In a meager effort to satiate desire, we’ve contacted the Darklings, imploring responses to a few introductory inquiries. Tune in now as we hope to unfold a few details while awaiting the release of a full-length album, tour… something to kill the hunger-pangs.

Please describe the lyrical writing process for Venus Blush.

Demonika: It varies… I write just about everyday in a journal just to clear my head of everything swirling around in it, and every now and then a phrase will jump out at me from my journal that inspires lyrics to a song. I also tend to write in nature a lot. Quite a few of our song lyrics came from the Redwood Forests. In fact, one of our new songs named Choir of Change is all about Arcata, California and its amazing Redwoods. It was written in a hollowed out living Redwood trunk that I go to visit every year. My lyrics are an extension of my pain, sorrow, joy, and inner turmoil/peace.

How did the name "Demonika & The Darklings" originate?

Devlyn: Demonika already had her name and it was just she and me at the time starting to make some music. We liked the sound of it, kind of like Josie and the Pussycats. Dv8 hadn’t joined yet and I felt stupid as it was just me to be “the Darklings.” Thank goddess we got Dv8 so I wouldn’t have to be alone!

Demonika: The name Demonika Darkly came about for me in my Freshman year at high school. I hung out with the only other goth in the school at the time (this was a decade before Marilyn Manson made it hip to wear black)and we made goth names for ourselves. I was Demonika Darkly and she was Lilith Night…if she ever reads this, and knows this is her I speak of…please get in touch through our website… I’d love to reconnect! I would just like to add that both Darklings have been 2 of my dearest friends for many years before the band, and I feel blessed daily that I get to create with my closest friends and the most talented girls I know!

Where is “No Ho” located?

Devlyn: North Hollywood

Demonika: Within the 7th layer of Hell

How well did things go at Pajama Party?

Devlyn: It was a undisclosed band protest. We made a potentially bad night into a funny one and ended up having a good time. It was really comfortable and freeing leaving the corset at home!

Demonika: Wearing fuzzy slippers on stage was strange…yet very comfortable. No make-up or anything was used for my fabulous performing outfit that night…all I had to do was walk into my home and go right to bed…if only every night were that easy!

What is it about Mr. T’s Bowl & Club SWANK that keeps bringing the Darklings again and again?

Demonika: It was the fact that I was booking and promoting Club Swank which was held at Mr T’s Bowl, which went on for about a year and a half…starting as a Monday night weekly event, and growing into a Saturday night Monthly Event. I really loved Club Swank…it gave me a chance to create shows with bands that I loved using all different genres of music from Punk to Goth to Singer/Songwriter to Rap even! All the bands that performed at Club Swank became part of our musical family…and the family grew to encompass well over 100 bands towards the end. I was sad to let it go at the end of 2005, but I really needed to since 2006 is all about recording our full length album Scarlet Fever.

I’m assuming that this venue is a bowling alley…

Demonika: Yes… it is a very old Bowling Alley… but the lanes have long since departed and it was turned into an underground live music venue in the 80’s. Beck got his start there, and the infamous Mr T’s Bowl stage has had everyone performing on it from Beck to The Breeders to X to 45 Grave. A real Los Angeles hot bed of raw underground talent…I really love Mr T’s…I have been going there for over a decade now.

Please describe the stage set-up for how to perform at Mr T’s Bowl. Just how does one perform live music in a bowling alley?

Demonika: There is a stage area, and a bar…it is no longer a bowling alley…just your basic hole in the wall legendary place.

Funeral – Oct 2004? How well did that go? I’m familiar with Veronika Sorrow via online chatter, and music promo mailings.

Demonika: We played Ms. Sorrow’s club twice… once in 2004 when it was at The Elks’ Lodge, and then again in 2005 when it had moved to a The Tiki Room in Pomona. Both nights were great! Veronika Sorrow joins us on stage to sing a Creatures cover we do of Pluto Drive and all the kids (Funeral is all ages) are really supportive and starved for live music since they are not old enough to get into bars and clubs to see live music.

When might the Darklings begin touring beyond the confines of SoCal?

