By Dominic LaFratta and Tate DeCarlo

Transcribed by Juliet Oswald

Off Your Face by Divaria

Dominic: You’re listening to KUPS 90.1 FM, the sound. I’m your host Dom along with my co-host Tate. That was “Off Your Face” by Divaria, who we have in the studio with us right now! He just released his nine-track debut album entitled September accurately and precisely on the first of September. How’re you doing dude?

Divaria: Yeah, great yeah.

Dominic: We’re so excited for you to be here. And I guess the second interview but the first interview for us, and it’s just really exciting to be connecting KUPS with the greater Washington scene, which is like a really big goal of mine. So thank you for being here.

Divaria: Yeah, thank you. I respect you, you guys are doing a lot. So thank you for having me on. 

Dominic: Sweet. So once again, we’re here with Divaria, a local art alternative rock act from the Seattle-Tacoma area. And I think we should just start from the beginning. So I guess just like how did you first come into contact with music? What were the sounds heard in your home growing up, if any?

Divaria: Um, it’s kind of interesting because what I was exposed to music-wise, when I was really little, like, it’s not anything like what I make or what I like, listen to. It was a lot of like, 2000s Bling Era hip-hop.

Dominic: Really? 

Divaria: Yeah. But that changed when I was like 13 or 14.

Dominic: Is that kind of when you started discovering music on your own?

Divaria: Yeah, because streaming was starting to take off. That’s how I, you know, kind of got into the music that I’m into right now. Just like finding artists, discovering them. 

Dominic: What were some of those early artists that inspired you or that you first were just called to?

Divaria: Probably the biggest one would be Nirvana. Yeah, Nirvana was a big one. I heard Nevermind for the first time when I was like, 13. And I was just like, well, I want to make stuff like this you know?

Dominic: Yeah. I feel like hearing “Endless, Nameless” at 13 would just rock my system.

Divaria: Yeah. Like hearing a track like that is just like – what even is this?

Dominic : I mean, it’s still amazing. I remember listening to that at like, 17. And even then I was like, ‘It’s too much for me.’ So that’s crazy at 13. Do you think the call to Nirvana was because of growing up in Washington?

Divaria: Yeah, that was kind of how I found it. I found that out after the fact. Like, after I started, listening to them really heavily. And then I found out they were from, you know, Aberdeen/Seattle. I was just like, wow, I feel so proud to be in the state.

Tate: Yeah,  do you still kind of find yourself gravitating towards the grunge genre? Are there other kinds of niches in music that you tend toward a little bit more?

Divaria: Yeah, I was heavily into grunge when I was in my early teens, but more recently, like, maybe around 16 or 17, I started listening to a lot of shoegaze, and I got hooked on that. 

Tate: I can definitely hear that on the new album. Are there particular artists that you’ve really drawn from as far as inspiration for this record? Or, that have guided your creative process at all?

Divaria: Yeah, definitely. Um, I think more like the modern kind of shoegaze. The old stuff is great. Like Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine. Like, I love it, but I think the new stuff is, it might be controversial to say, but I think it’s just, you know, better in terms of my taste.

Tate: I couldn’t agree more. I feel like when I was listening to this album the first time, I was getting a lot of like, They are Gutting a Body of Water and Nothing, that whole scene. I can really hear that, it’s super good. 

Divaria: Thank you.

Dominic: Sweet. Well, I guess like, as those as your inspirations, what was the initiative to start making music yourself? Like what did that step look like?

Divaria: Um, I would just kind of sit in my room and play my guitar for hours and hours and hours.

Dominic: Are you self-taught? 

Divaria: Yeah. Well, self-taught you know, like watching Marty Schwartz. I would just make things on my guitar and you know, didn’t really realize like I was making songs. Yeah, that’s pretty much just how it is. And just kept doing it, and eventually upgraded to an electric guitar, and then got a computer, and then got a Scarlett 2i2, and then just went to town.

Dominic: Yeah. And then when did the creation of September start? I know you’re telling me earlier that it wasn’t definitive like, “alright, we’re making it now.” It kind of happened. But what does that time period look like?

Divaria: That album kind of started with the cover. It was just like this candid photo taken of my girlfriend, and I just thought it was so cool. And in my brain, I was like, I want to make an album that sounds like how that picture looks, you know? And so I kind of just, like, went back into my hard drive and found songs that kind of fit and then made new songs just to kind of flow in the context of the album.

Dominic: Yeah. And so why did you make that your debut? Because I guess you could have made it and waited but like what was special about that body of work that you wanted to lead with?

Divaria: The sound just makes me nostalgic for autumn. Because I feel like that’s when I go through the most change as a person every year. It’s always the beginning of autumn. And so I kind of was like, yeah, I can release an album. Kind of like a personal thing, you know? 

