Aaron Locklear (drums)
Eric Locklear (bass guitar)
Charly Lowry (rhythm guitar/vocals)
Ciera-Dial Locklear (keys/vocals)
Brittany Jacobs (saxophone/percussion/vocals)
There was no sense of entitlement or arrogance, just a group of fresh musicians thankful for the chance they had to play their music that night. Their formation almost seems like it fell into place as friends who pieced together a group that started with two students at UNC. They are continuously picking up new instruments, creating powerful lyrics and trying things they've never tried before. It's the kind of music that helps you feel...it can flood your heart and mind with emotion and uncontrollably drown your body in rhythm. I recommend seeing them live. Their self titled EP "Dark Water Rising" came out last July and explores all triumphs and heartbreaks of life for all ages and faces. Their second creation is expected to come out this Winter. Let the Dark Water engulf you and just go with the flow. It'll be just fine.
HGMN: How did you become Dark Water Rising?
Aaron: It's sort of complicated. It was already me and Charly and we were doing music on
the "Green Sky" label that we created right out of college in '06.We didn't have a band but we were searching for a band. And then 2 years later Corey decided to start playing the guitar.
Where we come from we play a lot of Guitar Hero. Corey said," You know what? I'm going to play the gui-tar." So he goes and buys a Johnson acoustic. After about 3 months he's forming chords. We start working on a song called "Same Ol' Thang" which is the first song we ever wrote together. So we're playing, jamming and the next thing I know Eric comes over and he's like, "Man, I want to get in on this too!" So he bought a $50 bass on craigslist. So Eric's in the jam and he brings Ciera over. They were dating at the time. We knew Ciera could sing so we all got together.
It was all five of us working on that one song "Same Ol' Thang." We all had just picked up instruments; I had a first stack drum kit I had bought. Charly had got an acoustic and Eric had this no-brand name bass he had bought - Little stuff we had found on craigslist. You know, $25- $50 instruments. We started jamming on that one song and to me I knew we had something that I knew I wanted to keep going with. And that's kind of how we initially started.
Ciera: And that was about the summer of 2008.
HGMN: And that's when you first picked up your instruments for the most part?
All: Yeah.
Ciera: And that led us to our first show that September.
Charly: I was invited to perform a couple of songs Parent's weekend at UNC Pembroke. I was like, "Do ya'll wanna' do the show with me?" And 3 songs turned into a full hour long set. So we performed our first show together at Parents Weekend that weekend.
HGMN: How did that go?
Charly: Our first live performance at Parents' Weekend is now referred to collectively as, "The Talent Show". That's exactly what it was; we put on a SHOW! It was a no holds barred type performance, complete with costume changes! Overall, the show was a success. We performed originals and two covers that night, "Fever" and "Killing Me Softly". There was a memorable response from the audience, in that they showed appreciation for the freshest DWR material- although at that time, we were known as "The Charly Lowry Band".
Ciera: The show went pretty good besides the fact we had only been playing for such a short amount of time. It was very nerve racking for me! We had a good time though- we did a wardrobe change and made some fans! It was a good experience for a first time band.
HGMN: Who all attended UNC together?
Charly: Corey, Aaron, Brittany and myself.
HGMN: Eric and Ciera...you met them how?
Corey: Well Eric and I have been friends since elementary school. I've known Charly since middle school basically. I met Aaron in Chemistry 21 at UNC.
Charly: I met Brittany at McMayo Middle School. We were going to conferences together and then we were college roommates. So just running in the same circles but never really pushing the music thing.
Aaron: Well, me and Charly had the music thing...but the rest of them probably had no idea they would ever play in a band.
Corey: I would hang out with Aaron and he would make beats and guys would come over and he would freestyle on them. I'm just sitting there listening and had no clue that 3-4 years later I'd pick up the guitar and he'd be playing' the drums.
HGMN: What got you two (Aaron and Charly) into music originally? What were your influences?
Charly: I had been performing in the public since I was a small child. I was performing Aretha Franklin and Mariah Carey songs. And then finally when I was in college that's when Aaron approached me about starting a record label. So we started creating our original songs and he was creating the beats on his keyboard.
