Drab Majesty and Metaphysics: The Lost Interview

         A cosmic black metal harlequin arrived on the LA scene a few years ago. Coming from a far off planet made of ether and vapor, he brought us a message of affectional poetries swathed in 80's style synth/goth-pop, vibrant drum machine beats and swaying, harmonic guitar work . Drab Majesty has come a long way not only in planetary distance but also in composition. Now over a year being signed to Dais Records (Youth Code, Them are Us Too) he is sold out of his third pressing of his “Careless” LP. There is also the "Completely Careless" CD, an 18-track compilation of all of his work including two tracks you can't find anywhere else on this mortal plane. He has done a European and U.S. tour and has shared the stage with Psychic TV, King Dude and soon enough with Televison in the Desert Daze festival (Joshua Tree, CA) this fall.  If you're the type who likes to wander around quiet streets alone, past the still-lit neon lights of closed liquor stores in the middle of a misty night with a fractured heart, or maybe someone who needs a night of dancing alone to further lose yourself in your internal velveteen oblivion, you may want to have this as your accompaniment.  

     

   When this interview was taken Deb Demure had only been signed to Dais for a few months and was celebrating his latest release “Unknown to the I”, a trio of previously unreleased singles. He was an artist that inspired me to do the blog “Strange and Delicious” as I was so moved by his unique quality and genuine sound that he manifested.  Life got in my way as I was pursuing this blog in many forms. Shortly after I recorded this interview the device that held the recording was destroyed.  I was really upset and defeated as the content of his interview was very compelling and honest and could never be rebuilt. However, it materialized in another realm in the digital world and I was pleased to say the least.  So here is a “vintage” Drab Majesty interview, when he was just beginning his earthly tour. It was taken over the phone on a perfectly sunny thursday at 3pm as I was living in Lake Merritt (Oakland) and he was living in LA and cat-sitting on that particular day. The bullet holes in my bay window and in my wall from a drive-by were brand new. The summer sun and breeze were invigorating at that hour in the early afternoon. * * *

SD- I was looking at your other band “Marriages". You're a drummer in that and it’s more alternative. What made you want to do something in the more electronic/synthy/moody vein?

DM- As a drummer you can have only so much to say in the context of a band. I had no interest in just starting a project to break away from the band. The material just sort of happened upon it. I don’t know any other way to put it. I know I kinda knew how to play guitar and fuck around. It was very simple. I just wanted to make songs and that’s what came out. It’s so basic. I listen to all the bands you listen to but I didn’t set out to make “goth” music. It just came out and it started to take shape that way and I kind of just rode the line. But if you listen to the record i like to jump around a lot but kind of try to keep it all in the same family of sound palette. It’s a very ADD project. I find that I am constantly jumping around in one world. I didn’t set out to do anything in particluar. It’s all about channeling. it’s what “ “they’ want me to do” kind of thing. 

SD- Yeah absolutely, but really you’re not too ADD. Yes, sometimes it’s more guitar focused and sometimes it’s more synth focused but it’s always “you”.

DM- It’s like you could draw a bunch of landscapes- you could use oil, crayon, pastel, marker OR you can ONLY use crayon but draw a bunch of different landscapes and objects. I would use crayon and draw a bunch of different shit. Does that make any sense?

SD- Yes, certainly! So when this was coming to fruition, were you at home saying “Holy shit, I’ve got something here?” Where were you creating all this?
  DM- Oh, it’s very much a bed room, on the floor, in the bed sort of project. Various places where I could set up a mic. Super fuckin’ DIY.  As lo-fi, low budget as I could get and then maximize the results through a more hi-fi mixing process. I wrote all the music with the most primitive instruments and then took everything I did in those spaces and put it through various processing gear to make it sound some what believable as a studio record. But it is very much a bedroom project. It has to be that way though.  

SD- That’s probably why it is so emotive. It comes from a very primitive place and in the end it sounds very polished. A perfect blend of both worlds. 

