Please tell us a bit about Dark Parts?
Dark Parts was a creative outlet I needed while I was playing with my last project: Adult Parts. It was hard to get everyone together more than once a week for that project and I was writing a lot at that time. So I worked on it when I couldn’t get together with the guys. When that project broke up, the thought of putting something else together, at my age, felt daunting. I was already used to writing for all the instruments because I had been doing that for quite some time so I just got on with it and called it Dark Parts.
How would you describe your music?
I hope it’s unique and thought-provoking. I have a small arsenal of sounds I usually pull from (including this weird student marimba, glockenspiel, slide guitar, organ) and try different combinations of each for whatever I find fitting for the song. I like percussive and rhythmic elements and I enjoy experimenting with sounds and filters. Most of the songs lyrically have a somber tone.
Why are you called Dark Parts?
The last project I was in was called Adult Parts and the project before that sang murder songs. So I thought Dark Parts was a good combination of those and a descriptive name for where I was heading.
Can you give us an insight into the creative process for your recordings?
I begin with very little: usually it’s a bass line, guitar line or drum part. Occasionally I write around a vocal melody. I then record the drums but I only normally have one part prepared so I play as many parts that I can think of to a click track. The idea is that I can rearrange them later. I then usually do a handful of tracks of bass that I freestyle over the different drums parts. I allow for as much spontaneous creativity as possible so I again experiment with different guitar and marimba and glockenspiels and feedback and whatever I want. Once I have a decent instrumental, I sing gibberish until melodies form and I write lyrics to what I hear in the gibberish.
Do you play live shows, if so, what are they like?
I don’t have a band so no shows yet.
Please tell us about your latest work?
'Impatience' is a 4 ½ minute piece for two marimbas, glockenspiel, vibra-slap, guitar feedback, drums, guitar, bass and vox. The creative process for that was simple: I played the drums once. Then I played two takes of bass (that were each different) and then I freestyled a marimba part to each bass line. After I chose the first bass/marimba take, I tried adding the second marimba take to the first and they somehow worked together. I asked my housemate to add some feedback because he’s better at it than myself and then had some other friends do some backups.
I hadn’t written anything in over two years but the lyrics came over two consecutive nights. It was mostly about the frustration I was feeling while working in an emergency room and getting absolutely clobbered with sick people. It was brutal. And we didn’t even get it like they got it on the East Coast which I shudder to think about. And to watch this conspiracy theorist, radical right movement of people saying not to get vaxxed and promoting all the crazy cures was just infuriating. And my mother is one of those people so those feelings are addressed there as well.
What can we expect from you next?
The next song is the last song on this 3-song Impatience EP that I’m doing. It’s slow and has a lot of instruments including piano, marimba, glock, strings, harmonica. It has some field recordings and samples. I wrote and recorded almost all of it 15 years ago but I can mix a bit better now and I wanted to add live drums to the end so I reworked it.
Then I was hoping to release a 4-song Halloween EP In October but I might only get two songs finished so I’m working on a video and mixing that one.
Please tell us your 5 all-time favourite albums?
Black Sabbath – s/t
Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland
Led Zeppelin – II
Spiritualized – Pure Phase
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Which song would you like to nominate for the Green Banana jukebox and why?
The Universe by Death Valley Girls because they’re my favorite LA band and Bonnie helps me with backing vox when I need them.
Green Banana would like to thank Dark Parts for answering these questions.
Find Dark Parts on Instagram and Bandcamp.
Interview by Skreen