Hey guys! I’ve got something really special here, and I’m excited to share it with y’all! As you all know if you’ve been keeping up with my posts, this year is the 20th anniversary for Kingdom Hearts! A lot has been going on, especially with the reveal of Kingdom Hearts 4, but I wanted to focus on something else for this time.
An extremely talented group of people was brought to my attention a couple weeks ago, and I’m thrilled to share their work with y’all! If you have never heard of the band Dusk, then it is about time you do! Dusk has been creating their own music for a while now, but they have also done some covers for popular Kingdom Hearts songs, including “Sanctuary”. They recently released their newest cover, “Face my Fears”, and I am blown away by how great it is! Before I go any further with this, please give it a listen!
See what I mean? I have heard covers for this song before, but this one is by far my favorite! You can tell the care that Dusk took to make this cover extra special, and I really appreciate that!
I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Dusk, and you can check that out below!
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Q: What was the process of recreating “Face My Fears”? –
A: After we released our version of “Sanctuary” in 2019, we tried experimenting with some of the
other Kingdom Hearts songs like “Face My Fears” and “Simple and Clean”, as a full band, but
the arrangements we tried didn’t feel right, so we moved on and figured maybe we’d circle back
to those songs at some point in the future.
Fast forward to 2021, as we were finishing Act I of our album Shards of the Void, I decided to
learn “Face My Fears” on guitar just for fun. I recorded an all-guitar demo and the next time Alex
and I got together to work on music, we added some more layers. Then, I recorded a few drum
takes while tracking for some other songs. The instrumental arrangement came together quickly,
and I was surprised that we could create such a high quality sound and have it feel relatively
effortless.
Emulating and adding a unique spin on a Utada Hikaru vocal melody is no easy feat, but I knew
Tiaday was the perfect person for the song. She’s super talented and brings so much passion to
the music she’s a part of. I’ve played drums with her band The World Over before and they’re
one of my favorite bands now. We were thrilled that she agreed to join us on this track.
Q: What was it like to collaborate with Tiaday? –
A: Working with Tiaday is incredibly easy and fun. I love that she isn’t afraid to experiment or try
things out (pay close attention to the layers of vocals in the bridge section of the song). And I
think it helps that she and I have a history of making music together so we communicate in a
way that’s intuitive to us both. It’s been an absolute pleasure collaborating with her on this, so hopefully we can do more together in the future.
Q: Has Kingdom Hearts influenced your music in any way? –
A: Absolutely. Kingdom Hearts is my favorite game, and while it’s incredible in every aspect, my
favorite part about the series is the story. It’s something that has definitely shaped how we approach creating both our music and the fictional concept behind it.
Q: A Dusk is a Kingdom Hearts enemy, so did they inspire your band name? If not, where did the
name come from? –
A: The name refers to our own story that we’re telling, which explores themes of morality. Each of
our main characters find themselves walking the line between good and evil, light and dark, so we thought Dusk was a fitting visual representation of that. After we came up with the name, we
quickly realized that Dusk is also a Nobody, and we thought that was cool. We were excited that maybe a fan would realize that too and we could connect as fellow Kingdom Hearts fans.
Q: What got you all into music, and how did Dusk come together? –
A: Alex and I have both been playing music for most of our lives. I’ve played drums for a lot of
other artists, but always wanted my own band where I could express myself in a way that was
true to me, which is difficult as a drummer. The band initially formed around some songs that I
created on my own (which comprise Act I of our album), but they all changed a lot over the
course of time. We don’t stick to the exact same parts each time we play the songs, which
makes our live shows unique. It keeps things interesting and helps us develop our creativity and chemistry.
Q: Do you have any plans to cover other video game songs? –
A: No plans at the moment, but if anyone has requests we’d love to hear them! I think the Utada
Hikaru songs from Kingdom Hearts lend themselves really well to full band arrangements that we can share with everyone – even people who have never heard of Kingdom Hearts.
Q: What are your plans for Dusk’s future? –
A: We’re releasing Shards of the Void – Act II this Summer and plan to close out the album with Act
III later in the year. From there, we’re not exactly sure to be honest. A couple of our band
members relocated in late 2019 (check out Episode 0 of The Dusk Podcast on our YouTube
channel for the full story), so Alex and I have been trying to figure out what the next phase of
Dusk’s journey will look like. We’re very excited about a new song that he and I wrote together
for Act III, called “Serenity and Fire”, which features Alex on vocals. I know we’re also very
eager to perform live sometime soon. We feel very free at the moment. Anything could happen.
Nothing’s off limits.
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It was an honor to get to know Dusk and to be able to hear their music! Please be sure to check out Dusk’s other songs, including their cover of “Sanctuary”! As I said before, Dusk is extremely talented and I hope that they will be able to soon perform live as they are hoping!
What are your thoughts on Dusk’s cover? Let me know in the comments below, and be sure to spread the word about them!
As always, God bless y’all and have a wonderful week!
All media property of Dusk and Romantic Music Group
Kingdom Hearts is property of Square Enix
“Face My Fears” and other Kingdom Hearts songs are property of Hikaru Utada
I'd Rather Be Geeking! 