Interview: Getting to Know DarkFlow (Written)

DarkFlow is a Swiss ‘shock metal’ band blending horror and metal. Their unique theatrical shows and dark music will immerse you in a world of darkness, and in this interview we get to know them a little better.

1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.

SH: Well, I’ve been a musician for many years now, and. Since 2019 I’ve been working solely on DarkFlow which has been the most challenging project I’ve done. It’s very cool to finally put your creativity in albums and create your own universe. I just love it.

2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?

SH: We do Shock Metal, Theatre mixed with metal music, of course we have a heavy/thrash/symphonic/goth metal band, but it all sums up as a Shock Metal act.

3. What’s currently keeping you busy? A new album/EP/single release? A new video? Playing live, or planning ahead?

SH: We’re in the midst of planning ahead, and there’s a lot to do. There’s a lot of booking to do, and as well find people who work in booking and management.

4. What is about this current period that is particularly exciting for you?

SH: There’s a lot of exciting things, we just released an album a few months ago, we’re doing all the promotion we can, at the same time we’re trying to find external people to work with us and now we’re in the moment that either everything works or it might get really hard.

5. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what it means to you.

SH: It’s important to do something you love, all we’ve done means everything to me, I want to do all I can to achieve good concerts and do great shows onstage. I am very dedicated to doing everything I can to get where we need to. But it will never be easy. Doing music and being a musician known enough to do cool shows is hard work. And I will not rest until I can achieve it.

6. Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health?

SH: My music is not something you get out of a treatment and I don’t see music as a mental treatment. I think music is the most wonderful thing to express yourself. Even if I’m full of health issues, music is something I do for passion and not to use it as a treatment or therapy for nothing, if not, I would be completely giving myself into my work to survive ahahahaha. The important thing is that music is passion and you do it with your heart. Never to give excuses but to give to the people something new and use your power of creativity to the listeners.

7. It can also be incredibly challenging, more so in the modern times. What have been some challenging aspects of making music and how have you overcome them?

SH: Doing music is hard, extremely hard these days, not only talking about having the funds to do said music, but to exist in the musical scene, find concerts, try to find a label or even agents with the power to lift your career as it must be done. Music should come from the heart and the difficulties are there, also music is something very hard to achieve if your goal is to become a rockstar then don’t do music. The goal should be to do the best you can and make people feel what your music is about. As a shock metal act, we need to give music that makes you feel you’re in the theatres experiencing something new and scary.

8. How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Having to put out content constantly, promoting across several different social media platforms, and having your success measured in likes and follows?

SH: When it comes to online aspects, that’s really hard because you need to exist everywhere but there are so many different streaming sites, social medias and all those things. We do our best but it’s hard to keep doing it.

9. How do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself?

SH: What is fulfilling is to have quality music recorded and done, hearing your music and saying “oh this is the work we’ve done for years and now it’s finally sounding as it must”.

10. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support you?

SH: If you like what we do and you know managers or agents, local promoters etc, talk to them about DarkFlow. We need to be seen, the product is of quality and our shows are up to the highest standards. We just need the push to finally be touring and presenting our job to all those who would like it!

11. Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?

SH: I love watching movies, having beautiful moments with people, playing cards and trying to maintain myself in a healthy body to keep doing all what is doing music.

12. Where can people find you?

Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | BlueSky