Tate: Sure. Um, for those who maybe haven’t seen the cover art, how would you describe the connection between the sound of this album, how it looks, and what characteristics kind of crossed both the visual and audio plane?

Divaria: Yeah, um, I think when you look at that photo, it looks like it just looks homey. Almost but like, kind of washed out and old too. I guess that’s like the best way I can describe it.

Dominic: Yeah. There’s kind of a like, there’s almost like a haunting quality to it. Yeah, but not in a negative sense, but I think that really is heard in the music. If you could describe the sound of the album, how would you describe it?

Divaria: Just like an amalgamation of modern indie rock and shoegaze with just old grunge like, that’s pretty much what it is.

Dominic: Yeah. Sweet. And so we started off this interview by playing “Off Your Face,” which was the lead single from the album. Really, really great tune. Could you tell us about that song? Why did you choose that won’t be a single inspiration behind anything? 

Divaria: Yeah. Well, I thought it was just like a good song. It’s just well-written in my opinion. And so obviously, you’d want to lead with what you think your best work is. The creative process was kind of just sitting down and making a riff, recording it and then it all came together pretty quickly, like within five days, just recording and mixing.

Dominic: Wow. Awesome. Well, with that being said, I think we should get into another track off the album then. So we opened again with the leading single and first song, “Off Your Face.” So I think we should get to the second tune on the record, probably a personal favorite of mine, and this one is called “Smoke Sesh.” So, once again, this is Divaria with “Smoke Sesh.”

Smoke Sesh By Divaria 

Dominic: You’re listening to KUPS 90.1 FM, The Sound and that was Divaria with “Smoke Sesh.” What an awesome tune dude. I really love that one. Can you tell us about the creation of that track? 

Divaria: Yeah, totally. I kind of drew some inspiration from stoner rock and doom metal, it doesn’t sound like doom metal but definitely has some of the influence for it. That track was similar to Off Your Face because I think they were made back to back. And the whole process was done, you know, fairly quickly.

Dominic: Sweet, and once again, we’re here with Divaria live in the KUPS booth. And the song you just heard is all done by one person, Divaria. Just like Tame Impala–you’re literally Tame Impala. Why do you do it all yourself? Is that a creative thing? Or was it kind of out of necessity when you were just getting started and or just a personal vision for the art?

Divaria: Yes, it’s kind of a combination of all three because when I started making music, it was just me so like I couldn’t really rely on anybody else to help me or contribute. So I kind of just did everything by myself. Just got used to it. Yeah. But I like to have complete creative control because if something doesn’t sound good or if I mess up something I have nobody to blame but me it’s, I don’t know. I feel like that’s why. 

Dominic: Yeah, yeah. I guess kind of shifting to your reasoning behind creating music, what is your goal for your art? I mean, so far the album has been really successful with pretty mild advertising. One of the tunes that we’re going to be getting into later has already well over 5000 plays on SoundCloud which is just awesome. And yeah, I guess what’s your goal for your art? How do you view your position/role in music?

Divaria: Um, I feel like my goal is to make things that I like and would listen to if I hadn’t made them. And I kind of also hope that some people can maybe find a connection with my music like how I connect with other people’s music. That’s kind of like my ultimate goal is to just make things that I like and then make things that other people like I guess.

Dominic: Yeah. And then what about just your position in the Puget Sound area? I know we kind of talked off-air a little bit about some of your aspirations with recording with other artists. Do you want to speak about that? And like, creating a space for artists to create because that’s kind of been a thing that historically lacked. And I don’t know if you wanted to touch on that anymore.

Divaria: When I first started making music, I was really into grunge, like I said, but also, punk. And Seattle especially has a really vibrant punk scene. And I just noticed that everything is really expensive, like, practice spaces and studios to rent out just to practice was like it was just unaffordable. So I hope that one day I can get to a point where I can create a space or a studio or something where people can just come in and record for super cheap or just practice or whatever.

Dominic: Just kind of fostering a community. I mean, that is something we’re trying to do here at KUPS. I like that shared initiative. So, just generally speaking, what does music mean to you?

Divaria: I feel like music is just the ultimate form of creative freedom and freedom of expression. And it’s all other forms of art. It’s a universal language that everybody can understand. And that’s why I like it so much. It’s just an outlet.

Dominic: Yeah, definitely. 

Tate: This question is a bit of a pivot, but I’m curious to know if the sound on these first two tracks is inspired by its kind of resurgence into the pop culture sphere. There are a lot of these kinds of crooning vocals that have a really heavily distorted kind of sludgy guitar and we can see Gen Z’s appreciation of bands like Deftones as well as like, songs like Youngest Daughter by Superheaven being viral on Instagram right now. Do you feel like the kind of resurgence in popularity of this sound had any impact or influence on your choice to make an album that sounded this way? Or was it really more personally driven?

