January 17, 2023 • 26 mins
I have been a big fan of the band DARDEN for a long time. You’ll find them to be the real deal. Authentic, honest and in it for the music as it connects to other people.
Darden is a 5-piece family band, consisting of 3 sisters. Clara on guitar and vocals, Havi on mandolin and vocals, Tabbi on bass and vocals. Two brothers - Josiah on drums and Noah on keys.
Enjoy the live-in studio session of their song "The Moon" and the delightful and engaging song "Happy and Sad", played in it's entirety.
https://dardentheband.com
Visit Barnes and Noble to purchase Lisa's book "THE CRAZYBRAVE SONGWRITER"
OR purchase a SIGNED COPY of Lisa's book from Lisa's website
+
Host: Lisa M Arreguin @ LivingCrazybrave.com
Recorded @ LoveandLaughterMusicGroup.com
Podcast Music: Joey Arreguin
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Crazy Brave Songwriter
Podcast.
This is a podcast about themagic of making music one song
at a time.
My name is Lisa m I'm happy tobe your host for today.
I have been a big fan of theband Darden for a long time.
Originally, I first heard themsing in a small deli sandwich
(00:22):
shop in Anaheim, Californiaabout seven years ago.
And I couldn't believe the blendof their voices, the harmonies,
and the variety of instrumentsthey played as a vocal teacher.
For years, I knew what I washearing was exceptional and
something different.
And right there I became a fanfollowing their career.
As they continue to playlocally, regionally, and
internationally, you'll findthem to be the real deal,
(00:44):
authentic, honest, and in it forthe music for music's sake as it
connects to other people.
Raised on the California coastin a family of musicians, the
band grew up surrounded bymusical influences from almost
every genre.
In the early two thousands,their parents piled them into an
rv and together they embarked onseveral singing tours around the
(01:06):
US traveling as far east asOhio.
Darden is a five piece familyband consisting of three
sisters, Clara on guitar andvocals, Javi on mandolin and
vocals, and tabby on bassvocals.
And two brothers, Josiah ondrums, Noah on Keys.
The three young ladies arejoining me in the studio today.
(01:29):
Even though you'll hear threedifferent voices from Clara,
Javi and Tabby, they soundamazingly like one solid voice,
so solid and tight.
In fact that you can't get abutter knife in between those
voices.
See if you can hear where onestarts and the other begins.
At the end of the show, I'll beplaying a song they wrote called
(01:49):
Happy and Sad, and they discussa little about the songwriting
backstory of that song and givesome advice to artists about how
to keep going in the business.
I talk to them on the show abouthow they started their career,
how they work, write, andcollaborate, and about their
long history of touring.
And you'll get to hear for thefirst time ever, a live in-house
(02:10):
performance recorded at Love andLaughter music studios in
Anaheim.
The song they are performingin-house is called the Moon.
No mixing, tuning or changeshave been made to their
performance.
So let's kick it off with theband Darden.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Check one, two, check one, two.
Testing, testing.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Hi, we're Darden.
My name's Clara.
I'm playing the guitar, I'm Halaon the mandolin and my name is
Tabitha on the bass guitar.
And here's our original song,the Moon.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I can Stay Long.
(03:40):
Quiet Breeze is my have
Speaker 5 (05:42):
To.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
That was awesome.
Ladies who needs Autotune?
Speaker 6 (06:19):
We have always had music in our family.
Our grandfather was anentertainer for over 50 years.
Oliver Orange County played thepiano and sang and had a touring
show and everything.
And then our parents both sangand were dancers.
And finally they started singingin church in bible college.
(06:41):
Once they started having us oneat a time, they thought it was
kind of cool just adding onelittle singer at a time,
to the group.
And so it was kind of a naturalpro process and it turned into
us singing on the road andtraveling to different churches
all over the US.
So we would travel for ninemonths outta the year.
The farthest we went was toKentucky and Ohio and then we
(07:03):
would just tour.
We had this little tour mappedout every year and then we would
go and stop at all thesedifferent churches all over the
states.
We had different favorite stopsto make lots of little camps and
different things.
So we would do that and thencome back for the holidays.
The first few years was atrailer and we had like a
carpooling the trailer and we'dall have to ride in the car and
then we'd stop and unpack andall of that.
(07:23):
And then the last several yearswas in a motor home, which we
really liked cuz we could justbe in there the whole time.
And we'd, when we'd run thegenerator, we'd be able to watch
Little House in the Prairie, ourfavorite show and just
relax in there.
And then we'd do our school onthe road too.
We were all homeschooled so we'dbring all of our books with us
and be able to look out thewindow, try not to get carsick
doing our work.
(07:45):
And it was, it was fun.
It was awesome.
Before my brothers were born, itstarted out I think with the
four girls when we actuallystarted traveling it was 2002.
So Tammy was, yeah, juststarting to sing with the group.
It kind of, uh, started windingdown.
I think it was, we startedfeeling like it was getting
really difficult as we gotolder, we got bigger and less,
(08:08):
there was less space so we wereeither gonna upgrade to a bigger
bus or we were gonna settle downand find what we could do at
home.
