It's M.Shell here with another fantastic band on Maxine Kevve featuring Frost, Taylor, and
Zach Barnhart of Now It's Dark.
Now I'm a little ashamed to admit I'm new to this band so I'm excited to learn more
about them along with those of you who are in the same boat.
As for the fans, you're way ahead of us and should be excited too.
Frost and Zach, thank you so much for taking time for this interview.
No problem.
I'm very excited to have you guys.
So tell me a little bit about Now It's Dark, what kind of music you play and where you're
from.
So we are kind of the combination of heart, rock, metal, and a little bit of punk.
We kind of jump all over the place a little bit with genre and we are from just outside
of Chicago, so the subherbs.
Not too far away at all, so do you guys get up to Wisconsin pretty often though?
Yeah, we do.
I've got a lot of family up in Wisconsin and I've been a part of kind of a central and southern
Wisconsin team for a long time in different bands, so we make sure we go up there at least
every couple of months is usually what we do.
So we're actually replaying the back bar on March 15th up there in Jamesville and we're
actually in Marshfield in April as well, so I've got a couple of months coming up out
really.
Yeah, absolutely.
I love back bar going to many shows, there are good people out there for sure.
So how long have you guys been a band?
All right, so as a live band with actual members, just under a year, but so this kind of started
as a project that I had started with just a couple of my buddies that I hired to do production
and play guitar for me.
I was fed up with finding a band and having everybody quit on me, you're not being able
to start, so I said, and I'm going to write an album and I started that about four years
ago.
So the project has been in the works before years, but as an actual band, band about
these years.
Zach, how long have you been with the band then?
Since October was when I officially started, I played a few shows of them as a Rhythmic
Guitar Player and threw all the line-up changes and all that switch the bass.
Our Nuke Guitar Player is a good find of mine and co-worker and he took that spot near where
we are now.
Awesome.
Well, sounds like things are going really well for you guys.
You released an album in the fall, tell me about your release party.
Yeah, it was really cool.
We had a bunch of our friends actually, you know, playing the show.
It was funny.
I actually found a bold flyer from about like five to six years ago and it was basically
all the same people, different bands, obviously, but it was literally the same exact show that
we played about five years ago, like in October as well, so it was pretty cool that that was
our album release, you know, that I've known these people for, you know, however long
and the scene.
That was definitely cool.
We also, we had a really good turnout, you know, a specific, definitely took care of
us.
It was a pretty cool house, you know, sold a lot of CDs.
We actually have to work for more, which is pretty cool, and we went through so many
so quickly.
I was not expecting that.
The response has been really cool, Spotify has been great as well on that just, you know,
hurting with the release party, and it's actually maintained up until now, which I'm,
you know, it's pretty cool for us to see that, you know, a lot of times you get the giant
jumps and then the drop-offs and stuff, but it's been pretty consistent.
So I would say that, you know, the release party was definitely a success, just please stop
of that.
Yeah, absolutely.
And, I mean, I don't, basic success, I was Spotify, it's a whole different animal.
Oh, yeah, you know.
So, yeah, you know, that's about it.
Yeah, so where did you guys record this album?
So, that is, we recorded with my friend Marco Obaya.
He has a little studio in his basement that he calls the audio lounge.
I've been on this guy for years and years, we had to work together.
So when I was doing an album, you know, we hit him up and, you know, he jumped on board
immediately.
So that's really where everything was recorded.
We did some drums at a couple different locations.
We had, we went to rough drafts, rocked out in Palatine to do a couple songs there,
some kind of bounce around, but for the most part, it was just in our group basement.
That's awesome.
What if some of the challenges that you guys have faced while recording an album?
Oh, man.
So, a lot.
It took me about four years to get this, you know, actually written, recorded, and out.
So, you know, constant challenges, just COVID hit right in the middle of it, so that was
huge.
You know, we couldn't really do anything for most of that year, unfortunately, so, you
know, it was kind of just me and the guitar player, I hired to help you write, just kind
of a phone call and, you know, video chat and stuff like that, you know, going over it,
which is really hard to write over a video chat, especially if you don't have very audio.
So, that was definitely a challenge, so it was just a lot of remote work, also just
I, you know, am a family new vocalist, and, you know, a lot of things that I would come
across is that I would improve, and then I'd go back and listen to the tape and be like,
this is terrible.
I gotta redo it.
So, we did that about like 10 times, so it's definitely just a lot of re-reporting and
a lot of schedule issues and, you know, COVID getting in the way.
Yeah, that's definitely through a wrench, and I think everybody's life for a while, so
it's definitely a common story.
So, from what I understand is that I concluded, is you have new members in the band, and you
guys just played a first show with these guys, how did, how did that go?
Right here.
It went well.
Yeah, it was, it was really awesome.
We played with, from Ashes Embers, their EP release, and the venue was, I don't know if
we actually sold out, if we were years sold out, there were about 300 and 10 people, so
I don't, I don't know what that is, and it's passed the terms of the rock house, but we
were very close to sold out, if not sold out.
So that, that was awesome, you know, just to have that all vocals on the bill, which, you
know, it's huge for local music to have that happen, you know, just again, a lot of
great friends, a lot of people who, you know, have seen us play before coming out, you
know, and getting to see the new guys play, you know, of course, they were blown away.
Our new guitar player, who made Spidey, he is, like, he's a guitar wizard, who just
went in and soloing, and just, in craving, like, constantly, like, in between the songs
and stuff, and just honestly, like, blowing me away, let alone, you know, a crowd.
So it was, it was really awesome, it was a great show, you know, a great first show, especially
for them.
Yeah, absolutely, that's, that's huge, Zach, how do you feel about that?
No, it was a really good show, you know, the biggest god I've played in front of in
the short time I've been with them.
You know, to hear, you know, people sing our songs, it's also really cool, and it does
big pops at the end of our song, and songs, it was, you know, something really special
to me.
Absolutely, that's a huge part of why, from what I understand, musicians love to make
music, connect with those fans, and it's all about the human experience, you know?
Exactly.
So where can we find you guys?
How can we find out about your upcoming shows and stay in touch with Now It's Dark?
So we're on Spotify, we're on Instagram, Facebook, all that good stuff.
It's Now It's Dark, No Apostery, No Apostery, so don't get us confused, there's another band
from Texas within the apostrophe, that is not us.
And Zach actually just put together a really cool website, you know, it's kind of our
EPK, but it's also, you know, the best place to find out about everything.
We've got all our dates on there, we're going to have ticket links, we're still working
on a couple videos, but that's going to be our main, our main place for all things,
you know, it's Now It's DarkOfficial.com.
Great, that's awesome, it sounds like you guys are everywhere, and definitely looking
forward to catching you live, hopefully, sometime soon.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
Have a wonderful time out there making awesome music.