Imagine being placed in a time machine and brought to a seedy nightclub in Berlin May 27, 1927 at 3:33 a.m. Now imagine David Bowie and Tori Amos making out in a dark corner. THAT is exactly what Désar’s latest album “Beyond the Law” sounds like. Four years in production and having Boston-based musicians Frank Gerace & Cheryl Wanner (Dreamchild) , Ad Frank (for a duet of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day”), Mark Nathanson(Suki Tawdry) , Brian O’Neil(Waitiki) , and Richard Maddalo (Ultraplush) contributing. Désar’s album will be released May 27, 2008 in stores throughout the New England area and sold online through cdbaby.com, Apple iTunes, Amazon, Pocketgroup,Audio Lunch box, Great Indie Music, Pay Play, Napster, Buy Music,Inprodicon, Music Is Here, and Trade bit.
In the past 4 years since his neo-classical release “Dead Lover’s Society”, Désar (pronounced “Daay-Zarr ") embarked on several music projects that included 4 bands, 16 film soundtracks, music supervisory work, and acting. Using the revenue as a background extra in films such as "The Departed", "Brotherhood", "The Game Plan", "21", “Ghost of Girlfriend’s Past”, and “This Side Of Truth” he began production on his next album "Beyond The Law". The album is published and distributed by Désar’s independent label “Silent Spirit Records”.
Désar, will be performing throughout the New England area starting in June and will be performing in New York, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and San Francisco in September 2008.
PAIGE: Why did you choose the title “Beyond the Law”?
DESAR: I had various titles that I wanted to do for it. I love the 18th century and I feel I was misplaced in the wrong century and that I should be living in 1788. So the first title was to be “Above the Knee” with this kinky photo of my hand on a lady’s knee to be on the front cover. Then I started studying about the legend of the highwayman and thought it suited me better.
What was it like to work as a background extra to finance your album?
It was a unique experience. Because of the film tax credit in Massachusetts there is this large influx of filming being done here. So because I had done a considerable amount of work as a composer for film soundtracks and as a music supervisor it was kind of easy to get into it. I have met a lot of directors and actors from doing it and I quickly learned that celebrities are just regular people that have this inflated status through the media. I could have done a lot worse things to finance the album.
What influences you?
My biggest influence for my music is usually visual art. I am a fan of Basquiat and Andy Warhol. Whenever, I look at their work I start coming up with these stories in my head that I then write into lyrics. Music is constantly running in my head. I have to listen to music constantly. If I don’t hear must after about an hour I start getting music flooding in my head that I really want to start creating into a song.
What made you decide to do a duet with Ad Frank for Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day”?
I always wanted to do a duet with someone for an album. I originally thought of having a female to sing with but then I couldn’t get over this image of the video for “Lose My Eyes Forever” by Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne. So I came across the piano score for “Perfect Day” and I did my own arrangement of it and thought it would be cool to do a duet with Ad Frank. I heard him sing at a show around that same time and he had a cool tenor-range so I asked him.
There is one song on here that seems to really be different compared to the rest of the tracks on the album called “Babylon Train”. How did you come about making this song so different?
“Babylon Train” was the very last song that was recorded for the album. I record albums in a long process by writing the song and immediately recording it in the studio and then going back to writing the next song and then back to the studio. Most musicians and bands write all their music and then go to the studio for several weeks in recording. The first song on the album “Decaying Events” was written 3 years ago. Each song is this progression or creativity that was built on one another. The final song I had written very quickly one Friday night in a café in Salem in a matter of minutes. I chronicled every step of writing the song on my blog online. So everyone was reading my first lyric version, the very first scratch demo to the final recording, the second version, the third version and so forth. It was kind of scary to do that because I let everyone in my creative process but it also pushed me to get the song done. Frank Gerace (from Dreamchild) helped produce the song and did all the guitars on it and Cheryl Wanner (also from Dreamchild) did the bass. I just wanted this giant wall of sound of guitars and drums. It was a lot of fun to do.
I noticed there are some ambient street sounds on two of the tracks on the album. Where did you record that?
I recorded them when I was in London. There is a DJ in Boston by the name of Fred Yarm that does a lot of recordings of ambient sounds that he involves in his mixes. He inspired me to do recordings of my own. So for a period of 4 months I tried to record interesting things I encountered. There are some recordings from a protest that I walked by in London.
Four of your final tracks are from a movie called “Prometheus Triumphant” what made you decide to include this on your album?
I planned on releasing a soundtrack for “Prometheus Triumphant” but I thought that these pieces are so chaotic in nature that they deserve to be on this album. I am all over the place with this album so I felt it was a perfect fit. I like chaos in my music.
The full motion picture film Prometheus Truimphant from Mad Monkey Productions directed Jim Towns and Mike McKown (soundtrack by Désar) is currently being distributed and shown on the film festival circuit. . Two years in the making, Mad Monkey Productions' most ambitious project to date, Prometheus Truimphant, is a feature-length motion picture set against a backdrop of German Expressionist sexuality. It is also a hypnotic retelling of a very old tale about love, fate, death and resurrection.
The neo-classical release "Alice In Wonderland Suite" has been re-released ! Visit the official "Alice In Wonderland Suite" for more information. The album is the first formal suite composed by the artist and performed by a full chamber orchestra. Similiar to the style of Prokofiev's "Peter And The Wolf ", each instrument within the orchestra will represent a character within the book.
Désar, completed the soundtrack for a short film called "Just A Whisper" directed by Jim Towns. This short film can be viewed in it's entirety here at www.jimtowns.com.