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Defining one's own style of music can be just as difficult as DV looks at their own music. "We're just a Rock band," says Jymm. "‘Rock’ covers a great deal of ground. People will always need to compare music to other music to sort of get their minds around something new. I do it myself. But I don't think that we fit neatly into any single category and I think that, in the long run, that works to our benefit. A little Pop, a little Metal, a little Jazz . . . we're all over the map!" Cami agrees with Jymm, "Not being the "next so and so" can hurt you in the short term with so many record labels having no long term vision. But in our case it helps. We can just be ourselves and we don't have to answer to anyone." Steve looks at it from another perspective as well with his interpretation of "Haunting ethereal atmospheric rock. How 'bout that?"
As lead singer for DV, Cami rides out the
comparisons to create her own style.
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Along those lines as well, Cami gets a lot of comparison to Mazzy Star. This can be something a singer enjoys as a compliment, shy away from or embraces it. "I take it as a compliment," Cami offers, "because I like that type of music. I think we do have quite a bit more depth than just that one example but it's flattering." Steve agrees that Cami has a lot of reflections, "She takes it as it comes. She's gotten Mazzy Star, Elisian Fields, she even got that lady who sings ‘If it makes you happy’. I'm blanking on her name right now . . . any singer, especially a girl who doesn't scream like Courtney Love, is gonna get compared to everything under the sun. That's OK, cause when they see her (us) live, all the comparisons fall by the wayside." You don’t get a better compliment than that from your band mates! Go Cami!
Cellist, Gerri Sutyak, adds new
dimension to DV'S sound.
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There is a variety of texture and composition with the music of DV and many options of instruments that could be used with their style. They find that the smaller combination of band members works best for them in comparison to some more elaborate structures that are out there. "I think we have pretty much the standard sized rock band," Jymm feels. "We use cello like you would a second guitar, keyboard, or . . . well, a cello! We also use samples to add another dimension." Steve explains a bit further, "We try and commit the instruments/sounds/samples we feel we need to tape and then play to that live. So the four of us (five with cello) are doing everything we do, plus we have some icing on our cake as well." Their cellist is Gerri Sutyak, who adds that amazing presence to their sound. Steve is quick to add that it’s, "Easier than wheeling a grand piano onstage, as well as some African drummers, an orchestra, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir . . ."
And so we enter the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The year was 1998, and Darling Violetta was getting their music out to the public ear and fortunate enough for them, into the hands of a very foresighted musical director. Cami tells us how that came about. "Our first CD got to John King, the music supervisor for BtVS, along with some songs that would appear on The Kill You EP. We got a call saying that ‘we'd like to use two songs on the show and can you come down and appear in the Bronze.’" "John King, music supervisor extraordinaire," compliments Steve. "He had
"We'd like to use
two songs on the
show and can you
come down to
The Bronze?"
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our music for awhile but it took a while to use us. When he found an episode that suited us (episode three, season three, ‘Faith, Hope, & Trick’) it came about very quickly. I think we found out on a Monday and were on set on that Thursday or something. But he rules." Jymm adds in, "The rest is history!" You can read that bit-o-history on their web site and it sounded like a ‘fun’ experience on the set. What do they remember as a favorite moment, the food perhaps? "The food!" says Cami and Steve agrees, "Definitely the food. Grilled shark. Fresh fruit smoothies. Unlimited supplies of granola bars and things. Unbelievable." But he also has a fond moment that Cami probably wishes he’d forget! "Next to that, my favorite memory is Cami getting busted twice, first for trying to commandeer a trailer we weren't supposed to use, second because the gown she was wearing (that I take credit for prompting her to wear!) was a little, um, sheer, shall we say? Seth Green’s campering up to us and declaring every time she turns around ‘It's all ass!’ We were laughing about that for a good long time." (laugh) And Jymm adds, "Just the whole thing about being on set was cool."
On stage in The Bronze on BtVS.
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John King then brought DV in to Angel. As the new spin-off to Buffy, Angel looked for its own identity. Although keeping with the dark and edgy feel of its predecessor, it needed a theme song that would stand apart and at the same time capture the essence of its lead character. The theme originated from a very familiar concept for the band as Steve explains, "They wanted something dark, I believe their description was ‘cello rock.’ Something like Batman. Gave us a few indicators like that, and we went to work in the rehearsal room. Jymm came up with the melody, we toyed with it a little bit, then they demo'd it with our producer and voila. Well, not really voila, it was hard work and they were making changes right up until the time we recorded it. Nuts." But Jymm agrees that, "The producers wanted something dark and that's pretty much us!" When approaching the theme for Angel, many directions could have been taken, so thinking about the character can give one a little insight. But not knowing how the show will really look is like writing in the dark. Jymm tells us, "Our only instruction was to come up with something befitting a ‘dark superhero’ along the lines of Batman (Tim Burton version). I watched tapes of some key Angel moments mainly from Season Two. You can kinda sum up the vibe with a big ol' shaky melancholy sigh!" Cami also remembers, "We had no script or anything, just notes back and forth to the producers. We finally saw the intro in the recording studio about a week before the premiere!"
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