Interview with Xx-Dart-Darling-xX!

So excited to have Mx Dart Darling on the blog! Check out all their socials at the end of the interview!

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Q: Hello! Welcome Dart Darling to my little blog! Please, tell us a little bit about yourself!

A: Hi!! I'm Dart Darling :). I'm 17, I'm from the middle of nowhere, and I've been making music under this name for 2 and a half years. I'm also an actor in my local theater scene and plan to major in Musical Theater Performance in college :)

Q: What was your introduction to the Scene? What got you into the music and the culture?

A: My sister is a good deal older than me, so she was a teen much closer to the height of Myspace. She was friends with all the scene and emo kids in town and I thought they were the absolute coolest. I remember one in particular had blue hair for a while. When I got to Middle School and scene was coming back to the online zeitgeist, it really unlocked those memories for me and I started to get into the style and music myself.

Q: What are some of the main inspirations for your music? What really sparks ideas in you?

A: Literally anything. Often I'll be listening to any music and get antsy thinking, "Somebody just sat down and made that ... I can fucking do that." And so I get on Bandlab and start tinkering. It's actually quite disruptive. Makes it hard to listen to music.

Q: Out of everything you've released what's your favorite song?

A: I don't know if I have just one favorite... I have a bunch I can't stand. I could give you a whole list of songs I've made that I literally cannot listen to because I hate them. But I do have one song I think was underrated though. I mean, it's not great, but it's better than other bad tracks from Scene Sixteen that people love for some reason. Justice for Desperate Un-famous. I should rerecord it cause they're like a foundation in there despite some of the recording issues.

Q: Who is an artist you look up to and why?

A: Dolly Parton. I've spent a lot of money on looking this cheap. Seriously. I have $25 in my checking account right now. Also, Melissa Marie.

Q: What is something about the community revival that makes you the most excited?

A: Cool webpages like this blog. I get really worried cause the scene seems so small some days. But like, I just made an instagram and do you know how many of them have been over there this whole time??? Why did no one ever tell me???? I hate Instagram. But there you all are.

Q: Tell us something you're really passionate about, can be related to music or anything else!

A:

1. I love theater and I want to move to New York to pursue acting when I finish college. Recently, I just wrapped an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland where I played the Queen of Hearts. My other favorite roles were Audrey, in Little Shop of Horrors, and Ursula in The Little Mermaid.

2. My favorite movie is called Repo! The Genetic Opera and it's amazing and horrible and A GOTH ROCK MUSICAL. Anyway, watch it. I love it so much. Oh damn it, I totally should have covered Infected. Oh damn. Fuck.

3. I've been getting really, REALLY into South Park lately. I'm watching it while I write this. I made paper puppets of the boys recently. The Cartman one turned out really good and then flew out of my car. I'm going to get a suction cup window plush to replace him when I have money.

Q: Care to talk some about your latest release 'Barely Covered'?

A: This EP is a mess! 4 Covers from 4 Artists, spanning different genres. I've had a great time, even though they've been a pain in my ass. Some fun facts are;

1. I made the entire "Slut" cover in 1 night after having caffeine just a little too late and being unable to sleep.

2. Juicy was the cover that took the longest to record. It was a grind fest.

3. Originally, track 3 was going to be The Olde Headboard, by Rasputina, but I gave up on it very early. Maybe I'll revisit it, but unlikely.

4. Confederate Fag was finished this February. Juicy was finished last night.

Q: Can you share a little bit of your music process? How does something go from an idea to a published song?

A: Well, I start my beats usually with a hook instrument, or a bassline. Then I've been using the sampler in Bandlab to make my own Drum Kit without touching the Drum Machine because it scares me. My ideas for themes and lyrics go into my notes app, where I retrieve scraps and match them with tracks. I really can't start with a melody and build a track around it, because I always get an errant sound in my head and start adding things that clash with the melody and I just can't reconcile that. Also I'm dumb of music theory.

Usually I finish a beat, export and import, and record vocals on a new project. Sometimes I'll rerecord things over and over and over and scrap it and rewrite and it still sounds the way my music sounds. Anyway, the message is don't listen to me for how to make music.

Q: Where did 'Dart Darling' come from as your name?

A: Oh god this is really dumb. I used to use Darcy as an alias on Tumblr because I just liked the name. Sounded twee. But I wanted to come up with something more edgy that worked for a scene persona. At that time, it became Dark Dart. But everyone just called me "Dark" instead of Dart. So I used Darling instead when I started releasing music. I've retconned that it's short for D'Artagnan, but it's really just Tumblr child shenanigans. I was like 14. I just live with it now. My real name doesn't even have a D in it. Anywhere. I've come up with really good ideas for stage names using my real name. But now you all know me as Dart and that's who I am.

Q: I have to ask about your fashion because you are an icon, so how do you put together outfits for your album covers?

A: Usually my covers are me in the newest cute dress I own! I love little dresses with Bubble hemlines and sweetheart necklines in disgusting polyester animal print. For Barely Covered, though, it was based off of a Pinterest photo of a girl wearing a silver studded belt as a top. My studded belts were too big for my chest, unfortunately, so I used this tattoo art one I got in the clearance section of Hot Topic.

Q: Anything you want to share about any upcoming projects?

A: I've been getting into more industrial music, and mixing it with my super pop-like sound has been really fun, a la the Juicy cover. I'm thinking my next main release will be an apocalypse-themed album. I only have a few tracks, though, so don't expect anything too soon haha!

Q: Do you have any other artist recommendations to send us off with?

A: Absolutely!

Switchblade Symphony

Scarlet's Remains

Diva Destruction

I've been listening to a lot of goth music while I work in the office (My Day-job, I'm a secretary) and these are my favorite so far!

Angelspit

Ayria

Both have been really informative for the sound I've been finding.

Lindsay Foxx

Currently blowing up on Tik Tok with a few singles, get in on the ground floor over here.

And, my main bitch,

Maya Malice

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Please make sure you go follow & support Dart Darling on social media, give them a follow & tell them SceneWeekly sent you ;3!

Where To Find Dart Darling:

Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/E7iW1

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@xx-dart-darling-xx?si=vI8qT3dqWm8FSEhV

Bandcamp: https://xx-dart-darling-xx.bandcamp.com/

Spacehey: https://spacehey.com/dartdarlin