INTERVIEW: Entering ‘The Dark’ with Artifas
Photo: Artifas’ new album is called Reflections. Photo courtesy of the band / Provided by O’Donnell Media Group with permission.
Artifas recently wrapped up their summer tour with Silvertung, which found the guys in the band bringing tunes, both old and new, to their many fans across the United States. Some of those new songs, including the single “The Dark,” come from the band’s recent album, Reflections. Scottie Somerville is the lead vocalist for the rock group, and he worked for a long time with lead guitarist Cody Criswell on the new recording. For this album, they decided to write and work independently, according to press notes, and that meant more freedom to make their own creative choices.
“We really wanted to make sure we didn’t stick ourselves into a certain box with the sound, and we just went with what we wanted,” Somerville said in a recent phone interview. “Some songs got a little more easy vibe, and some songs got a little heavier side to them. We just went with what we really wanted. I think there’s downsides and upsides to it. I would say that the downside would be that you don’t have a time limit, so you can spend days and days redoing something or scratching something out and starting it back over. Sometimes that can make you prolong [the process].”
When Artifas added a few of these new tunes into the set list for the tour with Silvertung, the band members were pleasantly surprised that the fans enjoyed the new directions they have taken. “We played a couple songs for the first time on this tour, and they’ve been going really well,” he said. “One of them, ‘The Dark,’ that we just dropped a music video for, it’s started turning into my favorite song to do live. As far as the tour with the Silvertung guys, it’s been great. Those guys are class. We get along so well with them, and we just had a good time every night.”
“The Dark” is a song about everyone’s dark side. Somerville said this darkness makes somebody question themselves and maybe not be the best person they can be. Essentially, someone can be their own worst enemy, the dark cloud that’s hovering overhead. How the tune was developed is vastly different than how they developed songs back when the band formed in 2011.
“In the past, we would just get in a room and jam it out,” Somerville said about the recording process. “We weren’t really digging too much into what makes a good song. We were just doing what we thought was fun, and we still do that to a high extent. But we dove deeper. With this album, one of the things we tried to really focus on was being more vulnerable and letting those insecurities come out in the lyrics, that way people [could] relate to each song in a certain way. … That’s why we called the album Reflections because it’s reflecting on you as a person and your emotions, so there are songs like ‘The Dark’ that are about you being your own worst enemy. And there are also songs like ‘Legacy’ that is about following your dreams and what you leave behind when you leave this world. So, yeah, we grew a lot as songwriters in this process. We’ve learned from working with so many people through the years, little tips and tricks here and there, and little things that help guide the process along.”
Artifas has been going strong for more than a decade. They have had lineup changes, but the vision remains intact. In fact, Somerville remembers the early days with Criswell and how they settled on their band name. At first, the two chose a different name, but soon enough they found out that the moniker had been taken by another group.
“All right, we need to come up with something different, something more unique,” Somerville said. “We started digging and digging and looked into Sanskrit … and the word Artifas meant duality, like the balance of good and evil. And the other definition was surviving through your art, and we thought that was super cool. Originally that word is spelled artifice, so we changed it to ‘-as’ at the end, that way nobody else would have it. … And it just kind of stuck from there.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Artifas’ recent album is called Reflections. Click here for more information.
