Mystery is an underappreciated quality in music. In a lot of ways, it’s the most appealing thing about improvisation — not knowing where the train is headed makes each destination that much more exciting. Yet despite this allure, there are few acts that approach their sound with the mysterious in mind, and even fewer that have have made its propagation their prime directive.
Enter DRKWAV, a relatively new experimental project from John Medeski, Adam Deitch and Skerik. True to their name (which is pronounced Dark Wave), the group’s music—both live and recorded—artfully conjures a sense of foreboding that is as unique as it is unsettling. This is as forward-thinking a sound as you’re likely to hear these days, but then that’s what one expects from three players whose creative spirit is matched only by their musicianship.
DRKWAV’s March 5 show at the Brooklyn Bowl left me at a loss for words. For the first time in a while, I felt as though I had entered genuinely uncharted musical territory. Does it teeter endlessly on the brink of the unknown? Does it dive right in? I’m honestly not sure. If could describe their sound adequately, I would, but that’s just not in the cards. So in lieu of caring about what I have to say, I suggest you pick up DRKWAV’s excellent debut album The Purge and make sure to catch one of their shows instead. And since we’re on the subject of words, here’s a few from Skerik, DRKWAV’s sorcerer of the saxophone himself.
What is the origin of DRKWAV? How did this trio come into being?
Well we played this festival in Vermont in—I think it was 2011—and then Adam had a dream two months later. He called us and we had all had the same dream, which was really weird. It was this really strange dream that I won’t get into right now. So then we decided to go into the studio. We went into the studio January 2012 and started working on this record that was just released in February.
What happened in the ensuing years? Why did it take so long for the final product?
Well we started the recording process in 2012, and that kind of record takes a long time to make. There’s a lot of post-production, a lot of overdubs and mixing. It’s very expensive record to make—and it’s a total blast to do records like that. It’s really fun.
We got together in New York at the Bunker studio in Brooklyn and did some basics. Then it was revealed to us, during that recording process, what the music wanted to be. So we started following that direction. Listen and follow. You have to be obedient to the dark waves to achieve a result like that.
How do you know when an album like that is done?
Oh, you know. It’s definitely something you know. That’s one of the easier parts.
You talk about letting the music go where it goes—listening and following. Are you guys completely just going with the flow, or is there an intentional pushing of the envelope?
We have this idea in mind that we will not have any ideas. You have to let go and really follow the music. It’s very challenging—it definitely tests you. It’s hard to do. And yet it’s very easy to do too. It’s something that you try and prepare for your whole life. That kind of thing. The more you know, the more you realize what you don’t know. But you can still have a really good connection. But these guys, playing with people like John Medeski. That makes it a lot easier.
Speaking for myself, I just like thinking about this project as—if I was coming to watch this show—just think of movie soundtracks that you’ve heard before. To really crazy movies. Movies like [Dario] Argento films or Stanley Kubrick. Movies like that, where there’s an abstract element to the visuals and a really compelling story where there’s a lot of tension. That’s what I try to think of at these gigs, that we’re scoring this movie that you, as an audience member, bring to the gig. So bring your own movie, and then we’ll do the music for it. [Laughs] Personally, I really like thinking like that. It gives it a certain context. It makes it a challenge for me to write. So I’m trying to play as compositionally as possible.
The sound you guys have live is very expansive for a sax, drums and keys. Obviously some of the instruments are being augmented in some ways. Can you elaborate on what exactly you guys are working with instrumentally?
John is playing a lot of keyboards. He has three different instruments that can produce bass sounds—Moog Taurus pedals, Hammond B3 organ through the Leslie speaker, and then another old analog synth that can play bass sounds. So he has a lot of options available, and he also has a lot of chordal, textural keyboards that can provide those polyphonic ideas. And then I’m playing a lot of chords on the saxophone. A lot of sections of the songs are I’m trying to replicate orchestral parts or horn ensemble parts. So I’m doing that, and occasionally playing melodies, lead lines, and so is John. Then Adam’s playing all these beats, different textures, on drums, and he also has electronic drums and sounds, too. So there’s a lot going on, as any good movie score needs.
A friend of mine described your sound as Bitches Brew era Miles Davis, updated for the 21st Century. With electronic, etc
[Laughs] Yeah, that’s really good. We talk about that. [Lettuce guitarist] Adam Smirnoff came to sit in with us in New York, and he had been listening to that Miles Davis song “Rated X” a lot. He was really into that, so he was bringing some of that flavor. We definitely have some ‘70s Miles in there. But for us it’s more compositional and more of a soundtrack-y kind of thing.
It’s such a fresh sound that I have a hard time pinpointing what exactly the influences might be. Beyond Miles Davis and movie scores, what else are you guys pulling from?
Well Miles is always an influence. But then so Bud Powell and Olivier Messiaen, Taraf De Haidouks and music from Sudan.
So from what I understand, the Brooklyn Bowl show only included two or three actual songs, with the rest being more or less off the cuff. How important is improvisation to what you guys are doing in the live arena?
Well we don’t do anything “off the cuff.” There’s a certain amount of improvising within themes, but there’s a lot of structure to what we’re doing on these shows for sure.
When you say there’s a lot of structure, does that mean you guys working with songs or ideas that are on the record? Are you working other ideas that you guys are bringing to the stage?
Well, structure doesn’t mean songs. Structures can be many different things.
The name, DRKWAV. It seems very appropriate for what you’re doing. How did you land on that?
When we started recording in the studio, we didn’t know what we wanted to do, and then every time we did something dark, the producer, Randall Dunn, he would say, “Do more of that, do more of that.” That just kind of became our mantra. So we started specializing. We’re a specialist, like an eye, nose and throat doctor.
One of the things that struck me, when I was at your shows, was that this needs to be at festivals. This needs to be happening at 1am at crazy festivals. Are there any plans to do that?
I don’t know. I mean, that’s up to the festivals. We don’t book the festivals, the festivals book themselves. I get a lot of fans ask that on websites, social media things, like, “why don’t you guys play here?” Well, we don’t decide that. We have to be invited. Tell the to invite us.
But you are interested?
Oh yeah, I’ll play anywhere, anytime. I love to play.
What does the future hold for you guys? The record’s out now, you’ve got the Jazz Fest show after the tour as well. What’s next after that?
I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see. This groups is very—the music’s very mysterious. So is everything else.
