ROX-TV gets an exclusive interview with Darby O’Trill. We talk about the brand new release scheduled for Halloween, making music with Devereaux, and much more!
“At the end of the day, I just really love creating. Music is the one thing that is always there for me that helps me escape from all the other bullshit that comes with life. I am constantly writing music and coming up with ideas. I guess my problems with myself, and the world as a whole are the driving force behind what I’m doing. I’m trying to make dope songs for people who are into the same shit as me. I wanna keep the wicked shit alive”.
I understand the new album is called “The Tomb”? I know it’s a bit quick for in depth questions, but can you talk about how you came up with the name “The Tomb“? When I hear that title, it obviously invokes different imagery and feelings. I feel like “The Tomb” is an ominous place, perhaps not a very nice place, cold and dark, perhaps even wicked? Am I close? What was your creative mind thinking about when the title of the album came together?The title “The Tomb” is kinda tongue in cheek to be honest. Like dropping a wicked shit record called “The Tomb” on Halloween, it’s just Dev and I kinda poking fun at certain horrorcore tropes. There’s a lot of different sounds on this record. With this one we just went into it with the idea of having fun and not taking shit too seriously, so that definitely reflected on the records title.
Even though it’s question two, the threes are what really get my attention. On the new album you have a track called “They sell holy water on late night tv” which features strife and Shaggytheairhead. Track 3 I believe. Can you talk a little bit about that track and how it came to life? Maybe even expound on your working relationship with Shaggytheairhead.
The title of that song comes from a night when I had woken up around like 4am and the tv was still on, and it was running a commercial for “holy miracle water” which was a water bottle that contained a supposed blessed water that could cure your problems. I thought it was like a comedy skit or something, but it turned out to be real as fuck. That shit blew my mind. When Dev sent that beat it reminded me of seeing that.
ShaggyTheAirhead is like a brother to me, I love that fool! I could hear him going crazy on that beat and was interested how he would approach the subject matter. And as usual, he killed it. It’s always dope doing junts with Shaggy. To round out the song we had the homie strife close the junt. He delivered a super dope verse that doesn’t sound like anything else on the album. This is one of my favorite songs on the record just because it’s a song with all the homies.
You have another track, number seven which features Damien Quinn “Don’t you dare look in the basement, I told you not to do it”. Can you talk about how the track came together and what recording the song was like?
Don’t look in the basement was a Devereaux creation. He made this hella ruthless and disgusting beat and said he wanted to hear both Damien and I on it, so that is exactly what happened. Shoutout to the homie Damien, his verse on this song is super grimy.
I know that you roll with the brilliant Devereaux. I can only assume his dope ass production fingerprints are somewhere on this upcoming release. Would that be a safe bet? Can you talk a little bit about the production side of this release? How did things come together? Sometimes in life, I’ve experienced things that went smooth and other times I’ve had to push and pull some. Was this release a smooth experience, or did the universe toss in a few obstacles before the project could be ready for light of day?
Devereaux produced every song on the record. If it’s a Darby O’Trill record, it’s going to be fully produced by Dev. That’s my best friend mane, and him and I have really dialed in on what we want our songs to sound like. At this point I couldn’t see myself making albums with anyone else. Honestly putting the tomb together was super easy.
Dev and I are constantly making new junts together so it’s really about deciding which track goes on which project. We have The Tomb dropping on Halloween, and we already have another full-length record done for early next year, as well as a couple other projects we’ve been working on that’ll be dropping later this year. We love doing this, and we usually see eye to eye on everything, so it all comes together pretty easy. The homie Frankie Goldie also offers a lot of perspective and guidance on our records, so that helps keep things moving along too.
I noticed that most of the tracks on the new release have some interesting and longer worded titles. Was this done to give the fans a more clear description of each song and what they can expect? Or was it a thing like, “this is what I like” and that’s it?
Honestly, the long track titles is something I used to do a lot, it’s just something I think is funny. Like whatever pops into my mind first when I go to export a song is usually what it ends up being titled. Most of the time the titles really don’t have much to do with the actual song.
I see that there will be a special limited run of 150 pre-orders. I love shit like that, any time a release is unique or offers a different format (preferably physical copies in my case) I think fans really gravitate to them. I know I do. What is your opinion on collecting and did it have any influence on you making these hard copies available? I know collectors will jump on it.
Yeah, the first run will be limited to 150 copies, and in the future if we make more copies, it’ll be a variant of the record. I’m a big media collector, I have a ton of cds, dvds, and vinyls. Coming up as a Yung Jugg, the collection aspect, and having physical copies of a project, has always been a big part of enjoying a new release, so it’s definitely a tradition I want to try to carry on.
Can you talk a bit about the album artwork? Who was the artist?
The front of the record is me with my shovel and shows that the tomb is actually my mind. The back of the record has a ghostly version of Dev. The artist is Nikoteenie. She is a super talented artist from here in South Florida. She’s done a lot of art for Dev and I, including the Casey Becker is Dead music video, single art and the Piecemeal re-release cover. She also did one of the upcoming videos for The Tomb. She’s currently releasing a series of original pieces called “Teenie Babiez” which are super fresh. She does a lot of different styles; you can go peep her work on Instagram @nikoteenie
I know pre-orders are available, but the official official release date will be on the sacred day of Halloween, 10/31 to be exact. Will you be doing any special promotion for the album, perhaps a show in the near future…better yet, a tour?
As far as promotion, there will be 2 music videos for this release, one should be dropping within the next couple weeks, and the other closer to the release date. Right now, the only show we have announced is “THE JUNTA” which will be taking place at RAMENCON in South Bend Indiana Oct 1st and features Devereaux and I as well as Dj Bobe Blaze, Jigsaw Killa and Kid Lemon Fresh. We will be playing a lot of new songs including songs from The Tomb and the next big record. We are currently working on more shows/tour dates tho, so details on those should be coming pretty soon.
I know you guys are staying on the grind, so I won’t keep you any longer. We always appreciate having you on with us. Any last words or parting statement before the lights go out tonight?
As always thanks for having me on here, I really appreciate the support. Shoutout to all the homies helping make this shit happen, Big Swamp Shit mane! MCL to all the Juggalos out there and much love to all the people who have been supporting what Dev and I do. For Juggs, by Juggs. The wicked shit will never die!!
Signing Off,
Mike Shepard
ROX-TV 3ditor
