Music Spotlight: Dark Waves
// photo by Scott León
Asymmetric Magazine: Tell us about your current work as a musician.
Dark Waves: I’m always writing. Always working on Dark Waves stuff. Constantly recording voice memos on my phone, making shitty demos at my house. I do sessions with different producers, but my main guys are Tommy English, Midoca, Colin Brittain and Yeti Beats. I’ve been doing some writing for other artists the last couple years, too, which has been really fun and refreshing to step out of myself and write music that I’m not so emotionally attached to. The co-writing has been all over the place from BØRNS to Papa Roach to this crazy kinda evil hip hop meets early 80s thrash punk band called Ho99o9. It’s awesome getting to collab with other artists and see what their process is like.
AM: How would you best describe your sound?
DW: The Lost Boys meets Lethal Weapon 2.
AM: What inspires you most?
DW: An incredible song, natural beauty, coffee and Seinfeld.
AM: What role does Los Angeles play in your work?
DW: I love LA. It’s a relentless city. I feel really inspired by a lot of my friends here. I’m fortunate to have a crew of super talented friends that I get to write and work with. LA is a weird place. I think it’s a destination for people who want to get things done and make something of themselves, which means there’s a ton of incredible talent here and a lot of straight up delusional crazy people.
AM: What themes do you pursue through your music?
DW: I feel like I write about love in one way or another most of the time. Not just being in love or breaking up or whatever but my own personal struggle with relationships… Being drawn in other directions, craving something other than what I have. I feel like I’ve always questioned everything in my life, and love is one of those things. I think writing about it helps me process those feelings, and hopefully it can help someone else, too. I’ve been writing about growing up a lot recently, too. I grew up in Santa Barbara, CA. There wasn’t a lot to do–I got in trouble a lot.
AM: What other music/artists are currently inspiring you?
DW: Midoca, Sun Drones, Nails, Popcaan, Skepta
AM: Where is one place that you feel completely in touch with your creative self and your music?
DW: In my bed just before I fall asleep
AM: What's the best advice you've ever received?
DW: Tough call. My grandfather told me, ‘We live in a society comprised of idiots. Take it in stride and don’t worry about them.’ He also said, ‘The minute you let your mind fall asleep, you’re shit outta luck.’ He’s about to be 93 and still works, goes to the horse track every Sunday and plays golf twice a week, so he’s doing something right. Not sure which is better advice–I’ll let the reader decide.