HGMN: I wanted to ask you about your experience with American Idol. Can you tell me about that?
Charly: It was back in 2004, season 3 and I was a semi-finalist. I auditioned with "Proud Mary" and "Chain of Fools". So right after that is when Aaron approached me.
HGMN: What music do you guys listen to? I want to hear a little from everybody.
Corey: I like classic rock, southern rock.
HGMN: Any particular artists?
Corey: I'm a Lynyrd Skynyrd fan and I like the Eagles.
HGMN: What about you Brittany?
Brittany: I listen to everything but lately a lot of country because of the harmonies.
Charly: I can't tell you anything that I don't listen to. I listen to everything.
Aaron: I like everything. I've been listening to a wide variety since I was a child.
Charly: Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, a lot of soul music. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band, the Allman Brothers. I listen to some Elvis, a lot of different people.
Ciera: Patsy Cline, Elvis, DMX.... (Laughs)
HGMN: DMX? Hell yeah!
Corey: Up in here, up in here!
Eric: I like classic southern rock.
HGMN: I was also curious about your Native American heritage. I want to know a little about that. Does it have any influence over your music at all?
Aaron: We aren't traditional. There is traditional music that our culture does have but as far as incorporating it in our music...I don't think we have ever tried to do that. We have tried to keep them separate. You know there are Native American music awards and things like that. We do have a song called "Brown Skin" and "Native People". Besides those songs we haven't done anything traditional.
Charly: The song "Brown Skin", it was written to bring awareness to some of the things that we were seeing back home in our communities...you know, the young girls, the way they were carrying themselves and trying to fit into certain standards of society. The song is just saying, you know, we are a minority, yes, but always be proud of where you come from.
HGMN: Who writes all the music?
Charly: Everybody.
Corey: I would say a lot of the lyrics are by Charly, Ciera and Brittany and the music comes from us guys. When it comes together as a complete band we all have our own parts but I would say that the ladies have the lyrics and the guys have the music.
HGMN: What is something that we don't know about you that you guys think is interesting?
Eric: We treat this thing that we're doing in a very professional manner. We're doing music. We treat it as a job - Everything that goes into it, the planning, the meetings, everything. We don't just think of it as a hobby. We try to take it as professionally and as serious as we can.
Charly: I was going to say I think it's interesting that all of us have full time occupations. Eric's an engineer and Aaron's a commercial appraiser. It's things that take time to acquire, whether it's going to school or training. A lot of the things that everyone does in their profession carry over in the same respect to our music. And that's what keeps it runnin' like a smooth operation, their professionalism. Everything they've learned and acquired over the years carries over into the band.
HGMN: Tell me what all you guys do.
Eric: I'm a scientist/engineer.
Ciera: I'm an insurance agent.
Charly: I'm not really working right now.
Aaron: I'm a commercial appraiser.
HGMN: what does that mean?
Aaron: It's real estate, appraising commercial properties, buildings, tracks of land, anything that's not residential.
Corey: I have a real estate license but right now I'm focusing on the band.
Brittany: I work at Duke Hospital in the environmental sciences department.
Charly: It's funny because our bosses think they have an idea of what we do with the band....but they really don't have an idea. I think that's kind of cool.
Corey: It's like we have two lives. You have a personal life back home, go hang out with your family. And then all of the sudden Friday comes around and it's 5 o'clock, meet at the RV, we take a 2 hour trip and we are on stage playing a set. And then we're up here doing an interview and all our friends are sleeping or out partying and have no clue exactly what's going on in our lives.
Ciera: I'll go to work and people come in and start looking at me like, "God, I've seen you somewhere". I have on glasses, don't have any makeup on, hairs thrown up kinda like. "You play in that band around here dontcha?" It's funny; it's like a double life.
HGMN: How do you guys want people to perceive you?
Charly: We just want people to listen with an open mind. Listen to the lyrics and take everything for what it is. The lyrics are pretty self explanatory if you just listen and take the message that's there.
