do you plan to gig the comming year? We're setting up as many shows as possible for the North-East, Eastern Mid-West, for the summer/autumn and hope to head down south where it's warm for next winter.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale?

Haha, this is a funny one. We started selling merchandise at the very first open mic we told you about above. As soon as we got the shirts, we put them on and went out to play the open mic. We always wear our own shirts when we perform. It's like our uniform. Slipknot puts on masks, the army puts on its fatigues...we put on our Darn It All t-shirts. It just gets us into stage character.

Did you ever see that arm-wrestling movie with Sylvester Stallone called "Over the Top". He talks about how when he turns his cap around, it's like a switch. He goes from being his normal self, to being his super-self completely focused on destroying his opponent. It's a similar sentiment for us. Only instead of destroying an arm-wrestling opponent, we are musicians destroying an audience. Although we destroy in a fun and good-hearted way much like a standup comic "kills" his audience with laughter.

We didn't sell any shirts at our first open mic, although only two days later at our third open mic, we did end up selling two t-shirts for $40 to a very nice middle-aged lesbian couple. We didn't even have a drummer filling in. It was simply Tara on bass and vocals and Andy on guitar and vocals. They said that adored us, especially the lyrics. That was the first money we made with Darn It All, and it was only 3 days in. We figured we must have been on to something special, so we kept at it.

At the time of this interview, we have t-shirts, homemade jewelry and floral crowns by Tara, original paintings by Andy, pins and stickers available for purchase at our shows.

Where can people buy your merchandise? Although, we've dabbled with online "print-on-demand" merchandising, we're in need of updating our products on said platforms. The best way would be to either come to one of our shows or to email us at [email protected] and tell us what you want :)

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days?

That's not a simple subject. Our thoughts on that could literally (no pun intended) fill an entire book. Perhaps we will someday write and publish that book. Until then, let us see if we can pithily summarize our thoughts...

1) We haven't anything against our fans downloading or sharing our music via torrents, etc. It has become an international form of word-of-mouth advertisement.

2) We feel that the online/digital/smartphone-grid world has watered down the scope of artistic expression and weakened the experience of the consumer or what once was referred to as a "music lover". Of course, there are still people walking around using the misnomer music lover, although most likely in a bastardized sense.

To draw a parallel, let us refer to hallucinogens. We feel that music once had the option of being experienced at nearly the same intensity level as a heroic dose of LSD, psilocybin or DMT. You may not have hallucinated simply by experiencing music, but it could veritably be called a life-changing experience. This no longer seems to be the case. At best, music, these days, seems to change people the way a single pull from a mild marijuana joint would, i.e. not very much at all.

We've been to the live shows of some very popular bands since we've arrived in the US and have been appalled by how few people are actually soaking up the performance. Most are looking at their cell phones and the concert is just a "happening" used to update their social media status. Music is judged very briefly and on a superficial level. In a digital world where we've been taught "if you don't understand the music in the first 5 seconds, skip to something else", what else could you expect. Also, you're free to rate and give comments about the music before you've even had a chance to thoroughly comprehend it. In the past, one might blindly purchase a record because it was recommended to them by a friend or colleague. Sometimes they were just wandering through the record shop and stumbled upon an interesting looking album cover and decided to take a chance. Spending hard earned cash on a gamble really forced you to make a concerted effort to appreciate what the artist was doing. All the nuances were soaked in, the hard work that was put into the melodies, arrangements, production, lyrics, rehearsal, etc. You really wanted to love the record because you just spent your hard-earned money on it. This forced the listener to be more open-minded, especially if they hadn't come from a rich family. Much like the justice system claims that defendants are "innocent until proven guilty", musical artists were "brilliant until proven mediocre". Nowadays, the assumptions seems to take on an antithetical sentiment. It's akin to the attitude one adopts flipping through television channels..."Hmm....crap, crap, crap, mostly crap, not too bad, crap, crap, crap, double-crap, errr...this doesn't look too bad, maybe I'll give it a chance..."

Technology has bred laziness in us, or rather we've let laziness be bred into us, which assumedly stemmed from laziness in the first place. Phenomenologically speaking, you could say that the human condition itself is both lethargic and industrious by nature, yet in conjunction with free will, the path of least resistance has become the most attractive in the eyes of a technocratically enthralled society.

