Sid Simons and The Darlings on their origins, music, and the New York City scene
Photo via Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)
Revolution is in the air here in New York City. A creative scene has begun to swirl, whether in music, or any art form really, there’s one collective conclusion; something is happening.
Sid Simons and The Darlings have become trailblazers in the New York scene as a dynamic six-piece band with intricate musicianship as all the elements properly intertwine to create their 60s rock inspired sound. The band includes Sid Simons (vocals), Zach Saffo (guitar), Jensen Gore (bass), Huxley Kuhlmann (keys/guitar), Sammi Katzmann (saxophone), and Noah Boling (drums). Together they create a fresh take on heartland rock with upbeat music that generates emotions of youthful nostalgia. Each song features poetic storytelling lyrics. Almost recalling elements from musicians that were the voices of the past generations, such as the lyricism style of the early 1970s punk rock scene here in New York.
As we finished with the hour long photo shoot in the frigid winter air at the traveling circus, we sat down with the ringmaster, Sid, and his right hand man, Zach for an interview.
You started out as Girl Skin and transitioned to playing under your own name in 2022. Can you talk about the transition to this group?
S: Yeah, I had the band Girl Skin and we were kind of moving and focusing on different things. Everyone just kind of had their own project going. It just felt natural, we were all doing something different. I was thinking about my next move and if it just felt right to go under my name.
How did you meet everyone in the band?
S: Noah, the drummer from Girl Skin, is the drummer for The Darlings. Zach, we moved in together around a year and a half ago so we just immediately started writing songs together and stuff like that. Jensen was in another band with me, Beechwood, and he wasn't doing anything at the time. That band also broke up at the same time Girl Skin broke up. We started making music together. Sammi, I was doing door at Berlin one random-ass night. And she came in and started playing on the sax and I could hear it from upstairs, and I was like, ‘who the fuck is this?’ I got her number and was like ‘you're playing with me now.’ Huxley was the last member to join. He's roommates with Noah who's the drummer and he's a fucking amazing songwriter and helps sculpt a lot of the sound and songs.
Can you talk about the name? Sid Simons is obviously you, but where did The Darlings come from?
S: I actually didn’t come up with it. It was Jensen the bass player who came up with it. But it just happened so there was a Girl Skin song called “Darling.” It just fits.
How does it feel to be one of the Darlings?
Photo via Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)
Z: Well it makes sense cause we're all so sweet. It's a good name, I like it.
S: It fits the music.
In “Wendy”, the song was written for Girl Skin. How have you adapted the song to be played with this group?
S: I recorded it with a different band.
Z: It's got sax.
S: I mean the difference in terms of live setting is I think we bring it down and bring it up a little more where the recorded version is very straight through. I love playing with the dynamics and cutting out at one point, letting the crowd sing it, and then coming back in. I think we're doing that with a lot of the songs right now, kind of playing with them and toying with them, just to make it more fresh with us too.
When writing “Wendy,” were you thinking it would go viral?
S: Definitely.
You were thinking that?
S: Sure. I thought it was going to be a hit. I think that about every song.
Z: The one we just wrote, it's a hit.
S: I always thought “Dead Ringer” would be the hit.
Let the people come around. What was the process like of creating “Dead Ringer?”
S: It started as a poem. I wrote all the lyrics first. And then I didn't even think it's going to be a song. I came up with that riff and then I just thought it'd be cool if it was just a running writing of words, like song spewing. It just synched up with the music really well.
You said you wanted to add more theatrics to the live show. In what ways do you anticipate your performances changing?
S: I want it to be a performance, not just a rock show. We're still working it out. I don't want to say choreography, sounds kind of corny, but teetering on that line of what we could possibly do.
Z: There's so much. The lights. We can stop a song in the middle of it, go into something else, and get back into it. Make everything blend into each other. So many things.
S: We talked about doing a wardrobe change on stage. And it's like a silhouette, stuff like that. It's going to happen.
Do you think it's important to keep reinventing yourself as musicians?
S: I think it's more for your own self. You want to explore different parts of yourself. There's so much to find out. It gets stale if you do the same thing - you want to be able to expand. I feel like we're reinventing ourselves. Since starting the band we've evolved into something. Every record is going to sound different.
There are a lot of elements in your songs, two guitars, bass, keys, sax and drums. How are you able to balance all of the sounds together? Has it been a trial and error experience?
S: It’s easy and difficult at the same time in a six piece band. Dynamics wise, we can do so much on stage and so many sounds to really get from point a to point b. But also not everyone is playing at once, so there's moments where it's really quiet.
Z: Everyone provides input on how to sculpt everything together. That's kind of how we achieve our live sound. Huxley is big on that. Sammy too.
S: Dynamics is the most important thing in terms of production and music and live shows.
In your songs you have this storytelling lyricism. Can you talk about your songwriting process?
Z: It changes a lot. I’ve really only been a part of the songwriting process, a small little riff that turns into this crazy thing.
S: It's always different. There's no formula we’re following. 90% of the time I'll write the song and bring it to the band. It's kind of a blank canvas and we're adding and making it sound like how it should, taking it out of the bedroom I wrote it in and putting it in a six piece band.
Do you ever sit down and try to write?
S: I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and said, ‘I'm going to write a song today.’ It just comes. A lot of the time lyrics, they'll be a line or two, or a poem. Recently I've been working on something and Zach will say, ‘what's that?’ And he'll step in and we’ll end up fucking writing something together.
Do you feel like you're more engaged in that process now?
Z: Totally. I mean for a while we were kind of getting everything together with the songs he already had with Girl Skin. Now everyone’s in.
S: I want everyone to be able to write together. That's the goal.
Photo via Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)
Has it been progressing to that?
S: Definitely, more and more.
Z: Wrote a really good one the other day.
S: We have so many new songs it's a bit overwhelming.
Do you feel like red is becoming your signature color?
S: Yeah it definitely is. I think red just feels right for the music. Sonically I can see it.
You had a video go viral on TikTok. Do you feel that has changed the status of the band at all?
S: I think it's only helped in one way. It opened us up to a bigger audience. People around the world saw that video.
Z: People recognized Sid in a hotel.
S: Yeah, we were on tour and that video came out two days before we went on tour. We were in the mddle of nowhere at this hotel. We played a show the night before. There was a group of girls in the lobby kind of looking at us and giggling. I got a DM asking if that was us because they saw the video.
Z: We asked if they enjoyed the show and they were like, ‘no we didn't go to the show, we recognized you from Instagram.’ Which is just wild.
Do you feel supported as a band here?
S: Yeah, I definitely do. I feel like there's an amazing group of musicians and we're all friends. There's no rivalry.
Z: Totally. That goes back to how all of our friends and everyone is doing something great and interesting.
S: Everyone is helping each other out in different ways.
Z: That's what keeps it alive. I feel we were supported and were supporting other people and that's what keeps it going.
Do you feel particularly inspired by the New York scene?
S: I think there's something brewing in New York. I feel like every one of our friends is working on something fucking amazing. It's so inspiring. If it's not music it's something in art. Something about New York right now is really exciting to be here.
Follow Sid Simons and The Darlings on Instagram, Spotify, and their website. Their next show is in New York City on New Year's Eve. Click here for tickets.