Demonika and the Darklings
Demonika and the Darklings are a darkwave band with violin. Demonika Darkly is the lead singer and lyricist, Dv8 Darkly plays bass and does some programming, and Devlyn Darkly plays violin and theremin, and also does programing. Recently DJ Bastard Darkly has joined them to play live drums. John "Wee Wee" Napier (from Ethyl Meatplow and Nitzer Ebb) has been their producer for the past 3 yrs.
Tell me about your history? How did you get where you are now?
Demonika Darkly, Dv8 Darkly, and Devlyn Darkly are longtime friends who in 2002 decided to start making music together. Demonika took on vocals and lyrics. Bass player Dv8 began writing music with Reason software and a keyboard. Devlyn, also working with Reason, added violin and theremin to their growing sound. In 2006 while recording their new album Shelter, they added DJ Bastard Darkly into the mix on percussion.
Their Darkwave/Electro-Goth music has been described as,
"visceral with a beating heart, and a serious attention to mood and atmosphere...Tightly focused haunting female vocal melodies. Below-the-radar, hypnotic bass tones. Theremin dirges straight from a thirties German film noir. Distant mechanical-like percussion noises. Subtle, yet powerfully intoxicating violins. And the beautifully forlorn voice of Demonika Darkly, narrating a seductively strange and enchanting world of passionate fairytale-like romanticism filled with a feeling that manages to convey love, loss, pain, and hope in a single note."
-Jeremy Eckhart / Grave Concerns E-Zine
In 2004, the Darklings started working with John ïWee Wee ï Napier, of Ethyl Meatplow and Nitzer Ebb, who produced their first EP Venus Blush on the indie label Trocar Records. John also worked on their first full length self-released album Shelter released in February 2008.
Venus Blush was included in Chuck Eddys EddytorDozen list in the New Yorks Village Voice.
Fans of Demonika and the Darklings often listen to bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cruxshadows, Switchblade Symphony, Rasputina, and Dead Can Dance.
Have you performed live in front of an audience? Any special memories?
Yes, often in Hollywood/Los Angeles area. We love it and are planning to do a small West Coast tour in Summer of 2007 and hopefully go to Europe soon.
We played at Mr. T's Bowl, a dive bar in Highland Park, CA near Los Angeles, almost every month for a year and that was so much fun. It helped us grow as a band too.
We played at BB Kings's in Universal City, CA and that was a night to remember! The laptop died on us during the second song and we just kept on playing. The audience didn't even notice anything was wrong and we were freaking out but finished out the song. I (Devlyn) was unable to fix the problem on stage so we played to a backup CD I had made (thank god!) and finished our set. I had forgotten to make a set list so we would know what order the songs were on the CD so it was a surprise with every song! What a night! There's more to the story but we'll leave it there for now....
Your musical influences
Some influences include:The Cure, Nick Cave, Coil, VNV Nation, Siouxsie&The Banshees, Marc Almond and Soft Cell, Sulfur (Delirium Tremens), Blutengel, Rasputina, PJ Harvey, Legendary Pink Dots, Massive Attack,Concrete Blonde, The Orb, Janis Joplin, Cruxshadows, Orbital, DUB
What equipment do you use?
For recording we use all sorts of stuff like pots and pans, trashcans, windchimes, just stuff we find around the house, we program in Reason and have keyboards we hook up to it, and use Cubase to record.
Anything else?
www.DemonikaandtheDarklings.com
www.myspace.com/DemonikaandtheDarklings
www.vampirefreaks.com/u/demonikaanddarklings
http://www.antidoterecords.net/bap/ddinter.html
