Darling Waste
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Darling Waste is an American rock band, sometimes considered to be an emo, popcore, powerpop, or pop-rock band, consisting of singer-songwriter/guitarist/pianist Lance Williams, multi-instrumentalist/producer/engineer Jason Lustig, and a rotating lineup of collaborators and studio musicians.
Currently, Darling Waste consists of Lance Williams (lead vocals, guitars, and piano), Geoff Morgan (lead guitar), Brandon Spearman (guitar), Mich Van Strein (bass guitar) and an unnamed touring drummer (replacing dLane on the current tour). The band has been described as an "angry Counting Crows meets My Chemical Romance".
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[edit] History
[edit] Early years: The Singing Angels
Lance Williams, lead singer/songwriter of Darling Waste, had been on stage his entire life. By the age of 13, Williams had already traveled and performed all over the world as a soloist and featured dancer in Cleveland band The Singing Angels.
At the age of 14, Williams joined Cleveland rock band Asbestos Twyst, who later became the first high-school rock band ever to play inside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
According to Cleveland Scene, "Local band extravaganzas don't get much bigger than Friday, July 30's daylong show at the Agora Ballroom. Asbestos Twyst's bassist Lance Williams organized the show, which benefits the Bellflower Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse. Among the performers: Boodah's Toothbrush, Mike Farley, Mr. Tibbs, Fifth Wheel, Girth, Hostile Omish, Ivet, Pepper McGowan, Qwasi Qwa, Rosavelt, Sax-o-Tromba, Second Half, Strip, Switch 56, and Uncle No.
Darling Waste started as a side project of Lance Williams's while he was the bass player for Asbestos Twyst. Asbestos Twyst had released an album prior to Williams' joining the band and was working on their follow up in 1999. Williams wrote three songs for the band but had the songs denied. "None of the other guys wanted to hear what the bass player wrote." remarked Williams.
By the time Asbestos Twyst disbanded in 2000, Williams was loitering at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. He recorded the three songs by himself under the name Darling Waste in an Akron, OH recording studio. "I recorded the songs just so I would have them. I just wanted to have them down." explained Williams. Later that year the songs leaked onto the internet and began showing up on local college radio. "Once I heard that (Changing of the Seasons) on the radio I decided maybe to do this full time"
Williams quit college and formed the first version of Darling Waste with friend Nick Garba. Williams and Garba quickly hashed out some songs and began playing local clubs. During the time, the duo released a 3-song, self-titled EP featuring the first three recorded Darling Waste tracks "I'm Not Like You", "You're Not Around" and "Begin Again".
[edit] The Truth About Lies...
The next year, Darling Waste (consisting of Williams and Garba, at this time) re-released their 3-song, eponymous EP as an 8-song EP, featuring the first version of "Changing of the Seasons" as well as a demo version of "Giving in Again" and some other non-album tracks, live tracks and a cover song. Williams spent the next two years going through old notebooks and song books to flesh out other ideas he had while in Asbestos Twyst. The end result was Darling Waste's first full-length album, 2003's The Truth About Lies....
The album was a mixture of over five years worth of writing from Williams. Some dating all the way back to his freshman year of high school. Most of the album was recorded at a terrible studio in Akron by engineers who were less than competent. One even told Williams that it was impossible to edit multiple takes of instruments and so each instrument had to be performed all the way through the song resulting in less than crisp performances. Disgusted by this process and lack of effort from the studio, Lance Williams enlisted the help of up-and-coming producer/engineer Jason Lustig who was fresh out of school at the time. Lustig came in to mix the songs recorded at the Akron studio and quickly recorded a few new songs from scratch. For all the time wasted at the previous studio, Williams had almost no budget to finish the project with Lustig and the result did not reflect what either was capable of. The album had mixed reviews that hinted at both the lack of polish and production.
A review from "Discovering Artists" said, "This collection of alt rock and piano-based tunes features some brilliant raw songwriting about emotional ties, and some great chord progressions that breathe life into the words. I will be waiting to hear more from Williams, hoping his sound grows more refined, because he definitely has talent. His band has a great tone, real alt rock diversity".
