The First solo release from former "OURS" Drummer, this hard-driving,melodic,dynamic album grooves like Classic Black Sabbath at times,has the modern edge of Muse, and tips it's hat to 90's bands like Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden. This album ROCKS!

8 MP3 Songs in this album (29:42) !
Related styles: Rock: Modern Rock, Metal/Punk: 90's Metal, Mood: Upbeat

People who are interested in Foo Fighters Muse Stone Temple Pilots should consider this download.


Details:
Darren Verpeut is a musician from N.J. Starting with the drums at age 11, he began performing with musicians older than him by the time he was 13. By 15 he was already performing regularly and began taking up guitar and songwriting as well as vocal lessons. Over the years he would play drums in many different bands all the while really enjoying the process of songwriting. In 1997 Darren Began playing with Jimmy Gnecco and the band "OURS" who were soon after signed with Dreamworks Records. "It was an amazing experience playing with Jimmy and the guys, I had been playing in bands that sounded like Rage against the Machine just killing the drums and I knew I there could be more than just LOUD but the bands I was in, that's all there seemed to be room for,when I started playing in ours, I really started working it out, the dynamic thing, the ebb and flow. Working with Jimmy to try to Create moods and moments. Some of the shows we did were just an amazing thing to be a part of and I am forever grateful for the experience."
Soon after totally inspired, Darren Put together his own group called "Soulvine" and tried his first attempts at fronting a band as lead singer/guitar. "I was terrified, and I was totally inspired to do something different than drums and I really wanted to start doing music of my own really bad. The songs were as good as I could do at the time, not bad -but not very good either." Darren admits Soulvine was an awkward time but a good time with a band of some of his closest friends from childhood and a close friend Tommy Coombs on Drums. Darren worked with Tommy at Sam Ash in Paramus selling drums. After only one album Soulvine took a break and Darren Began playing drums for "Years of Static" Featuring Mike Christi (Non Fiction) and Scott Mueller (Dog eat Dog) Darren had played drums in ATL (all time low) with Mike Christi just before playing with Jimmy and had worked with Scott previously. "To this day I am still great friends with Mike and Scott and love them both dearly, it's hard not too, they are both insanely funny and talented guys." Mike and I connect because we both admire what Dave Grohl has done and is doing and we love the songwriting process, we still talk for hours about music all the time." Years of Static did a handful of shows in N.Y. and N.J. "After a while I realized this was Mike and Scott's band and I was there drummer, and that really is the way it should be-But I really wanted to do my own thing again. I missed singing and getting my demons out. I was going through a lot of pain in my personal life, things were not going very well and I wasn't dealing with them well either. I explained to Mike and Scott I had to go do my own thing. They weren't happy, but they understood." Just as he had begun getting ready to give solo material another shot, a phone call came in from Jimmy Gnecco. " Jimmy had asked me if I was interested in Touring in support of the Ours "Precious" album. I really love the album and I jumped at the chance and I am glad I did because I really got to become friends with Dave Milone who I really respect and admire." Ours toured opening for The Cult on the west coast, and the Wallflowers across the States. "We did a video shoot for leaves and a few tracks off the album, it was a real thrill for me to be on the bus and see the video on MTV after a show in chicago-something not everybody gets to do and I am so happy we got to do that together" At the end of the tour the band did the Carson Daly show and a performance on Canada's "Much Music". When the tour was over Darren did the cover circuit for a while earning money singing cover songs in bars, resturaunts, weddings, partys etc. Even did some voiceover work for some commercials. His father passed away soon after at age 57. "I was totally lost-very sad, shocked and confused about everything. I just stopped music for a little bit. I was empty. It took months but I pulled myself together and everything turned around. My writing was getting better, I made a few attempts at putting a band together but I was never totally confident in the material. I am a very impulsive person and one of my vices in the past was not waiting it out and working on things." Darren still worked on writing and recording, still performed all the time doing covers and even put a version of Soulvine back together. "I fell madly in love with the girl of my dreams, we got married and we have a beautiful boy, I wanted to be in a band, It's all I have ever known since I am 11 years old it's just not right for me to not make music". Darren Called on Drummer Tommy Coombs and asked if he wanted to play again, Darren's wife's yoga instructor Jeff Scios was introduced to him and they hit it off. "Jeff's a great guy and a great musician" Soulvine was now a trio. The group played once a month mostly in Hoboken. Against what Jeff thought was right to do at the time Darren really wanted to get into the studio with the band and record an album. "It was me desperately wanting to have a band, I had all these songs-they were better than what I had before in soulvine but they were