the WILD honey pie: I’m sure you’re asked this all the time, but where the hell did the name “Antlers” come from?
Darby Cicci: There’s no great story to this. I have a history as a professional 6-12 point buck hunter during the time I lived in Alabama from childhood til I went to college. My friend Peter knew about this and I think he saw it as a very noble and sort of archaic and medieval profession. I was very good at it, but it’s not really noble. I’m a vegetarian now and I think hunting is rather a wasteful sport. But there’s lots of metaphoric value in “antlers”.
the WILD honey pie: If you could collaborate with one artist at the moment, who would it have to be?
Darby Cicci: It would be with anyone with whom I felt a real creative connection with. There are a lot of musicians I respect, but to collaborate with someone you have to really see things on the same page, and really understand and respect each other, or else nothing really interesting can come from it. To me, it’s more about becoming friends with people — and those are the people I want to work with.
the WILD honey pie: Do you write your lyrics or music first? Do you believe one is more important than the other?
Darby Cicci: Music is always first if you’re a musician. Maybe a poet or someone would think otherwise, but if you are a musician, sound is always the storyteller, and lyrics won’t make any sense if the music doesn’t tell the story first. That’s how great lyrics work. You feel the emotions from the music, and the lyrics tell a story based on the mood and structure and life of the music. They are inseparable.
the WILD honey pie: Your most current album, Hospice, has been a massive hit. Did you expect such a warm reception? Were you worried that its dark content may turn off some listeners?
Darby Cicci: Massive is a relative term. We’re no Amy Winehouse. We never expected this reception. I remember driving in my car around Brooklyn when Hospice was done, before it went to mastering, and I tried to objectively figure out what people would think. I didn’t figure it out, and most of me thought people would think it was too melodramatic. That was my fear I guess, and I don’t think the record’s melodramatic. I’m really glad people are patient enough with the record to see what we think is beautiful about it, and to listen to it’s subtleties — that’s the most important part I think, the subtext.
the WILD honey pie: Is there a certain type of venue that you prefer to play at? What’s the best gig you think you ever played? What made it so good?
Darby Cicci: There’s cool, there’s surreal, there’s great sound, there’s great audiences, there’s great venues. They don’t necessarily all coincide ever. I love Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg and Mercury Lounge in New York City. Our one time opening for Beach House and The Walkmen at Webster Hall was amazing and surreal. I love Bush Hall in London. I love Bimbo’s in San Francisco. I love 40 Watts in Athens, I love Red Rocks in Colorado, I love Middle East in Boston. There’s too many, I love touring.
the WILD honey pie: What are your instruments of choice? Why so?
Darby Cicci: The biggest church pope organ you can find, coupled with the most beautiful sounding elegant church room you can find to echo and reverberate the sound beyond anything that could be created by God himself. Is that a lofty goal maybe? I also like the banjo — nothing sounds like the banjo, especially electrified and through pedals — and definitely the flugelhorn. The best horn by far with the exception of the french horn. After that maybe very precisely tuned drums or timpani or vibraphone. It’s too complicated to pick a favorite.
the WILD honey pie: Well, thanks for taking the time to answer these questions! Good luck on the rest of your tour, and I hope to see you come our way again sometime soon.
