Rock On With Toronto-based, Funk-Rock Band, Black Creek Reign’s New EP
This homegrown, Toronto funk-rock band is making ripples in the city. Their unique sound is a blend of funk, rock and reggae, and you can hear every style very distinctly and skillfully combined in their new EP, Excommunicado.
All three of the band members grew up and went to school in the GTA and their sound is very big, distorted and they are able to create a cohesive balance between the vocals and the instruments.
I loved the smooth, powerful vocals of their lead singer, Darren Armoogam, and we were able to catch up with him and ask him a few questions.
How did you all meet?
I met our bassist Lex through an acting class about 5 years ago in university. We pretty much took one look at each other and decided “Yep, we’re gonna be friends”. I was involved with another project at the time, and as soon as he heard it he wanted to be involved, and I was happy to have a talented and ambitious friend join. Our drummer Shane I had met through an open mic that he hosts on Sunday nights at King Henry’s Arms in Richmond Hill, he heard me sing the 1st time we met and was always open to jamming. Our previous drummer left the band due to unforeseen circumstances, so Shane learned the entire album in a few days and we recorded his parts in less than 2 hours. It was instant chemistry among the 3 of us though, and we decided Shane is an absolute must have.
Funk-rock and reggae isn’t a genre we see much of anymore. Do you think the music we listen to is changing in terms of seeing more and more electronic music and less acoustic instruments?
It’s a really strange divide right now. There’s a TON of electro pop and other electronic based music that’s pretty mainstream, and that seems to be the way things have shifted over the last few years. However, there’s definitely a resurgence of real instruments and rock music recently, with bands like Greta Van Fleet and Gary Clark Jr kind of spearheading the charge on that front. As for funk-rock and reggae, we couldn’t help but identify with music that makes ourselves groove, it wasn’t even intentional on my part…all of my songwriting ideas just happened to fit into that bubble!
What inspired your EP, Excommunicado?
Lex and I took a trip to Nashville and LA during late 2017, with the purpose of writing a ton of songs, and really seeing if our quality of songwriting was up to par with American cities. To our surprise…they loved us! And we were inspired to take the ideas we wrote down there, and generate an EP for Black Creek Reign. We didn’t have anything recorded at the time, and our last project was never going to be resurrected, so we decided why not? We wrote about 10 or so songs, and after reintroducing myself to some material I had written years ago, we felt confident we had 5 quality songs. I admit, Lex wasn’t sold on the name “Excommunicado”, but after we dialogued back and forth about how we can feel excommunicated from aspects of social circles and life in general due to our career choice, he eventually agreed.
What do you hope your listeners will get from your music?
It’s always been our hope to produce radio friendly, catchy music that still had character to it. Think of Maroon 5's “Songs About Jane” or John Mayer’s “Continuum”. We hope our listeners can relate to our messages of corruption in “Preacher”, a lost love in “Gone Away” or even walking away from a broken situation in “Now I’m Free”. As artists we have something we want to say to the world, and while you may have heard these themes and topics before, our hope is that you’ve never heard it quite like this, and that maybe we’ve put words to something you’ve been trying to get out and express to those around you.
What was your favourite thing about making this EP?
I can’t speak for the other guys, but my favourite thing about this EP was the growth I experienced while writing. I feel my abilities have grown and my outlook and perspective have shifted in many ways because of the writing process. Delving deep into these topics is a great exercise to not only understand you, but the world around you. I loved all the little details about putting this album together, from thinking of the name, to overseeing the album art, to even picking the song names. And making good music with your friends is an experience that can’t really be understated, I absolutely love it.
What’s next for the band?
We’ve got a BUSY summer planned, a few festivals and a few shows downtown. You can catch us next on Saturday June 22nd at the Hideout with our friends Jonny Starkes, Badgermouth, and the Jay Dee band. But to really stay up to date with everything we’re up to, head on over to our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/blackcreekreign) or follow us on IG @blackcreekreign.
We’re very excited to see what’s next for Black Creek Reign. They will be having their EP release party on August 10 at C’est What.
