PREMIERE: The Light The Dark Stir Up Sombre Life Reflections with 'Dark Blue'

We all know the saying "Life Life, No Regrets", but how many of us actually live our lives to the fullest?

As we get older, we're dragged in different directions and it's not until our later years where we sit back and reflect on what we've achieved with our lives that we truly see the bigger picture of where we've come and what we've done in that time. We're all for following the dream and crossing off those goals/life achievements here at WoS HQ and today we're looking at a band who have penned a song about those of us who look back and realise we've missed a lot that we shouldn't have.

Perth six-piece The Light The Dark have kindly let us premiere their new song 'Dark Blue' which is thought-provoking melodic metalcore track about the aforementioned subject manner. If you were to look back at your life in 20 years, can you say you truly did all you wanted to and achieved all you could have with your time? Or will you sit there with remorse wondering what could have been if you only chose a different direction!

Don't dwell on it too much though, there's still time to take control of your destiny and make the most of what's yet to come and this anthem may just be the thing to kickstart the motivation to change. We sat down with the band for a chat all about the song's conception, their history and what's next for the core upcomers...

Lads, you have been hiding from me for far too long and I'm so stoked our first encounter was with 'Dark Blue'. Before we get to chatting about it, tell us how TLTD came to be?

This new song is fire - smooth cleans, group vox, djent filled instrumentals and screams that are so crisp they send chills down your spine! Seriously the second that scream kicked in, I felt a soundwave from my speakers! What's the story with 'Dark Blue'?

Glad you enjoyed it! The song was originally a short interlude that Josh wrote vocals for, but once we heard the demo in the studio it was clear we needed to turn it into a proper song. The lyrics are about a dream Josh had about looking back on life and the things that he never achieved, a kind of sombre reflection on the things he wished he had done. It’s about the failures of life and getting older and wiser and having more clarity, looking back on the mistakes you made and the people you lost, and just the feelings of wishing you had made more of the opportunities you missed.

Deep and relatable as fuck! For the clip, you've gone for the always popular metalcore band shoots video in the forest setting - what attracted you guys to the area you filmed in?

Perth has some amazing scenic locations, we always try to take advantage of them in our videos but to be honest we’re running out of spots! It also doesn’t hurt to shoot somewhere remote so you don’t have bystanders walking through the shot every fifteen minutes.

We’ve shot done videos with actors and more intricate storylines in the past, but with the COVID lockdowns it’s a bit difficult to coordinate, so with this video we were happy to go back to basics.

Put the spotlight on you boys, you deserve it. I kinda sense a few similarities between you boys and The Amity Affliction - who else would you say played a part in shaping the band's sound of this single?

We all have such a wide variety of musical interests it’s amazing that we can form a cohesive sound at all. I think that’s what gives us our unique sound though. For example, Ivan is a huge Cannibal Corpse and deathcore fan which you can hear in his vocal style, while Josh leans more towards melodic artists. Sammy is right into classical music and hip hop, so he brings a very interesting mix to writing sessions, and the rest of us are all over the map.

They do say opposites attact and it's worked in your favour! You've been doing the rounds for the past 8+ years, in that time Perth's heavy scene has grown incredibly with stacks of bands coming up the ranks and proving the West Side scene is killing it. What are you boys doing to make sure you stand out amongst the crowd?

We have a pretty unique vocal combination with Ivan’s deathcore style and Josh’s very melodic cleans. We’ve also been lucky enough to work with some awesome producers who have bought out the best in us, and we use a lot of synths, violins and things to really make our mixes shine.

We just try to be as professional and polished as we can and that applies to our recorded music and our live shows.

Speaking of live shows, you've got your EP Launch Show next month on Friday the 13th (creeepy) in Perth (Tickets Here). Give us a sneak peek of what we can expect should we come along?

This will be our first show since just before COVID, so we have an entirely new set with mostly new songs as well as the old crowd favourites. We’re also really excited to be playing with some of Perth’s best muso’s in Nasma, Rin Rin, Sedative and Desert Dogs. It’s a bit of a mixed line up so there’s something for everyone, and we’re playing at the brand new Lynott’s Lounge which is a really great venue.

‍I'm intrigued too - if you could jump on a four spot tour with three other bands from Australia, who would you choose?

Oh man, this would cause a huge argument! We’d have to meet somewhere in the middle but I think we could all agree on Thy Art Is Murder, they are absolute legends. I think we’d have to go TIAM, Make Them Suffer, and Polaris. That would be a sick tour.

That's a big oooft lineup right there! With your new single out tomorrow and launch show inbound is there anything else in the pipeline we should keen an eye out for?

'Dark Blue' is the single from the EP Drown Together, Die Alone, which comes out on the 6th of August! We’ve already started working on some new music as well, and we’re going to have a bunch of new merch for the show so head to our socials and keep your eyes peeled.

Done and done (links below too). Annnd your final thoughts for those reading your words?

Everybody cross all your fingers that we don’t end up in a lockdown and have to push the show! Otherwise stay safe out there, and we can’t wait to see you all on the 13th of August at Lynott’s Lounge!

I'm sure with Daddy McGowan looking after you, you're in good hands!

Interview by Paul 'Browny' Brown @brownypaul

Find The Light The Dark on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify

'Dark Blue' is out tomorrow. Stream it below!