Interview with the Band Follow Me Dark

March 08, 2024

Interview with the Band Follow Me Dark

By Mick Michaels

The Cosmick View: Hello, and welcome to The Cosmick View/MBM Ten Pounder! Thanks for taking some time to chat with us!

Follow Me Dark: Thanks for having us!

CV: Describe your definition of the band’s sound and style and how does that definition uniquely describe the music?
Follow Me Dark: We bonded over a shared love of atmospheric alternative rock - bands like Deftones, old school Muse, Alice in Chains, Failure. As we played more together we were able to weave in threads of post-rock guitar textures, gothic mood, and classic anthemic grunge melodies. We use a lot of tools in the rock and roll tool belt to craft each song in order to tell a story. We’re emo without being emo, and metal without being metal… if that makes any sense!

CV: Today, everyone talks about artist and audience connection. Is such a level of connection actually achievable for an artist and if so, how have you made the connection to your fans?
Follow Me Dark: The great thing about social media is that it’s easier than ever to build a connection between a band, the fans, and other creative people. We are thrilled that building a community around shared love of the creative endeavor is so easy - it’s a much-needed break from the widespread consumerism we are subjected to.

CV: Is fan interaction an important part of the band’s inner culture?
Follow Me Dark: Absolutely. We think the music is just a launching off point for all of us to take a look at our lifestyles and change them for the better. For one thing, the opportunity to support local arts should be seized. And for another, it’s important to blur the line between “audience” and “talent” - everyone is uniquely talented and can contribute to the alternative cultures in a very gratifying way.

CV: Can a band truly interact with its fans and still maintain a level of personal privacy without crossing the line and giving up their “personal space” in your opinion?
Follow Me Dark: Well, it’s important for all of us to have boundaries about the kind of relating we want to engage in. Consent is all-important, and like attracts like. Our message is that we are all valid creators and that we need to all get involved somehow in community building. The current mainstream trajectory is sad and unsustainable.

CV: Is music, and its value, viewed differently around the world in your opinion? If so, what do you see as the biggest difference in such multiple views among various cultures?

Follow Me Dark: Music is hugely important to the vast majority of people in this world; it’s just a question of what context people listen to. In the US, most people still listen to music but it often takes a backseat to other media moreso than it used to. It’s said that a lot of us stop seeking out new music in our late 20s or 30s and just continue to listen to whatever we are used to. Our challenge to listeners is to push against that tendency and find more underground music that is exciting and get involved!

CV: Do you feel that a band that has an international appeal, will tend to connect more so to American audiences? Would they be more enticed or intrigued to see the band over indigenous acts because of the foreign flavor?
Follow Me Dark: The reality of life in the 2020s is the culture has become a series of micro niches, no matter what country you live in. It’s increasingly difficult for musical artists to succeed if they blow through the usual genre box. The music just has to be extremely compelling, and the passion has to compel people who normally are tuned out of underground music or that particular genre, to take a break from their usual echo chamber and find that raw adventurousness, that excitement of discovery.

CV: Has modern-day digital technology made everyone an artist on some level in your opinion? Have the actual lines of what really is an artist been blurred?

Follow Me Dark: It has blurred the lines and we actually are excited in a lot of ways for the new and creative ways that people and create media, remix and re-purpose disparate elements to make statements and build connections that didn’t used to be there. We all are artists to different degrees, and life itself is the greatest piece we all work on.

CV: How would you describe the difference between an artist who follows trends and one who sets them?
Follow Me Dark: If you look at some of the great artists like David Bowie, David Lynch, Salvador Dali, and so on, they pull material from the depths of the unconscious, and find ways to translate that material in a digestible form. Suddenly they have invented a new art form and have made something completely “un-commercial” defy all expectations and create new genres and styles. Unfortunately in our current climate it’s harder than ever for those types of artists to get a lot of attention, simply because of the stratification of culture, but they are out there! There’s a line from our song “Father” about this phenomenon - “Wander deserts alone, I’ll labor unknown.”

CV: Has music overall been splintered into too many sub-genres in an effort to appease fan tastes in your opinion? And has such fan appeasements, in actuality, weakened music’s impact as a whole by dividing audiences?
Follow Me Dark: Couldn’t have said it better ourselves. I think what we are trying to do is create music that is bigger than any one genre, and find new innovative ways to present it to people who usually don’t engage with new underground rock. It’s a bigger challenge than ever but the rewards are self-evident. Ultimately we just want to make music for ourselves, but due to the unique makeup of the four of us, we feel we come together around a very unique sound that is widely appealing. And if we’re wrong, we will still enjoy it!

CV: What can fans expect to see coming next from you?
Follow Me Dark: We just released the first single “Acid Desert” from our upcoming album “Far From Any Shore”. The album is a concept album produced by the band and our dear friend Chris Tabarez (Boz Scaggs), and it retells the Hero’s Journey of Joseph Campbell as the inner struggle of the overwhelmed and confused human of 2024 Earth. “Acid Desert” chronicles the moment when a person decides to leave their comfort zone and embark on a quest for attainment, so we shot a video for it around our hometown of Grass Valley, California, utilizing the epic natural landscape to tell a suitably bold story of setting out on adventure. Check it out online and enjoy our first album and subsequent EP “An Offering” streaming now on all music services!

CV: Thanks again for taking some time and talking. It is greatly appreciated.

Follow Me Dark: We appreciate the depth of conversation!

Check out Follow Me Dark at:

https://linktr.ee/followmedark

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followmedark/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/followmedark?igshid=1jux9pf20c6uw

YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC-pdXm3_7vcCZlFS4Nv6H-w?sub_confirmation=1

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/58rGEscrO2EIvO4ul4UObn?si=61Ny-3toTWOyWJ_3gutTuQ

Bandcamp: https://bandcamp.com/followmedark

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My name is Mick Michaels...I'm an artist, music fan, songwriter, producer, show host, dreamer and guitarist for the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me; what I couldn't say in speech, I was able to do with the written word. Writing has given me a voice and a way for me to create on a multitude of platforms including music and song, articles, independent screenplays, books and now, artist interviews. The Cosmick View is an opportunity to raise the bar and showcase artists in a positive and inspirational light. For me, it's another out-of-this-world adventure.