And it just worked out.
Our um, grandfather startedhelping us go into music lessons
and we wanted to really focus onthe instruments and learning and
planting.
So I think, I don't quiteremember exactly when the day or
when the decision was made thatwe were done.
(08:28):
It just kind of happened wherewe're not gonna go on the road
this year.
We're going to be at home.
We have a lot of shows.
I think our grandpa, he wasalready doing the retirement
community a ton and he had movedout of his clubs and all of that
stuff and he had been playing inchurch and retirement
communities for the past severalyears and he told my mom it
would be a great avenue for forthe kids to play and you can
(08:50):
make a little extra money thatway.
And you know, they love to seeyoung people come in and and
sing the songs they know and youcan come and piggyback on one of
my shows.
Yeah.
And so we did.
We,
Speaker 7 (08:59):
And this is Tabitha speaking now.
Um, I think that was the nextphase, the next stage of the
music because it taught us liveperformance and how to do live
performance, how to write a showout and someone has to mc
somebody has to count off thesongs so we know how when to
(09:20):
start and things like that.
So it kind of took us off ofbeing a family band and put us
into like a, an entertainmentenvironment.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
This is Clara.
I started with guitar when I wassix.
It's just was always what Iwanted to play so I picked it up
and I would carry it aroundeverywhere.
And then I've always playedaround with other instruments,
but the guitar is the one thatstuck with me and, and it was
just normal as can be for me.
Speaker 8 (09:41):
This is Jala.
We all had taken ukulele lessonsand we were taking some guitar
lessons as well and pianolessons and the Mandoline, I
guess it was comfortable cuzit's kind of as small as the
ukulele.
It just felt comfortable toplay.
I think probably because of theY lessons I'm guessing.
Speaker 7 (10:00):
This is Tabitha.
I was in the ukulele phase for along time.
I think the longest the othergirls had found their
instruments, CILA on the violin.
Clara guitar, holo Madelin.
They stuck with those forprobably a year or two years
before I decided on the bass cuzI was just playing ukulele.
Eventually Clara says we don'thave a bass or anything holding
(10:22):
down the music.
There's too many strings goingon and we also didn't have
percussion of any kind.
I was the odd man out withukulele.
Mm-hmm.
So then I ended up picking upthe uh, bass.
We got a quarter size so it wasvery small and it was an upright
bass.
I went to an acoustic guitarbass and then eventually went to
(10:42):
the electric bass guitar.
Speaker 8 (10:44):
We do always say at the end of the day, majority
rules for the band.
So that helps because we'llstart learning a song and we'll
give it a chance.
We also, another rule is that wehave to give everything a chance
.
So someone comes with a songthat they wanna do, like a cover
or something like that.
We'll have, we'll work on it alittle bit, we'll play it
through a few times, like a fewsessions of rehearsing and see
(11:05):
how it goes.
And then a lot of times justthat helps.
Like we can really get thefeeling for the song.
We can tell like if we'realready bored playing it, it's
just kind of like not goinganywhere.
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
And I find the most passionate corals we have are
because we feel very stronglyabout what we're presenting.
And so it's usually from a placeof, I think this either sounds
the best or would be interpretedthe best.
For me, school has changed a lotcuz I've done a lot of theory
classes and before I didn't havethat and we just relied on our
ear.
But now with the theory, I'mlike, there's all these new
ideas coming in.
(11:35):
So I'm like, okay wait, this isthe right harmony part.
And so then we have like, wellthis is the part that sounds
good to me and then, but this isthe part that's that I like.
So we have to, you know, giveand take with that.
Speaker 7 (11:44):
And I also have realized that our disagreements
are all pretty logistical.
The conclusion we come to iswhat sounds the best.
Speaker 6 (11:54):
We've rare, we rarely get into personal fights
anymore.
We used to, of course we wentthrough all of that, but now
we've tailored it to why are wearguing and then we usually are
able to back up and look at whatwe're trying to get, what's the
objective here and then we'reable to talk it through.
So it's been really good.
And then if we get intodisagreement and it's like
before a show or something bythe end of the show, we would
(12:14):
feel great because the musicjust playing together just irons
out everything and you can't bemad for an entire two hours or
however long.
The show
Speaker 8 (12:21):
, when I
started writing it was a lot of
writing tunes and melodies andand chords and stuff like that.
And I wasn't really into thelyrics as much, but lately I
will start with probably like afirst verse or like a chorus
part with lyrics.
And then a lot of times I can'treally find a melody to match
(12:43):
it.
So that's when I'll take it tolike Tabby or Clara cuz the
guitar helps a lot of times.
But with like for a singingmelody, a lot of times I'll ask
Tabby more, if I need cords,then I'll ask Clara.
That recently has been what'sbeen happening, at least with
some newer songs.
I, it's hard sometimes to find amelody that matches it.
So I'll just write probably likehalf of the song or even less
(13:05):
and then I'll just bring it tothe table.