DM- Exactly. It’s got to be that way. I would never want to go into some sterile, high-end studio to make a record. It’s not my space. I don’t sleep there. To have actual emotion translate in a foreign space doesn’t seem right to me. I’ve always felt that about studios I’ve recorded in for demos and other bands that it feels so “under the microscope” and you’re in this space and you’re paying money for all this pressure to not go over time. That’s no situation to create emotion in. 

SD- Yes! it seems clinical.

DM- Clinical! It’s like a sports event. Trying to make the last shot in the final minutes of the game. 

 Drab Majesty- The Hemlock SF 5/15/16

SD- So tell me about your recent singles ( on the Disorder split). They’re crushing my heart! I was going through some stuff last year and it was all dealing with this sort of impermanence and the Disorder split that I picked up at the first show I saw you perform at (The Knockout, SF) was really speaking to me. Were you going through some shit when you did these songs? (“Entrances and Exits” and “ Foreign Eye”)

DM- Oh, interesting- for sure! Yes, most of the lyrics are “diary” based. “Entrances and Exits” was based on a pretty horrible burglary. It was my partner and I at the time trying to start a life together and our house was completely detroyed. I had lost all of my instruments and it was really bad. It was a local gang in the neighborhood. They plugged our sinks and flooded the place. It was really sad and it really fucked up our whole relationship. Everything sort of spiraled out from there while I was writing this record. “Entrances and Exits” is an analog to beginnings and endings. It’s very simple themes but I try to obscure it by some kind of poetic license. 

“Entrances and Exits” is also like “one door closes, another one opens” kind of thing but it might not be the “pleasant” door that opens. The ending of something bad may not necessarily be the beginning of something good. Sometimes it’s just another labyrinth of hell that opens up, There is nothing guaranteed that with every action there is an equal action, there of, that unfolds. 

(The second song on the Disorder split) “Foreign Eye” is my observation on a very pedophilic relationship. Like a much older man with a much younger woman. I was observing and charting their dynamic. Like watching some 45 year old man in disparity and then writing about them. I’m interested in writing stuff that I don’t know about. It’s important to be relatable through your material.

SD- Well, I think the audience definitely relates to it. I feel like when I hear “Foreign Eye” you’re looking into someone’s eyes and you’re not knowing what you’re seeing. Not understanding their essence.

DM- Precisely. A communication gap. A rift in age. A rift in social dynamic, The subject is specific yet the message is broad.  All the songs I relate to historically have been like that.

SD- What I love about this is you can grasp the feeling at any sort of emotional stage you're at. It can grab you on the highs and the lows. You talk about how your songs are almost “channeled” to you- is the “look” that you have come from there as well? Everytime I see you I think you are sent from some Zoroastrian leader! 

Drab Majesty-The Hemlock (SF)- photo courtesy Sean Paul Duke 5/15/16

DM- YES. That’s where I get my music from. At least that’s how it looks in my minds' eye. The person I’m receiving these ideas and material from are from that species. That’s why I’m interested in the non-human. Beyond normal human relationships. The person who I am when I perform is a way of staying true to the muse, to the other entity. The compendiums of my subconscious. The “look” come from everything in my subconscious and beyond it. It’s all factored in and it has to be that way. It’s what the music deserves, simply. The music doesn't deserve to be made by my “normal-daily-errands” me. It needs to be ritualistic. Paying tribute is the best way to put it. 

SD- That makes perfect sense. It comes off as symbolic. metaphysical. inter-planetary. 

DM- It’s symbolic for sure. It has to be a departure from my normative thing. Some people ask “Are you going to be in costume when I interview you??” No because you’re interviewing me at a bar. 

SD- Yeah, because you're objectively telling someone about Drab Majesty. You're not just doing this to dress up in drag. It’s ritual versus vanity. 

DM- Exactly. 

Drab Majesty-The Hemlock (SF)

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If you've never seen Drab Majesty on his orbit I would highly recommend it. Keep track of his tour dates and all that here on his Facebook or listen in on Bandcamp !!! Here's the latest from Drab Majesty! ~

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We love his traveling partner, Apollo, too.