DAZZ: Press

While over in California last October I hooked up with Robert Berry and the delightful DAZZ (Darcy Andersohn).
DAZZ was just finishing her latest solo album, ‘Life Lessons
Learned’, a wonderful collections of songs that just recently won her the ‘Female singer/song-writer of the Year’ at the annual LA Music Awards. Having just received said album in the post, I figured it was time to chat with the incredibly gifted Ms Andersohn once again...

First of all, tell us a little about your background and influences. What made you decide to become a cool rocking chick with a guitar?

Well, I come from a musical family. Both my Mom and Dad sang and played guitar, my Mom played piano too. My Dad also worked in radio for 40 years so my sister, three brothers and I grew up listening to a vast variety of music; although I enjoy many genres, my biggest influences were Heart, Led Zeppelin and Journey. My sister Nel and I joined The Summit Road Band - my first rock band - when I turned the tender age of 13 and I’ve been writing songs, singing, playing and performing professionally ever since! I originally started writing songs on my Mom’s piano; one day a friend of mine lent me her guitar so I could write when I was outdoors. I loved the freedom the guitar provided and the cool chords I could come up with, so I became hooked pretty fast! I couldn’t afford to buy a guitar at the time so some very cool friends of mine gave me their guitars so I could write songs and they could listen to me play; this is how I obtained my first five guitars.

You work a lot with Robert Berry. Tell us how that relationship came into being, and what you get from each
other.

It was trippy, about a week before I met Robert Berry I was going through some old paperwork and found a piece of paper on which I had written his name 15 years earlier (I had been doing marketing for a competing studio 15 years prior and Robert Berry’s studio was one of our competitors!). I’ve known Robert Berry for three years now, we actually met through my buddy Thom Duell, a recording engineer that does a lot of work at Soundtek Studios (Robert’s studio). I totally believe Robert and I were destined to meet and work together; he’s definitely one of the best recording engineers, producers and amazingly talented musicians in the music business! A year later after we met I was getting ready to record my second album as a solo artist; but I was facing two major issues. First of all, my Dad died a month before I was scheduled to start recording and I could not play my guitar for the month following his death as I was way too messed up emotionally. Secondly, my bass player was partying too hard and I could not rely on him staying out of jail long enough to get the job done. Robert was very supportive and sensitive to my situation; he offered to play any instruments that I wanted him to play and to work with me on recording my second album ‘Subtle Driven Confidence’. There was no turning back; we worked great together from the start! I remember at one point, on our first day of recording; in the middle of playing him one of my songs it dawned on me that I was playing in front of a famous rock star, a rock star that blew me away on guitar. It was so funny, I could not believe that I did not feel nervous or intimidated at all; Robert has a really cool way of making you feel extremely comfortable. Comfort is vital when it comes to recording and being musically creative; you can’t be afraid to make a mistake or your lack of confidence can be detected in your recording. I keep things crazy, you never know what I’m going to play or say next and Robert keeps things focused and moving forward; we have a common goal of creating magical musical masterpieces so we end up with amazing rockin’ results!

‘Life Lessons Learned’ is your new album. Does the title speak of something personal from your own life, or just a generic message?

The songs I wrote for my ‘Life Lessons Learned’ album are mainly about some of my actual true-life experiences and many of the lessons I’ve learned along the way. Take my song ‘SUN’ for example; this powerful rocker comes straight from my heart. I personally deal with skin cancer and it’s no fun. My goal with this tune was to portray a truthful and strong message as I promoted awareness to the dangers of having fun in the sun without protection. With that said, I wanted the song to have a good time feel and upbeat vibe which was created by capturing musical elements similar to a cross between Journey, Kid Rock and Led Zeppelin.

The songs cover quite a varied musical spectrum, from the typical introspective singer/song-writer style, through to the hard rocking ‘SUN’ and even rap in ‘Trapped In Madness’. Was that a deliberate decision for the album, or just the way the songs came together?

You know, I really never know how and when a song will come out; it can happen at any given time. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night because a melody or some lyrics are hitting me really hard (these creative thoughts literally wake me up from a sound sleep). Basically the emotional vibe I feel at the beginning of my creative thoughts dictates the style of song I’ll write. Take ‘Trapped In Madness’, my rock/rap tune. This song is about many of my friends that have stayed in a bad relationship for years, usually because of finances or children being involved; quite often they figure out that they fell in love with their partner during the ‘Honeymoon Stage’ and discover they have actually chosen the wrong person for a long time relationship or marriage. Many of my friends that feel trapped go on living their lives pretending to be happy when they are miserable inside; they complain about how much they hate their lives when we have a chance to really talk about their true feelings. Years of councelling and listening to these friends was driving me nuts! I personally cannot live my life in a lie so I was kind of making fun of the subject matter on this tune. The lyrics flew out of me and I started rapping the verses. When it came time for the chorus I wanted portray a child like or immature sound, reminiscent of my friends continuing to complain like an unhappy child, but I did not want to have children singing backups (like Pink Floyd has done in the past). As I explained this to Robert, he totally understood what I was after and started to play funky old school carnival sounds on his keyboard and it turned out to be perfect for the vibe I was after. Plus, being adventurous, I wanted to try something new; I had never recorded a rock/rap tune and it was time I pushed the envelope!

