Today we’d like to introduce you to Dez DeCarlo.
Dez, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I’m originally from upstate NY where I started playing drums, writing songs and started my first band with my brother Robert when I was 9 years old. I bought my first guitar at 12 years old and started taking lessons. At age 14, I picked up the electric guitar and slide. I learned by listening to records by musicians such as Robert Johnson, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and many classic great artists. At 16 I played my first gig at a small-town dive. I was lucky to be surrounded by talented teachers and musicians who taught me from a young age how to jam and improvise.
I soon went on to play in many punk and rock bands. I studied film, photography, theater, fine arts, but music was always my passion. Blues, rock, jazz, punk, soul and experimental music probably influenced me the most growing up. I also love rhythm, beats, trance and electronic music!
Violet Nox was formed a few years ago when Karen Zanes and I met in an experimental project and started playing together. The idea of Violet Nox came to me from listening to John Coltrane one evening. In that moment I understood what it felt like to be free with your creativity without judgement. I wanted to study the art of sound and pursue a very open experimental project that played off of these elements. I’m a sonic noise musician!
Can you give our readers some background on your band?
Violet Nox is an experimental, spacey, electronic, noise, psych, hypnotic, trance band. I play guitar and spend lots of time with my effects, analog/digital delay, octave pedal, distortion, harmonics, sustain, volume and magic. It is by pure adventure that I discover many of the sounds I create.
On our first record, “Nebula” on UK Reverb Worship November 2017 and our new ep “Twin Flame,” just released 11/2/18 on UK Sleep FUSE, we recorded the songs in only a couple of takes — all fresh in the moment! I use a Fender Hot Rod amp, which offers a raw distorted sound that I compliment by playing a Fender Telecaster. I also recently started playing a MiniNova synth that will be included in some of the new songs we are writing.
In addition to playing electric guitar and synth, I write some of the lyrics and sing. A lot of my writing is dreamy and poetic. Violet Nox is a collaborative project where all members contribute equally. Karen Zanes plays guitar, loops, writes lyrics and sings. Andrew Abrahamson plays electronic beats and synth, Alexis Desjardins plays bass synth and tape machine. We create songs by jamming and we have amazing chemistry! The message I want to share with our music is to encourage artists to take risks, be brave and improvise with whatever your medium is.Try and surround yourself with positive people and find a supportive artistic community. There is such beauty to be created in your art!
What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
Go to events, network as much as possible, get involved, collaborate with other artists.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
You can find our music on Bandcamp and Spotify. Here is our new ep “Twin Flame” on UK Sleep FUSE http://violetnox.
Violet Nox will be performing on 1/12/19 at The Hearing Room in Lowell, MA with Dyr Faser.
Contact Info:
- Email: twinray66@gmail.com
- Instagram: twinray_venus
- Other: http://violetnox.bandcamp.com
Image Credit:
Alexis Desjardins, Caitlin M, Marta Morawska
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