My Dark Reality released their piercing new single titled “Ashes to Ashes” and this progressive rock hit is a percussion-soaked and electrifying single that will explode in your ears. “Ashes To Ashes” is the kind of song that will put you in a hypnotic trance with its smashing instrumentation and thunderous vocals. “Ashes To Ashes” gives you this drive into danger and rebellion with its thrilling arrangement that puts your energy at an all-time high.
My Dark Reality opens the dimension to rock and roll with “Ashes To Ashes” sculptural combination of edge and grit. We love how My Dark Reality opens the song with an inviting sound of multiple instruments clashing together to create this riveting chaos that you can’t help but love. Rock and roll may not feel as alive as it was in the past, but My Dark Reality is breathing life into the genre. “Ashes To Ashes” proves to be a rousing showcase of the band's enigmatic presence through their music and it’s embroidered with complex effects.
Listen to “Ashes To Ashes” by My Dark Reality here.
Welcome to BuzzMusic My Dark Reality! Can you tell our readers about the formation of this band? How do you guys manage to fuse together your individual styles to make a unit!?
Oz: "This band formed because of God. This band was not by chance. I had just put in a prayer that week for a female vocalist."
Grunge: "I had actually been looking for Death and Oz for about 2 weeks prior to me running into Death at McDonald's. I couldn't find them on social media because I kept spelling their names wrong. It's crazy because we all have lived around the corner from each other for the past 4 years. God for sure planned this one."
Oz: "Grunge and Death actually studied at Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH together when we first met. I was finishing my own schooling at Antioch University Midwest in Yellow Springs, OH. Whenever I would eat in the cafeteria with my son, Amy would always join us too. I would pick Death up because he and I played in a band together during that time. So, every weekend I would come and take him from the University for rehearsal."
Death: "After school, we had not seen each other for years. I remember about 4 years ago, Grunge messaged me about wanting Dad and me to help her in the studio. Dad and I were on a US stateside tour. I just remember replying no, I'm on tour. I even read it to Dad and he was like damn? that's it? At the time I saw no problem with my response. Hindsight...it came off a bit dickish. That was our last talk until McDonald's."
Oz: "I remember that Death came home and said you wouldn't believe who I ran into? He told me Grunge, from Wittenberg. When she and I talked on the phone before meeting up for our first rehearsal, I already knew she was supposed to be here."
Grunge: "As for how our individual styles mesh...for starters our stage names define our lifestyles. Oz has been doing this longer than Death and I. He has way more knowledge as a musician and is a musical genius in our opinion. I am just...very grungy, as for Death...he lives up to the name."
Death: "Yeah, our band is just founded on creativity, expression of the self, and authenticity. We listen to each others music, we listen to all styles, and we keep ourselves open to every member's ideas and input. We make our individual style's mesh because our glue is our love to create music and push boundaries. We don't believe in limitations."
Talk to us about your single “Ashes To Ashes”. What was the biggest challenge you had to face when creating this? How did you guys manage to overcome the challenge?
Oz: "There wasn't really much of a challenge. When I read the lyrics the music flowed out of me. It resonated. We needed Grunge to complete the song. She is an amazing vocalist who was the icing on the cake for lyrical flow and melody in addition to being a songwriter herself. She completes us."
Grunge: "Yeah, when I read the lyrics it resonated. The melody was relatively easy to come up with. It's like...getting on a certain wavelength, that spiritual wavelength. How we overcame our hurdle was just to be open as a band to a new way of doing things."
Death: "The real challenge was presenting the lyrics and above all, putting myself out there. I was honestly afraid of being judged given the subject matter of the song. I have always been a very private person. Writing has always been easier for me than talking but I never really presented it to people. In a sense, it's like putting yourself on blast. I wondered if I would be sent to a mental ward or put on medication which wouldn't help at all. Andy Biersack really helped me with overcoming this hurdle. I enjoyed hearing his words on how he dealt with adversity, depression, bullying, personal demons. What really stuck with me to give me the balls to write and present this was Knives and Pens by Black Veil Brides. That song's point is either harm yourself, the knife, or make art, the pen...evetually I picked the pen. I remember when he spoke to the fans at one of the shows about putting away our razorblades...living life...and never giving in. It absolutely broke me down to tears because it hit so hard. I have not met him personally but he has been very impactful in my life. Corey Duffel, the professional skateboarder too. He has got to be one of the gnarliest skaters, people, and is so authentic. I admire his authenticity and strive to be authentic myself. "
Grunge: "As an artist, you have to be true to your art."