I notice all the songs are strictly written by yourself - no co-writes. Is this because you’re too much of a control freak, don’t enjoy writing with others, or simply have a clear view in your own head of what you want to do?

Great question! I’m definitely not a control freak; I’m out of control 90% of the time - at least! I simply have a clear vision for each song I write and I often happen to get inspired when I’m by myself. If I co-wrote with others, they’d have to sleep over at my place as most of my songs hit me around 2:30am – 3:30am. They would have to be willing to get up with me, stumble down my hallway, sit at my keyboard or pick up one of my guitars and start writing. I also write a lot of my songs in the shower; so I guess a co-writer would have to be willing to shower with me too! On a serious note, my Manager Bling-E is the only person who actually gets to hear my songs before I copyright them and before I head into the studio to record. When I was in my first rock band we had to take someone to court for trying to sell one of our songs to another big rock band. I won’t name names but we won that battle - since we had a poor man copyright in place -and I learned the valuable lesson that you have to always protect the rights to your songs.

You were nominated, and subsequently won, Female Singer/Songwriter of the Year at the 18th Annual LA Music Awards. How much did this accolade mean to you, and has the recognition helped open any door for you.

I was extremely honored to be nominated and thrilled beyond belief to win the award for “Female Singer/Songwriter of the Year” at the 18th Annual Los Angeles Music Awards! It’s the highest music award an artist can receive outside of winning a Grammy. A few of the past winners are Dream Theater, Korn, Everclear, No Doubt, Hoobastank and the Black Eyed Peas, to name a few. Many past winners give credit to the award show as the start of their commercial success! Bling-E and I had a blast with Executive Producers Al Bowman and Susanna Griffie, along with Max Worthington (Executive Producer of the LA Comedy Awards) at the big red carpet event held in Hollywood! Winning this award has opened many doors for me and has helped me tremendously with promoting my new album. I’m honored and extremely excited to say that my ‘Life Lessons Learned’ album has recently been nominated for “Best Rock Album” of 2009, by the 19th Annual Los Angeles Music Awards!

Is the album released through a label, or is everything independent?

I release all of my albums independently through Dazz Productions.

Do you foresee ever getting your music released outside of America?

I’m happy to say my song ‘Matter Of Time’ (track 1 off my ‘Life Lessons Learned’ album) was getting airplay last
week in France and Germany; my albums are released and available worldwide through the internet on iTunes, CD Baby and through my website at www.dazzproductions.com.

Are you getting out much playing live to support the album?

My Manager Bling-E keeps trying to convince me to go on tour with a few offers I’ve recently received. I’ll see how things go; you never know what tomorrow will bring!

What have you been doing in USA to promote the new album?

I’ve been working on radio campaigns (Rock and Hot AC) in the US, Australia and Canada, pitching songs to Music Supervisors for film and TV placement, giving radio interviews and obtaining album reviews for starters. When you’re promoting there is never a dull moment!

What next for the bubbly, effervescent DAZZ?

Bubbly and effervescent? Why do I suddenly have the urge to drink a big icecold coke? Along with working on promotions, making appearances, eating meatball sandwiches and trying to stay out of trouble; I’ve been writing some heavy-duty new tunes. I have some great new material in the works so stay tuned via www.dazzproductions.com!

Interview by Bruce Mee
22 JUNE-JULY ISSUE 36 FIREWORKS

If you like Pat Benatar, Lita Ford or Heart, you will feel right at home with Dazz.

Dazz is ROCKIN' with her latest album, Life Lessons Learned! Darcy Andersohn, AKA, Dazz is a prolific songwriter with yet another hard-driving release to add to her collection. Don't sweat the small stuff is one of the "lessons learned" that resonates through her songs and leads me to one of my favorite tracks, "Small Stuff," which illustrates this point to a tee.

The music production quality and instrumentation was spot on. I would like to pay tribute to the fine musicians, including Dazz that came together to make these 10 tracks penetrate through to the listener.

Favorite Tracks: Life Lessons Learned, Small Stuff and Deeply.

