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| Hint: Have a band you'd like to see interviewed? Tell us. | | | The Darcys were just signed to Arts & Crafts, which is one of the most known and respected indie labels out there. How does this make you feel, especially given the struggles that the band has been through?
It’s weird because for so long it felt like the record wasn’t going to come out. When the record was completed, Arts & Crafts jumped in at the same time. It all happened so quickly and I didn’t really have a moment to process the whole thing until yesterday when the vinyl showed up at the label. It’s been really rewarding and exciting. I know that they have such great resources. To be honest, I haven’t given it much time to soak in. The last two months have been a whirlwind. It definitely holds some weight to the rest of the world though. When they see Arts & Crafts attached to a band they think good things. Hopefully we can live up to that.
It’s been four years since your last album, and judging by the press release, things have been pretty heavy for the band. Would you say that this album documents those struggles?
I think in the end we won’t consider that record part of our catalog. It was a different line-up with a different mindset. This record embodies every change we went through as a band. Every time something happened we had to re-record and remix and re-master it. Every time that happened, there were little changes. I do think it’s a bit of a document of that, but I also think it’s our effort in moving forward. We want to get it out there so we can put out more records. That’s how I view this record now. I think for a while we didn’t want to put it out. We wanted to just start with the next record we’re working on. It wasn’t fair to the people who have stuck with us to not give them this record though.
You have three albums set to be released. Are all three recorded or do you still have work to do on the next two?
We have the next one finished. I think it just went in to get pressed on vinyl the other day. Hopefully we’ll get that back soon. It’ll be out sooner than I anticipated. The third one is written. We’re just settling on the right producer to help ensure that we don’t go through all of the things we went through the last time and that we do it relatively quickly and make sure that it sounds right. We don’t want to rush it.
How did you find yourself in the situation of having three albums to release in such a short amount of time?
To be honest, this record has been done for so long that we got bored. We didn’t have Arts & Crafts behind us at the time but we knew we had to figure out this release and at the same time not sit on our hands. We kept working. The net record that’s coming out is a little bit less of a record and more sort of a project that we took on last summer. It’s kind of different. I’m really proud of it. We did so much work on The Darcys that we wanted to do something fun. After doing that, we got back into the mindset of writing songs for a proper record. It was more organic because of all the time that had passed. The press release makes it seem like we wrote forty songs in six months, which isn’t really true. If The Darcys had been released closer to the time we started it, there wouldn’t have been so much space between releases.
The band went through a lot of difficulties recording with Murray Lightburn, so what made you continue to work with him anyway?
There was a time when the record was in limbo and we didn’t know if he was going to stay or not. He didn’t want to attach himself to this record that was sinking rapidly at the time. All of a sudden, he showed up one day saying he had the perfect person to mix the record, Dave Schiffman. He’s done really great work over the years. He grabbed the record and just put this new energy and life into it. It made it worth sticking it out. I don’t think it was that we made a decision to be with Murray or the other way around. We’d been together for so long that it seemed crazy to walk away. Murray did some really great stuff with us. He helped us a lot.
Amongst all of these struggles, your lead singer left.... which forced Jason, the guitarist, to step up and take over the vocal responsibilities. How did that change the dynamic of the band?
A lot of those songs had been written with just Jason and I. Our singer would come and sing them and learn the melodies. Jason was ready to step in. He had worked so closely with all the songs at the time. Moving forward wasn’t as hard as it might’ve seemed from the outside. I remember we had a show lined up and the person that was running it said we couldn’t play if we didn’t have a singer. Jason stepped up and we got on stage and it just felt so cohesive. We rallied around each other and it changed the dynamic so positively. It seemed from then on that we could really do it. I think we sound better as a four piece, to be honest. Considering it was a negative, it couldn’t have been more positive. Everyone is way more settled in their roles and happier with what they’re doing.
Going back to the topic of producers, who produced the second album?
Jason and I produced it at home. We had some other people come in and look over it. It actually sounds really good. I was really surprised at what you can do out of your apartment these days. A lot of records are done like that now. We just wanted to make sure we weren’t making fatal errors. I think it’s part of the charm of that album that we did it that way though. Once it comes out I think people will understand why we did it at home.
These three records seem pretty different from each other.
Yes and no. The Darcys explores certain drum machines and synths and things like that. It’s by no means a surf-pop record or anything. It still sounds very much like our band, but it’s definitely a forward progression. It won’t be mistaken for another band, but it’s definitely different.
You mentioned that despite all of the negatives, there are a lot of positives. How do you feel about the future of The Darcys right now?
Considering we’re putting out three records, we couldn’t be much happier. It’s so great, but it’s also difficult. I feel like something like this brings in a lot of people who think maybe we shouldn’t be doing this. It feels like we have to work so much harder to do crazier and bigger things to make it make sense that we are where we are. We have a ton of things other than just records coming out. I hope people can enjoy it. It’s so nerve-wracking. You never know what people are going to think. A few reviews have come out and I can’t even consider looking at them. I don’t want to know. (Laughs) |
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Brandi Carlile - 06.08.12