We were lucky to catch up with Rebecca Darling recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rebecca , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I have ever worked on is definitely with the creative force known as “Olive Dares the Darkness”. When I lived in the Virgin Islands my band had my name’s stamp on it: The Becca Darling Band. This was a mistake, because no one in the band took ownership of the project. Furthermore, it meant that I was alone on an island for writing and fleshing out ideas. I have always a had a bit of an edge in regards to my musical tastes. While I enjoy jazz, rap, classical, hip hop and other genres, something resonated with me when I listened to bands like Tool and Nine Inch Nails. At the same time, I was going to though a Tori Amos and Cecelia Bartoli phase! I wanted desperately to make music that was more aligned with the post-punk industrial sound. I knew this involved working with sequencers, synthesizers, and vast knowledge of specific music programs. I figured this part of my sound would never lift off. So there I was, writing pseudo-country songs on my guitar, and playing in bars. I did that for years until I moved off island to Charleston, South Carolina. It was there that I met Mike Baum, on Craigslist of all things, and we began a fruitful collaboration.

We started off as an acoustic duo, and evolved our sound and line-up over many years. We have been playing music together for almost a decade and he is the yin to my musical yang. He brings in the technical production side of things, and together we have been able to craft the type of music that we love. It’s very rare to meet people that you can be openly creative with, but I met it with my bandmates in Olive Dares the Darkness. They taught me that I don’t need to dominate every facet of music to be a great musician. Simply mastering my own craft and letting them master theirs has allowed us to flourish.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a musician and a teacher based out of Charleston, South Carolina. When I’m not busy teaching music to the munchkins of the world, you can find me rehearsing, writing, and gigging with my band, Olive Dares the Darkness. We are trying to bring a fresh flavor and sound to the Charleston Music scene. We love our home in Charleston, and we want to see as many musical genres thrive as possible.

We are a fun and deeply creative band. Furthermore, we all get along! Our synergy and mutual respect for each other had endured over the years, and we we coming up on our 5 year anniversary. We use music to tell stories, express ourselves, and to bring people to together. We have had an amazing time touring the East Coast in the summers, and we recently signed with an agent based out of the UK.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When I was 32, I was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. It was in the middle of my musical career and I had to pump the breaks immediately to focus on my health and well-being. I always say that cancer “stole the music out of me”. I stopped listening to music, except for Tool. I listened exclusively to Tool during my chemo treatments. I also stopped playing and singing. Quite frankly, both tasks take and extraordinary amount of energy, and I had none to give. While I was hyper-focused on my health, my writing partner, Mike began to write for me when I couldn’t. He would “softball” me songs that need “lyrics finished” or a “new chorus”. He gave me the tiniest musical chores to do, just so I could stay in the game. We actually ended up getting some good songs out of the cancer experience, and I am grateful that he and my bandmates were there to support me.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I encourage people to seek out bands at the local level! Concerts are increasingly elitist and it is hard to engage in the music scene anymore. There are so many incredible local bands that don’t get enough credit. Unless you are a master of social media marketing, most bands never experience a robust career. That doesn’t mean that the music is anything less than great! There is incredible music right in your neighborhood, and every one should check out local bands!

Our band also works with local artists to create poster and t-shirt designs. The visual artists are kicked an equal portion whenever we sell a shirt with their design. It has been a wonderful way to create an art collective and collaborate with talented local artists! So I’m going to amend my advice and say that people should not only support local bands, but they should also buy a t-shirt!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://darethedarkness.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/olivedaresthedarkness
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/olivedaresthedarkness
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/olivedaresthedarkness

Image Credits

Photos by Ed Brantley