Lately
Speaker 6 (13:08):
For me it's been, I have a, a thought during the day
or something and I just write itdown just a line maybe and then
I'll go back to it later andwork around it.
But the way I write right now isjust singing and playing at the
same time.
Not judge myself so much andjust come up with anything that
comes to my mind and then justrecord it on a voice memo and
then I'll, you know, be cringinglaughing, listening to it.
(13:31):
But there's something good inthere sometimes we're all still
living together and we canapproach each other with an idea
and someone's gonna havesomething to bounce off of it.
And I mean the girls arephenomenal with melodies.
JLA is really good with melodiesand lyrics and stuff that I
would never think of.
And same with Tabitha.
Like she'll come with a songthat I would just, I just like,
(13:51):
wow.
It's like a perfect song alreadyand she's just written it.
And so it's really fun becausewe can, we can bounce ideas off
of each other and there's alwayssomething fresh.
Speaker 7 (14:01):
Writings are not lacking.
That's not something we have aproblem with yet is having
material, original material,what the, the problem is.
Or I guess our, our roadblockyou could say is recording it
fast enough and getting it outthere fast enough.
.
Mm-hmm she goes,we're always like, whoa, I have
a new song in a new one and thensomeone else has another one and
(14:22):
then somebody else about thesongs and then it's like three
or four or five over the pastweek or something or two weeks.
I love making music and writingmusic because of the possibility
of making somebody feel how I dowhen I hear something that I
love that was written musicallyor lyrically, like I'll hear one
(14:43):
of my favorite songs,Scarborough Affair, Simon and
Garfunkel.
And it can change your wholeoutlook on life.
Your moods or your motivation ordrive it can change all that
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Pars,
Speaker 8 (14:59):
All of us, six siblings all have the ability to
do it.
And it seems like, like we'reall very passionate about it and
we all, it all works when we doit
Speaker 6 (15:09):
Together.
It's the one thing that we cango back to.
Like there's something where youjust know that it's what you're
meant to do and it's not in away that there's pressure.
It's not in a way that's like,oh I have to do this because
this is what our family does.
It's when you know you have acalling and I, and I think we're
really blessed to know ourcalling cuz a lot of people
spend years trying to find whatthat is and it takes time to
(15:30):
figure that out.
And I mean we were lucky that wewere put into it so young, but I
think it's something that weknow it would be a shame to let
it go.
And so all the work is worth itand whatever struggle we have to
go through, it's definitely aGod ordained thing for us to do.
And just what Tabby was sayingas well about the joy and the
hope that it can bring topeople, the capability of that
(15:51):
is really incredible.
And we've been able to see itfirsthand just in performing,
especially in retirement homeswhere they don't get a lot of
visitors, they don't get a lotof young people coming in and
just their faces light up andeven if they have dementia or
other ailments, they can singthe songs and remember the songs
and it's the music that bringsback those memories and those
(16:11):
pathways.
And so it is therapy, it is allof that.
If I'm going through somethingsometimes there's no way I feel
like I can release it and Ialways turn back to the music
and I always am able to write mythoughts and sing about it to
myself and it just, it istherapy for me.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
One of the coolest parts about this is that the
outcome isn't necessarily whywe're doing this.
Meaning where we end up in ourlives down the road is not a
concern of mine because we'redoing it right now.
Mm-hmm.
because we'rehaving all those life moments
that are so part of the humanexperience because we're doing
(16:46):
something that we actuallybelieve in.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
One of the greatest examples I can think of, of the
synchronicity.
Mm-hmm.
factor of being inthe right place at the right
time, just answering the call ofwhat we were supposed to do.
We were singing at an assistedliving or a rehab care center.
There was this lady in theaudience just bawling to all of
her songs and she was cryingand, and she was like, oh, like
I love this music.
Where are you guys from?
(17:09):
And so we ended up talking withher and she was there for her
mom, uh, who is receiving carethere.
And she been there for a littlewhile and it turns out she's in
the music industry.
She's been a manager for years,she's been working with
management companies and she hasall these connections.
She knows people and she'salready thinking like, I wanna
get you guys on this show.
I wanna start this reality showwith you.
(17:31):
I wanna do this recording Vertuproducer and all these ideas.
And you know, that was so new tous back then and we were on
board with all of it and turnsout that was a niece who is our
manager now for all these years.
We flew out to Michigan and itwas during January so it was
(17:52):
snowing still.
It was freezing cold.
And of course we have not beenaround that kind of weather for
a long time, so we were kind ofshell shocked by the cold.
We brought like big fur coatsand everything and they were
much needed.
.
Our goal was to complete a wholesong, to write and record a
whole song through that week andhave fun in the process.
And we bought a ton of minibagels.
(18:13):
We found out that was ourrecording snack thing that we
just stuck with and we, we didit, we, we completed our goal.
We, uh, wrote that song and itkind of stemmed from a long
conversations, which we alwaysend up having with him.
He's, he's quite a thinker aswell.
So we always come up with theserandom stuff,, random
(18:35):
things to talk about and thatwas one of the conversations we
trailed off into.
