Darkside Drive creates a distinct take on 80’s goth and darkwave music.

From the ashes of bands forced off the road during lockdown, three musicians from across the country united to create a spark of an idea that lit the fire that was to become Darkside Drive, the flames of which burn bright in their creativity.

The band has created a distinct take on 80’s music, goth and darkwave. The songs are a poignant look behind the curtain of suburbia and delve into the darker side of life.

The band is busy writing and releasing new material, and looking to go on tour towards the end of the year.

Vocalist, Steve Burden, took the time to answer our questions.

Tell us a little bit about the band “Darkside Drive”? Who are the members?

Darkside Drive originated with Nathan Lawrence on Bass, Steve Burden on Vocals and Rick Newth on synths and samples. These guys started writing the music and then recently brought in Rob Myers on drums and Ben Moseley on guitars to add a certain analog organic feel on songs like The Price and Tailspin.

How long have you been creating music together?

It all started in lockdown, so about 12 months now. Steve had a vision of pulling talent from different bands he knew across Europe and collaborating in a virtual studio. We all had gigs and music projects halted by covid, and whilst we were in different countries at the time of getting together, it worked amazingly well.

Do you have a preferred genre?

We have been likened to 22nd July by listeners and the term Dark Synthwave has been used. I guess we are a bit unique bringing elements from all our backgrounds in to one project, we steer clear of the fantasy elements and have deeper, more real-world themes.

What was your creative process like? Where did the ideas come from?

It’s all about the bass! Nathan tends to come up with a bass line, and chord progressions and some instrumentation, I will add some melody ideas and vocal line, the two of us then agree on an arrangement. From this we arrange and create the basics of a song which goes to Ric. He then does something entirely different and changes the song entirely, we react in horror, then on a few listens realize its genius, then go about doing final tweaks and mixing.

Tell us a bit about your newest song “You’re the Man”.

This is a different feel for us. Far more mellow and dark, almost Nick Cave like. It’s about toxic masculinity. About how some men can only see the world in terms of a competition and cannot have meaningful relationships or an ability to empathize with others as a result.

Do you have any other plans relating to this release? A video?

We need to do a photoshoot first! We have not even managed that yet. Music first then we will worry about the nice to have later this year/

It looks like 2021 & 2022 have been creative years. Does this have anything to do with the pandemic or just feeling creative?

Totally pandemic related. We started writing as a result of lockdown and have just carried on.

In terms of the overall composition, do you have a favorite song and why?

Keep Faith was our first and potentially most banging tune. Personally, I really like what we did on Lockdown Life with the samples from politicians being weaved into the music, but I think people are past that now and maybe it is of its time. Wait for Imposter — out on 22 that is a classic original hard to define masterpiece!

What song do fans seem to favor?

We have the highest streams for The Price which would indicate it is the most popular. However, Keep Faith has achieved a large following in the Ukraine for some reason which is interesting and also emotive to comprehend. We have just given all our Spotify profit to a charity working in Ukraine.

Do you, or would you like to, perform live?

We would love to perform live. The plan is to complete a few more songs (which we have in the pipeline) so we have a decent length set, then take them on the road.

Which of your songs is, or do you think would be, fun to perform live?

I think is a danceable (or have a drink and sway too) authoritative song, and The Price is good from a raw emotion point of view. The biggest challenge will be taking any song from the studio version to a live version, but we will love that part too — we are very lucky.

Is there a message in your music?

We explore the darker side of life and its emotions. I don’t think there is a singular message as such, but we are trying to get people to think a little deeper about what drives themselves and others maybe.

Do you create music for yourself or for fans?

I hope both. We have had a great reaction to all the songs — especially as we purposely did not market to a certain audience — we kept it very broad, and therefore have picked up a very broad demographic of audience.

Share a magical moment or positive experience that has happened during your career.

Having supportive families who allow time and travel for projects like this to bear fruit. Also the magic for us was realizing we could create something new across borders, in our own time, without turning up at a rehearsal studio and being pressured to produce a track because of timescales, costs and management expectations.

Would you like to travel to other countries to perform your music? If so, what would be your first stop?

I think it would have to be the Ukraine, and European tour of festivals and venues for darker bands like us. We know some great bands who already have offered us support slots next year ie we need them!

Who inspires you musically?

Brian Eno, The Cure, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, The Mission, Nick Cave and Abba

If one artist were to perform at your party, who would get the call?

Would have to be David Bowie if he could come back from the grave.

Other than fame & fortune, is there something you hope to achieve through music?

Create some music that we are proud of that has an appreciative audience.

What is your favorite/best outlet to connect with your followers Instagram, Spotify, FB, Twitter, iTunes? How would you want them to follow?

Facebook seems to be working best for us. Also Spotify is up to date always, so either of those two.

Are you currently working on any projects we should look out for?

We have some songs we really love in the works now, and some newer songs half written so watch out for the rest of this year before we take them on the road.

Originally published at https://vocal.media.