half baked, they needed work and I just hoped we could make a cd and it would help gel us as a band as friends and all that." The cd was never actually released, they made a few videos to promote but the album but it was agreed across the board that it was good -not great. Now older, married with a child and with the music industry turned over like a turtle on it's back, Darren decided to go back to school and rethink things. "I knew I wasn't going to stop making music, but I also new what is most important to me, and what the reality of having a band is all about" He learned a lot going back to school including video production and music business. For the first time in his life, he really focused on just writing with no ideas or deadlines or pressure. "I just know the mistakes I made in the past. I am not going to get a great band together unless in my heart I feel and truly believe I have an awesome album." He gave himself only two challenges one, to write 30 songs without stopping impulsively to go get a band together. The other was to work harder and dig deeper and make these the best songs he'd ever written. " I think it was song 22 and I realized the kind of record it was going to be, and I also understood at that point I had the record I wanted." The record titled "Racing Towards A Setting Sun" is a phrase taken from a song from the album called "Understand". Racing towards a setting sun referring to someone chasing down an impossible dream, the song understand's chorus lyric "Show me another way to understand/ and you can help me out of this quicksand/There's something else I know that I can be, but I've got to mend peices of me." Racing Towards A Setting Sun definately sums up the honest portrayal of this artists life as it reflects like a mirror in the lyrical content and messages. "Well first off, I have never been happier in my life. I have so much to be grateful for and I am! this is not a somber record. It rocks hard. I wanted there to be killer drums, heavy guitars that have groove and swing like old sabbath or some of the great bands of the 90's I broke drumsticks playing along to or performing in cover bands. I wanted totally catchy melodys and lyrics that say something that's real to me. I also didn't want it to be dated. This is in my opinion a modern rock record, it may have hints of classic rock, 90's rock, but it's got all the edge of anything out there now that's worth listening too." The lyrics were inspired in part by some of the college courses Darren took over the past 2 years. Classes like Mass Media and studies in Communication, television and the arts. "I learned how the media is even more full of shit than I thought, to the point where I really just don't watch television, if I do it's very minimally and i certainly am not watching the news." The album cover is Darren Actually kicking in a modern-day flat screen T.V. "It's just what I think of the media today, I did the photo shoot with my younger brother, he actually set the screen on fire I kicked it in and he started snapping away." Songs like "Deeper" on the album touch upon the paparazzi and how it can go as far as even taking peoples lives such as in the case with the late princess Diana. The second verse line in the song reads -"Media-keep pushing pain and lies, it's no surprise so many people die/and all you people who are giving in to it, you make them rich and keep yourselves so sick" All the instruments on the album are performed by Darren but it's not an ego trip. "I actually tried to do some pre-production with Tommy Coombs and a friend of ours before I decided to write the 30 songs. The time it takes to try to convey my idea verses the time it takes me to lay it down myself combined with the limited time I actually have, there's really no other way to do it for me at this point." Almost a 3 year process of writing, recording and mixing and mastering the record is finally done and something Darren is totally excited about. "This is the hardest I have ever worked on my music. I took my time and I did it right. that's why this is the first time my stuff is available for sale. I didn't cut any corners, I spent a lot of hours and a lot of money and a lot of hard work, dedication and sacrifice went into this." There are definately plans to play live shows. "My first thoughts when writing all of this is how this would come across live, how it would hit people, the power-the emotion, the dynamics. I really want to sing these songs, I really want to play these guitar parts with an amazing drummer and band. I am not worried about it, I know I have the goods, and for the first time I am not going to rush it, I am going to do it right. I worked my ass off on this record, it is my record, my project, at first I was really unsure about just using my name and being "Solo guy" but I mean that's really what it is, and I am not going to be embarrassed or feel bad about it. I was wracking my brain trying to come up with a band name to hide behind but I just can't worry about all that. I don't have the same kind of pressure on me that I used to put on myself. My goal isn't to be a guy that makes records full time and is on the road 6 months and in the studio the other 6 and lonely and insane and broke. There's a satisfaction in working on something you feel is your absolute best regardless of anyones opinion, putting it out there and working towards the next one. In ten years I hope to look back and up here on the internet is a nice collection of the best I can do for sale at a very modest price. It's a great life and a great time to be alive."