darwin deez says...

Darwin Deez has experienced a whirlwind year on the back of their self-produced and self-titled album. Polite and softly spoken, lead singer Darwin Smith has had his life turned upside down. Backtrack only six months and you would have found him working in a vegan restaurant in New York. 

Now playing to festival crowds all over Europe, Darwin is “totally jazzed on this new life” and ready to tear up Australia for the first time at the Parklife festivals in September and October this year. His quirky lyrics and boppy tunes are quickly gaining the affections of people all around the world. So to our Australian readers, keep an eye out for his now infamous Napoleon Dynamite-esque dance moves and trademark ringlets. To those in the UK, sit tight, he will be back on the 12 October.

Covered: Indian gurus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, remixing Willy Wonka on a rap mixtape and psychological gravitational black holes.

Danielle Le Toullec: You’ve got a great name for a performer. Do you know how your parents chose it?

Darwin Deez: Yeah, thank you, it’s kind of a karmic blessing isn’t it because it’s just what I want to do. There were two factors: my dads name is Darrell and they wanted it to be similar and the other factor is that my parents met each other through their mutual interest in Meher Baba, who is a guru from India and there is an English follower of this guru and [my parents] looked up to him and his name was Darwin so I was kinda named after him.

DL: Until quite recently you were working as a waiter in New York, what has it been like riding the touring wave all around the world?

DD: I was working there, I can’t believe, until as recently as February or even maybe March and the touring wave has been interesting. The one thing about it is that I tend to get sick during the off times because for whatever reason my body knows its time to break things down and rebuild its defenses before I go back out. I feel pretty happy about that because I always get worried I’ll get sick in the middle of all this and the shows have been planned forever. It’s kinda intelligent on my body’s part.

DL: Darwin Deez is steadily building a solid international fan base, would you say it’s been hard getting to this point?

DD: It’s taken time definitely, but I don’t think it’s been hard. I’ve had a lot of time to absorb, adjust and learn about how things go and what touring is like before this year. Of course this year things have exponentially taken off but I am happy it has happened the way it has and especially at the time in my life that it has happened because there are some strange psychological gravitational black holes that you’re navigating through when you’re in the music business and I feel totally prepared for all that. 

I feel safe and I feel cared for and I am totally jazzed on this new life.

DL: So, how does it feel to have audiences now singing along to the lyrics of your songs?

DD: I am glad that they are having fun; it feels nice to have a barometer and know that. If you’re singing along at a concert you know that you’re having an A+ time. It’s very visible from the stage. Half of the purpose of playing shows is delivering a fun time to the people and the other half is to share something with new people and make a new connection with them. I am really happy when I can see that the work is being done.

DL: I personally loved your remix of Twinkle Twinkle little star for ‘Constellations’, do you have any other children’s songs in the pipeline?

DD: Thank you, I don’t, but maybe I should. I was very pleased with that too when I wrote it. I went through a database online of all the childrens songs and I wrote down some notes … another one I liked was already used by a contemporary of mine in the scene in NY.

DL: Do you prefer playing at festivals or more intimate gigs?

DD: I think I prefer the festivals; I like to be on the big stage and perform in front of lots of people because I think our show is fun to watch with your friends and the intimacy of the smaller shows can be scarier. After playing all the big stages this summer, I am into it. There is more reason to get excited because there are more people out there. 

DL: Darwin Deez sets always look like a lot of fun, what is your favourite part about performing live?

DD: I guess just the idea that I am connecting to people and when I think about what it feels like to be at a show and when I think about how it changes me personally. And more specifically the way it dramatically increases my affections toward that band, that’s probably my favourite thing about playing live, the fact that I know people out there are really creating a special place in their hearts for us, that’s my life. The connection with those people is kind of everything.

DL: And especially festivals as people really look forward to them and it’s a memorable experience.

DD: Yeah that’s good. I’ve never been to festivals as a reveler so I don’t know much about that level. I’ve only been as a performer.

DL: Wow, really? You must be looking forward to Parklife and checking out acts between sets then.

DD: Yeah, I think there will be plenty of time to do that. I’ve been doing that a lot at the festivals over this summer. I’ve been to one or two tiny folk festivals but nothing cool like a big rock festival.

DL: You’re creating quite the reputation for having some pretty sick dance moves, do you freestyle or is it choreographed?

DD: It’s both, we definitely do a lot of freestyling but that was more so at the beginning when it was just me and another person in the band. Now there are 4 people in the band so the choreography makes for a better presentation. 

I always keep the choreography loose and simple so it is just the feeling of 4 people having fun rather than some theatrical production. The main thing is to just to show ourselves and personalities by putting down the instruments for a second rather than to create a screen by putting on a character. That’s not my intention. Generally it’s pretty free.

DL: You’ve said that in the artistic process of creating your music you prefer to work solo, if you had to collaborate with another musician who would it be?

DD: I tell you what I am working on a rap mixtape and this is something that is really easy to collaborate on. I would love to collaborate with Busta Ryhmes on something like that.

DL: That’s quite different from the music you do now.

DD: Yeah it’s very different, it has got a concept to it… do you want to hear it?

DL: Of course!

DD: I am only sampling the original Willy Wonka movie for all the beats. It’s different but as soon I am done with this I am going to go back to writing ‘Serious Pop Music’.

DL: So you went through the soundtrack and stripped it back and that’s what you’re working with?

DD: Yeah I went through all the songs and loaded them onto a software sampler and played with them and put beats down. For some reason I just had all these raps coming out of me the last couple months so I wrote them down and I am going to do the vocals soon. I am pretty excited about it; I think people will like it

DL: Are you doing a song with the river scene?

DD: You know I actually found that song to be kind of un-sampleable but you’re the 3rd or 4th person to say that so maybe I have to go back for another listen and make something of it. It’s a strong scene visually but the song is maybe bordering on tuneless, its just Gene Wilder. But it’s certainly memorable. I love the movie.

DL: What do you like to do when you aren’t making music?

DD: I like to watch TV and YouTube. This is my favourite thing really… The last moment I had free that I can think of, I was just showing my favourite virals [videos] to my friend Andrew who hadn’t seen a lot of the more famous videos...I also like to watch old TV shows from the 90s.

DL: What are you looking forward to most about Australia?

DD: The language, the people, the atmosphere, hearing the slang everyone talks about, seeing what the food is like and playing the shows.

darwin deez, darwin smith, new york folk, parklife, willy wonka, busta rhymes