And it was the feeling of whenyou're in a certain point in
your life that you know that youhave to make a certain decision.
Right.
And it's kind of more, less aheart decision, it's more of a
knowledgeable, like a mind smartdecision that this needs to be
done, this is the right thing,this is what I know is right,
(18:57):
but it doesn't feel great.
It feels really difficultbecause your heart is involved.
Yeah, yeah.
It's an emotional thing.
So we'd all, I think he eventoo, we were talking sharing
experiences of recently stuff wehad been going through that
related to that.
And we started out the week bysaying we don't wanna write a
love song because we have toomany of those.
Those are just a dime a dozenand we wanna do something a
(19:17):
little bit different.
He's a genius on the piano, sohe's the one that that came up
with the piano hook and heplayed that and recorded it on
the album and um, then werecorded it.
We made do, cuz he didn't havehis studio at that time, um,
going and so at the house we setup in the basement, I think we
set up like in a closet, somecushions, some pillows and
(19:38):
pillowcases,
Speaker 8 (19:39):
Different things in the closet.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
.
Yep.
And he had set up a littlecontrol room and one of the
bedrooms and then had a littlecords running like up the stairs
or something.
Yeah, up the stairs.
And then we, there were somepoints where we hit where we
couldn't think of a certain lineor maybe a spot.
So we'd run out into the coldfor inspiration, And then
(20:03):
we'd make some more tea.
Made tons of tea.
Another thing we like to do andthat we tried to do with this
song is to make it to where itcan be almost about any
situation.
So you could even turn it into alove song, you could turn it
into a breakup or whatever youwant.
But it doesn't have to be, itdoesn't have to be something
that's constricting that way towhere someone could think of
their current situation and say,I relate to that because you
(20:26):
know, I have to quit this jobthat I love or whatever it may
be.
Leave a bad, you know, maybe atoxic situation but you still
love the person or things likethat, that real issues that
people deal with that we reallylike to get to.
We like to talk about thosethings and we like to like dive
into that.
Yeah.
It's like a
Speaker 8 (20:42):
Very simple song but very open at the same time.
It's like that's how we wantedit to be.
It's
Speaker 6 (20:47):
An open conversation.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7 (20:50):
Most artists would agree.
When I say that you have to playto live.
Speaker 8 (20:57):
Kind of touching on what Tabby was saying, if it's
really what you love to do, thenyou'll just stick with it and it
will always come back to you andit will always be something you
can go
Speaker 6 (21:06):
Back.
Yeah.
And I agree with that.
The day in and the day out.
Just doing it.
Doing it when you don't feellike it always.
And the the main, I think pieceof advice that comes to mind for
me is just perform, perform,perform, play for people, anyone
that will listen.
If you have to do open mics orif you have the opportunity and
if people want to hire you,that's even better.
,
Speaker 7 (21:25):
.
Get as much experience as youpossibly can.
Speaker 9 (21:29):
Happy answer.
Why does a good thing feel sobad?
Like tears in heaven, a winnerin Spain like sunset
Speaker 5 (21:42):
Dawn,
Speaker 9 (21:44):
Why is the right thing feels so wrong?
And just like that I'm happy andsad.
Speaker 7 (21:51):
One two.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
A good challenge.
Speaker 9 (21:55):
Challenge
Speaker 1 (21:56):
The song Happy and sad played in its entirety.
Speaker 10 (22:14):
I'm walking
Speaker 9 (22:15):
Away,
Speaker 10 (22:17):
You're calling my name, but I'm not.
Can't save this time.
Stars won't.
And you're telling me why Ican't leave it behind.
Speaker 9 (22:34):
Such a good
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Mistake.
Speaker 9 (22:38):
Wish didn't have to wake.
Now that I'm awake,
Speaker 5 (22:50):
Why
Speaker 9 (22:50):
Does a good thing feel so
Speaker 5 (22:51):
Bad?
Speaker 9 (22:53):
Tears in heaven.
Winner is, why does the so justlike sad?
(23:18):
Embrace the truth is hard toface.
I'm not gonna
Speaker 5 (23:31):
The consequences.
So bitter happy does
Speaker 9 (23:45):
So bad.
Tears in heaven winner spring,why does the right thing?
So just like happy and sad,
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Happy.
Speaker 9 (24:30):
What is good thing?
Feel so bad.
Tears in heaven.
The winner So wrong.
Just like
Speaker 1 (25:26):
This is Lisa again and I wanna take this moment to
applaud the team at Love andlaughter music group.com, A safe
and knowledgeable spot formusicians who wish to learn more
about writing songs andrecording great music.
This episode is a product ofliving Crazy brave.com, another
hub where musicians cancultivate new awareness about
(25:47):
what it takes to honor thesacred art of making honest
music.
I had a great time with the bandDarden, and I love hearing the
Darden music philosophy, howthey use music as a force of
change, bringing happiness toothers when they are performing,
and how staying busy in theircollective calling gives meaning
to their lives.
(26:07):
The famous bass player, AbrahamLab Boreal, just look him up.