November 23, 2008
Rockin’ chicks... Who comes to mind? Chrissie Hinds, Pat Benatar, Grace Slick…Stevie Nicks? Surfer Rosa? Does Sheryl Crow count? Darcy Andersohn, aka Dazz, is a rockin’ chick in the same vein as these women. Her second album, Subtle Driven Confidence is a rock album with a soft side - lots of guitar and vocals with attitude.

The album starts rockin’ right away with a guitar and Dazz singing about being a “Bad Girl”. This is straight up rock-n-roll with a guest guitar solo to boot.
“C U Again” is a combination of Led Zeppelin and Rush. Yes, that’s right – the song has a hint of “Going to California” with Geddy Lee as the lead singer.
“Deeper I go” reminds me of a woman’s version of Tom Waits – a smoky bar filled tune, late night and too much whiskey? But then a woman is singing this, which means that this night will end with optimism.
For most of the tracks, I’m not sure what this album is trying to say. “Slip Away” is a very standard rock song, with guitar licks and solos, but the very next song “Euthanasia” is slow and sounds less like rock - softer, yet strange, like Tori Amos.
Subtle Driven Confidence seems to be a stream of conscience that starts with falling in love, being in love and not having enough time, losing your love and ends with moving on.

The first track, “Bad Girl”, is where she realizes how he makes her feel and the last song, “Never Hit the Brakes”, encourages us to go on no matter what. Dazz is trying to show us something – real or made up. On one of the tracks, “Euthanasia”, Dazz shares her experience with losing her father. This song is a deviation from the rest of the album, in that it is much less rock and much more concept.


One thing’s for sure, Dazz is intentionally trying to take us on a journey through ups and downs.
The album’s title is “Subtle Driven Confidence”, but the album is not all that subtle. Dazz has clearly made a rock album. She burned the CD to look like a retro vinyl album complete with grooves. There are guitar solos and swaying rhythms that sound like Axel Rose and Stevie Nicks. And, overall, the album is pretty good. It is not innovative, but it is nice to get another rockin’ chick album to listen to. Dazz has included a lot of variety of sounds and quality in this album, and I think her confidence is not so subtle but she has certainly driven to produce a very enjoyable album.

October 10, 2008
From the heart. The emotional contexts can be deeply felt as DAZZ croons right from the soul. Excellent production rounds out a very well written array of songs from this Rockin' Adult Contemporary musician.

There's something about DAZZ's writing abilities that definitely reminds us of the powerful songwriting of artists like Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac and the Wilson sisters of Heart. This, in our humble opinion, puts her abilities directly in line with an elite crowd of musicians. We are extremely proud to have been given an opportunity to make an attempt to review what we consider a true "Diamond in the Rough".

Not to downplay her abilities in any way, as this musician is on par with some of today's biggest artists; it's just that we're shocked we haven't heard more from her. There's no doubt that DAZZ is on her way to big things in an industry that seems to have forgotten the meaning of real music. Well in case any of our indie music fans HAVE forgotten...this may well be what you've been looking for!

DAZZ is no stranger to the independent music scene and its harsh touring schedules having participated in numerous tours with great acts like: Blue Oyster Cult, The Little River Band, Y&T, Pat Travers, and Robin Trower to name but a few. WOW!

Her latest album release scheduled to be out this month (October 2008) entitled "Life Lessons Learned" follows her earlier releases: "Letters Never Sent" and "Subtle Driven Confidence".

Be on the lookout for DAZZ and reward yourself with a wonderful rockin' musical experience!

Nothing subtle about this one … it rocks!
This specimen of pristine production will take you back to a better time of raw honesty and pure heart

January 5, 2008
Subtle Driven Confidence by Dazz (aka Darcy E. Andersohn) is an album for folks who like their tea unsweetened, their coffee black, their transmission standard, and their blacktop hot and sticky under an unrelenting sun. The title aside, there is not much subtlety on this project. This is old-fashioned, undisguised, unpretentious, blue collar rock ‘n’ roll with a feminine twist.

Dazz cut her rock ‘n’ roll teeth by fronting opening acts for some of the biggest bands on the circuit, and it shows on this ten track solo project. Boasting a powerhouse voice that falls somewhere between the couldn’t-care-less cageyness of Stevie Nicks and the world-weary passion of Ashley Cleveland, Dazz delivers the goods straight up and undiluted.

Case in point would be the matter-of-fact opening track, a rock ‘n’ roll ode to succumbing to temptation appropriately named, “Bad Girl.” Equally adept at chronicling the flip side of life, Dazz surrenders a sweetly smoldering, inspirational rock ballad with “Fade Away.” “Don’t give up/ Don’t fade away/ Live the life you have today,” she croons amidst a classic 80’s guitar riff.

