Dar.Ra Is A Rock Step Forerunner. A brand-new subgenre of rock music from the UK that combines the exhilaration of EDM with the guitar bliss of rock โnโ roll! Vevo. Check out the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
dar.ra: Hello and many thanks for the chat. I was born in Dublin Ireland, brought up in England during the troubles which made life unsafe if you had an English accent. My father was Irish but had been educated and brought up in England so when he returned with his family to work the farm it didnโt really go down that well with the locals. I think that broke his heart to be rejected by his own countrymen due to the circumstances of his parents. Having said that my grandparents were hugely successful people. My grandfather was a Bacteriologist who discovered a flu vaccine during WW2 which saved countless lives, and my Grandmother was from a wealthy background who set my Grandfather up with a full practice in Harley Street. Unfortunately, my father liked his drink and parties a bit too much and blew most of the money of having a good time. Fair play I say, party while you can at any level, lifeโs short right!
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
dar.ra: I would of liked to have gone to music school and studied the science properly, but I was too impatient, I wanted to just be in bands and write what I heard in my head so I didnโt bother. A lot of trained musicians are amazing obviously, but I find they have had the creative side stifled and tend to have to be told what to play, which is cool, but I would rather play what I hear in my head and create a channel with where ever its coming from, rather than being told what to do. I do remember being told I wasnโt good enough to get into music school because I hadnโt got my music grades, after that I joined a band and went on tour and started making some good money from shows at the age of 17, so I never looked back. The guys that did get in, werenโt making any money and probably got a job in a bank after they left. Iโm not knocking studying music, all Iโm saying is a balance between knowing and feeling is essential, to be able to create something original from your knowledge.
3. Whatโs your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles โ and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
dar.ra: Absolutely, music must reflect where we are in the human journey as it always has done through the centuries. My work is exactly that from the first track I put out, through EMI Reach Out by Taste Of Paradise which was an anthem for self expression and never being told you cannot do what you know you can. The first track I wrote at 16 was called Freedom and was based on Nelson Mandela and Leck Walesa efforts, who were both fighting for the freedom and achieved their goals after pushing to the core of their existence. They inspired me as did Martin Luther King, JFK, RFK and people who have taken on the core values to live to the highest ability and make the world a better place to live. We currently need people in the West that will lead with selfness awareness to serve the people before profiting from position. At the same time as expression of political and social issues there has to be a universal law of balance so you got to remember that we need a bit of entertainment with our enlightenment.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
dar.ra: Truth, Honesty and Love in every note. I am not what I would call a mainstream artist, I have to write what I feel and not whatโs popular. I fell out with record companies over not doing what I was told, but I just wanted to make records I felt were worth making not mimicking what the top 40 was doing, which is basically what we where told to do once we signed with a major label.
5. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name โdar.ra?
dar.ra: My mother and father probably influnced me with what they were playing, when I was a nipper.ย Jazz was my Dadโs thing so I got a lot of the 7ths and 9ths from that. My mother played piano and was my inspiration for getting into music, she could play anything from ear, absolutely awesome woman. She totally encouraged me after my father died at a young age. It was just us after that and the piano and music, she bought me a drum kit and then helped me get my first studio set up. She worked every hour as a Nurse to keep a roof over head and always had meal on the table with a smile on her face, even though her heart was broken after she lost the love of her life. Itโs tough being a human, you got to find joy where you can.
6. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as POP?
dar.ra:
Really good question. I think you are influenced by what you hear and what you love and you might set out to make something that sounds like something youโve heard, but I think you have to be careful you do not go down a rabbit hole and lose yourself. I could of stuck making house records and probably made more money back the 90s when that sound was hot, but I got bored of it quite quickly and decided to get out of London, where that was all you heard same record over and over again. I left England to make something different, more organic and my sound started to come together I would say around 1996/7 when I cut a track in Sydney called โSuperHyper Realโ, which was a mixture of Rock and Soul music. The irony of that stint in Australia was I ended up getting paid good money to remix Australian artists, and remix classic tracks for re-releases such as Frankie Goes To Hollywood โ Two Tribes and Tears For Fears โ Mad World. So the music I left England to get away from followed me, but needs must sometimes. I ended up working and partying for nearly three years down under, such a great place to live.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
dar.ra: The power of creation is addictive and when you get a feedback loop with an audience, itโs a circuit of energy that creates a power surge which is a kinetic force that can move mountains. We are powerful, but even more powerful when we come together and share basic core values of the human experience. Humans just get lost on the highway of ego and self serving me culture, which breaks the power grid of our connection. Itโs a shame that the world gives into scarcity thinking and me first an f- you culture as is a short cut to getting nothing in the end because people do not understand the Law of Polarity and The Law of Balance, that what you put out has to come back to you, so the more you think its all about You the more you get closer to ending up on your own, in your Ivory Tower.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
dar.ra: I start with what ever Iโm being given from the channel, Iโm looking for that little bit of magic as Burt Bacara once said. It could be a bit of melody thats echoing round my head on a loop or a chord progression on the guitar or piano. โCure For Jealousyโ on the current EP came out of seeing my G friend being hit on at a club I was dj-ing in, and a few days later I was jamming on my acoustic guitar and it just fell out of my head. I tend to work on my own, but have written with other people n the past. There are many ways to to the top of the mountain you just got to choose one and get on the journey to the top of the ideas summit.