Arguably one of the best bassplayers in the world, and I'm
fortunate to call him a friendjust received a Grammy trustees
award for his journey ofexcellence in the business.
He said a memorable quote.
He said, remember to be amusician is not a competitive
(26:28):
sport, but a collaborative artlike the Dardens.
If you are an artist, findstrength in other musicians and
producers jump in and take arisk to perform songwriter and
exchange ideas together.
Your musical collaborations andconnections will help sustain
you and carry you forward inthis crazy business for the rest
(26:49):
of your musical life.
You are listening to the Crazy Brave Songwriter
Podcast.
This is a podcast about themagic of making music one song
at a time.
My name is Lisa m I'm happy tobe your host for today.
I have been a big fan of theband Darden for a long time.
Originally, I first heard themsing in a small deli sandwich
(00:22):
shop in Anaheim, Californiaabout seven years ago.
And I couldn't believe the blendof their voices, the harmonies,
and the variety of instrumentsthey played as a vocal teacher.
For years, I knew what I washearing was exceptional and
something different.
And right there I became a fanfollowing their career.
As they continue to playlocally, regionally, and
internationally, you'll findthem to be the real deal,
(00:44):
authentic, honest, and in it forthe music for music's sake as it
connects to other people.
Raised on the California coastin a family of musicians, the
band grew up surrounded bymusical influences from almost
every genre.
In the early two thousands,their parents piled them into an
rv and together they embarked onseveral singing tours around the
(01:06):
US traveling as far east asOhio.
Darden is a five piece familyband consisting of three
sisters, Clara on guitar andvocals, Javi on mandolin and
vocals, and tabby on bassvocals.
And two brothers, Josiah ondrums, Noah on Keys.
The three young ladies arejoining me in the studio today.
(01:29):
Even though you'll hear threedifferent voices from Clara,
Javi and Tabby, they soundamazingly like one solid voice,
so solid and tight.
In fact that you can't get abutter knife in between those
voices.
See if you can hear where onestarts and the other begins.
At the end of the show, I'll beplaying a song they wrote called
(01:49):
Happy and Sad, and they discussa little about the songwriting
backstory of that song and givesome advice to artists about how
to keep going in the business.
I talk to them on the show abouthow they started their career,
how they work, write, andcollaborate, and about their
long history of touring.
And you'll get to hear for thefirst time ever, a live in-house
(02:10):
performance recorded at Love andLaughter music studios in
Anaheim.
The song they are performingin-house is called the Moon.
No mixing, tuning or changeshave been made to their
performance.
So let's kick it off with theband Darden.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Check one, two, check one, two.
Testing, testing.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Hi, we're Darden.
My name's Clara.
I'm playing the guitar, I'm Halaon the mandolin and my name is
Tabitha on the bass guitar.
And here's our original song,the Moon.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I can Stay Long.
(03:40):
Quiet Breeze is my have
Speaker 5 (05:42):
To.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
That was awesome.
Ladies who needs Autotune?
Speaker 6 (06:19):
We have always had music in our family.
Our grandfather was anentertainer for over 50 years.
Oliver Orange County played thepiano and sang and had a touring
show and everything.
And then our parents both sangand were dancers.
And finally they started singingin church in bible college.
(06:41):
Once they started having us oneat a time, they thought it was
kind of cool just adding onelittle singer at a time,
to the group.
And so it was kind of a naturalpro process and it turned into
us singing on the road andtraveling to different churches
all over the US.
So we would travel for ninemonths outta the year.
The farthest we went was toKentucky and Ohio and then we
(07:03):
would just tour.
We had this little tour mappedout every year and then we would
go and stop at all thesedifferent churches all over the
states.
We had different favorite stopsto make lots of little camps and
different things.
So we would do that and thencome back for the holidays.
The first few years was atrailer and we had like a
carpooling the trailer and we'dall have to ride in the car and
then we'd stop and unpack andall of that.
(07:23):
And then the last several yearswas in a motor home, which we
really liked cuz we could justbe in there the whole time.
And we'd, when we'd run thegenerator, we'd be able to watch
Little House in the Prairie, ourfavorite show
relax in there.
And then we'd do our school onthe road too.
We were all homeschooled so we'dbring all of our books with us
and be able to look out thewindow, try not to get carsick
doing our work
(07:45):
And it was, it was fun.
It was awesome.
Before my brothers were born, itstarted out I think with the
four girls when we actuallystarted traveling it was 2002.
So Tammy was, yeah, juststarting to sing with the group.
It kind of, uh, started windingdown.
I think it was, we startedfeeling like it was getting
really difficult as we gotolder, we got bigger and less,
(08:08):
there was less space so we wereeither gonna upgrade to a bigger
bus or we were gonna settle downand find what we could do at
home.
And it just worked out.
Our um, grandfather startedhelping us go into music lessons
and we wanted to really focus onthe instruments and learning and
planting.
So I think, I don't quiteremember exactly when the day or
when the decision was made thatwe were done.
(08:28):
It just kind of happened wherewe're not gonna go on the road
this year.