That's not to say that every human these days will choose the path of least resistance, but it does appear as though certain genes are being marginalized. We seem to be quickly mutating into what one may refer to as post-humans. Humans who are not only

under the rule of a technocracy, but have begun to merge with machine. The slippery slope has already with prothesis. Our athletes have been pumped up with pharmaceuticals for decades, but now they are replacing their body parts with artificial ones. Our Hollywood actresses no longer physically (or mentally) resemble humans and we are becoming so accustomed to said appearance, that we feel a need to mutilate ourselves in an attempt to live up to their nauseating standards. Fake noses, fake breasts, fake skin, fake hair, fake nails, fake backsides, etc. The list goes on and on.

There's nothing inherently pathological about altering one's appearance, however when it becomes epidemical in a direction that convinces us that the natural born human is something to sneer or scoff at, something is amiss. Every healthy person should be able to look at themselves in the mirror and not despise what they see...a work of art. One can argue over who or what designed us, but you cannot deny the complex beauty and horror of our design. How something as beautiful as love can be the catalyst for something as ugly as murder is both mysterious and awe-inspiring. The more digitized our society becomes, the more machine-like characteristics we adopt, which ironically is precipitated by a lack of character.

We are digitizing ourselves as humans and as a consequence we are bowdlerizing the spectrum of human emotion and experience because we are frightened by the offensive or ugly, or even worse...the inconvenient. However, convenience comes at a cost...the cost is our souls.

Right now, we are replacing our limbs and some organs with machines, but what happens when we start replacing our brains? the gateway to our souls. It will most likely start with trying to repair brain-damage from a car accident. It will seem benign, but what about when they decide to give children with low intelligent quotients higher ones in the name of egalitarianism? What happens when you can download college degrees from the internet directly into your brain? Just pay $100,000 dollars and BLAM, 10 seconds later you're a Harvard Graduate. For $1000 you can be fluent in Mandarin. Just pay the money, click download and NI HAO!!! Now you are just a machine programing yourself, or so you think...at this point will you even have the ability to question where the information in your brain is coming from? Will you ever experience an existential moment in your life?

...and let's not even talk about history being written by the victors! Who's going to decide what's true and what's not?

We already live in a plutocracy. What happens when that plutocracy becomes absolute? What happens when the path of least resistance means turning ourselves into shiftless drones?

Will dissidents or voices of dissent even exist?

This may sound like science fiction, however, it's already upon us, most notably in our production and consumption of the arts. The argument that new art forms are being

created thanks to digital media is baseless. New forms of diversion perhaps, but diversions and art are not interchangeable notions.

There was a time when art, books, music, etc were scarce and consequentially valuable. This isn't "golden age thinking", this is simple economics. Downloading isn't necessarily the root cause of the inflation of currency we still refer to as music, however, it is an indubitable catalyst. It's like the old firearm adage which says "Guns don't kill people, people kill people". A similar sentiment can be taken concerning the state of art, in particular, music. Downloading didn't kill music, people killed music. Downloading was just part of the equation, a complex and convoluted equation.

The symptoms we feel today have been brewing for generations. The digital world is somewhat of a polygraph machine. It turns a mirror on humanity and reveals its true colors. The hopelessly naive amongst us wrongly assumed that the digital world and the internet would magically democratize the music industry and in a way it did. Although what they failed to realize is that a democracy is always destined to fail because it's based on fallacious ideas. It purports to put power in the hands of the average Joe. Well, what do we know about the average Joe? ...well, he's average. He's not very bright and in all likelihood hasn't a clue what is best for his own life, let alone the betterment of society at large. He also has a innate slave mentality and a proclivity for passively seeking the path of least resistance. He's just smart enough to take orders and do what he's told, but not much else. Simply put, he's nothing special and often too simple to understand that he is simple.

Artists, on the other hand, are special by definition. They are odd ducks. They don't fit in. They are the strange 1% of society that scares us, yet they somehow guide us and expose us to revolutionary new ways of thinking and living. They inspire the intelligent leaders and inventors who (if not corrupt, which is also unlikely) want to inspire the average Joe to improve his life and the lives of those around him.

