Erik Virtanen Escorts the ‘Darling’ to The Darling DeMaes

What I find wonderfully engaging are people that care to think about life and our surroundings. Not just people that live in them. But people that make the conscious decision to look at the world, their life, the people around them and try to figure out what really is going on here. Do we have to own ‘things’? Do we have to behave in certain predefined ways? Do we have to believe everything that we have been told or taught? Not that Erik Virtanen has all the answers, but he most certainly asks some of the questions.

I guess I’d say I’m about as religious and spiritual as everyone else.

A Couple of Schizophrenics

Tell me what Poststructuralism actually refers to.
How has this both ruined and improved your life?

Poststructuralism. Wow. It takes a very gifted person to explain Poststructuralsim, and I unfortunately don’t possess that gift. If I begin, I’ll jump in a million different directions simultaneously and leave us both confused, but I’ll attempt. It’s a different way of thinking, it’s the acceptance that things fall apart, that things don’t necessarily need to be what they are. It comes through in a lot of art and literature, but the scary thing is that you also see this in science and law, in things that physically affect people in a very real way. You also find it inside yourself. ‘Poststructuralism’ is a word that groups a lot of different theories, sometimes conflicting and it’s never stationary. It’s always in process and changing. Some people feel uncomfortable about that.

At first, it’s a bit frightening. You see a lot of emptiness in things you took for granted but then, I found that it became freeing. Also, it’s more of a celebration and improvement of what people have created, as opposed to a nihilistic view. For instance, if all our ideas are a house (one room is law, one government, one fashion, one hockey, etc), someone may pessimistically see it as a structure simply made from rocks, wood and dirt. I think a Poststructuralist view would be to look at the building as a certain achievement, but also think, ‘This isn’t how it has to be. There’s so much room for improvement. We can tear down some walls, maybe add another floor, give it a new paint job.’ Lately, it seems this theory is mostly concerned with justice. Ha – I told you I’d go in a million directions.

Do you consciously consider this in your art?

Once you learn about it, it affects you and everything you do, and you can’t help it. It reshapes your mind and hopefully allows you to think outside the box a bit. It affects all my writing, all my art and, I think for the better.

I couldn’t help but being reminded of Hermann Hesse’s story ‘The Glass bead Game‘ (Magister Ludi) when I was reading your description of Poststructuralism. Is there anything to that?

To be honest, I don’t know anything about Herman Hesse. It’s a name I’ve heard thrown around. Maybe I should read some.

I really enjoy the storytelling nature to ‘The Square Hallway’ what is the song about and is that a safe assumption about it being a story?

‘The Square Hallway’ is about two dreams I had back-to-back. In the first I was swimming with childhood friends in an ocean. Suddenly everyone disappeared and I looked up at the sun and felt the presence of God and all the water in the ocean emptied, and I was lying in mud, so scared that I couldn’t talk. Then I woke into a different dream. I was floating around what I thought was a grad banquet, lots of old friends were there. I soon realized it was a funeral. When I woke up from those dreams I had one of those ‘memento mori‘ moments where the reality of death became really apparent for a few seconds. It’s a pretty strange, frightening moment. The dreams stayed with me, and a few months later I wrote the song.

It’s honestly such a huge topic, that I should stop.

The Square Hallway

Tell me about your song writing process?

99% of the time I write the music first, then the melody, and finally the lyrics. I’ll play the song on guitar and sing nonsense words for the melody until I get a feel for what the song should be about. I find that in this way I don’t force out a song. It feels like a very organic thing.

When I was younger, I wrote a lot of bad songs, hundreds. I think it was partly because I forced the process and was too conscious of everything. The way I write now is a bit unexplainable. The songs just happen. I’m very happy about that, but I can’t say how long it will continue happening.

Where did you find out about Poststructuralism, at university or through personal reading?

I was forced to study critical theory in an intensive English program at the University of Victoria. I spent two years straight, studying it. The whole time confused. After all that (it was f-ing intensive), I decided to take an introduction to lit theory course, and finally it clicked. I would compare it to taking a pill like in “The Matrix“. I took it, and can’t go back. At first, as I said, I wasn’t happy about it, but soon, as I learned more and had some guidance from great people, I was glad I did.

How do you think that by viewing the world through the eyes of Poststructuralism, it can help you or anyone make this actually a better world? Can it?

The short answer: You’re not so easily fooled. You become more aware of your surroundings. You become more aware that you don’t necessarily have to be what you are in all respects. It makes you less judgemental of differences. You act kinder to people and are more tolerant. That’s what I found, anyway. But on the flip side, you become more critical of injustice for no reason or for reasons of power and ingrained ideas. You see those as fleeting.

What I thought I knew, I would realize later, I didn’t know.

Is there a specific goal you want to achieve with your art?

What I do try to achieve is creating something fresh and honest. I like music that’s original and that I can tell really comes from someone’s soul. It’s such an open medium, but lately people have gotten accustomed to a few forms. If I can push the boundaries just a bit, and not leave people behind in the process, then maybe I’ve accomplished something.

With The Darling DeMaes, our songs generally are about the dark reality that lurks behind a nice surface. Our songs have an upbeat ’50s feel at times, but instead of simply singing about love and joy, a careful listener will find irony and darkness. Our name, “The Darling DeMaes” is true to that idea. We’re named after dead porn-star Lea DeMae. It’s the tragic story of an Olympic diver who became a porn-star after an injury during training. She became quite famous, but at the height of her career got a brain tumor and died at the age of 27. It’s sad story about a poor woman behind a classy sounding name.

Is there a specific message you are trying to impart with your music?

A message. I’m not sure yet. I’m still learning how to write, so it’s too hard to answer. Also, if I answer that now, I know my answer would be different later, or maybe not. Musically though – definitely. I feel an obligation as a musician to at least push boundaries a bit here and there. Standard, very standard music (certain notes, forms, types of guitar distortion, drum beats, or chords) make me claustrophobic. I think because I heard those notes and sounds so many times over the last 13 years. I’d like to avoid that. I try for fresh forms. New note combinations. I spend a lot of time arranging and re-arranging guitar chords to give them a different feel. Some bands out there are great for that; Radiohead, Sigur Ros. The Beatles were great for that. I tried to sing ‘Eleanor Rigby’ in harmony with someone not too long ago, and we realized the music makes you think they’re playing in the key of C, but the singing melodies are in the key of G. So I copied that in a song. Better to be honest.

How well are you received at your shows?

At shows, we’ve been very pleased with our reception. Usually a few people really connect with the songs. I think these people probably have similar tastes to us naturally. Elysia (our female singer) and I sing harmony throughout most of every song. I guess in a Simon and Garfunkel style. I’m heavily influenced by classic rock, like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, but also by contemporary music like Sigur Ros and Nick Cave. It makes for a nice, fresh fusion of old and new.

When are you playing next?

Our next show (The Darling DeMaes) is on Feb. 8th at O Patro Vys at 8:30.
It’s an acoustic showcase performance called
‘Strictly Acoustic‘ that features 4 selected up and coming bands/musicians from Montreal.

-euphoreador-

As always contact me at josh @ indyish.com
Come partake of my art, music, video and poetry.