From Score Music Magazine, "Learn from The Truth About Lies by Darling Waste, a.k.a. Lance Williams. While this album bubbles with promise, I have to think that its failure to reach its full potential sits in Mr. Williams' decision to keep most of the reins in his own hands. To Williams' credit, The Truth About Lies isn't all that bad. The songwriting is almost stellar in some places, like "Changing of the Seasons". There are bits and pieces of each song that jump out at the listener, but only a few songs on this CD can hold my attention from start to finish. Also, Williams does a respectable job of blending the various instruments into a solid sound. Unfortunately, that sound is diluted by the hit-and-miss singing, and the overly introspective, woe-is-me lyrics that never stray from the usual rock clichés of lost love and depression."
The review added, "Maybe not great but I'd like to let Mr. Williams polish his songwriting skills a little before dropping that superlative on his music. He has the potential, if he can figure out how to let go of a few reins and bring other talent along for the ride."
[edit] The Manifest Destiny Rebellion
Williams enlisted the help of friend/producer Jason Lustig to engineer and produce and perform on (mostly uncredited performances) the record. He also got the help of Stabbing Westward, Nine Inch Nails, and Prick drummer Andy Kubiszewski, amongst others. The end result was a much more focused and clear album than the previous that received better critical responses and has sold extremely well. This album was recorded in several studios and locations over a period of about a year and featured the first full set of production collaborations between Williams and Lustig. Williams and Lustig worked together exclusively from pre-production through recording, mixing and mastering and began to show the promise that the first album had only hinted at. It included highly redone versions of several songs off the first album that demonstrate the potential that the first album missed.
[edit] 10-34 Records
By that point, Williams had founded his own independent record label, "10-34 Records". The label was started by Williams and roommate/producer Jason Lustig of rock band The Margot Catcher, as a home for Darling Waste and The Margot Catcher releases. The popularity of the releases in Cleveland took off and Williams and Lustig found themselves owning and operating a full fledged independent record label with 10 bands on the roster in less than six months. Williams also opened a store in a local mall to sell independent music and a live all-ages venue in Cleveland. The label also ran a battle of the bands on myspace which attracted hundreds of applicants and thousands of page views in a multi-week contest. However contract and recording talks with the winning band broke down and that band was released by 10-34.
[edit] almost but not quite
For most of 2006, Williams had been posting and talking about a duel album entitled Almost Heaven/Wild, Wonderful. The albums were supposed to come out at the same time and feature B-sides, rareties, and alternate versions of 24 different Darling Waste tracks. The album was never recorded or released and scheduled soundtrack work for an independent film never came to fruition.
[edit] Death of the Dreaming
This EP was released at the end of 2006, beginning of 2007, to bridge the gap between The Manifest Destiny Rebellion and the eventual third full length album. Longtime producer/engineer/musician/friend/confidant Jason Lustig was reenlisted to helm the ship. The project was expected to be recorded in 2 or 3 multi-day sessions in the fall of 06. Upon the commencement of the first session the then-current Darling Waste drummer did not arrive and failed to show for the remainder of the session. A local drummer was tapped to fill in, however he proved nearly incompetent despite being highly recommended by the locals in Uniontown, PA where the band was recording. Preproduction consumed the rest of this first session and only portions of a few songs drum parts were salvageable. Lance then enlisted the help of Scott Mariner (formerly of Anchors for Reality) to fill in on drums for the second session. Scott knocked out the remaining tracks in two days and filled in the missing parts to complete the drum tracks done by the useless local drummer. The session then proceeded at a furious pace to finish by the deadline with Lance Williams and current guitarist Andrew playing much of the music. This was one of the few projects where Jason Lustig did not participate fully in the musical performances and due to time did not actually record all of Lance's vocals on the album (Lance would record on his own and send takes via email and snail male to Lustig during mixing). Lance Williams was trying to capture a more raw and indie feel for the album but due to the time constraints of loosing the first session and a small budget the project just sounded a bit rushed compared to the previous album. However it did produce several stellar songs, some of which have been reworked in later demos for use on the eventual third full length album. This album was released by independent label Delphine Records.
[edit] A new search
unhappy with Delphine records handling of the Death of the Dreaming EP, Williams has begun a search for a new home with several promising suitors lining up to deliver the bands third full-length album.
[edit] Touring
- Darling Waste continued to tour the United States, logging over seven months of touring in 2005, and seven months in 2006. They released their third album Death of the Dreaming in Feb of 2007. The album shows a slight turn from 2005's The Manifest Destiny Rebellion in its more earthy, analog feel and simpler arrangements. The band has already toured for two months to promote Death of the Dreaming.
- In the summer of 2003, Darling Waste began touring up to four months a year.