With the advent of the digital age, the average Joe, who is too simple to understand that he is average, assumes that just because he can download a digital audio workstation and upload his tracks onto the internet, that this somehow makes him a bona fide artist. This is parlous thinking and it pollutes the internet with mediocrity. Don't forget, this doesn't just take place in the world of music, but rather every facet of the digital world.

When the internet, which has become the standard avenue for finding practically anything, has been flooded with mediocrity, music is reduced to a whirring din of non-artists posing as artists. Nothing has changed from the plutocratic pre-internet days when the industry was run by the golden rule...those who have the gold make the rules. Only, instead of it costing a couple hundred thousand dollars to launch a new artist into the spotlight, it costs 3 million. Those figures will continue to rise as both music and money hyper-inflate over time. That's what it costs now to cut through all the senseless noise polluting the internet.

This phenomenon is due to the juggernaut of non-artists clogging up the internet and

creating so much noise with their painfully derivative tracks. What's worse, is that the standards of creativity have plummeted so egregiously that there are now legions of bands that sound nearly identical. In fact if your band fails to sound identical to every other band, then you risk being perceived as a poser. This is the utter antithesis of what innately defines art. It's the Law of Jante in full effect. The industry standards have become so rigid that any band that doesn't sound like every other band ends up sounding amateur in the ears of both consumers and tastemakers.

Gone are the days when bands like Black Sabbath and The Byrds were considered to be within the same genre and shared bills. Of course, one could argue that since there are now new genres filled with bands that sound nearly identical, that the listener needs to fine-tune his pallet in order to appreciate the subtle differences, similar to the way a wine connoisseur might, although this is a precipitous assumption. It only serves to bury the Renaissance man even deeper in his proverbial grave and push man more towards specialization and a machine like existence. Limiting the scope of the artistic experience (or human experience for that matter) only isolates us more from each other and increases the risk for miscommunication and the cultivation of animosity towards one another.

The symptoms of yesteryear have only been exacerbated by the so-called democratization of information (in this case music) via the internet, yet the disease has remained the same. En masse, humans seem to make pathological decisions over and over again, regardless of platform or circumstances. As any self-help guru will tell you, slow and steady is much more powerful than explosive and sudden. It's the trillions of tiny decisions we make every day that drive culture. People seem to get that backwards and instead believe that something as superficial and impotent as a presidential election will dictate the wave of the future.

For instance, since this interview consists of much more than a pithy platitude resembling a tweet, the bulk of readers have already tuned out and stopped reading. They've moved on to the next "click bait". Something that grabs their attention using the most base appeal and requires the least amount of effort to consume.

There was a time when music lovers would travel the world attending concerts and record conventions hunting for music that was different than anything they had ever heard before. They wanted to find "gems", hidden secrets that no one else new about and no else deserved because they hadn't put in the hard work and dedication to find it. These music hunters had sacrificed a great deal to find the music they adored. Hard work and sacrifice is no longer required by the music lover, so he has relinquished his right to work hard in order to obtain it.

Our generations have forgotten how sweet music could really taste when you had to work diligently to either make it or consume it. Think of the pilgrimages to Woodstock in 1969. Droves of teenagers driving or hitchhiking across the country to see some live music from bands most of them hadn't even heard of yet. There wasn't any YouTube. Video cameras were expensive and difficult to procure. You actually had to be there.

This generation is dying off very quickly and soon no one will remember what it was like to be there and know what the peak of a live music event could feel like.

Of course, there were many phenomena going on at the time which contributed to Woodstock, but it's simply one example out a myriad of which to refer.

We're not saying that there is something inherently wrong with the digital world, but rather, humans have used it as both a tool and opportunity of degeneration. In a free society, that is one's prerogative, however, we feel that it is not the most healthy of choices.

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? This was mostly answered in the question above. We may have already used up too much real estate answering this...haha!

What do you think of my work?

We think what you are doing is wonderful. We'd love to meet more people like you. That said, we would like to see the artists you interview give more interesting answers to the questions you ask. If they consider themselves true artists then they should be able to dig a little deeper than monosyllabic utterances.

This is an interview, your chance to speak your mind, even if only 5 people are reading. If you say something interesting, it might change their lives. You might win new fans. I can't tell you how many artists I have spent money on simply because they are saying something interesting, even if I don't agree with them or like what they are saying, at least they are speaking up and not afraid of being who they truly are.