Divaria: I think I would have made what I wanted to make regardless. I think it’s great that all those bands are getting, you know, recognition and kind of a cultural resurgence. But that popularity is dwindling, you know? The landscape is gonna shift eventually, well, pretty soon. So, I mean, I’m just gonna make what I want to.

Tate: Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, it’s, I love the sound that you’re putting out. So I hope you continue to make stuff that sounds like this. 

Divaria: Thank you.

Dominic: All right. Well, with that being said, I think we should get into another track off the album. The third tune on the track is called “Good Morning Sunshine.” So you’re listening to KUPS 90.1 The Sound and this is Divaria with “Good Morning Sunshine.”

Good Morning Sunshine by Divaria

Dominic: You’re listening to KUPS 90.1 FM The Sound and once again, we’re here live in the KUPS booth with Divaria, who just dropped his debut album, September, and we just listened to the track “Good Morning Sunshine,” which is the third track off the album. So, that song had kind of a different feel to it than the two previous heavier songs. What was the process of making this one?

Divaria: I think I mentioned something earlier about just like every autumn or every September or whatever, just like kind of changing as a person and growing. And one of the bands that I always think about during the autumn is Duster. They’re one of my favorite bands. And it just reminds me of just being in school and walking around the campus and I don’t know if it’s just there’s just something calming about it. And going back to the cover of the album, I just felt like it needed some type of track that paid homage to the Duster sound. So I kind of chose “Good Morning Sunshine” as that track. And I think there’s another one on there but it’s pretty much just like my homage to Duster, but acoustic.

Dominic: Sweet, yeah, thank you. So again, previously, we touched on how you’re doing everything yourself: making music, mixing, mastering it. And as somebody who does everything, what kind of challenges have you faced in your artistic career?

Divaria: It’s not really about making the art. It’s more so about promoting. That part is probably the biggest challenge that I face personally because I’m a really quiet person. I just like to be by myself and I was never extroverted or the loud kid in class. And so kind of just getting myself to be extroverted and promote myself is something I’m not used to at all. Yeah, and so I just struggled with that. That’s probably the biggest thing. 

Dominic: Okay, well, that’s what we’re doing here and KUPS is putting on some great music. And looking at your own original music, do you have a goal in mind for this? Is it just artistic expression or wanting to make whatever you feel like you want to make? 

Divaria: Yeah. Um, I think it would be awesome if I could make a career out of doing music full-time. I don’t think it’s realistic. But I think that if I just put out what I want to and make what I want to make, then it’ll show. I know at the end of the day that I never compromise my morals. Or my ethics or whatever. So as long as I just, you know, make what’s in my head, then I’ll be good.

Tate: And on the subject of making what’s in your head, I’m curious to know, do you feel a pull towards any other genres or styles of music that are in your head? Is there anything else that you’re eager to explore as you continue your career?

Divaria: Definitely. I think that it’s funny because this album is not entirely indicative of everything that I make. I just felt like with this album, I wanted to make an artistic expression. And I did but in doing that, some certain, like, influences had to be left out. And so that’s just how it is though. But I definitely want to incorporate more punky-like fast-paced stuff in the future.

Tate: Yeah, definitely. That would be awesome. I’m curious to hear how that would sound for you.

Dominic: Let’s go ahead and get to another track off the album. This tune is called “I’ll Stay Here Where It’s Warm,” which is a very interesting title – I’d love to hear about that after the tune plays. I mentioned this already, but this tune has done really well on SoundCloud. Was that kind of just you posting it and it doing great?

Divaria: Yeah, I posted it using the hashtag thing and I woke up one morning and I was like, What happened?

Dominic: Yeah. Sweet. Good music shines through. Alright, well, let’s go ahead and get into it. This is Divaria with “I’ll Stay Here Where It’s Warm,” and you’re listening to KUPS 90.1 The Sound.

I’ll Stay Here Where It’s Warm by Divaria

Dominic: Alright, we’re back with Divaria here at KUPS 90.1 The Sound, and the tune you just heard was “I’ll Stay Here Where It’s Warm.” Definitely a slower track, and it’s such a good spot in the album because it really kind of centers things and really grounds it. Was that intentional? Were you just messing around? Tell us about it. 

Divaria: It was kind of the same thing with the Duster influence. Like there’s this band I don’t think I can say their original name on here, but now they go by American Pleasure Club. I think it’s the pink album. Yeah. I love that album so much. I would play it every day and I did like front to back just on repeat. So I kind of just wanted to take inspiration from that and kind of put my own spin on it.

Tate: Yeah, as Dom kind of touched on a little bit, but more broadly speaking less about the individual track itself, and more about the album as a whole. We definitely hear kind of a sonic pivot at this point. Those first two or three tracks are pretty heavy and really distorted. But then we get into these really kind of like, slower, very much more pretty poetic-sounding songs. What was your thought process behind putting the album together in this direction where it kind of trails off slowly after this pretty intense start?

