One of the most prolific bands I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing is the bay area’s Klank. Dubbed Bay Area Electro Metal, the band’s roots come from the early days of Industrial titans Circle of Dust where Daren “Klank” Diolosa served as guitarist. That was a lifetime ago and Klank have since forged their own sound and released nine albums to date. We haven’t heard much from the guys since their last release 2017’s Rise, )although they did release two songs in 2020 see link at the end of the interview). With that in mind, a murmur on social media got out stating that the band were working on new material, so I was tasked with getting the skinny on all things Klank. Thanks to Klank and Pat for taking the time to answer a few questions. For all interested in knowing more about the next addition to the Klank legacy, read on!
Priest – Hey guys, we’ve been hearing through the grapevine that you guys have something new and special in the works, what’s the latest on this new endeavor?
Pat – We’re actually going to be releasing two volumes and a remixes record. We’re currently getting ready to master the first batch of songs which will be volume 1 and finalizing artwork for it. Volume 2 mixing has been started but not completely done just yet. We hope to have each volume released shortly after each other with remixes in between. We have a ton of music sitting on our computers.
Priest – Wow, that’s awesome! It is certainly better to have an abundance to pick from than not enough. So, what direction will you take with this new endeavor, both musically and lyrically, any themes or concepts?
Klank – I guess it’s safe to say the music we’ve been working on is like our other albums as far as containing a variety. Some songs are heavy and aggressive and other songs not so much. To clarify, the songs that might not seem as heavy are still actually heavy, but it’s kinda deceiving because they’re wrapped up in a nice package with a lot of melody, vocal harmonies with solid hooks and heavy electronics.
With every release, I’ve tried to up my game as far as vocal harmonies and utilizing more and more layers of vocals to make melodies stand out a bit. Pat and I were discussing this recently and it’s almost like after all these years, I feel like I’m finally in a sweet spot and comfort zone with my vocals and voice in general.
It’s been really fun and rewarding experimenting with the various layers of vocals. Pat and I have been writing and creating together for well over 20 years so not only is there a complete comfort zone, but he’s great at producing and taking my initial vocal ideas and pushing me with them to see where they end up leading us.
As far as lyrical themes, I continue to write about life in general for myself and how it’s affected the band and those around us. We’ve actually been working on this new music for a couple of years now so a lot of the songs are about my pretty brutal divorce. Music has always been the best therapy so luckily, that is the chosen outlet for everything I’ve / we’ve experienced. Our lyrics have always been based on real life and very raw and emotional, but these ones are even more raw. Almost like an exposed nerve kinda raw.
Priest – Very cool, so, can we expect any surprises on these forthcoming volumes?
Klank – Well we actually have our first song that doesn’t contain any guitar whatsoever, so I guess that’s kind of a surprise. It’s not like we set out to do that either, Pat and I were just sending ideas back-and-forth and with this one song in particular, we thought it was just super groovy and heavy as it is without any guitars on it, so we decided to keep it that way and up the dance factor in it a bunch. I guess you could say it’s extra synthy and electronic sounding. Also, our plans kind of changed over the years as far as releasing this stuff because originally, we were just working on one new album, but the creative juices were flowing so good, we just decided to keep riding the creative wave and keep writing and writing and writing that way eventually we would have a stockpile of songs to go through. We basically have four releases coming up, two of which are new material that will be broken down into the two separate volumes and then the two remix EP’s as well.
Pat – I’ll just add, even with the one song that doesn’t have any guitars, we didn’t plan it like Klank said. We kept trying to add guitars into it but quickly realized that we were trying to force guitars into the song which it didn’t need. We’ve also been talking a lot about starting to release Klank sample and loop packs and instruments so you can expect that also in the coming future.
Priest – Have you set an album title yet?
Klank – We do have an album title, but we haven’t made it public knowledge yet. We figured we would finalize album artwork and all that stuff first and then make an official announcement and show the corresponding artwork to it.
Priest – Gotcha, how about any song titles that you’re really excited about? Singles forthcoming? Plans to do a video maybe?
Klank – Some of the song titles are “Goodbye From Me,” “Life, Apologies,” “No Victim Here,” Sometimes I Feel,” “Never Thought,” “Human Condition” and, “I Must Thank You.” Honestly, we are very excited about these songs and can’t wait to get these releases out so we can turn around and keep moving forward with even more new material. At present, there are no scheduled singles or videos just yet. All that will be decided in due time.
Pat – We’ve been sitting on these songs for a while with taking breaks to do the two documentary musical scores, “Metal Health: An Instrumental Musical Journey,” and “Metal Missionaries (The Score)”, so we’re definitely excited to get them released and work on all ideas we already have for future releases. Like Klank said, just keep getting content out there and moving the train forward.
You guys seem pretty relentless in these pursuits, so I know that you and Pat are on board in your line up, what about Eric? You three are the well-oiled machine we are used too.
Klank – Yes, Pant, Eric and I are all working together.
Priest – Sweet! What about plans to play live now that the music industry is getting back to it following Covid ?
Klank – Yes, at some point we will be playing live again. Not in any particular rush to do so, but definitely looking forward to it when it does finally happen.
Pat – It’s definitely been too long since our last show so I’m looking forward to it at some point also.
Priest – Well thank you guys for the update, sounds like great things are on their way. I really look forward to hearing the new material and two volumes worth at that!
Klank – Thank you, David, for the opportunity to discuss what’s been going on in our world. Please be sure to encourage your followers to reach out to us on Facebook, IG and find us on their fav streaming services!
Priest – Will do guys!
The most recent music released from Klank comes via the 2 song E.P. simply titled ’20 and can be downloaded for free by following the link below. The two songs included are “Keyboard Commandos,” and “We’re All Haters (Pretty Little Remix) Featuring dUg Pinnick of King’s X.