In a world that is becoming increasingly desultory, honest and critical thought is your most valuable currency. It will make you stand out. If you want people to be interested in your music or art, then make them interested in you. Show some personality. Be controversial, if that's who you are. Don't be frightened of opening up. That's part of your job as an artist. At the end of the day, people aren't buying your music, they are buying you! Give them something of value and they will keep coming back for more.

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business?

Everything adds up. This is brick by brick business. Bricks are expensive. As we pointed out earlier, most bricks cost money. That's why it currently costs about $3 million to launch a new artist into the mainstream and make them omnipresent. If you don't have that many dollars at your disposal, you need to tap into other currencies.

In this half-baked society, people listlessly assume that money is the only currency we have to barter with. That's a dauntingly myopic mindset and it is part of what is turning

us into one-dimensional and psychologically disturbed beings. We are to assume that if we haven't any money, that we have nothing to offer. It's no wonder depression is reaching epidemical proportions.

Love is one of the most valuable currencies that people know and understand. Only the truly insane would sacrifice love for gold. Intellect is also a currency. Life experience, knowledge, wisdom, dependability, uniqueness, time, art, conversation, moments of peace, inspiration, motivation, space...these are a handful of the endless list of currencies we use everyday unwittingly.

Of course, this interview will be helping us in the music business. We will be exposed to new readers. We will direct our fans to Robex's page and they will get to know us better and Robex will expand his readership because of our interview. We are establishing rapport with Robex. Even if Robex doesn't like what we have to say, we have made an impact. We will also use snippets of this interview to secure more opportunities for the band and to acquire more fans.

Simply digging deep to answering questions openly and thoughtfully is also great practice for the future. Being able to give a great interview can do wonders for your band. We've gotten invited to do radio shows time and time again because we make an concerted effort to give as much as we can in each interview. The hosts find us interesting, the listeners find us interesting and we get invited back.

Again, thank you Robex for giving us this opportunity.

Do you have any role models or idols?

That's a difficult question to answer and depends on how you define "role model" or "idol". We don't have anyone we actually worship like an idol. We didn't get into music because we were inspired by the work of other musicians. We are inspired by life and music seemed to be the most convenient way to express ourselves artistically and actually make a living, namely, through live performances.

Yes, we think there are phenomenal artists out there in the world, although we don't set out to emulate any of them. We want to make the music we make because we can't find it anywhere else, since no one is making it. Some artists impress us 50% of the time, but we wanted to make something that would impress us as near to 100% of the time as possible. The only way to do that is to make the music ourselves. Like the old saying goes, if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself.

That's the beauty of art. You get to do it your way. Every artist has the opportunity to do it his way, so why not? Why try to live up to the standards of Frank Zappa, when Frank Zappa already exists (or existed). The purpose of being an artist is to bring something new into existence, not a clone of what is already out there. There's nothing new under the sun, but there's always a fresh take. Andy is not Steve Vai and Tara is not Neil Peart, so why would we bother with trying to imitate them or live up to their standards? We

have our own standards that we are trying to live up to, and ultimately, that is what is going to make us stand out from the sea of imitators.

Why do you think that they exist?

Again, we don't really have any idols or role models, but when people do have role models, it seems to stem from a weak sense of self or an underdeveloped sense of direction. That's not to say that John Bonham can't give you the spark that makes you want to play drums, but to become a worthwhile drummer, a drummer worth remembering, one needs to transcend that state of mind and pursue something higher.

The people that end up becoming idols to the "weekend warriors" e.g. John Bonham, the Paul McCartney, John Entwistle, are the ones who've transcended their "idols". The Beatles may have been inspired by Elvis and Little Richard, but if you listen to their music, they certainly didn't tailor themselves after Elvis and Little Richard. They found their own way which was distinctly their own.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Again, inspiration is a slippery word. However, we listen to very few bands that were formed after the year 2000. Classical composers mean a great deal to us as well as turn of the century folk music. Since we are generally a rock band (or a satire thereof), we most likely sound like an amalgam of 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, since those are generally the four decades of rock music we listen to most. There are a few modern bands we enjoy, but not many. Of course, we love every band we've ever played with because they were willing to share the stage with us, but that's a different story...

Besides money?

