Subscribers to the high-energy rock or punk lifestyle will be delighted to learn of a local show this week that’s worthy of being called a special South Bay engagement. It’s The Darlings’ album (re)release party, with opener support from the legendary War Called Peace — who broke up in 1998.
The Darlings — Buddy Harris, aka Buddy Darling (voice, guitar), Chris Kranes (bass, backup vocal), Josh Fasen (drums), Zacc West (guitar, backup vocal) — are a local alternative rock and roll band comprised of Mira Costa and RUHS grads (excepting Harris, who resided in Florida).
“We’re punk influenced, but it’s rock n’ roll music,” says Kranes. “It’s very mid-tempo, driving… a warm rock feel to it… bluesy vocals and overtones… Straightforward rock n’ roll is the best way to describe it.”
The story of The Darlings is one of rock and roll, perseverance, and breakthrough. While they’ve only produced a self-titled, self-released EP, and a sort-of-half-way self-released LP, since their inception in 2005, they’re not without their extracurricular successes. They’ve worked hard, rocked hard, and battled hard; and have begun to see a progressive path trending forward before them.
They’ve since toured with Pennywise, shared stage with Bad Religion, Sum 31, and Social Distortion, are a Van’s Warped Tour veteran (three times over), and even had their song “What Lies Below” picked up by professional hockey team the Anaheim Ducks for their 2009/10 season promo spots on Prime Ticket.
The band’s sole LP, “The New Escape,” was recorded at Z Studios and Tao Creations in Los Angeles, and produced/recorded/mixed by Ed Faris, with guest musicians Donnie Nemarnik of Tiger Army, and Jayson Cruz of Strung Out. When they self-released the album in Nov 2010, it was hardly a release at all. Let’s just say it was muddy, unofficial; and if nothing more, a respectable attempt at self-releasing a hearty project.
“That was a kind of like — we did it ourselves kind of thing… Right when we were getting picked up by the label,” says Kranes. “Now, we’re gonna release it [‘The New Escape’] with distribution through our label… We got picked up on a label called Gadsen, based in Arizona. They’re a new record label, connected with Universal/Fontana Distribution.”
Basically, The Darlings have kicked some considerable ass over the past year since the original, hazy release of their album. Throughout last spring and summer (2011) they’d set out on tour for two and a half months with Face to Face and Strung Out…
“We did basically every major city and secondary city in North America — a full North American tour, including Canada,” says Kranes.
…They’ve been gaining buzz in the commercial world and on radio, with considerable airplay on local station KROQ 106.7 FM Los Angeles, as well as spins around other parts of the country…
“They’re playing our song ‘Broken Hearts Still Bleeding’ [from the new LP] every Sunday on KROQ’s Locals Only program,” says Kranes. “Budweiser also picked up the song for the Budweiser Spotlight Band of the Month… pretty much like a Budweiser commercial/shout out for the band [on KROQ], playing us a couple times a day through the add.”
…They just performed at Kevin and Bean’s Miss Double D-cember Pageant at the beginning of this month… And attracted enough attention to be picked up by Gadsen to formally (re)release their album with a distribution deal in Feb 2012. And this Friday, Dec 9 at Saint Rocke marks their last show of the year, and the special engagement celebrating the formal release of “The New Escape.”
It’s Not a Reunion! Or is it…?
“When we got this whole thing together this time around, we said, ‘Whatever we do, don’t call it a reunion!’” says Roby Rogers, popular lead vocalist of Too Rude and the defunct War Called Peace. “It’s not a reunion tour, or anything to do with a reunion show… we’re just special guests for The Darlings this night.”
For those not in the loop, War Called Peace is arguably one of the more influential and legendary bands from the underground local punk scene of the 90s. For those in the loop, like the STD’s (who had the honor of performing with WCP at The Shore last month), it’s a radical honor to be able to perform alongside one of their musical heroes, who they’d only since been able to hear about or listen to on a stereo.
“It’s an honor to perform alongside a band that we grew up listening to,” says Joseph Hobi, known as SLO The Drummer from the STD’s. “We grew up hearing them, they took time off, and now we’re playing with them – it’s kind of huge.”
It all started in a South Bay band called Rhythm Track, innovative for mixing punk with reggae. And this was before every band under the Southern California sun was influenced by Sublime, who were contemporaries still yet to release their “40 Oz to Freedom” debut.
“The band [Rhythm Track] almost killed us,” remembers Rogers with a laughing demeanor. “We partied really hard (that’s why I’m sober today)… We missed playing punk and formed War Called Peace.”
War Called Peace is affectionately known as a Theologian band – a small mid-90s skate-punk record label from Southern CA who’re responsible for pressing early material by bands who went on to larger enterprise, i.e., Pennywise, No Fun At All, The Deviates, 98 Mute. Between 1992-98, War Called Peace effectively produced a debut EP and two full-length’s, “Yuppie Ghetto” (1995), and “Everyday War” (1998, produced by Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise). They disbanded in 1998 and went their separate professional ways.
Thirteen years on… “We got the original lineup together, and decided to whip up a set… do some filthy little local punk shows and have some fun,” says Rogers. “We pulled four songs from each record, a couple of covers, and then we added some new songs. There’s definitely some new material coming out of the band… It’s not like we’re getting serious, but we’re definitely having some fun and doing some writing… There’s definitely potential, if everyone wants to do it and it’s fun, that we’ll do another record. But we’ve all done the music biz and that kind of shit… it’s got to be fun, and easy… So, if the fun prevails, we’ll get that far.”
The original lineup of Roby Rogers, aka “Dogboy” (lead vocals), John McCree (guitar), Adam Gonzalez, aka “Lazy Dread” (bass), and Chris Sueta (drums), has performed only three local shows since their non-reunion. They’re excited to be opening for The Darlings on Friday night, and are also set to play at VFW in Redondo Beach on Sunday with the STD’s and Local Hate.
The Darlings perform their last show of the year at Saint Rocke on Friday Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. for their record release party, with support from local legends War Called Peace, and local hard rock/alternative metal band Eken is Dead. Eken is Dead is also playing with Ignite at Keegan’s Pub in Torrance at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday Dec. 10. War Called Peace is also performing an all ages show at the Redondo Beach VFW on Sunday Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. with local punk bands STD’s and Local Hate.
