Mother Earth, Reindeer Tears, & Wildfires – A Q&A with ‘Follow Me Dark’

Follow Me Dark is a cinematic alt-rock band from Grass Valley, CA. Often compared to Deftones, Alice In Chains, and Nirvana, this band delivers an unforgettable mix of new and nostalgia with songs orchestrated to be larger then life. Their new video “As She Feeds” depicts the dark side of Mother Earth while exploring the extreme aspects of human emotion. The main character is beckoned into a strange and bizarre happening in the forest where she finds goddesses imbibing in a magical affair. The protagonist seems to be under a spell cast by supernatural forces, encouraging her to explore the sides of herself she doesn’t normally tap into – this in its essence is the very ethos of “Follow Me Dark”.

I had the opportunity to sit with Follow Me Dark and learn more about their journey, the California fires, and the stage of radio play today.

Hey Follow Me Dark! You just released your very first video since forming as a band. Was it a seamless experience and did everyone’s vision align in a synergistic way during the creative process?

We were blown away by how everybody came through to make the video something special. From the costumes, makeup, cast and crew, and location, things unfolded fortuitously and with ease.

You say that the lyrics are inspired by the Hindu Goddess Kali. Kali’s earliest appearance was as a destroyer of evil forces. How does this relate to the lyrical element of your music and do you feel that this ultimately serves as a component of your bands ethos?

Destruction as an element of creation. We are a heavy band but have a positive message. Each of us has evil inside but can choose how to conduct ourselves and define our own morality. We’re taking our evolution into our own hands.

You’re from Grass Valley, CA. Have the fires and events surrounding them affected your creative process this year?

Yeah and with these power outages, it feels a bit apocalyptic which is reflected in our sound. But everything has worked out fine for us so far. We have learned to relax and ride the wave.

The video for your new single “As She Feeds” depicts a woman being lead into some sort of secret gathering of people imbibing in masked outfits – do you have any funny or interesting stories from the making of this video? I imagine it was a lot to coordinate.

It was a lot to coordinate. Luckily, all of those people are friends. Everyone was contributing to make this video happen. In the thick of the shoot, one of our cast members took too much LSD, became convinced that we are an actual cult, ran away barefoot, and jumped over a barbed wire fence. He was fine the next day, though.

What are your thoughts about the presence of guitar on the radio today? There’s been an in depth discussion about how, with the rise of Hip Hop in mainstream Pop, guitar has slowly disappeared as a result. Do you think this is true? And if so, what are your feelings on this?I guess the larger question is, who bothers with radio? We are entering the age of Neuralink and pretty soon people will just be beaming concerts into their brain stems. Guitar rock is surviving and will survive, and there is room for bands that can innovate, write good songs and throw down.

Your sound is incredibly in sync. Lead us through the creative process; we’d love to know more about what goes into writing and producing a song amidst the four of you.

Most of our content comes from riffs that we developed individually and then brought to the group. We found that we rather serendipitously compliment each other’s sensibilities. A lot of the songs have kind of written themselves organically. It’s a great feeling since a lot of these songs are very personal.

What are your dream cities to tour through? This could be anywhere in the world – we want to hear from all of you.

(Stephen) I have always felt like there is a strong hunger in certain parts of the world for a genre-pushing heavy alternative, I have a great feeling that touring Latin America, Eastern & Southern Europe, and parts of Asia and Africa would be an extraordinary experience.

-(SEAN) Serbia would be best. And San Francisco.

-(Jim) Tokyo, Berlin, Nashville, and Seattle.

-(Elliott) I think Rio would really like us. In the states, Austin, Boulder, New Orleans.

How do you feel your music plays a role in your community? Tell us a little more about the Grass Valley scene – is your music influenced at all by your location?

Music brings people together and Grass Valley is a true community with a ton of musicians. We are blessed to know a lot of really great, interesting, creative yet grounded people who have settled out here in the foothills. It’s an easygoing pace of life combined with a lot of people who have had very interesting and diverse experiences and have been around the block a few times. It’s been a setting that has encouraged us to be ourselves and to really go for it.Favorite drink to sip on stage during a performance – do you have a preference?

(Jim) Guinness.

(Elliott) Pabst. Blue. Ribbon. Reindeer tears.

(Sean) Beer if I’m chilling, tequila if I’m feeling frisky.

(Stephen) Absinthe, or the vapors of the audience.

What’s next for “Follow Me Dark”? We’d love to hear a bit about your plans for 2020.

Another video, and an EP release early next year. West coast tour. Some festivals in the area next summer. We’re hoping to make enough to get our Neuralinks installed. It’s looking like a great year.

You can follow ‘Follow Me Dark’ on Instagram or Facebook. To check out their most recent video “As She Feeds” visit their Youtube channel and give it a ‘like’!