Surrey progressive punks DARKO recently released their brand new single ‘Override!‘ alongside a wonderfully animated video. The track is the second to be taken from their upcoming new EP Canvas, set for release on 18th July via Lockjaw Records.

Ahead of the EP release this Friday we caught up with the band to find out a bit more about the history of the band and what fans can expect from the upcoming release.

Hi guys – can you introduce yourselves and tell us a bit more about how Darko came to exist?

RP: Hey I’m Rob, I’m 37 years old, I like hiking and more recently playing Magic The Gathering with friends. One day I would like to have a dog, my favourite colour is green. Oh yeah, and I play guitar in Darko and drums in a band called Raisin Awareness.

We also have Chris Brown on guitar, Karl Sursham on bass, Andy Borg on drums and since 2021 Tom West on vocals taking over from Dan Smith who was our vocalist up to and including our Bonsai Mammoth album. 

Darko was born out of a couple of college friends wanting to play fast and energetic punk rock. It took a couple of years for the band to find the sound we set out for, mainly due to finding the right members from 2010 we had a line up that fit and our sound grew from there taking us through the next 10 years. If you asked me back in 2008 when we were talking about the band whether I’d be here 17 years later writing an interview I’d be amazed but here we are.

Your latest single ‘Override!’ is a powerful anthem with a bold message. Can you walk us through the creative and emotional process of writing that track – both musically and lyrically?

TW: It’s easy to write a song that goes on an outward attack, but how far back would you have to go to have an argument with yourself? I think about this a lot. I wanted to write a song around confronting and unlearning internalised biases. Growing up in the 90s and 00s, even if you weren’t gay, you would be savagely bullied if kids thought you might be. We were programmed by our society to demonise our peers for being different. Hopefully most of us have managed to override this malignant mentality.

CB: I often think of an aim or goal first, to try and spark the initial inspiration for a song. Musically, ‘Override!’ was my attempt to lean into something a little more emotive than our usual sound. Put simply, it was an attempt to write a Menzingers style song, but to Darko-ify it. Listening back I’m not sure how much that comes across, but that was the source. To attempt to achieve this I tried to keep it relatively simple, with some nice chords and some solid rhymes. Leaving plenty of space for vocals. It’s not necessarily my usual way of composing, but it was a nice challenge and I think it turned out really well. It’s probably my favorite on this record, due to the fact I feel it really sticks out in contrast to the others.       

The new EP Canvas is the final piece of your “Chapters” trilogy. How does it tie together thematically with Sparkle and Greyscale?

TW: Canvas is all our styles chucked in a blender. We initially set out to make this the catchiest, most anthemic record that paid service to the classic fast Darko sound, but we didn’t want to simply move backwards. Lyrically, it continues the theme of struggling to find light in the darkness, culminating in AUX III – a cathartic sci-fi story of billionaires trying to escape a dying planet, and their rocket exploding as the remnants of mankind celebrates.

RP: Musically each EP was designed to have its own vibe, Sparkle being a bit more progressive and trying new sounds that we hadn’t done in the past and then the following Greyscale was more in your face hardcore and metal influences with more aggression, and then Canvas as Tom describes above was bit of a mix but also a result in the growth the band had been through making the previous two. We have also used a riff that returns once in each EP in different contexts once as a verse, then as an outro then as an intro each time its interpreted slightly differently but essentially is the same idea this was fun to do.

You’ve described the trilogy as tackling topics like misogyny, homophobia, and late capitalism. How do you balance political messaging with the raw energy of punk music?

TW: The sad thing is that in principle, our fast and aggressive music is the perfect vessel to get across the meanings behind the lyrics. But in practice, most people can’t actually hear what you’re saying! I’m not keen on ambiguity or “letting the audience decide” what a song is about. There are pointed, specific messages I want people to take away from the songs – I don’t want people long after I’m gone to argue about what my stances on these topics were. That’s one of the reasons why I think it’s important to speak on stage and online about the values and subjects that inspired the songs.

Punk often claims to be inclusive and countercultural, but it’s not always true in practice. How do you think the scene needs to evolve to actually live up to those ideals?

TW: Great question. The short answer is representation – but it’s more complicated than that. Promoters have a hard enough job filling rooms without booking bands who can’t yet draw a crowd to fill their self-imposed diversity quotas. That’s why it’s up to all of us to find ways to signal-boost and help raise the profiles of acts with members from marginalised communities. We need to make sure our communities know about the bands and will pay to come and see them.

When the scene becomes just a bunch of white cis-het dudes like us, it becomes stagnant. Yeah, we all like fun songs about “having a nice time with our friends”, but there needs to be space for punk to be about comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable. When you hear from a wider range of voices, that’s what you get. Punk music will not survive without evolving, and the next big thing won’t look like the last.

Since Tom stepped in as vocalist, there’s been a shift in sound and tone. How did that transition reshape the band’s identity and creative energy?

RP: Yes there has been and for multiple reasons really. Before Tom had joined the band had started to write music with a change of tone and I think this was to keep excitement with what we were doing and not getting bored as we all have so many different musical influences not just from the punk scene. Coming out of the lockdown era we had grown as people and naturally the band evolved. As the band hadn’t released any new material since 2017 album Bonsai Mammoth, I think to the listeners It would seem that Tom joining was the main reason for change but from behind the scenes this was naturally happening. That being said the change in vocal style and having a new member let us embrace the changes and push with new ideas with a new energy for completing new material with the new line up. 

You’ve toured relentlessly over the years. Can you tell us about any tour highlights and disasters you’ve experienced over the years?

R.P. One of the memorable tour stories would be both losing Karl in Japan for hours over night and sending a search party in a taxi the next morning to circle Tokyo to find him outside an internet cafe with less belongings than he started. Then the next trip we made over to Japan, we temporarily lost Dan as he sleepwalked out the opposite door of the van as we walked into a bar after the show he wandered off into the night. Either way I’d recommend visiting Japan. It is an amazing place and the rest of both tours were huge highlights of the band’s history.

The fact we had the opportunity to extensively tour the world and play our music to different people has always amazed me and I’ll always be thankful to have been given that opportunity. 

One more disaster just happened as Andy Borg, our long time tub smasher, shattered his heel whilst falling off a ladder and can’t play on our next tour which we leave for on the 17th July. Alex Gavazzi, a good friend from Rome, has stepped in and amazingly learnt 15 fast and hectic songs in 3 weeks.

With the European dates lined up this summer, what can fans expect from your live show in this new Canvas chapter?

TW: We’re experimenting with sounds a lot more these days, but fans can expect what we’ve always delivered: fast, aggressive, progressive punk with passion and purpose. We’re hitting up some of our favourite venues and festivals to play; places who have been extremely kind to us. These will be parties to remember for sure.

Now that the trilogy is complete, where does DARKO go next?

R.P: When we get back from tour we will see, there are some song ideas ready to flesh out and I think the key is not putting up any barriers musically and genre wise and create something that fits with where we are now. Then to deep space, obviously that’s what’s happening right?

You can pre-order the new EP HERE