Dark Remedy are proving to be a powerful force in the hard rock world.
Formed during the pandemic by talented song writing duo vocalist/lead guitarist Steven Miller and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Cary Parsons, the band has taken things to the next level by joining up with Grammy-nominated multi-platinum drummer Paul Crosby (Saliva.)
Dark Remedy are currently promoting the release of their new single "Now Or Never," a track about seizing the moment when opportunity knocks.
Rock Life recently got a chance to chat with Parsons and Miller about how the band came together, the new single and what's next on the horizon.
Rock Life: During the pandemic was a surprising time to be putting together a new band. What was the catalyst to say hey, let's do this?
Cary Parsons: My band at the time was primarily a live band. Obviously, the pandemic put a halt to our plans. It was pretty depressing because we had worked really hard to get where we got and to basically watch everything we'd built get destroyed was hard.
Steven was kind of going through the same thing with his recording clients cancelling and we were both just sitting around wondering what's next. I kind of got to the point where I could either wallow in my misery or make productive use out of this time.
Steven and I had always worked very well together over the years and we'd always been close. When I'd be with him recording for my other band, we'd always, kind of half jokingly, say we should do something together sometime.
Yeah, so we took that moment to make the most out of the pandemic time off and be as productive with our time as possible.
RL: And music is that one thing that can bring everyone together.
CP: Absolutely!
RL: And how did you decide on the Dark Remedy name?
CP: Well, we tossed around a bunch of name ideas. We actually didn't have one and didn't know what we were going to do. We were just being musicians and writing music and getting things off our chest with no thought of what the name would be or even if this was going to be a real band. Then, we decided that hey, we got some cool stuff here and maybe we should think of a name for this!
We tossed around a bunch of ideas and Dark Remedy stuck because it was dark times and this band was our remedy for those dark times. Even to this day because life happens and it isn't always great. When you're going through rough times and rough stuff, having that outlet is great. The best thing that I have in this life is this band.
RL: And how did you hook up with Paul. Was he someone you knew already?
CP: He was managing a band that we're friends with called Hostile Within. Around August or September of last year we were at a kind of crossroads, a fork in the road with the band. We could have kept going with the route that we were on releasing stuff without any real publicity or anything or we could make this thing serious and if we were going to do that, we needed help.
I reached out to the guys in Hostile Within and said hey, how is Paul working out for you guys? They said they were very happy so I sent him over a song. I emailed it to him not expecting to hear back from him for days, if at all. To my surprise, he responded to the email within five minutes and was like hey, let's get on a phone call and off to the races we went.
RL: And what is the biggest goal over the next couple of years?
CP: Oh man, world domination! We've got a lot planned. Some of it we can't talk about and some of it we can.
I think 2023 has been a milestone year for us. We had two Top 20 radio hits this year. We're on our third single now and we've got our fourth track coming soon as well. We're looking to make 2024 even bigger.
We're writing a bunch of new music right now and putting together a bunch of it. Before we started these interviews this afternoon, I was just sitting in my studio listening to the songs we've put together so far and I was like wow, this stuff is awesome!
Yeah, there's going to be a lot more music and we're happy to bring the live aspect into 2024. We have never played live together and that's what we're really looking to do in 2024.
RL: What do you enjoy about being out on stage?
CP: Connecting with the fans. It's one thing connecting with them online, but in person is so.much better. We have some amazing fans and they're so supportive. We respond to their comments all the time. We try to get to every single one of them and we've gotten to know a lot of these people, but you can't replace actually meeting them after a show. That connection goes a long way.
RL: It's pretty cool that you have your Facebook group Dark Remedy Asylum as well.
CP: Yeah, Steven and I were talking. We've always tried to be extremely professional with how we portray ourselves online. We thought it would be cool to have something that wasn't totally necessarily public that we could be more of ourselves with our fans and let them get a little bit more of a behind-the-scenes look and to connect with them on a different level.
RL: Have you gotten any good feedback?
CP: Oh yeah, the feedback has been great.
Steven Miller: The group almost feels like an extension in that sense. All of us in the band are from different parts of the country and a lot of our fans are too. A lot of them are just learning about us and getting interested. That really is the place where everyone can come in together and goof off and talk about other interests they have or share memes.
Some of the people who are really into our music post the funniest stuff. Stuff we never would have known about if we hadn't started the group. It's just fun.
CP: We have a thread of cats in there! I didn't think that was going to happen, but I'm here for it. You just never know what's going to pop up! It's a pretty eclectic group.
The admin that we have running the group invited their grandma into the group and she delivered some comic gold. It wad one of the funniest things I've ever seen. We named the group The Asylum and it's definitely living up to it's name! It's rock and roll and you're supposed to be having fun so it's great that the fans can have such a great time.
RL: I was just doing another interview and we were talking about how straight hard rock has kind of gone to the wayside. Is it important to you that you are helping keep that sound alive?
CP: Yeah, absolutely!
SM: Oh yeah!
CP: We didn't want to fit into a mold where we sound like every other band out there. A lot of Steven and I's influences are vast. Steven is influenced by death metal and Devin Townsend and Meatloaf and I've got KISS and Metallica and Elton John and Michael Jackson. We draw from a lot of places.
There was a certain vibe in the seventies and eighties and nineties that you kind of had with a lot of these bands and that's what we're trying to do. We want to remain current in 2023, but while bringing a little bit of that vibe back.
Recently, a band we saw kind of summed it up best about the "Now Or Never" video. They said it reminded them of staying up late at night and watching a video premiere on MTV. We were like yes, that's exactly what we were going for!
SM: Yeah, rock has been through many different phases, but the crafts and the songwriting has always been there. Every era of rock has had amazing song writing and that's always been our goal to write great songs first. Then, once Paul came in, we got more intentional about how we wanted to present it to people.
RL: And how did "Now Or Never" come together?
SM: It started with the opening riff and we just kept building onto it and out popped the song. As far as the message and stuff behind it, it's like we were all trying to deal with the dark times, the dark remedy and all of that.
You were stuck in your house for two years and now we're ready to go back out into the world and seize the moment. This is everyone's time to shine and really get back out there. It's kind of an anthem for that.
RL: Going out to shows, you can definitely see the enthusiasm. People are hungry for it.
CP: Yeah, I recently went to see Joey Scott formerly of Saliva on Saturday night in Clearwater and I called somebody after the show and said man, they showed up in force for him! There was not a single person in the house who was not rocking out. Yeah, it appears that people are hungry for that live experience again.
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