Slightly frazzled and wearing a blue suit, there he was, starring me down from atop the soapbox in front of Lee’s Palace. Megaphone pressed against his lips, he’s screaming at me. “It’s here! Prepare. Repent. The apocalypse is upon us and the only thing that can save you from the end of days is the electrifying musical experience inside these doors! Power-pop is your saviour. Power-pop is the soundtrack to the end of the world!”
That’s the scenario I had made-up in my head as I walked down Bloor Street… and it’s the scenario I was kinda hoping to have walked into… but alas, it was not to happen. There was no evangelist greeting me at the outside, so I quietly walked through the doors into the afternoon darkness of Lee’s, where the boys were up on stage finishing up soundcheck. Catchy hooks? Check. A name that hints at the apocalypse? Check. Blue suits? Disaster. Where are the blue suits? Dammit boys, go change into your blue suits and let this interview begin… It’s Doomsday Darling!
LL: I put my Google powers to work and found out that Max Farbe played with Sweet Tooth and Dream Soda, and Dylan Barros has the Shakin’ Still project and also played with Sweet Tooth… then we have Dustin Legault, who according to Google is either an expert in B&E who was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant in 2018, or if we’re to believe Facebook, he’s a “Musician/Band”.. which is it Dustin….
Dustin: I’m legally not allowed in Quebec… [laughs] So I went to school with Max. We took the same music program in college and graduated the same class. And then you guys [Max & Dylan] worked at HMV together, and it was like, “We should start a fucking rock and roll band.” And then I roadied for you guys, in a way.
Max: We refer to Dusty as an honorary Sweet Tooth member because the second we had a song that was basically there, we would send it over to Dustin to get his stamp of approval?
Dustin: I was George Martin-ing for them [laughs].
Dylan: I guess I’m the connecting link between us because, I’ve been writing songs with Dustin for years and same thing with Max. We got together the first night, and it was like, “You play guitar too? Let’s jam.” We got together and we were writing songs immediately and recording them in my basement. So it made sense—I had a project with him [Max] and was writing stuff with Dustin for years—It made sense to come together.
LL: So the three of you write? What’s the process? Do you all bring individual stuff to the table? Is there like a Lennon / McCartney and one is the George who sort of works by himself, or is it or is it like Lennon / McCartney / McLennon?
Dustin: We all will kind of bring in a half-baked idea and then the other two bring it to its full potential. They’ll fill in the pieces that I don’t see and vice-versa for all their stuff. There’s a couple of songs that are a genuine collaborative effort but generally, somebody has an idea and we just build on it.
LL: That’s great.
Dustin: We all bring something completely different to the table, so that’s really fun.
Max: All of our styles compliment each other really well, so when you bring it all together, it’s a great mix.
LL: Since you all have side projects, do you guys separate stuff? Like when you come up with something, do you think, “Oh, this will work for Doomsday, Darling! and this is sort of mine over here.”
Dylan: We kind of do that.
Dustin: I try to bring in my best for this project and the other stuff I keep for myself.
Dylan: There’s some stuff I’m putting aside too that I think maybe won’t work or is a little too “Dylan-sounding”.
Dustin: But any songs that we’ve brought in that are “too me” or “too Max” or “too Dylan,” the other two usually, say, “No, this is our band. We can do whatever the fuck we want to.”
Dylan: That’s the cool thing about this band and the power pop genre, it’s almost hard to define. There’s so many different iterations… In a way, we’re not just one genre. It’s like every song ends up taking on something different. “Oh, that’s really fucking cool. I want to make something like that.” We’re not in a box where we say, “Oh, we don’t write a synthy songs because we’re not a synthy kind of band.”
LL: That’s cool. So, the inevitable name question. Who wants to speak to the name?
Dylan: As a democratic band, we came up with a lot of bad names.
Max: …a lot of bad names. Doomsday, Darling!, if I remember correctly, was a lyric in a song.
Dustin: We were writing something and it was a lyric originally, and Max was the one who had the moment…
Max: Just that light bulb moment…
Dustin: Ding!
Max: It went off… and I love alliteration as well. That shit is my go to. So when I saw Doomsday, Darling! and I was saying it over and over, I was like, I think that’s the one. I was like, “Guys, before we go any further, we’ve got to talk about this.”
Dylan: I remember just hearing that. “What about Doomsday, Darling?” The imagery. I’m picturing fallout… vintage suits… the end is near… Doomsday. There were a lot of inspiring images I could picture from that name—hence the suits.
LL: Album-wise, super exciting that you guys are releasing something. Favourite songs? Ugh, textbook question.
Dustin: Personally, “Far Away From Here’” is my favourite.
Dylan: I’ll say something nice about Max’s, “Fall Behind.” I loved the energy when we were recording that one specifically. The energy coming out of his voice… at that moment in the room, we were hyping him up so strongly and he was just consumed.
Dustin: We’re like his cheerleaders.