Oz: "Exactly! We talk openly in our band because this band is a family. We overcome obstacles by being each other's strength and support."
Death: "For sure, it has been good being able to be open in this band. We preach authenticity and cannot tell others to be themselves if we as a band are not."
Oz: "Yeah, walk what you preach."
Can you detail to us your songwriting approach towards “Ashes To Ashes”? What was the concept behind the song and what inspired you to curate it?
Oz: "Yeah of course. As stated before, in this case, I read the lyrics to Ashes to Ashes. I was out of lyrics but not music. Death, my son, left me with his lyrics for the day and me as sifting through them. Immediately, music flowed from me. Music just does that for me. I can hear a noise, see something, read something and music writes itself."
Grunge: "The whole process was very organic for us. We all just write together because this is what we were brought together to do. This band, this music, it's bigger than us. Death writes great lyrics, Oz makes amazing music, and then that allows me to do the melody. "
Oz: "Grunge write's lyrics too so she brings melody, musical arrangements, and lyrics as well. We just vibe off of each other and need each other to write our music. It's an equal 3-way writing process."
Death: "The concept behind the song actually was my prayer to God for death. I was in the process of spiritual death when I wrote this song. I wrote it while Grunge and I were attending Wittenberg University. That was a suicidal era for me...I was self-mutilating as well. I did not wish to live in this world anymore. I wanted to pass on to the next life. Death is when nothing feels good anymore...when you no longer live but just exist. Darkness is all you see, no light, no sun, nothing. There is no hope. So, the only thing that stopped me from suicide was my loved ones. I am a believer in a natural order of things and passing on to the next life is one of those. At that time, I could not take my life and stare my loved ones and maker in the eyes with a clear mind knowing the pain I left behind. So, I talked to God that night. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, to the ground I'll go 6 feet below, free my heart, free my soul. I have seen the effects of suicide and I couldn't go to my grave that way. I prayed to God...made a deal more so and...I simply asked for death. I made the deal that if this was my path, to pass away, then just do it. If not, then I would just stick it out if there was indeed a plan for me in life. 2 weeks passed and I was finally like f*** man fine I'll stick life out then."
Grunge: "Here we are now."
Oz:"Yep."
Did you guys experiment with any new arrangements when creating “Ashes To Ashes”?
Oz: "I remember that I was experimenting with drop D tuning. That is something that I had not really tried much of prior. Once I figured out how that tuning voiced then I tried a few different ideas with Ashes to Ashes. Drop D was more expressive than standard tuning for me. I showed them to my son and the one we play now he said that's the one. I told him, now we just need somebody to sing it right."
Death: "For Dad and I, this was one big experiment. Previously, he and I were the only songwriters because we didn't have anyone else who could vibe or complete the circle. Once we met Grunge again that changed everything. It's cool having 3 people to write with."
Grunge: "This was odd having guys who could write as fast as they do and vibe the way they do. One of my songs...Sleeping Pills, Oz heard 8 bars and then just wrote the song. I have never seen somebody write so fast."
What can we expect to see from My Dark Reality next?
Amy: "Well, you're going to see more good music that will allow you to actually express yourself or if you don't know how to express yourself you can find that through our music. So basically just Soul music. That's what you can expect from us is real soul content. I would like to give a big shout-out to Machine Gun Kelly. He is one of my influences because our lives, our lifestyle is literally, we grew up literally the same. Like, he grew up without a lot and so did I. Like if you look at his life story... that's pretty much my life story. Also, his birthday is like literally were literally one month away. So, it makes sense why I resonate with him most."
Death: "I know we have some more singles coming in the springtime I think we are anticipating but at least coming here soon. We actually have an EP coming...some cool merchandise and an online music store as well. Oh and a music video as well."
Oz: "I'm going to touch on what Grunge said, I think what you can expect from us is you're going to see spirituality in a whole different way for our music. Meaning that our music is straight from the heart. This is probably experiences that other people have gone through. That's why my dark reality is not a bad reality but it's a real reality for where we are right now. I think that that's what they're going to get every time. You know, you play for an audience you are going to get real feelings. We're doing what we love to do. We do what God told us to do and brought us together to do so, I think you're going to see nothing superficial here. This is real life. This is what we write about. This is stuff. We've actually gone through and say yeah, we've been here weeks. We've met the devil before, we've seen hell, we've seen heaven, we've seen, we know there's good, there's evil, there are God and the devil. It's a little bit of everything including things that even hit home with family. So what you're going to get is music that touches your soul."