- Darling Waste's touring exploits are well-documented on their live journal. The band always has their share of road mishaps. Their band bio states:
For Darling Waste, rock and roll is literally a life and death situation. "We've broken down a total of eight times now." explains frontman Lance Williams", once in West Virginia we had no cell phone reception and we broken down in a blizzard. We were out in the elements for over four hours. We started hallucinating and almost froze to death. Another time, we broke down on the Pennsylvania turnpike and had to walk eight miles at three in the morning to the nearest town. We were picked up by some kids who ended up being drunk and they wouldn't let us out of the car. They lost control of the car doing 120 miles per hour around a turn on an off ramp." Are all these life and death situations worth it to play in a rock band? "Absolutely." says Williams. "I've broken my jaw, my foot and lost two and a half teeth so far on stage, and I wouldn't change a thing."
[edit] Trivia
- Darling Waste has so far had 13 songs played on the cable music channel MTV. The Manifest Destiny Rebellion has gone on to sell over 8,000 copies.
- During the mixing and mastering of The Manifest Destiny Rebellion, Lance moved to Brooklyn, New York. The final edits were done via mail & phone.
- In 2006, Alternative Addiction called the "Changing of the Seasons/Drive Away" single one of the great romantic singles.
[edit] Songs in popular culture
- At the end of the summer of 2005, an MTV executive heard the song "Changing of the Seasons" on the radio and contacted the band about using the song on MTV programming.
- In 2007, Darling Waste had two more songs on MTV and a song on Dane Cook's Tourgasim on HBO.
[edit] Quotes
"The concept behind this album was to take everything I am dealing with or was dealing with and write about it like I always do", explains Williams,"but then move them all from this reality to The Dreaming. Which is a land that always exists. We can only see it in our dreams but it's always there. It's like our world but more surreal, more beautiful and sometimes even more tragic than our world."
Dealing once again with the traditional topics of love lost and gained, Williams breathes fresh air into a somewhat stagnant genre. And Death of the Dreaming deals with a much wider range of topics than Darling Waste's previous album, The Manifest Destiny Rebellion. On Death of the Dreaming, Williams sings about such varied topics as painful reunions, finding clarity in life, the clumsiness of new relationships, teen social circles, politics, media, drug abuse and New York City.
"Rock and roll is either the best or worst thing that's ever happened to me." jokes Williams, who left law school to pursue music; with 7,000 records sold, coast-to-coast college radio play, and songs on MTV, HBO, and Miramax movies, it seems like he made the right decision.
"It gives me a fresh perspective. I never get much sleep though." says Williams "There are so many people to meet and so many stories to hear and tell. I can't even express how much the city means to me."
And listening to Death of the Dreaming that is very apparent. Williams mentions New York City in at least three of the songs and alludes to it in almost every song. In the song "Sentences Left Incomplete (Ready, Waiting)", Williams actually gives directions from Brooklyn to Manhattan's famed East Village, his favorite hang out.
"The only sad thing about touring is leaving New York for months on end." say Williams. "But it's worth it. We love heading out and meeting everyone each night. Plus we have been playing the same towns for a couple of tours now so we get to meet new friends and we have so many people coming to the shows over and over its like seeing old friends. We have the best fans ever. They bring us Taco Bell bean burritos and chocolate chip cookies.
[edit] Line-up
[edit] Current members
- Lance Williams - songwriting, vocals, piano, guitars
- Geoff Morgan - guitars, vocals
- Brandon Spearman - guitars
- Micah Van Strein - bass
- unknown touring replacement - percussion, drums
[edit] Former members
- Jason Lustig - guitar, vocals, programming
- Doug "dLane" Lane - percussion, drums
- Gina Perez - drums
- Nick Garba - guitar
- Andrew Klomp - bass, guitar
- Gregg "Bunny" Watkins - bass
- Mark Right - guitar
- Even Everything Neel - guitar
[edit] Discography
- Darling Waste E.P. (2001) - self-released
- Superior Wang E.P. (2002) - self-released
- Darling Waste/Margot Catcher Split E.P. (2003) - self-released
- The Truth About Lies...(2003)- 10-34 Records - full length
- Christmas in July Compilation (2004) - Texas Tall Records (unclear if actually released)
- The Manifest Destiny Rebellion (2005) - 10-34 Records - full length
- Wild, Wonderful/Almost Heaven (2006) - unreleased (never actually recorded)
- Death of the Dreaming (2007) - Delphine Records - 8 songs
- 4 song demo (2007 - December) - never released but shopped to labels