HGMN: Tell me a little about your next album that you're working on. I was talking to Corey before the set about the 5 songs you played tonight that are going to be on the new album. What are you most looking forward to with the next album?
Ciera: It's like a 2nd chance coming around to out-do our first time, a new chance to present ourselves. We've gotten better over the years, new songs and new beats.
Corey: We all started playing instruments not too long ago. We are trying to be better musicians, trying to be more dynamic in our sound and still trying to be original and be our own selves. We're just trying to be better. There are some songs on our first album that wouldn't make this album. We are trying to raise the bar. And I think as a band you kind of grow and get better. We hope that if people liked the first album then they will fall in love with the 2nd album.
HGMN: When you listen to your first album that came out over a year ago, is there anything that you hear that you'd want to change?
Corey: Yeah. I mean those songs were works in progress when we recorded them. It's like there are a lot of changes that we play live that's not recorded because we hadn't thought of it yet or maybe we hadn't gotten that familiar with the music. What we played live today is not the album, which I like because it gives people the chance to listen to the album and hear one thing and then come hear us live and hear something a little different. I think if you're trying to be in music, live is where you have to shine.
HGMN: What are some things that you all live by? How do you live your lives?
Corey and Aaron: Hard work and respect.
Aaron: When we came into this we didn't even play any instruments. We started at the very bottom. Every step we take, we are always blessed to get these opportunities. Every chance we get to play and just getting this interview we are so thankful. It's such hard work. Those are the kinds of codes we have to live by. We are going to take this seriously. We all work very hard everyday.
Charly: We try to be optimistic. And learning, always learning. Learning from our mistakes and how we can make this better, learning from each experience.
Corey: We don't feel like we are entitled to this, you know. We have to work for it, the fans. We don't come from a musical background so we are really putting ourselves out there. And for people to appreciate it and enjoy it gives us this rewarding feeling that allows us to move forward. But we never look at it or look at the crowd that comes to our shows like we're supposed to be here. No. You have to work hard to get here.
HGMN: Ciera and Eric, you two used to date?
Corey: Yeah. Now they're married.
Eric: 5 years! We don't wear rings on stage. We need to make sure we can interact on stage the way that we need to.
Corey: Yeah, they need to be available! (Laughter)
HGMN: If you guys were to add anything else to your music what would it be?
Corey: Eric singing. We need the low harmony. He can sing. He wrote a song and sang it.
Charly: He wrote a hit in 5 minutes and it's a hit. It's called "Why, Why". We try to get him to switch from the bass!
Eric: It's hard to match these girls.
Brittany: Yeah, he can sing.
Charly: We could use some core male vocals...Not just us girls.
Aaron: We are also ready for the day when our stage show is just....when we are all really good musicians and our stage show is just....
Corey: It's entertainment. You can have great music but you have to be entertaining as well. We've talked about it amongst ourselves. We can bring more energy to the crowd. Even if you have 10 people in the room, you have to infect them with your energy. It's easy when there are 100 or 1000 people out there. We've got to be able to put energy in one person and make them absolutely fall in love with us. And we've got to get better at that.
HGMN: Brittany, how did you start playin sax?
Brittany: Well, I was the last member so everyone else kind of had their thing that they did and they wanted a horn. They were like, "Want to try to saxophone?" And I was like, "Yeah, might as well!"
Corey: She's like our secret sauce! She added the 3rd harmony, the glockenspiel, the sax, the upright drum, the shaker, the tambourine...
HGMN: What does it feel like to perform?
Charly: Each show is different from the next. It's always something to look forward to, a release.
Aaron: A release from working all week.
Ciera: It's an adrenaline rush.
Charly: It's a good way to express yourself even if you're singing the same songs over and over. It just feels good to be loud and express with your hands and use your body in ways that you don't normally do on a daily basis.
Corey: There's no way in a normal day where you can act like you're an entertainer, you know. It's like you just can't be that-a-way. So you just get on stage and let it go.
Aaron: It's just what keeps me going, to get applause and respect from people. You can't get that any where else. People don't clap for me at my job and there's nothing like having fans who appreciate your music.