Demonika: Once our new full length album Scarlet Fever is finished, we plan to hit the road in 2007 doing a West Coast tour hopefully going all the way to Vancouver

Where are D&D CDs available for purchasing?

Devlyn: You can get them at Cdbaby.com, Projekt Records,TowerRecords.com,and at our shows.

Which music artist has inspired your songs the most.

Demonika: There are so many… Vocally I would say Janis Joplin, PJ Harvey, and Natalie Merchant. Lyrically I would say Nick Cave, Robert Smith, and Peter Murphy. Musically, I am open to SO MANY different types of music that I couldn’t even name a couple here without going on for feet and feet of typing space so I will say this… music for me is a language, and I like to be fluent in as many different dialects as I can… so I am constantly on the search for new bands and genres to introduce to my ears.

Devlyn: Yes, so many other artists have influenced us, it’s hard to pick one. I’m always listening for bands that use violin or theremin to see how they incorporate them into their music. Currently, I’ve been listening to Foetus’ new album “Love” for inspiration.

DV8: Kate Bush, The Orb, Underworld, The Cure.

How did you first meet one another.

Devlyn: I first met Demonika in 2000 in her driveway. A friend of mine that worked with Demonika at her day job was driving me around and decided to take me by Demonika’s house because she thought I’d get along with her really well. Demonika wasn’t too pleased that we just stopped by, but later that year she did come to my Halloween party with my friend and I got to hang out with her a little bit. We started going out dancing all the time and then decided to do something more constructive with our Saturday nights so we started the band. She suggested we ask her longtime friend Dv8 to join to play bass. So I met her through Demonika.

Demonika: I would just like to say that it wasn’t Devlyn I was annoyed at seeing… but that’s a WHOLE other story. Dv8 and I met at Alexandria 2… a new age bookstore in Pasadena we both worked at under the ever watchful eye of John Gross.

DV8: Nice

When did you first develop a commitment to recording music?

Devlyn: We were just writing songs and having a great time. We were asked by a friend of ours to meet with a producer he worked for in Malibu. We drove out there not knowing what to expect or even why we needed to speak to this guy, but we were up for the adventure. We played a song for him live in the recording studio in the middle of a recording session that was going on for another band! They were cool about it and all listened but still we had no idea what was going on. He then gave us his rates and we left dumbfounded and went out for dinner to discuss our future. We had never really thought about taking all our music seriously and recording it. We decided that evening that we could figure it out ourselves and put together our own studio at home for much less money and be able to record at our own pace. We were learning by trial and error and came out with mediocre results. We were getting a little frustrated and then completely out of the blue in the beginning of 2004, Wee Wee, from my all time favorite band Ethyl Meatplow, (and also he played live on tour with Nitzer Ebb), contacted me on mySpace and our collaboration with him began immediately. He has helped us with all of our recordings and taught us all so much. He is my music mentor and I have a side project with him, The RocketDYN Disaster. I’ve learned tons doing that with him and now I’m much more confident in being the Darkling’s engineer and to take more chances with my violin playing. He’s producing our recordings we’re working on right now and we are all so grateful to have him as our “Daddy Darkly!”

Demonika: The band we interrupted was LA greats 3rd Grade Teacher…sorry guys!

What message do you intend to convey within "Carousel of Flames"?

Demonika: It was written about a reoccurring dream I had as a child about a clown chasing me around a burning carousel. Also… as an adult reading the lyrics and writing them…I think a little bit about my feelings at the time on love came out. When those feelings of love erupt inside of me…I sometimes feel as though I am on a carousel spinning out of control… and it is a very scary amazing thing.

What would you say is the hardest part of making an album.

Devlyn: Besides mixing and getting it just perfect, I’d say negotiating with each other on creative decisions. You have to remember to do what is good for the song and not keep things only because you’re attached to them because you played it or sang it. We have a special postcard with prairie dogs on it that says, “Love and Kisses” that we hold up and show to each other when we start to get frustrated with each other! It’s stupid but hey, it works!

What do the Darklings plan to accomplish next?