We're going to be at home.
We have a lot of shows.
I think our grandpa, he wasalready doing the retirement
community a ton and he had movedout of his clubs and all of that
stuff and he had been playing inchurch and retirement
communities for the past severalyears and he told my mom it
would be a great avenue for forthe kids to play and you can
(08:50):
make a little extra money thatway.
And you know, they love to seeyoung people come in and and
sing the songs they know and youcan come and piggyback on one of
my shows.
Yeah.
And so we did.
We,
Speaker 7 (08:59):
And this is Tabitha speaking now.
Um, I think that was the nextphase, the next stage of the
music because it taught us liveperformance and how to do live
performance, how to write a showout and someone has to mc
somebody has to count off thesongs so we know how when to
(09:20):
start and things like that.
So it kind of took us off ofbeing a family band and put us
into like a, an entertainmentenvironment.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
This is Clara.
I started with guitar when I wassix.
It's just was always what Iwanted to play so I picked it up
and I would carry it aroundeverywhere.
And then I've always playedaround with other instruments,
but the guitar is the one thatstuck with me and, and it was
just normal as can be for me.
Speaker 8 (09:41):
This is Jala.
We all had taken ukulele lessonsand we were taking some guitar
lessons as well and pianolessons and the Mandoline, I
guess it was comfortable cuzit's kind of as small as the
ukulele.
It just felt comfortable toplay.
I think probably because of theY lessons I'm guessing.
Speaker 7 (10:00):
This is Tabitha.
I was in the ukulele phase for along time.
I think the longest the othergirls had found their
instruments, CILA on the violin.
Clara guitar, holo Madelin.
They stuck with those forprobably a year or two years
before I decided on the bass cuzI was just playing ukulele.
Eventually Clara says we don'thave a bass or anything holding
(10:22):
down the music.
There's too many strings goingon and we also didn't have
percussion of any kind.
I was the odd man out withukulele.
Mm-hmm
So then I ended up picking upthe uh, bass.
We got a quarter size so it wasvery small and it was an upright
bass.
I went to an acoustic guitarbass and then eventually went to
(10:42):
the electric bass guitar.
Speaker 8 (10:44):
We do always say at the end of the day, majority
rules for the band.
So that helps because we'llstart learning a song and we'll
give it a chance.
We also, another rule is that wehave to give everything a chance
So someone comes with a songthat they wanna do, like a cover
or something like that.
We'll have, we'll work on it alittle bit, we'll play it
through a few times, like a fewsessions of rehearsing and see
(11:05):
how it goes.
And then a lot of times justthat helps.
Like we can really get thefeeling for the song.
We can tell like if we'realready bored playing it, it's
just kind of like not goinganywhere.
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
And I find the most passionate corals we have are
because we feel very stronglyabout what we're presenting.
And so it's usually from a placeof, I think this either sounds
the best or would be interpretedthe best.
For me, school has changed a lotcuz I've done a lot of theory
classes and before I didn't havethat and we just relied on our
ear.
But now with the theory, I'mlike, there's all these new
ideas coming in.
(11:35):
So I'm like, okay wait, this isthe right harmony part.
And so then we have like, wellthis is the part that sounds
good to me and then, but this isthe part that's that I like.
So we have to, you know, giveand take with that.
Speaker 7 (11:44):
And I also have realized that our disagreements
are all pretty logistical.
The conclusion we come to iswhat sounds the best.
Speaker 6 (11:54):
We've rare, we rarely get into personal fights
anymore.
We used to, of course we wentthrough all of that, but now
we've tailored it to why are wearguing and then we usually are
able to back up and look at whatwe're trying to get, what's the
objective here and then we'reable to talk it through.
So it's been really good.
And then if we get intodisagreement and it's like
before a show or something bythe end of the show, we would
(12:14):
feel great because the musicjust playing together just irons
out everything and you can't bemad for an entire two hours or
however long.
The show
Speaker 8 (12:21):
writing tunes and melodies andand chords and stuff like that.
And I wasn't really into thelyrics as much, but lately I
will start with probably like afirst verse or like a chorus
part with lyrics.
And then a lot of times I can'treally find a melody to match
(12:43):
it.
So that's when I'll take it tolike Tabby or Clara cuz the
guitar helps a lot of times.
But with like for a singingmelody, a lot of times I'll ask
Tabby more, if I need cords,then I'll ask Clara.
That recently has been what'sbeen happening, at least with
some newer songs.
I, it's hard sometimes to find amelody that matches it.
So I'll just write probably likehalf of the song or even less
(13:05):
and then I'll just bring it tothe table.
Lately
Speaker 6 (13:08):
For me it's been, I have a, a thought during the day
or something and I just write itdown just a line maybe and then
I'll go back to it later andwork around it.
But the way I write right now isjust singing and playing at the
same time.
Not judge myself so much andjust come up with anything that
comes to my mind and then justrecord it on a voice memo and
then I'll, you know, be cringinglaughing, listening to it.
