Today we’d like to introduce you to Edgar Derby.
Hi Edgar, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in El Paso, Texas, and picked up music from an early age, first drums, then guitar. It was clear that playing guitar was my natural habitat, so I pursued it all the way to studying music at UNT, which is what brought me to Denton.
I played a lot of music in various groups over the years, in a very broad range of genres, but always as a side man. It was not until I started writing the group of songs that would become the first Edgar Derby LP, Who We Are, that I felt compelled to be a front man and lead vocalist. I’d written songs pretty much all my life as an exercise or for my own amusement, but this was the first time that something I had written carried some weight to it. The message I was uncovering in the songs seemed important to share, so I dove in.
When I made the commitment to record Who We Are I had just reconnected with my friend Ben Jackson, who owns East End Studio in Nashville. It made a lot of sense to have him produce and record my LP, and he did an amazing job. I had Who We Are pressed to vinyl and released it independently in November of 2017, and put a band together to play live shows in support of the record.
As we played shows and gained some traction in the Denton scene, the band (Killian Smith – bass, Kevin Cho – drums, Alex Hastings – guitar) really gelled and the live show gave life to the songs in a way I never could have imagined. I continued writing and we added new songs until the project had grown to the point that it made sense to go back to the studio.
My second LP, Dancing in Death/The Place Where the River Makes a Sound, was recorded at East End Studio and produced by Ben Jackson and myself in March of 2020. I hate to make everyone think back to that time, so suffice it to say there were some challenges! I’m grateful that we got the principal tracking done before the pandemic lockdowns, as my team and I were able to work on the post-production for the record while shows were postponed indefinitely.
As the world came around to the new normal, Dancing in Death was released independently on 13th February, 2021 on vinyl and all streaming services. We were limited to playing a streaming release show, which was strange, but at that point in time we were grateful to be making music together at all.
The Edgar Derby catalogue is meant to be consumed almost like a novel; from start to finish there is a narrative, and the first two LPs represent the first several chapters of the story. Over the course of the project I have had some amazing opportunities to tell that story, from performing at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library to being featured on a PBS live concert series entitled Sound on Tap. The music has evolved in ways I could not have foreseen, and I have just finished writing the next installment, a six-song EP that will probably be called Trinity. I’ll be going to the studio soon to record it and I can’t wait to share the new sounds with everyone.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Any serious musician who says they have always had an easy time of things is lying through their teeth, or hasn’t been very ambitious. I mentioned before trying to navigate releasing a record in the midst of a global pandemic. There were definitely all sorts of speed bumps I’d never encountered during that time. I also had a lot of momentum leading up to making those recordings and it was extremely difficult to try to maintain that when we couldn’t play a conventional show for anyone. Staying positive and keeping the wheels turning during that time was challenging, for sure.
One of the biggest challenges with my project is the subject matter that we deal with. The themes in the lyrics and music are dramatic and heavy, and the songs are meant to give the listener some things to think about. I think it’s compelling and an important way that we can use art to communicate about tough topics, but a lot of times folks want to come out to a show specifically NOT to think about things like that. I try to stay aware of that fact and strike a balance between speaking my message loud and clear, but also making the show a high enough quality that anyone can enjoy it whether or not they zone in to the deeper themes. Some of the most gratifying moments are when someone who has never seen an Edgar Derby show connects with the deeper moments when they weren’t expecting to be challenged in such a way.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m proud of the fact that when someone goes to an Edgar Derby show they never know exactly what they’ll get. I never play the same setlist twice. The instrumentation of the band often changes, sometimes drastically. We’ve had a full string quartet on a show and we’ve had four percussionists on a show. I bring different visual elements into the show whenever I can, whether it’s lighting, stage props, fire. The whole thing has taken on a life of its own, and between the orchestral instrumentation and visual effects, the Edgar Derby show has become increasingly theatrical. We lean into that, and without giving too much away, fans can look forward to the theatrical thing becoming even more of the show with the release of my new EP. I love when I have someone tell me after a show that they were just expecting some rock songs and were surprised by the lengths we go to take our performance beyond those constraints.
What matters most to you? Why?
It’s funny. When I started on this project I saw it as a cautionary tale about the downward spiral that can happen if humans forget to take care of each other. Now we’ve somehow gotten ourselves to a place as a society where the message in my songs seems way more relevant than it was ever supposed to be. It feels imperative that as many people hear that message as possible, so that we can start talking about what we as Ordinary People can do to make the world less cruel. My creative process feels more like archeology than alchemy; I feel more like the songs I write down and eventually perform already existed, it’s just my job to interpret them and try not to f*ck them up. I don’t feel like they are created from nothing by me nor do they belong to me. The thing that is most important to me is that the songs get to as many people as possible, because they belong to everyone.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://edgarderbymusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edgarderby/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/edgarderbymusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/edgarderby1945
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@edgarderby1627
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6o57WSqB5KoiJtRCZ5Gxl0?si=I9j6exB4RIyPtvzBdWhSRw
Image Credits
Patricia Rodriguez-Mayo
Norah St Peter
Eric Fermin Perez
