DAYLIGHT DIES
Unending Waves...
By: Carl Schultz
Among the most recognized acts of the American doomdeath revival, DAYLIGHT DIES play depressive, melodic death metal with emotionally haunting melody lines. Having recently released No Reply, their new album, and having just played the Relapse CMJ showcase, RESOUND caught up with the band's Jesse Haff to see what these dark doomsters are up to next
You formed DAYLIGHT DIES in 1996. How did you come about the others at that time? What did you set out to attempt at first?
Barre and myself had been jamming together in various projects since we were around 15. We decided to begin Daylight Dies in 1996 as our first totally serious project. We also had a friend named Matthew Golombisky who was playing bass for us back then. As fate would have it, we ended up living in different areas of the state and were unable to be a truly active band. We worked on ideas separately and would jam together on holidays and some weekends. Finally in late 1999 we were living in the same city again, so we were able to put a lot of these ideas down on tape. I think because the material was written over such a long period of time, it came out a bit mixed up and unfocused. Once we were living in the same area we could put the focus on song writing like we always wanted to. With some line-up changes adding Guthrie Iddings on vocals and Egan O'Rourke on bass, things really started falling into place.
Did the geographical constraints that the band weathered initially hinder or help the band? I can see this working either way as practice time might be limited, but with the end result being that the demo was completed almost 3 years after the band's formation, I can see how that time may have helped the band mature. Thoughts?
On one hand, I'm glad that we were unable to release something prior to the time we did, because it most certainly would have been less mature and less representative of who we are today. We were very young -- 17 years old -- so our output at that time in life would be much different than what we are expressing today. On the other hand, Barre and me bounce a lot of ideas off each other in our creative process. So even though a lot of time passed, we weren't very productive. As soon as we were living in the same area, the ideas began to flow...
Your music and sound(s) are rooted in dark atmospheres and content. Tell us how important maintaining these overtones are to the band's mindset.
We find creative inspiration during the darker moments in life. We deal with life by turning to music, by turning it into something that is external instead of exclusively internal. It's sort of a purging process, and it helps us take a step back and look what was going thru our minds at a given time. I think this process is what DAYLIGHT DIES is all about.
The band's choice of Travis Smith in designing the artwork for No Reply -- was that an easy decision to make? His work goes a long way in complementing yours...
I agree, his artwork goes very well with the album. I had very particular ideas of what would work visually with the lyrical and musical themes of the album. Initially we had another photographer working on some of these ideas, but honestly they didn't work at the pace needed for the layout to be completed in time. I had known Travis from getting various artwork from him to do site design previously, so it was easy to contact him and explain my ideas. He seemed really into the concept we were going for, which was more based on straight photography instead of ultra-photoshopped images. Once I gave him all the specific ideas, he came back with a bunch of photographs, and it was obvious that this is exactly what we were going for. So once we got to that stage, it was a very easy decision to make.
It's obvious that yourself and the members of the band listen to lots of different genres of music besides 'heavy music'. Please give the readers of RESOUND ten 'non-metal' albums that you're currently spinning.
Ben Christopher's My Beautiful Demon, Sigur Rós (), David Darling Cello Blue, Jeff Buckley Grace, Slowdive Just for a Day, Julee Cruise Floating into the Night, Early Day Miners Let us Garlands Bring, Red House Painters Rollercoaster, Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head, This Empty Flow Magenta Skycode.
In your spare-time, you've become a professional webmaster. The DAYLIGHT DIES website is very visual and interactive. To what degree would you say that your site has helped DAYLIGHT DIES to date?
While I tried to make the DAYLIGHT DIES website as visually pleasing and true to the visual theme as possible, I think it's only as helpful as the number of people who make the initiative to visit it. The more press we get, the more of an effective tool it will become, but as of right now, its effectiveness is only as great as our visibility as a band.
What does 2003 hold in store for both DLD and fans of the band?
We've just begun slowly writing some new material, and that will greatly pick up and extend well into 2003. Hopefully we will be in the studio again next year ready to record our second full-length. Sporadic regional live shows will continue, and we'll keep our eyes peeled for any other opportunities that present themselves. Life's perpetual stream of dark inspiration doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
www.DAYLIGHT-DIES.com
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