(13:31):
But there's something good inthere sometimes we're all still
living together and we canapproach each other with an idea
and someone's gonna havesomething to bounce off of it.
And I mean the girls arephenomenal with melodies.
JLA is really good with melodiesand lyrics and stuff that I
would never think of.
And same with Tabitha.
Like she'll come with a songthat I would just, I just like,
(13:51):
wow.
It's like a perfect song alreadyand she's just written it.
And so it's really fun becausewe can, we can bounce ideas off
of each other and there's alwayssomething fresh.
Speaker 7 (14:01):
Writings are not lacking.
That's not something we have aproblem with yet is having
material, original material,what the, the problem is.
Or I guess our, our roadblockyou could say is recording it
fast enough and getting it outthere fast enough.
Mm-hmm
a new song in a new one and thensomeone else has another one and
(14:22):
then somebody else about thesongs and then it's like three
or four or five over the pastweek or something or two weeks.
I love making music and writingmusic because of the possibility
of making somebody feel how I dowhen I hear something that I
love that was written musicallyor lyrically, like I'll hear one
(14:43):
of my favorite songs,Scarborough Affair, Simon and
Garfunkel.
And it can change your wholeoutlook on life.
Your moods or your motivation ordrive it can change all that
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Pars,
Speaker 8 (14:59):
All of us, six siblings all have the ability to
do it.
And it seems like, like we'reall very passionate about it and
we all, it all works when we doit
Speaker 6 (15:09):
Together.
It's the one thing that we cango back to.
Like there's something where youjust know that it's what you're
meant to do and it's not in away that there's pressure.
It's not in a way that's like,oh I have to do this because
this is what our family does.
It's when you know you have acalling and I, and I think we're
really blessed to know ourcalling cuz a lot of people
spend years trying to find whatthat is and it takes time to
(15:30):
figure that out.
And I mean we were lucky that wewere put into it so young, but I
think it's something that weknow it would be a shame to let
it go.
And so all the work is worth itand whatever struggle we have to
go through, it's definitely aGod ordained thing for us to do.
And just what Tabby was sayingas well about the joy and the
hope that it can bring topeople, the capability of that
(15:51):
is really incredible.
And we've been able to see itfirsthand just in performing,
especially in retirement homeswhere they don't get a lot of
visitors, they don't get a lotof young people coming in and
just their faces light up andeven if they have dementia or
other ailments, they can singthe songs and remember the songs
and it's the music that bringsback those memories and those
(16:11):
pathways.
And so it is therapy, it is allof that.
If I'm going through somethingsometimes there's no way I feel
like I can release it and Ialways turn back to the music
and I always am able to write mythoughts and sing about it to
myself and it just, it istherapy for me.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
One of the coolest parts about this is that the
outcome isn't necessarily whywe're doing this.
Meaning where we end up in ourlives down the road is not a
concern of mine because we'redoing it right now.
Mm-hmm.
that are so part of the humanexperience because we're doing
(16:46):
something that we actuallybelieve in.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
One of the greatest examples I can think of, of the
synchronicity.
Mm-hmm.
time, just answering the call ofwhat we were supposed to do.
We were singing at an assistedliving or a rehab care center.
There was this lady in theaudience just bawling to all of
her songs and she was cryingand, and she was like, oh, like
I love this music.
Where are you guys from?
(17:09):
And so we ended up talking withher and she was there for her
mom, uh, who is receiving carethere.
And she been there for a littlewhile and it turns out she's in
the music industry.
She's been a manager for years,she's been working with
management companies and she hasall these connections.
She knows people and she'salready thinking like, I wanna
get you guys on this show.
I wanna start this reality showwith you.
(17:31):
I wanna do this recording Vertuproducer and all these ideas.
And you know, that was so new tous back then and we were on
board with all of it and turnsout that was a niece who is our
manager now for all these years.
We flew out to Michigan and itwas during January so it was
(17:52):
snowing still.
It was freezing cold.
And of course we have not beenaround that kind of weather for
a long time, so we were kind ofshell shocked by the cold.
We brought like big fur coatsand everything and they were
much needed.
Our goal was to complete a wholesong, to write and record a
whole song through that week andhave fun in the process.
And we bought a ton of minibagels.
(18:13):
We found out that was ourrecording snack thing that we
just stuck with and we, we didit, we, we completed our goal.
We, uh, wrote that song and itkind of stemmed from a long
conversations, which we alwaysend up having with him.
He's, he's quite a thinker aswell.
So we always come up with theserandom stuff,
(18:35):
things to talk about and thatwas one of the conversations we
trailed off into.
And it was the feeling of whenyou're in a certain point in
your life that you know that youhave to make a certain decision.
Right.
And it's kind of more, less aheart decision, it's more of a
knowledgeable, like a mind smartdecision that this needs to be
done, this is the right thing,this is what I know is right,
(18:57):
but it doesn't feel great.
It feels really difficultbecause your heart is involved.
Yeah, yeah.
It's an emotional thing.
So we'd all, I think he eventoo, we were talking sharing
experiences of recently stuff wehad been going through that
related to that.
