Wednesday, January 31, 2007

New Interview: Darth Vato

By Erin Rice

"If you like Sublime, you'll like our band."

Darth Vato play to a packed house on Saturday at Moon Bar.

I caught up with this "white boy, reggae punk" band last Saturday before their show at the Moon Bar near the campus of Texas Christian University. I was curious about how a group of guys from Fort Worth came to create what many people would characterize as a Southern California vibe in their music. While Darth Vato's sound has progressed from simpler ska and reggae rhythms to a having a harder edge, it's still not what you would expect from some dudes in Texas. But lucky for us they are local guys, because their music is quality and fun to listen to. They also happen to play a ton of shows in this area, so there's no excuse not to go out and catch one, especially if you are female. Apparently the band has a very unbalanced guy to girl ratio at shows, which they detail in the interview.

Kerry (vocals and guitar), Steve (bass), and Eric (drums) are a talkative trio, so this interview is pretty long. As such, it has been broken into three parts, which are:

Part I

• How Darth Vato got together
• What influenced their past and current sound
• What the hell happened to ska music, if anything?
• Who is the typical Darth Vato fan
• (Also included are members of Shark Attack coming over to figure out parking and Kerry taking that opportunity to turn into the interviewer.)

Part II

• Several crazy, silly, and somewhat idiotic stories of Darth Vato antics on the road and stage
• (And, Shark Attack coming back giving Eric the chance to quickly discuss Darth Vato's exposure on Fuel television)

Part III

• Upcoming Darth Vato projects
• Steve's soapbox rant about high school bands with rich parents
• Status report on the The Grampus, the band's ill-fated van

You can check out Darth Vato tonight, Wednesday, January 31, at Club Dada in Deep Ellum. I suggest you do.

Darth Vato is trying to put together a street team called the Friggin' Boners, which may or may not only consist of one crazy dude. To find out more check their site for updates in the future... maybe.

Related stories

• Memorable music interviews: 2007 (Dec. 25, 2007)

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• Arts > Popular Music