Divaria: It was semi-intentional, kind of like the flow of the album starting off really aggressive and then kind of ending much softer. When I was a senior in high school, the year I was really excited, you know, like the final school year and there was so much energy at the beginning. I was always hanging out with my friends but as the months went on, and we got into late November/early December, I kind of just wasn’t feeling it anymore.

Tate: Yeah, definitely. I mean, you’ve already talked a lot about how there’s a lot of change that happens in the fall for you. And it’s a big period of kind of like personal renewal and I feel like this layout of the album really captures that feeling of figuring things out and getting more settled into this semester.

Dominic: And then, you describe the album on Bandcamp, “a fuzzy, slow embrace.” How does that play into the concept of the record and what you just spoke about?

Divaria: It’s kind of just like a tongue-in-cheek, sardonic description of it. Like there’s some truth to it, you know, I think it’s a good way to describe it, but it’s also like, just kind of funny.

Tate: I think it definitely does fit the sound well, but I do like that you’ve managed to build an accurate audio description with the fuzzy aspect, like it was a pretty distorted album, and the tempo is definitely lower towards the end but. I like that your description is true while kind of poking fun and a lot of these other bands who get really in their heads with trying to be overly poetic. 

Dominic: Shifting gears here, you just dropped the remixes for the album, Haste and Laced versions on all streaming platforms. For those who might not know, can you explain the meaning of these alternate versions? And also, I guess your intention of making these two remixed albums? 

Divaria: Yeah, sure. Um, so when you’re just like, well, I guess I should describe what they are. But the Haste mixes are just sped up, you know, chorus, and then the Laced mixes are just, you know, slowed down reverb. And so when you are, you know, just an artist on YouTube, like trying to find out how to promote yourself, you know, you get like 30 people telling you like, you need to make music for, you know, Tik-Tok, you know, or like to speed up and slow down your tracks. And so, I didn’t really want to do it at first, but I was mastering it and I kind of took the lazy way and I was like, Okay, well, let’s see if I can do it anyways. So all I had to do was like turn one little knob in my DAW and you know, it was pitched up or pitch down. I was like, Yeah whatever, that’ll work.

Tate: In that process of kind of TikTokifying some of your songs at the pressure of people online, did you find any that you were kind of caught off guard by actually enjoying how they sounded? More than you expected? With the pitch turned up?

Divaria: Yeah, um, I feel like just like the pitching up, and the pitching down kind of gives the album a different context. Like, I still don’t prefer them over the actual release, but there are just things that I can appreciate about certain songs like with the pitch up or with the pitch down like “Dusk is When We Will Intertwine,” that track. I almost like it better when it’s slowed down with reverb.

Dominic: Cool. On the note of Tik-Tok, and just kind of the music industry shifting more and more to social media based. What do you see as the importance of cultivating a homegrown community of artists, and yeah, we talked about that being a mutual goal of ours. So I’m just kind of curious about what you think, especially as things start to progress.

Divaria: Yeah, I think social media plays a really important part in modern-day musicians and bands and artists and the main problem comes when there’s an artist and they get a bunch of attention, and, you know, millions of streams and that’s great. But, you know, that will falter off, you know, faster than it should. And so I feel like it’s just more important to kind of rally with the people in your genre and support each other. Because then that creates, you know, not only like long-standing careers and like, it just fuels creativity and kind of artistic expression with each other. 

Dominic: It’s holistic. 

Divaria: Yeah.

Dom: Sweet. Well, I think that’s just about everything that we wanted to ask you. Hey, thank you for your time and this really wonderful convo. It was great to hear more about the insides of the record.

Divaria: Yeah, thank you guys so much for having me on.

Dominic: Yeah. And right before we wrap up here. Do you have anything else that your listeners should keep an eye out for? Anything you want to hint at or plug?

Divaria: Um probably there will be something around Halloween. It’s a little more punky aggressive.

Dominic: Sweet. And then lastly, where can everyone find you and your music?

Divaria: Um just divaria, lowercase d on all streaming platforms on Bandcamp and then divaria.music on Instagram.

Dominic: Great. Sweet. Alright, and then just as we head out here, we’ll play one more track from divaria’s new album, once again, which is called September. This is gonna be the second last track on the record. You actually just mentioned it, this is “Dusk Is When We Intertwine.” So yeah, we really hope everyone enjoyed this conversation. I’m Dom and this is my co-host.

Tate: I’m Tate. 

Dominic: And you’re listening to “Dust Is When We Intertwine” by Divaria on KUPS 90.1 FM The Sound. Enjoy.

Dusk Is When We Intertwine by Divaria