ION INDIE MAGAZINE October 2015, Volume 17 | Page 115

ION: When did you know that this was what you wanted to do? When did you know that you wanted to be a
rock star?
Darby: I think everybody wants to be a rock star, kind of, but that’s not what I wanted to be. I never wanted
to be a rock star. I’ve just always enjoyed music, all kinds. I grew up with music, doing music, and it just kind
of evolved. I don’t know that there was ever a point where I said that I wanted to do band stuff. It just evolved
from playing whatever in band in school and playing instruments like trumpet and drums and listening to
Rock bands--just wanting to do the next thing, just being able to write. The biggest thing is just being able
to write, whether it’s good music or not. I write a lot of bad music, but I hopefully write a lot of good music
too. It’s kind of like therapy, in a way. Writing is a way to channel that energy. It’s fun…it’s a creative outlet,
so I guess it’s that kind of desire to create something that doesn’t exist, and hopefully turn it into something
that you enjoy, look at, or listen to and feel proud of it.
ION: When did Fiftywatt get started?
Darby: Fiftywatt started around 2012. It was me and THOMAS DOW on guitar, TODD DONNELLY on bass and
KIRK CHRISTNER on drums. We would just jam out in Thomas’ house above the garage. We’d all been in
different bands, doing different music, then Todd came on board, and he kind of brought on a cool vibe to
the whole thing--that’s when we actually started taking it a bit more seriously and started playing shows-mostly as a cover band, going out and playing cover shows just to get some exposure, get some stage time.
That’s how it started. It just stemmed from that. I’ve always been a writer. I’ve always written music--not so
much lyrics and everything, but just music in general. I started writing music and showing it to the guys,
wanting to do some original stuff, and they were really cool and receptive to it. We want to perform more
original music over covers, so we can still go out and play a full show of original music. We try to mix it up as
much as we can. I would say at the stage we’re at now, we’re trying to move more and more toward original
music only. We can play for hours with our original material and throw in some covers that the crowd loves.
ION: Speaking of writing, you know that my favorite song from you guys is “Sellout”. What’s the story behind
the song?
Darby: You know, I don’t know. It’s one of those songs that can have a variety of meanings, but for me at
least, everything starts on the guitar. I had this riff on the guitar, it had a good vibe to it; some real mojo.
That’s where it starts. I just record my guitar and I just started listening to it over and over again in the car,
on my iPad, iPod, or whatever. I listened to it, and it grew on me, it gave me these specific images…like
someone selling out to follow the crowd, going with what’s popular, and not following what’s in their heart
and just be who they are. We see that a lot more in our culture, in our society today. People just going for the
money and not having the patience to work for it. It deals mostly with selling yourself out.
ION: I’ve been listening to the EP quite a lot. I came across the song “Over Us”. It sounds like a very personal
song. What’s the story?
Darby: It’s definitely a more personal song, more personal than a song like “Hell Bent Halo”. It comes from
having that hurdle that you have to get over sometimes when you’ve been in a relationship with someone, or
you loved someone that’s moved on--or maybe they’ve passed on and no longer here. There’s a lot of
obstacles in life and it’s not necessarily about one person. It’s about trying to continue to move forward and