9. What has been the most difficult thing youโve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
dar.ra: O god loads. Iโve heard a lot of Noโs over my innings in the music game. I got used to riding the knock backs and dusting myself off and starting again. There a song on my Soul Hours album released 2008 called Start Again which talks about that process. I think when youโre open to both side of the positive and negative spectrum you learn more about yourself and how not to be reactive but in front of the game.ย I think losing my Mum was the hardest pill to swallow. I was booked to play a show the night she died, I held her in my arms as she passed away, and then two hours later I was playing to a room full of people who had no idea what I was going through. I just heard her saying โCome on youโve got a show to doโ, and I just went out and did what I do. She would have wanted me to go out and just play, it was hard but thats showbiz right, you just have to go on and go out with a bang. I wrote a song called Evermore on the Soul Hours album, which I played live on a grand piano at her funeral, which again was hard to do, but I did it and it was an amazing experience to see people relating to her song on her send off. We had a massive party for her and I dj-ed for her after party, it was more like a celebration than a wake, friends came up to me afterwards and said it was the best funeral they had ever been too, like it was a festival gig they had just been too. Still miss her though. Itโs hard to let go of the things you love, itโs not easy being a human sometimes.
10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
dar.ra: I think getting signed to a major label the first time was a buzz that feeling youโre going to be massive and what you do means something to lots of people, especially when you in your teens. You walk out on stage and people start cheering its such a rush you never forget it. You have to watch your ego as it will lie to you as you start progressing done the line with it all, thats when the issues start. Setting up my record label Kusha Deep and releasing over 200 titles is still a buzz to think of. Writing two books The Night That Jimi Died and Road Tales and getting 5 star reviews on Good Reads and Amazon is a buzz. Still being in the game after all the ups and downs is still a buzz, knowing youโve got another album in you is also a good feeling. Love it!
11. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?
dar.ra: I try not to react too much as thats what that type of low ball energy is trying to do. Vampires live among us and look to feed from your need to do good things while youโre here. They are broken or hurt themselves and have probably had their hope stolen somewhere along the line and lost belief that they can rise like you to the highest highs. Instead of them being inspired to do something better, they only have the capacity to destroy what you create. Itโs sad really that people have the chance to do great things while they are in this physical form and yet a lot of people choose to waste the opportunity to create miracles. Itโs only a short time here really so make the most of it and Rise Up! I never really understood people being jealous of what other people have, when I see someone living their best life Iโm stoked for them and think well done youโve got your Mojo working.
12. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
dar.ra: I got through stages sometimes I want to just hide in the studio and make an album and then I get that feeling normally in the Summer, I want to go out and raise some energy. They both feed each other, law of balance is key here though, too much touring will take it out of you creatively and energetically and too much studio will make you detached from your audience and can lead to self indulgent projects that no one relates too.
13. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
dar.ra: I really think people must be free to deep dive into the music and come up with whatever they catch from the ocean of sonic wonderment.
14. Tell us about the New EP Blood N Treasure
dar.ra: Itโs an epic two song extravaganza with two killer remixes from a Shri Lankan based Music Producer Viduala who also did a seriously amazing remix of Lights on the New Kinda Normal Album. Recorded in the Kusha Deep studio mixed in Turkey by Versail and Mastered in Portugal, drums recorded in the USA its its got a but of a traveled flavour to it. Cure For Jealousy is a Rock driven Disco track asking can you cure jealousy or is it a curse. No Time For Tears is a 7 minute rock ballad based on the story of the Last Tsar who proved that Love was stronger than bullets. Itโs out on Kusha Deep Records now so feel free to drop it at your summer parties. Thank for having me and look forward to speaking again soon. Big Love NYC
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