The Dark Worktapes: Part 2

Thursday June 18th, 2015
All Good People

It’s been a crazy-busy year so far, we’ve been in several planes, time zones and countries. Our 2nd album is finally out. We went to Australia and all over the UK doing radio visits, promoting “After It All” and playing a mix of club shows and festivals in London, Brighton, Liverpool and the Netherlands. 

Now that we’re back in America and off the road for a bit, we’ve been working on new material in Raleigh. We focused on a song Ian brought to the group that calls out racial injustice and violence against Black Americans. By yesterday we had the first verse, chorus and background harmonies down but we ran out of steam so we decided to break and come back the next day. Then last night, the Charleston Church Massacre happened. A white supremacist, 21 years old, walked into one of the oldest Black Churches in America, appearing as though attending bible study, and he killed 9 innocent people in their place of worship.

When we met up today we sat together for a few hours talking, crying, trying to figure out how or if we could make a difference. People marched on Birmingham and Selma and all over this country fighting for Civil Rights in the 60s and now here we are in 2015, taking a huge step backwards. As a white progressive band from the Carolinas, we feel like we have to say something. 

A lot of us had phone interviews promoting the album and upcoming Southern leg of the After it All tour. But it felt wrong to be self-promotional in the midst of a hate crime occurring 24 hours ago. We kept the interviews, but what we mostly talked about with the journalists was the shooting at the Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, the changes that need to happen in America and the conversation we all need to be having about Racism as a sickness in this country.

We finished recording it today. It’s called “All Good People” and we’re putting it out tomorrow as a direct response to the shooting. Our first stop on the Southern leg of the tour next month is Charleston. 

NPR PIECE (about “All Good People” published June 19, 2015) 

November 2015
Shadows of Vegas

Being home for a bit working on new music feels great. We’ve got another desert inspired piece we’ve been workshopping. SOV makes a statement about the haves and have-nots and the imbalance of wealth in America. Britt and I do a sad coyote part at the end. I love a good coyote vocal. I have a feeling it won’t be the only one. We haven’t decided who’s singing lead yet, but it’s got a Fastball meets Tom Petty meets “Sunny Came Home” vibe. 

January 2016
Come Back Alive

The band is working on something super different. CBA is in 5 and to me it immediately evokes running through the woods at night, running from a force of evil. Eric had a haunted vision at 2am of a child being kidnapped and then returning later. He said he could see images of the mother and child in a remote location. He couldn’t sleep, so he recorded the idea. Classic Eric.