Corey: When he turns in that appraisal there's nobody in the background going... (Clapping) "Good job buddy! Wooo!"
Aaron: That's a great appraisal, baby! (Laughter)
HGMN: Well speaking of fans, I noticed a lot of your friends and family here tonight. Where all did they travel from?
Charly: They hauled from Pembroke, Lumberton, Fayetteville and Clinton.
Aaron: That's one thing, when you were talking about being Lumbee, there's a lot of Lumbee's spread out in North Carolina. We've met a lot of different people from different areas that are Lumbee and they always come out to support us. We love having them support us.
Charly: It's not everyday that they get to see young Native Americans, young members of their tribe doing what we're doing. So it's a sense of pride for everybody. You know, us being on the stage and for them being in the audience and just seeing us succeed in a different area.
Ciera: I'll be at home and especially a lot of older people will say "Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for bringing a good name back home." It gives me a good sense.
HGMN: What are you guys doing as far as production on the next album? What's the plan? Is there a plan?
Aaron: We'll be back with Doug Williams in Winston-Salem. We'll be recording with him again. He's really good.
Corey: We were with him on the first album and he just made it feel like home. I mean he's an amazing person, made us feel comfortable. There's just something about it. When you feel at home you play your best. You are comfortable and there are no nerves.
HGMN: Do you guys record practices?
Corey: Yeah
Charly: We're working on the arrangements and new material. Like you said, recording them and evaluating what we record, creating new material. Corey's just come up with a couple of new progressions that we are going to try to write lyrics for. They could potentially be songs for the next album.
Aaron: Yeah, and we've never worked with a producer before. That will be something later on. Maybe we'll get an opportunity and see how that goes. I've always kind of been not really against it or for it. But it's kind of hard to walk into a room where you've practiced these songs forever, and then you got to listen to someone say "Hey, this is how you should do it." I've never really seeked a producer or nothing like that.
Corey: We don't try to make a hit, we don't try to make a pop song or country song, we come up with a progression and lyrics that feel like what we want them to feel like and then the dynamics and harmonies come after that. We try to make our own music and it'll be hard for us to have someone tell us, "Well, this song will be better this way" When we really feel like this is the way it should be presented. That's going be a challenge one day if we ever get the chance.
Aaron: We are waiting for Rick Ruben to give us a call! (Laughs)
Ciera: I think that's where that chemistry comes in because we know what's right and what doesn't sound right. We can pretty much agree on that
Corey: And every practice is like reproduction, especially on a new song. We can listen to it and say well it doesn't hit right here, that dynamic sounds good but it could be a little bit better. While we don't have a producer there is production work going on the entire time. And it always ends up coming out pretty interesting because we're not musically trained and we learned how to play together as a band.
HGMN: When are you guys looking to do the next album?
Aaron: By the winter, I think December.
HGMN: Alright, last question for you guys, what are you looking forward to?
All (some singing): The Getdown! And Culture Fest!
Aaron: And then hopefully we'll get nominated for the Aboriginal Awards in Canada and then there's the NAMA's in New York.
Charly: NAMA's are the Native American Music Awards. We won "Debut Duo or Group" of the year last year. And then this year we have single of the year with "Hometown Hero". That's one of the newer ones we played tonight. It's up for nomination and they do some of the voting online so we'll be soliciting votes here soon.
HGMN: Well, we definitely want to support you guys anywhere we can. Definitely want to help spread the word.
http://www.darkwaterrising.net/
http://www.facebook.com/DarkWaterRising
http://twitter.com/#!/darkwaterrising
http://www.myspace.com/charlylowry
**The 55,000 members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina reside primarily in Robeson, Hoke,Cumberland and Scotland counties. The Lumbee Tribe is the largest tribe in North Carolina, the largest tribe east of the Mississippi River and the ninth largest in the nation. The Lumbee take their name from the Lumbee River which winds its way through Robeson County. Pembroke, North Carolina is the economic, cultural and political center of the tribe. - http://www.lumbeetribe.com
