Immersing in the climate of Dark Rain

By RingMaster Review on May 26, 2018 • ( 0 )

We recently had the pleasure to be introduced to US rock band Dark Rain and now, through guitarist/vocalist Dudley Leavitt and drummer Devin Mallard, them to you in interview with us….

Hello and thanks for taking time out to talk with us.

Can you first introduce the band and give us some background to how it all started?

Hi we are Dark Rain, we hail from Brunswick, Maine. We are a five piece sonically charged melodic rock band. We originally formed back in 2000but broke up a short time later. We reconnected in 2011 and have been going strong since.

Have you been involved in other bands before? If so did they have any influence on what you are doing now?

Devin: Yes in a couple that were very heavy or industrial but this is more like my goal sound here in dark rain

Dudley: Yes was in a couple bands Dark Rain marked a move to the sound I was looking for.

What inspired the band name?

It’s also the name of a song we play and it’s about nuclear fallout.

Was there any specific idea behind the forming of the band and also in what you wanted it and your sound to offer?

We were friends just wanting to play music, and it turned into a lifelong bond like family, we wanted our sound to have no limits, no boundaries.

Has that core intention evolved over time?

Dudley: Obviously as we’ve aged time becomes more pressing; we still want to be a touring band, and expand our base.

Since your early days, how would you say your sound has evolved?

Devin: A lot cleaner less sloppy, more precise.

Dudley: I think it’s a lot more complex and has better written parts; the lyrics are more mature subject matter.

Have changes been more of an organic seeding or more the band going out to try new things?

Definitely organic, we have no preconceived notions of what we’re going to write stylistically or lyrically.

Presumably across the band there is a wide range of inspirations; are there any in particular which have impacted not only on the band’s music but your personal approach and ideas to creating and playing music?

Devin: Not necessarily, I have some small style traits I picked up from several drummers like Vinnie Paul, Joey Jorganson, the guy from Five Finger Death Punch. My musical influences, like bands RATM, Pantera Tool, give me the vibe that influences how I play I’d say

Dudley: Some of my influences bleed through in my songs I write. I have little flairs of some of the 80’s players, and some of the classic rock; my most peculiar influence is surf music that I didn’t even know I had but can be heard in solos on Burn and The Cage.

Is there a particular process to the songwriting in the band?

Dudley: There never was before but if started musically and not lyrically, it’s usually the guitar and drums writing riffs similar to Metallica in the old days, then fleshing it out.

How about the lyrical side of your songs; predominate inspiration?

Dudley: Usually it’s about life relationships, loss or in rare occasions, world events. Sometimes it’s just a story like 40 oz.

Can you give us some background to your latest release?

Devin: Our 3rd CD, my first with the band is called The Illusion Fades which will be out this year…the songs are deep

How about some insight to the themes and premise behind it and its songs?

Dudley: The Illusion Fades is a personal meaning for the band; our first never released CD Illusions In The Clouds, our unrealized dream of making a CD. Illusion refers to a person who is gone from our lives and the subject of many songs on the cd

Are you a band which goes into the studio with songs pretty much in their final state or prefer to develop them as you record?

Devin: We have been writing some as we go because we have the luxury of our own studio we’re building.

Tell us about the live side to the band, presumably a favourite aspect of the band?

Dudley: We do love playing live; I love traveling to new places meeting new people and showing our songs.

It is not easy for any new band to make an impact locally let alone nationally and further afield. How have you found it? Do you think the opportunities to make a mark are still there if the drive is there for bands?

Devin: Yes drive is essential to being able to make a mark

Dudley: I think making a big start out of the gate helps for newer bands, and building from there.

How has the internet and social media impacted on the band to date?

Devin: I think it’s all about what you put for time and effort

Dudley: I think for us we’re always looking for new ways to blend social media into our promoting arm.

Once again a big thanks for sharing time with us; anything you would like to add or reveal for the readers?

YES buy our CD in a local record store.

Explore Dark rain further @…

https://www.darkrain.us/ https://www.facebook.com/pg/darkrainofficial/ https://twitter.com/darkrainmusic

Pete RingMaster 26/05/2018