Band members. We covered a lot of this earlier, but suffice it to say, we've both had to learn new instruments this past year in order to have a band. Andy played guitar well enough to write songs, however, never had much skill at it. Now he needs to carry the band and is trying to be both a bassist and guitarist at the same time. He's crafting his own style to get the job done in Darn It All.

Tara never played drums in her life and has had to learn everything from scratch. She was forced to be on stage playing drums 10 days after Andy gave her her first lesson.

Apart from band members, it's just finding the time. Running a band is like working 20 full-time jobs, but it can be done, crappily at least. You just have to cycle the attention you put on any department. It's slower than if you had a record company assigning a team to take care of everything, but it works, brick by frustrating brick. Finding team members is the next step.

What advice would you give other bands or artists?

Work with what you have. If you only have two members, don't sit around waiting to find the third or fourth member. Just get your branding together and get out there and play every chance you get and promote it ad nauseam. If you need a third member, you'll find it. If not, maybe you'll find that you don't want a third member after all.

Write your music to work with what you've got available to you right now. Maybe you can't find anyone. Maybe it's only you. Andy toured for over two years as a solo act before he met Tara. He made loads of connections and learned how to book and promote his own tour. You learn a lot from just getting out there and doing whatever you can. Today he has his dream band with Tara.

You have to sell the music as is. Don't write or produce music that is meant for a 6 piece band if you only have two solid members. Write music that suits the two of you and make it spectacular. Limits can force you to push the boundaries of your creativity.

We see a lot solo guys out there with loopers and backing tracks and nobody's buying it. It just doesn't seem to get people excited unless you are a stellar showman. If that's the case, then go for it. Otherwise, go back to the drawing board and write a setlist suitable for the band members you have NOW. Perhaps your first record will only have 2 members on it and maybe your second album will have three or four. Don't wait around. Think "speed to market". Time is a precious currency that you don't want to squander.

It's been almost a year since we first came upon the concept of Darn It All and we started making money from the third open mic we did. It wasn't much, but it was a start. A year later, we are preparing for our second tour and getting guarantees that pay enough so that we will actually come home with money in our pockets instead of being the red.

You need to go in all the way. If you want to do this for a living, save up some money, quit your job and say YES to absolutely every opportunity that comes along. You have to be willing to take large risks and sacrifice. You have to face the fact that you may fail and have to get another job and save up again. Just don't get discouraged. You need to get comfortable with failure and humiliation. Fail your way to the top. It builds character.

How do you get psyched for a gig?

Not sure how to answer that one. We love what we do and are always psyched to play live. Simply having a gig is enough to get us pumped up for show. If we're getting paid, even better. If we're getting paid and there's a large audience, what could be more inspiring than that?

We don't need cocaine or mantras or anything special to get excited for a gig, big or small, it doesn't ma

Frankly speaking, if you're having trouble getting psyched for a gig, then you're probably in the wrong business. Go find something you are always psyched for and pursue that instead. Make more room for those of us who are always psyched to play. Seriously, if you aren't psyched to play a show, then you are hurting the world of music by booking shows. You are the problem with the state of live music today. You are the reason why aspiring bands aren't getting paid enough to perform. Please stay in your basement and for the sake of all of us, keep your music a secret. Show it to your wife and friends if you must, but don't pollute the internet or live venues with it. If you really feel the need to play live music without being psyched, then maybe you could join a wedding band.

Do you have any new material?

We're always writing new material whenever time permits. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DarnItAllband or www.darnitall.xyz or write us at [email protected] and ask us if we've got anything new.

What are your web sites?

Same as listed above. We usually have some things on https://darnitall.bandcamp.com/ or https://soundcloud.com/darnitallband . It's difficult to keep up with everything. We barely have time to write and rehearse.

How can people reach you?

https://www.facebook.com/DarnItAllband

[email protected]

at any of our live performances

or learn how to lucid dream. We're usually wandering around the dream realm exploring something. A stiff dose of DMT or psilocybin will usually take you to us as well.

What are your plans for the future? To pursue health and wisdom and a deeper love and appreciation for each other and those around us. To leave as much artistic creations behind as we can for someone clean up and figure out what to do with when we die.

Do you have something to add? It's been a pleasure doing this interview Robex. We really hope you and your readers get something from it, whether that be good, bad or ugly. We hope to get a chance to meet you sometime and we also hope that you keep chasing your calling in life. Please don't ever give up!

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