And we started out the week bysaying we don't wanna write a
love song because we have toomany of those.
Those are just a dime a dozenand we wanna do something a
(19:17):
little bit different.
He's a genius on the piano, sohe's the one that that came up
with the piano hook and heplayed that and recorded it on
the album and um, then werecorded it.
We made do, cuz he didn't havehis studio at that time, um,
going and so at the house we setup in the basement, I think we
set up like in a closet, somecushions, some pillows and
(19:38):
pillowcases,
Speaker 8 (19:39):
Different things in the closet.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
Yep.
And he had set up a littlecontrol room and one of the
bedrooms and then had a littlecords running like up the stairs
or something.
Yeah, up the stairs.
And then we, there were somepoints where we hit where we
couldn't think of a certain lineor maybe a spot.
So we'd run out into the coldfor inspiration,
(20:03):
we'd make some more tea.
Made tons of tea.
Another thing we like to do andthat we tried to do with this
song is to make it to where itcan be almost about any
situation.
So you could even turn it into alove song, you could turn it
into a breakup or whatever youwant.
But it doesn't have to be, itdoesn't have to be something
that's constricting that way towhere someone could think of
their current situation and say,I relate to that because you
(20:26):
know, I have to quit this jobthat I love or whatever it may
be.
Leave a bad, you know, maybe atoxic situation but you still
love the person or things likethat, that real issues that
people deal with that we reallylike to get to.
We like to talk about thosethings and we like to like dive
into that.
Yeah.
It's like a
Speaker 8 (20:42):
Very simple song but very open at the same time.
It's like that's how we wantedit to be.
It's
Speaker 6 (20:47):
An open conversation.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7 (20:50):
Most artists would agree.
When I say that you have to playto live.
Speaker 8 (20:57):
Kind of touching on what Tabby was saying, if it's
really what you love to do, thenyou'll just stick with it and it
will always come back to you andit will always be something you
can go
Speaker 6 (21:06):
Back.
Yeah.
And I agree with that.
The day in and the day out.
Just doing it.
Doing it when you don't feellike it always.
And the the main, I think pieceof advice that comes to mind for
me is just perform, perform,perform, play for people, anyone
that will listen.
If you have to do open mics orif you have the opportunity and
if people want to hire you,that's even better.
Speaker 7 (21:25):
Get as much experience as youpossibly can.
Speaker 9 (21:29):
Happy answer.
Why does a good thing feel sobad?
Like tears in heaven, a winnerin Spain like sunset
Speaker 5 (21:42):
Dawn,
Speaker 9 (21:44):
Why is the right thing feels so wrong?
And just like that I'm happy andsad.
Speaker 7 (21:51):
One two.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
A good challenge.
Speaker 9 (21:55):
Challenge
Speaker 1 (21:56):
The song Happy and sad played in its entirety.
Speaker 10 (22:14):
I'm walking
Speaker 9 (22:15):
Away,
Speaker 10 (22:17):
You're calling my name, but I'm not.
Can't save this time.
Stars won't.
And you're telling me why Ican't leave it behind.
Speaker 9 (22:34):
Such a good
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Mistake.
Speaker 9 (22:38):
Wish didn't have to wake.
Now that I'm awake,
Speaker 5 (22:50):
Why
Speaker 9 (22:50):
Does a good thing feel so
Speaker 5 (22:51):
Bad?
Speaker 9 (22:53):
Tears in heaven.
Winner is, why does the so justlike sad?
(23:18):
Embrace the truth is hard toface.
I'm not gonna
Speaker 5 (23:31):
The consequences.
So bitter happy does
Speaker 9 (23:45):
So bad.
Tears in heaven winner spring,why does the right thing?
So just like happy and sad,
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Happy.
Speaker 9 (24:30):
What is good thing?
Feel so bad.
Tears in heaven.
The winner So wrong.
Just like
Speaker 1 (25:26):
This is Lisa again and I wanna take this moment to
applaud the team at Love andlaughter music group.com, A safe
and knowledgeable spot formusicians who wish to learn more
about writing songs andrecording great music.
This episode is a product ofliving Crazy brave.com, another
hub where musicians cancultivate new awareness about
(25:47):
what it takes to honor thesacred art of making honest
music.
I had a great time with the bandDarden, and I love hearing the
Darden music philosophy, howthey use music as a force of
change, bringing happiness toothers when they are performing,
and how staying busy in theircollective calling gives meaning
to their lives.
(26:07):
The famous bass player, AbrahamLab Boreal, just look him up.
Arguably one of the best bassplayers in the world, and I'm
fortunate to call him a friendjust received a Grammy trustees
award for his journey ofexcellence in the business.
He said a memorable quote.
He said, remember to be amusician is not a competitive
(26:28):
sport, but a collaborative artlike the Dardens.
If you are an artist, findstrength in other musicians and
producers jump in and take arisk to perform songwriter and
exchange ideas together.
Your musical collaborations andconnections will help sustain
you and carry you forward inthis crazy business for the rest
(26:49):
of your musical life.
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