Those Darlins

Halfway through my recent interview with Kelley Darlin, bassist for Murfreesboro, Tennessee-based outfit Those Darlins, my subject lights up. She perks after I awkwardly find a way to ask her about her influences without actually asking her about her influences. 

“I’m glad you didn’t ask me who I’m influenced by, because that’s always changing. And it’s just kind of a stupid question to ask a musician,” the twang-y voiced bassist says, seemingly dead serious. “I’m an avid music lover, so I’m influenced by everything I hear. To limit that to one - or a handful - of artists doesn’t make sense. It depends on so many things - so much more than who the artist is. For example, it depends on what part of their career the artist is in. I like Elvis, but I don’t like all Elvis.”

Without taking a breath Kelley gets verbose, excitedly talking about - yep - her influences. And in a very thoughtful, telling way.

“I mostly like twang-y stuff and rockabilly, and I’m getting into more garage rock. Our first record was more twang-y than the new songs - it was influenced by old music, like the Carter Family and Hank Williams, but mixed with The Ramones and the Beach Boys. Those were the key influences on the first album. The new one, I don’t know. I think the other two girls are really influenced by newer garage rock bands right now, like The Black Lips and The King Kahn & BBQ Show. Touring with King Khan was great because they played a really 50s-influenced style of garage rock. I like a one-four-five progression with a chunka-chunka-chunka swing!”

The “other two girls” Kelley mentions throughout our chat are guitarist Jessi Darlin and Nikki Darlin, who plays baritone ukulele. All three Darlins stand up front, wearing either cowboy boots or Chucks; all three Darlins sing and howl through a layer of sweet danger; all three Darlins take the lead behind heads of messy hair. They’re joined on stage by the charismatic drummer Linwood Regensberg and in business by manager John “JT” Turner. Mostly, the Darlins are rowdy, smart and creative.

“We are full-time Darlins now,” Kelley tells me after a short conversation about the band’s disciplined beginnings. “We tour full-time. That’s the priority. During the summer or whatever we might entertain other things - make money or pursue other interests. But, really, full-time, the band is it.”

Kelley tells me that, after Jessi and Nikki moved to Murfreesboro, they invited her to play bass with them. “A couple of times a week we’d just get together and hang out. We’d play some music, watch a movie, cook dinner and play more music,” she tells me. “It was more about hanging out with friends than anything else. We didn’t set out to start a band.”

Curious about the Darlins’ chemistry, I dug up online interviews with both Nikki and Jessi, which only furthered my curiosity. Kelley, the tallish blonde bassist who usually stands on the right and plays it somewhat straight, is smart, strong and Southern - likely the most responsible member of the band. Jessi, a shortish, funky-dressed, endlessly quirky guitar player with a deep catalog of stage faces, seems to be sweet, dramatic and cutesy - practically a gamine right out of a 60s French film. And then we have Nikki, who, if she didn’t have such Golden country-styled vocals, would surely front a punk band. She demands sober attention, even if she herself never seems too serious. Most importantly, all three are talented and smart music junkies. Big characters.

“It’s all very equal,” she says when asked about the hierarchy of the band. “Everyone shares different levels of responsibility at different times, depending on what’s needed and who has what ability. People step up when they need to. It works like a team.”

Let’s rewind a bit. Not long after first playing together, all four band members were living in a house stuffed full of instruments and whiskey bottles. They played music and made plans - doing everything themselves.

“We started out doing everything D.I.Y., but it got to a point where we started relying on people who were professionals at what they did to help,” Kelley explained after I told her I’d read somewhere that, for a long while, the band never paid themselves, instead doing everything themselves and putting any money made into the future of the band.

“We eventually hired someone to do our booking - and things like that - so we were able to focus more on the music,” she explained. “We feel like we can do our job more fully and professionally that way. But we did put the debut record out on our own record label, Oh Wow Dang Records, which we started with our manager, JT.”

Before their excellent - and self-released! - 2009 eponymous debut record hit store shelves the Darlins were already making a name for themselves. They toured constantly, spending time with not just The Black Lips and King Khan, but also The Avett Brothers, Dan Auerbach, Loretta Lynn and countless others. Touring, as you’d expect, was at first a learning experience.

“When we first started playing together our record collections were all from thrift stores and garage sales and hand-me-downs from relatives, so it was all older music. Mostly 60s and 70s rock n’ roll and pop music. Our interests were different than most bands,” Kelley explained. “I wasn’t paying attention to Pitchfork or whatever. I wasn’t paying attention to what was hip or what the new bands were. I usually opted to stay in the ‘Boro and play music instead of going out of town for shows. But that really changes once you start getting out and touring.

“Now I’m more aware of the other bands out there working. We see night after night of bands playing - for better or worse. Especially at festivals. Festivals are a great place because you get to check out all these bands that you’ve maybe heard a little bit about. It becomes a mutual admiration thing.”

Kelley next explains to me that the band had to recently cancel an Australian tour due to Nikki breaking two bones in her forearm.

“So we’ve rescheduled our Australian tour for later this year,” she says. “I hadn’t traveled much at all before we started playing out. We just released the album in Japan, so I think we’ll be there in winter - when it’s summertime there. There’s a romance to touring. A mystique. But when it comes to the day-to-day, you want a shower and a meal. But, really, you’re actually eating gas station sandwiches and living in a van.”

Thus far known more for their explosive live shows than their recordings, the Darlins have managed to write much - or all - of what will be their sophomore record while on the road.

“We’ve got a bunch of new songs we’ve recently started working into our set,” Kelley explained. “We’re working with Jeff Curtin, who produced our first record, again. So this fall we’re going to record the rest of our second album with plans to release it next spring. We play our songs live then, when recording, try to consider how they’ll translate to a recording. We try to capture whatever magic is there on stage and put it into recording.”

But, truthfully, there’s no way to capture what Those Darlins do on stage on a record. They’re just too fascinating. Too exciting. Too unpredictable and unique.

Written by G. William Locke