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In the spring of 2022, intriguing musical duo Ready, Steady, Die! released their album Accidents. VENTS had the please of interviewing Morgan Visconti (producer and multi-instrumentalist) and Sam K (singer and lyricist) about the music video for “Darkstar”, one of the highlights from Accidents. The interview can be read below!
When were each of your musical beginnings, and what did they look like? How did it lead to you pursuing music professionally?
Morgan Visconti: I was around 3 but remember watching my Dad work with The Sparks in his new home studio. He had a mini-moog which I was allowed to turn dials on and make nasally cutoff sweeps we affectionally named “smewwww!”. Mum and Dad were often working on songs together too. I realized that music for a living was pretty cool.
Sam K: My dad was an exec at Capitol Records and worked in publishing so I was around music and music people from a very early age. I did a lot of recording from an early age and backing vocals for various artists at the time.
At what point did the two of you join forces musically, and in what ways do your strengths benefit one another in producing the projects you have to date?
MV: We were both working at Tony (Visconti’s) studio in London at the same time in our teens and I brought some 4 track instrumental demos to Sam who I already realized had an amazing voice and wrote killer top lines and lyrics and we clicked as writers. We’ve been more or less working the same way ever since.
SK: And the pure lucky bonus was we both had the same tastes in music and were drawn to the same influential artists. And that’s never really changed since.
How did you come to the name Ready, Steady, Die!? What was the conversation and reasons behind picking this band name?
MV: Sam?
SK: Um, yes. Whilst it might sound like a depressing name, it is actually just an honest assessment of life. Humans put so much pressure on themselves to live the ‘best life’ we can, we compete with other people around us, always want to do better and better and be faster and stronger. But ultimately, we are all going in the same direction towards the same end. So, the name is more ironic than depressing.
Where did you find inspiration for “Darkstar”? What is the story and message being conveyed through the song?
MV: I may be breaking the mystique here: “Darkstar” was a working title for the instrumental track and it came from the name of the opening synth sound. But I like where Sam took the idea, and for me, “Darkstar” becomes an even scarier, unexplained element in the story.
SK: Yes, and the premise is about a serial killer stalking women and I suppose in the same way Jack the Ripper was famous, I think this references the infamy of our main character in the song.
What was it like getting to explore the world of Midjourney art while creating the “Darkstar” music video? How does the visual best align with the lyrics?
MV: I initially thought of developing some abstract visuals, like stars, universal phenomenon but realized not just how well human forms came out but almost how coincidentally they fit the mood of the track. The Victorian style literally popped out of nowhere and it’s something I ran with. Collaborating with AI reminds me of how we collaborate with other artists. You pass ideas back and forth and the ideas grow organically. About halfway through the video I delved into Stable Diffusion which has a different look and style all together but the uncanny thing about the word prompt system is it allowed me to tie it all together with the Midjourney art.
What else can audiences expect from Ready, Steady, Die! in the foreseeable future?
MV: We keep talking about making a movie… but in the meantime we’d love to work on someone else’s movie. Call us!
SK: Ditto! But also, we will be releasing a Kinks’ cover in December and Morgan is working on the new video for that. Then album three next year!
MV & SK: Thanks for having us!
Follow Ready, Steady, Die!:
http://www.readysteadydie.com
https://www.facebook.com/readysteadydieband
https://twitter.com/SteadyDie
https://www.instagram.com/readysteadydie/
https://www.tiktok.com/@readysteadydieband