Dazz shows the versatility to mellow out on the acoustic, Joplin-esque ballad, “C U Again,” and she proves she can jerk tears with the best of ‘em on the emotionally charged, “Euthanasia.” But she really shines brightest when she is belting out a classic rocker like “Never Hit The Brakes.”

June/July Issue 2008
San Jose’s Darcy Andersohn, aka DAZZ, grew up on a constant diet of everything from Andy Williams to The Jackson Five. “I listened to the radio continuously, day-in and day-out with my mom, older sister and three younger brothers”, explains Dazz. “Dad had a special voice, I would listen to the diversified styles of his records maintained, the wide variety of music I was constantly exposed to as a child influenced and inspired me to create the original unique sound I display as an artist today.”
Dazz began to sing at the age of 13. “My sister hid a Panasonic cassette recorder as we practiced singing ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac. My sister Nel recorded the practice session and played it for her band members; they liked what they heard and that was that! Over the next few years, gigging and being on the road in the Summit Road Band left a big impression on me. I was fortunate to obtain my first recording studio experience at Astral Sound in Campbell, California during this period.”
Dazz then moved to Hawaii and started an all original rock band called Rare Breed. “I rocked the Island for the next four years as the lead vocalist and co-song writer! Rare Breed headed back to the mainland, found new local band mates and hit the road running! Rare Breed was fortunate enough to open for some great bands such as Pat Travers, Blue Oyster Cult, Robin Trower and Y&T, many of the shows were held up in Oakland, CA at the Omni. Rare Breed recorded a rocking four song EP with the Henry Brother who had just finished recording Eddie Money’s latest project! Rare Breed rocked Hawaii and California hard until I moved on about a decade later.”
After years of writing songs, Dazz wrote, performed and produced her first solo CD titled ‘Letters Never Sent’ followed by ‘Subtle Driven Confidence’ in 2007. “Subtle Driven Confidence’ will take you on the emotional ride of your life!”, she says. “it’s packed full of surprises, from the ‘temptation torture’ displayed in the rocker ‘Bad Girl’ through the inspirational mellow rocker ‘Fade Away’ which leads into ‘C U Again’ which many of my fans refer to as my ‘Dazzeppelin’ song”, she laughs.
The CD was recorded at Soundtek Studios in Campbell, CA. “This time I worked with famous musician/producer Robert Berry. Robert Berry and Thom Duell were my main recording engineers on this project. I produced this album with Robert Berry. One of the coolest things about working with Robert was his natural ability to really ‘get’ each detail of the vibe I wanted to present. If I wanted Van Halen drums, he gave me Halen drums, if I wanted a Geddy Lee bass, he gave me a Geddy Lee bass and so on. Robert played 95% of the instruments for me on my album; he is definitely one fo the most talented musicians I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and working with, and it was a bittersweet experience. You see, unexpectedly, my Dad passed away in May of 2007, right when I was about to go into preproduction with my band. Robert was extremely sensitive to my situation and offered to play the instruments from my album, as I had not had any time to show my band my new songs. Although I had newly entered the grieving process; I knew my Dad would want me to move forward with my music as he was always so very proud of me and the music I create. When I recorded my vocals for ‘Euthanasia’, the song I wrote about my Dad’s last 10 days on earth, I forewarned Thommy and Bling-E (two of my vocal recording engineers) that I could not guarantee I’d get through the song. I did it in one take; my Dad was with me in spirit the whole time. Boy was it tough, but I did it for my Dad! In spite of the difficult time I was going through emotionally while recording this special album; I’ve never had such a great recording experience in my life! I started recording in July 2007 and ended in mid September 2007. It only took two and a half months to record, mix and mater!” Shortly after, some of the songs played on the radio in France and Germany! I’m happy to say my CD is also receiving airplay in Australia, Canada and the United States! So far the reception of my CD has been absolutely awesome! I have received several publishing contracts and have been pitching my songs for film, TV and media placement. I have many possibilities in the works and I finally had to get an Entertainment Lawyer! All in all, I’d have to say the reaction to my music has been totally awesome!”
Dazz isn’t being idle either and already writing her next album to be called ‘Life Lessons Learned’, which is slated for a January 2009 release. So in the meantime, check her out at www.dazzproductions.com and www.sonicbids.com/DAZZ

Review:

The album, Letters Never Sent from the first track to the last, takes the listener on a journey. The lyrics are thought provoking and move effortlessly over the musical arrangement. Vocalist and Songwriter, Darcy Andersohn reminds us of Stevie Nicks (vocal wise) and she brings passion and determination to all ten tracks on the album.

Favorite tracks: Some Time and All 4 U