Damn the Weather
Phoenix, Arizona, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2014
Music
Press
Phoenix, Arizona band Damn the Weather just released a new single entitles ‘Poltergeist’ which you can listen to below.
For Fans of: City and Colour, Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, The Dear Hunter
Lead singer Shane Hunt took some time to share with us the creative process that spawned the song, as well as the direction of the band. Here’s what he has to say-
Poltergeist is a peculiar composition. It originated from an evening of my sitting alone in my darkened bedroom noodling on an acoustic while my cat intensely stared at an upper corner of the room. I assumed she was honing in on a bug, or the like – so I dismissed any relevance to her attentiveness. However, she repeatedly left the bed and then returned to the same spot, and began making noises (which was out of character for this particular feline). So I flipped on the light, and akin to the lack of a reveal of the demon character in Insidious – there was nothing in the corner. No pests to be found. So I began a conversation with my cat wherein I assumed she was tracking some sort of paranormal activity in the room… and in a very Stephen King way, concocted a tale wherein the previous resident of my condo had been dispatched in the room.
I began to contemplate the activities that occurred in that room in particular that the ghost would then be privy to, and the thought was a bit entertaining and yet wholly unnerving. That was the germination of the lines in the chorus of, “ I’ve been sleeping with ghosts / Take what you want if that’s what you need…” Later the lyrical content morphed more toward the idea of being haunted by your past relationships to the extent that you can’t move on – that you have to surrender a portion of yourself to that time and place in order to become who you want to be moving forward. A piece of you dies when someone leaves (or you leave), and you have to fill that void – you have to become someone else in a certain regard. Thus, the climax of, “Take what you want and just let me leave,” speaks to the idea of littering your past with pieces of your soul, and the growth that subsequently occurs as we evolve.
The song initially was a very soft and somber in tone – and sounded more like an Iron & Wine composition. That said, once I started fiddling with the idea of presenting it to the band the tone shifted drastically. I pitched the chords down, removing the capo and playing the same notes in a lower scale – and gradually the tone darkened. Then it became a bit more raucous, and with Jon adding his haunting bends throughout and Sam’s iconic violin hook causing the parts to congeal– the song became an entirely different animal. The first thought I had when I heard Asher’s beat was that it evoked the intro drums of Alice in Chains’, “No Excuses,” which instantly enthralled me… so this song has had multiple metamorphoses to get it into the space it currently inhabits.
Once we hit the studio with Dan Parker, the focus shifted again. We merged lines from the bridge into the chorus, we slid hooks around – and Dan recommended we do something tonally similar to The 1975. That altered our approach a bit, and resulted in that infectious muted guitar hook Jon does in the intro and some of my punchy, staccato rhythm parts. There are many little inspired moments like that which originated in the studio – so the track took on a whole new life during that process. I’m really thrilled with the results, and that’s owed to everyone involved – from Dan’s vision, Jon and Sam finding space to add atmospheric elements, Mike driving the song with that monstrous bass tone, and Asher just being a beast on the kit. I adore this rendition. It made me fall in love with the track all over again.
I think that it’s a single that is certainly indicative of where we’re headed as we prep for the concept EP’s that we’re formulating at the moment. We have a much better handle on how to orchestrate our compositions – utilize dynamic and hooks in a way that allows the song to breathe and doesn’t just drown your eardrums. Overall, it makes me excited for what’s on the horizon – because we are growing more and more ambitious about our future releases, flirting with multiple genres, and becoming artistically schizophrenic. We won’t be married to any one style moving forward, which will hopefully diversify our audience allure as well. There will eventually be an album that begins with a flamenco beat, later ceding to poly-rhythmic space rock, and ultimately morphing into a punk anthem to close… so we aren’t exactly working off a template.
Thanks Shane! - Ampkicker.com
"... Local group Damn the Weather opened the evening with their brand of folk-rock and the perfect touch of violin. The talented quintet played a range of newer songs, telling stories with their lyrics that had plenty of friends and fans stomping their feet and clapping their hands. The end of the set brought a soft and unexpected cover of Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle” that had an initially shocked audience laughing and singing along." - Atlas Artist Group
Discography
Speechless (Single) - 10/4/14
Poltergeist (Single) - 4/5/16
Saturnalia - Volume One : Preludes and Nocturnes 4/20/18
Talk to Me (Single) - 3/15/19
Saturnine (Single) - 10/4/19
Vertigo (Single) - 11/27/19
Photos
Bio
Damn the Weather is a group that is stylistically schizophrenic. Their sound shifts like tectonic plates, creating an ever-evolving aesthetic that is nearly impossible to pigeon-hole. Featuring multiple songwriters with distinct styles and voices, the band is an auditory amalgam and visual mélange, making them an attraction in every sense of the word.
Forming in 2014, Damn the Weather strove from its inception to be more than a conventional independent rock act. Melding the orchestral quality of violin motifs with lush vocal harmonies, atmospheric guitar, and a dynamic rhythm section was the first step in differentiating themselves from many local Phoenix acts; however, it would certainly not be the last. Following the release of several successful singles, the band is in the process of writing and recording a collection of concept EP’s entitled The Saturnalia Saga. The first of these EP’s, was released in 2018. Entitled, “Preludes and Nocturnes,” the album introduces us to actor Andrew Walker and contract killer Alia Freeman, two strong personalities in the midst of a torrid love affair that is beginning to fray around the edges. As the band continues to flesh out the story, they subsequently released a series of singles from the series in 2019: “Talk to Me,” “Saturnine,” and “Vertigo.”
In explaining the rationale behind creating a series of concept recordings, co-vocalist and guitarist Shane Hunt offered, “To put it succinctly, Saturnalia is our attempt at creating a ‘modern-day romance.’ So much of our culture is obsessed with celebrity, media (social and otherwise), tragedy, voyeurism, hedonism, and the like - it’s impossible to stage an affair of the heart these days without appropriately incorporating these elements. If you were writing Romeo and Juliet in the present day, the Montagues & the Capulets become the Kardashians and the Trumps. That puts a slightly different complexion on the matter of two people falling in love, especially when celebrity or parity is introduced.
We wanted to write a collection of songs or stories that played with those themes while also falling in-line with the trappings of traditional concept albums. Pink Floyd’s struggles with fame, relevancy, addiction, and sanity from Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall, or the ideas of pre-ordination, romance, misdeeds, and redemption in the works of The Dear Hunter were motifs we hope to echo with our compositions. Subsequently, we wound up being genre schizophrenic with the songs, to play with tones and moods to present an emotional and compositional palate we may not have otherwise explored. There’s hyperbole involved with having a millionaire film-star fall in love with an assassin; but through that you are able to touch on relevant issues (fidelity, codependency, addiction, amorality, celebrity, objectification, violations of privacy, entitlement, politics, etc.) without being didactic or preachy. So we are striving to be entertaining and substantive both with the nature of the music itself, and the type of story we’re telling with it.”
The band continues to perform all across the state of Arizona while continuing to produce new material in their ongoing saga. See below for their upcoming show schedule, and pop over to their music pages to sample some of their engrossing songcraft.
Band Members
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