Max: For me, [sighs] not to pick one of my own songs, but “90s Movie,” is one that has a lot of meaning for me because I’ve had that song in my head, and just in the general aura of the world, for a long, long time, and I just never knew what to do with it. I had my solo project, Dream Soda, that at that moment, I kind of felt it could be for this, but I knew something wasn’t right if I released it under that name. Something wasn’t clicking with that. I knew I wanted to get it out there but I felt like it’s not just my thing… it’s a collaborative thing and I want to grow it. I brought it to the guys and I said, “Listen, I have this song. Let me know what you think.” And we all brought it to this level.
Dustin: I went home and I slapped on synthesizers. It was fucking great.
[Dustin takes over the interview]
Dustin: Tyler. What’s your favourite song on the EP?
Tyler: As somebody removed, it’s hard to choose. It changes each listen.
Dustin: That’s fair.
Tyler: I feel like sometimes it’s “The Day Begins,” and sometimes it’s “Baby, No, It’s True,” or “Far Away From Here.” Then other times, there are parts of “90s Movie,” where like I’m like, “No, this is the one.” It’s hard to pick.
Dustin: What’s your favourite one to play?
Max: I love playing, “Maybe Tomorrow.” That’s the one song, for me, where the live performance of that song, is so different from the actual recording. Nothing makes me happier than seeing a band live and hearing one of my favourite songs in a different light. It’s like, “I love the recording of this. This is so great.” And then you go to the show and you’re like, “I can’t see this song the same way, in the best way possible,” you know?
Dustin: What about you, Tyler?
Tyler: Maybe, “The Day Begins,” just because I find it the easiest to play… [laughter] What I like about it is when we do that little bell shot—the alarm clock.
Dustin: Very “Mr. Blue Sky”
Tyler: Exactly. I love that part… it’s like imagery.
Dylan: My favourite song to play from the EP has to be, “Far Away From Here,” because that one is very dynamic and I get a big kind of spaghetti western lead in it. There’s a lot of space in the verses and there’s a big build at the end.
LL: Nice. Dustin?
Dustin: Probably also “Maybe Tomorrow.” It’s a bitch to sing but by the time we get to that ending is the most satisfying thing ever.
LL: I hear people say, “there is no good music anymore”… I see lot more creative people at work making music of all genres today, you just may have to look for it… thoughts?
Dustin: It’s not getting spoon fed to you.
LL: But it was harder to find before…
Dustin: I lucked out. I had the older brothers with a big age gap, so I was stealing their stuff that I wasn’t supposed to be listening to.
LL: Now it’s all there on your iPhone. I think it’s easier to find if you if you look just a little bit.
Dylan: Spotify will almost put you on a journey of stuff you like. You listen to this one style of song and then they’ll just start auto-playing shit that’s similar.
LL: Spotify’s “Doomsday, Darling! Radio” has one of my current favourite Canadian bands on it—Fast Romantics.
Max: Oh yeah? That’s cool. I love Fast Romantics, that’s awesome!.
LL: Fast Romantics reminds me of something. There are so many great bands who never get heard by the masses… do you find the whole business frustrating? Or are you just having fun and what comes from it is fine with you?
Max: I mean, for me personally, as long as we get to share our music in any way, I’m just happy with that. And if somehow, down the line it comes to this place where we’re like, this is now our full-time thing, amazing. I just enjoy playing music. I enjoy making music in any capacity, truly. I say this all the time, I’m just happy to be here… I’m just happy to be here.
LL: That’s great.
Dustin: [In a Mancunian accent] We’re also the best fucking band in the fucking world. Go fucking Man City, man.
Dylan: Fuck Blur.
LL: Last question is regarding AI… What are your thoughts on people using it to potentially churn out pop hits?
Max: I’m conflicted with it…
Dustin: Same here. I can see both sides of it.
Max: Part of me thinks, it’s wrong to steal work from people…
Dustin: It’s lazy
Max: It is lazy but at the same time, there was an AI cover of a Weeknd song with Michael Jackson, and I don’t know what it was, but i remember thinking, damn, this is really cool.
Dustin: I think people are going to figure out how to use it in a really creative way—we haven’t done it yet but It’ll be like, “I’ve never heard anything like that before.” It’s like, “Hey, we found a new colour you can paint with.”
LL: Well, it’s Kraftwerk, isn’t it? Kraftwerk comes out and those sounds did not exist in music before them.
Dustin: Right. So I see the plus in that, but I also see the laziness of, “write me a verse.”
Max: The way I would describe it… I’m cautiously curious.
Dustin: I don’t know if I’d ever use it.
Max: I don’t want people to take advantage of it, but I’m curious to see what they can create with it. I’m all about creating. I love creating, so I don’t want to knock people for creating something but at the same time, I don’t want people to be taken advantage of because of “artistic liberties,” you know? So I’m cautiously curious, which could be a good band name, Cautiously Curious.
LL: Write it down.
Dustin: It also scares the shit out of me. I’ve seen enough movies to know how crazy it can be.
[laughter]
WORDS: DAVID GANHÃO
PHOTOS: MICHEAL NEAL