Demonika: Right now it is all about recording Scarlet Fever…once that is finished at the end of 2006…we will concentrate on touring and playing live for 2007.

Let’s talk remix; What audio jewels await our readers within your website?

Devlyn: We always have two songs up on our website. Currently we have “Blood at First Bite” from our EP Venus Blush and a remix of “Watching from the Outside.” by our friend A.N.T. It’s great! We all freaked out, stunned, with our mouths open the first time we heard it!

Where/When might we find these remix treasures available on CD in the future?

Devlyn: We’re planning on putting the “Watching from the Outside” A.N.T. Remix on the new CD “Scarlet Fever,” although the song list is not set in stone yet. We’re also looking for other people to do some remixes of our songs, from Venus Blush and also our new songs.

Please highlight other features provided by: DemonikaAndTheDarklings.com the online portal for Demonika and the Darklings.

Devlyn: Dv8 designs and maintains our great website. There are bios about each of us and also about the band in general, pictures from some of our shows, lyrics, news about upcoming shows, and what we’re up to. There are links to all sorts of stuff like our mySpace page, to buy our CD, to download some of our songs, other interviews and reviews, and links to other bands and artists, including our favorite internet radio station, www.CobWebsInTheCloset.com.

What about day-jobs?

Devlyn: ugh. Gotta have them. I like mine actually. I work for Warner Bros doing retouching on publicity stills.

Demonika: : I sell commercial airtime for National television stations. One cool thing about our day jobs is we use the skills that we have learned from them in our day-to-day band life. I am a salesperson… and I sell/promote the band… Devlyn uses her design capabilities to create flyers and promo pictures for us[portfolio displays at antimatterproductions.com], and Dv8 works at a website and has created our awesome website…so the jobs do come in handy for more than just taking us away from our music 40 hours a week.

How has a background in photography progressed into a devotion to Demonika & the Darklings?

Devlyn: I studied photography in school and have always loved music. It keeps me balanced by keeping my eyes busy with retouching and my ears happy with making music! I love things that are a process and photography and music both are much about the process.

How did HBO and the Darklings become matched up together?

Demonika: Robert E. Ball Jr. is a documentary filmmaker who was interested in the gothic culture, and wanted to find his way into the world of Gothicism. He came across us through a friend of mine who worked with him on one of his films… she was the make-up artist. Robert has been following us around filming us and all of our cohorts in the gothic world, and I have also gotten him in touch with other facets of goth besides music such as Bree of www.PinkFouffy.com …she makes corsets for Devlyn and I.

Describe this fascination with theremin.

Devlyn: I had heard of theremins before but never feel in love with them until in 2003 when I went to see Edward Ka-Spel (from Legendary Pink Dots) play a solo show with Nicoletta Stephanz on theremin. She was truly amazing and had a bunch of effects she was running it through. I was smitten from that moment! I had to have one!

Some of our readers may actually be wondering: What is this theremin thing, anyway?

Devlyn: It was invented in 1919 and is an electronic instrument that you play by not touching it but rather by controlling pitch and volume by how close your hands are to two separate antennas. If you want to know more, go to www.thereminworld.com. There is so much great information there and also a listing of bands that use Theremins.

How does the theremin contribute to Darkling performances and recordings?

Devlyn: Sometimes it’s difficult because I love playing my violin so much on our songs so I don’t get to play it as much as I’d like to live. In our recordings though we have more of it and I use it to make all sorts of different sounds. It can be made to sound just like a synth or some creepy messed up craziness. The possibilities are endless.

Favorite drinks?

Devlyn: Water is always the best choice for most occasions. Dark Belgian or German beer is always good too.

Demonika: Red Red Wine.

DV8: Corona Light

Any ripping “Darklings’ night out” tales that you’d like to repeat?

Devlyn: I’m not at liberty to say…

Demonika: I’m even LESS at liberty to say…one word I will say though… and Dv8 will know JUST what I mean… ”Whatever”.

DV8: Nice.

Devlyn: Yeah, we DON’T want to repeat that! We’re all good now!

DEMONIKA AND THE DARKLINGS-connections:

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