Darrel W. Herbert doesn't necessarily expect you to remember his name: In a recent email press release announcing his new band, the subject line simply read "Former Toadies Guitarist Forms New Band," nevermind Herbert's time spent in Tomorrowpeople or his recent three-year stint as a recording engineer for legendary New York City-based producer Nile Rodgers.
How humble. Of course, that doesn't mean Herbert doesn't want you to hear the music he's recently produced under the banner of his initials, DWH. He does--in fact, he just kindly passed along an mp3 our way for DC9 readers to download. The song's called "Before The Hammer" (check it out after the jump) and it's the second song on DWH's just-released debut EP, called, quite simply, EP.
Clearly, Herbert doesn't put too much stock in the whole branding concept.
Nor does he put too much stock in his voice, apparently: Originally, Herbert never intended to front this new project. But, begrudgingly, thanks to support from his backing players bassist Nate Perry and, his fellow DFW product, drummer Mitch Marine (formerly of Tripping Daisy, Brave Combo and, yes, Smash Mouth), Herbert, who couldn't find a singer to match his musical style in either New York City or his new home in Los Angeles, eventually took the reins of DWH's vocals.
"After I moved to LA, I started working on my own voice out of frustration and eventually started writing material that fit my limitations," Herbert says in an email interview. "It took a while to develop a style that I liked, but once I did, I played some of the demos for Mitch and he really encouraged me, so we started the group together. I like to work and it was a personal challenge to complete my own album, something I've always wanted to do."
Bonus mp3:
DWH -- "Before The Hammer"
DWH -- "Before The Hammer"
The resulting short-player, as you can hear above, features a softer sound than the Toadies'--but not all that far off from Tomorrowpeople's pleasing alternative/indie rock.
"The four songs on this EP are a teaser, culled from the 12 that we have recorded," Herbert writes. "I'd like to get somebody to pick up the full album and release it.I still like albums, even though every half-baked article about the music industry always claims the album is dead. I'm still buying 'em!"
As for any other immediate plans, beyond a few showcases scheduled around Los Angeles, Herbert isn't yet sure.
"We're just getting off the ground here," he writes. "I do want to get out and play this stuff on the road though. Nate and Mitch are awesome musicians and I'm having a blast playing with them."
