Liverpool Music Week: Darwin Deez exclusive interview

Posted on 22 November 2010
By Ash Williams
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Darwin Deez is a man on a mission, and Purple Revolver caught up with noble New Yorker after his spectacular Liverpool Music Week show in Mojo. This is what the Constellations singer had to say for himself.

Purple Revolver: Hi Darwin, so you have recently played Mojo for Liverpool Music Week. Did you get chance to go for a walkabout around Liverpool?

Darwin: Yeah I did. I got lost looking for an electronics store. I needed a US to UK electricity adapter. I asked for directions 4 different times, and everybody gave me a different contradicting set of directions to the same store. So I think that people in Liverpool are a little disorienting. I also saw a weird building with long plastic streamers hanging from it, blowing in the wind. I was inspired.

Purple Revolver: There was a great vibe in the show with the dancing and mash ups. Who makes up the dance routines and dictates when to add them into the set?

Darwin: I mash them and choreograph them. We add new dances in and out of the set based on when we think the audience has gotten tired of seeing the old ones, when we feel YouTube has become over saturated with footage of them, or when we have gotten tired of performing them.

Purple Revolver: The dance off with Fly with Vampires near the end, who’s idea was it and how did it come about, do you do this with all support bands or a one off? (The crowd loved it and very different I would love to see more of this brings fun to a show.)

Darwin: Fly with Vampires came up with this themselves. They did their research and brought up the idea to us that afternoon. We didn’t do any rehearsing and had no idea what to expect, but it ended up being
the highlight of the show! Fly with Vampires was the first, but we definitely encourage our future support bands to study our routines and dance battle us.

Purple Revolver: Who inspires you and the band the most?

Darwin: We are inspired by Star Trek: The Next Generation, Thin Lizzy, and the foamy white waves that crashed against our ferry to Ireland.

Purple Revolver: Its also been a busy year for you, where have you enjoyed playing the most and visiting?

Darwin: The Yorkshire Dales were beautiful for visiting. There were these creatures that looked like yaks, but also very cuddly, like teddy bear calibre cute. Reading Festival was fun because people were holding big Darwin Deez signs, and we convinced the security guard to dance with us. Green Man was exciting because it was our first time being projected onto giant video screens. Our German headline tour was great because the venues let everyone stay late and party with us.

Purple Revolver: Do you have any new material coming to the live shows in the near future, what can we expect?

Darwin: Hopefully, next year we’ll have some new songs to play. We’ve also been considering MC Hammer’s Addam’s Groove for a potential new dance. We’re also going to work on becoming better at jamming.

Purple Revolver: Which song do you love playing the most live from the album and why?

Darwin: Bad Day is a good one. We’ve been placing it towards the end of the set, usually third song from last, and we transition into it from a sparkly, quiet jam. When the crowd hears the first lyrics kick in, you can feel all the people get pumped up and start singing along. It let’s the room know that we’re in the final stretch of the show and that it’s time for everyone to give their all.

Purple Revolver: Any singles to come out from the album in the near future?

Darwin: Bad Day will be the next and final single.

Purple Revolver: So where next for the band? See you have some dates in Europe, where you looking forward to going?

Darwin: We’re curious about Copenhagen. It’s the deepest we’ve made it into Scandinavia. We did go to Aarhus once when I was playing in Creaky Boards. They had the strangest accents and they played limbo on the streets. We’ve got high hopes. Wish us luck!

Purple Revolver: So are you a Yankees or Metz fan?

Darwin: We’re apolitical.

Purple Revolver: Going off on one here. We are all about the shooting the future, predicting trends in music, film and culture years before they happen. What are your predictions for the future?

Darwin: Smell based bands are going to become very popular for a few years. These bands will tour with smell producing equipment, which plays a key role in their performance. The trick will be to create smells that people have no reference for, like “new car” combined with “the ocean” combined with “popcorn.” These will combine into a new smell experience that can only be interpreted in the emotional terms provided by the song.

Purple Revolver: If you could make a time capsule, what would you put in that really represents this age we live in today?

Darwin: If you really wanted to represent the age we lived in today, it couldn’t be in a physical time capsule. A truly modern time capsule would have to be digital information. It’d be a tweet. In this tweet capsule, I would mention that there are bands around in 2010 with names like “best fwends” and “dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.” and I might include a link to the YouTube video: “Charlie Bit Me.”

Purple Revolver: Christmas is coming up, what is the worst present you have ever received?

Darwin: Clothes, during the days when I was really young. Young kids hate clothes! You open a package hoping for the Ewok Village, or the Lego Monorail, and you get a blue sweater?!

Purple Revolver: What is the best and worst Christmas song off the top of your head?

Darwin: O Holy Night is a moving one, especially in a Home Alone context. There were some pretty bad Christmas songs in the 90s by Smashing Pumpkins (“Christmastime”) and Pearl Jam (“Let Me Sleep”). They overstepped.

Purple Revolver: When will you next be playing back in the UK?

Darwin: February 24 we start our biggest tour yet, in Manchester.

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