Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
D Ari: To me, D Ari as a project is a display of my love for breaking the rules or illusions of music as we know it. I really enjoy experimenting harmonically and sonically in all of my tracks and in production. I’ve always felt slightly alienated from those around me in certain aspects and I believe that that side of me has cultivated itself into something truly great, which makes the sound and image of D Ari.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc. What is the band’s lineup?
D Ari: I’m from Dallas, Texas, I lived there all of my life up until I was 19 when I moved to Los Angeles. I didn’t start making music until I was almost 15 and I just fell in love with the process. Back then, I was just writing rap songs using type beats on youtube, but overtime it just became more and more serious to me, leading me to start learning how to produce. That’s when I really discovered my sound and who I was as an artist.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
D Ari: My music is made to be felt deeply, so if I’m writing a song and it has no level of emotional intimacy, it will never be that important to me, and probably won’t make it to the studio. I’m very inspired by all kinds of art, whether that be movies, fashion, paintings, I really do love it all, and I often imagine my music with abstract visuals as I’m creating it. I honestly don’t feel like every song I make has to be soul-crushing or anything, but it does have to come from a place of depth. Most of my songs have darker themes, regarding my experiences, or the things happening around me, I definitely to put an effort to not write about the same thing too often, so if you listen to my discography, there is a lot of variety.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
D Ari: I love that I’m building a brand and sound that I would’ve been obsessed with at any point in my life. There isn’t enough representation for people like me, so I’ve never really felt super connected to any celebrity or artist. I want there to be more hispanic people in the media and especially in the sphere I’m in. I also want my art to stand out on it’s own and make people realize that music is whatever you want it to be.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
D Ari: There’s honestly nothing that I’m more proud about in my life than who I have become through my career, as a musician, as a performer, as a person. I think my music career has transformed me into exactly who I’ve always wanted to be.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new
artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
D Ari: At this point in my career, I’m not too focused on promoting my music to everyone in the world. I’ve been making my way through the vocal program at Musicians Institute and I’m really trying to focus on graduating before I really put all my time and energy into promoting my music heavily. I do love posting on my Instagram for people interested in my music, there is a lot of cool media on there and it definitely keeps my fans and friends up to date with what I’m doing.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming D Ari: up?
D Ari: I’ve had a pretty steady stream of having 1-2 shows per month recently. I love making sick flyers for every show I play and I definitely do post about it a lot whenever a show is coming up. We’re trying to stick to just the LA area for now, maybe some cities on the outskirts of it too, but we are actually going to be playing the Redwood Bar and Grill on October 23, so I’m super excited for that, because I’ve never played there before.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
D Ari: In my opinion, most artists today wouldn’t have even a third of the attention they have now if it wasn’t for modern streaming sites. If we had to promote our music and sell it using vinyl or CDs like they did a while back, most artists would fold without the help of a record label, so it is pretty convenient for independent artists like myself.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
D Ari: Digital Bath by Deftones. Before I heard this song, I never really understood this kind of rock or the appeal of shoegaze (not that this is a shoegaze song), but I remember listening in the car when my friend put it on and completely melting into the music in the post chorus. Like, it sent shivers down my spine, and I listened to it for weeks straight, and it’s still probably one of my most listened to tracks on spotify. Besides that, I’ve always been a huge fan of Mars Argo’s voice and style when it comes to singing and her music. I love her whole discography.
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
D Ari: At the moment, I think the biggest thing the music industry has to change is their regulation on AI in music and media. People shouldn’t be able to make money off of anything that’s completely AI generated. It’s one thing to just have a video of frank sinatra singing a kurt cobain song that you don’t profit from, but when it becomes an AI artist that makes “original” music, it becomes pretty shaky because AI is just pulling from art that has already been made and destroys the purpose of what art is– human expression.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
D Ari: I have a few EP’s in the works for the next few months. My song “Bassplayer”, which just came out, is the second single for my upcoming EP, “Voice in the Stereo”, which might be my best body of work to date. For the foreseeable future I want to focus on creating EP after EP, and I want them all to have distinct sounds to them, just like if I was making an album. This next one is going to be pretty high energy with a lot of screaming vocals, but my next one will probably be slower and more emotional.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online, have you any Social Media links that you can share?
https://linktr.ee/im_d_ari
https://www.instagram.com/im_d_ari
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/d-ari/1536288292
Thank you for having me!
D Ari links:
Band/Artist location – Texas
You Tube – Soundcloud – X(Twitter) – Instagram – Apple –
Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – LinkTree –
Check our page for D Ari
