Alternative music greats certainly include Bauhaus, Love and Rockets, and Violent Femmes. San Francisco-born artist Darwin Meiners was a fan of all three and a chance meeting 13 years ago with David J (Bauhaus, Love and Rockets) grew into a friendship whereby Darwin not only became a bandmate, but David J’s manager. After reaching out to Victor DeLorenzo, Darwin met the Violent Femmes drummer after the Femmes’ Coachella set in 2013.
Soon after the three collaborated on Darwin’s 2014 album release titled Souvenir. During the pandemic, Darwin was looking for a new project to occupy the lockdown time and approached Victor, who suggested that David join them as well on a new project. Night Crickets were born. According to the band, their collaboration was a “long-distance groove conducted during the drawn-out days of lockdown and beyond.”
The resultant album, A Free Society will be released on CD and Digital by Omnivore Recordings on January 21, 2022, with vinyl being released in July, featuring cover art unique to the LP.
The band’s name comes from one of many Zoom meetings among the three members. After addressing various pressing musical issues, the conversation rambled somewhat and turned to the subject of David Lynch, with David J telling an anecdote which was told to him by Lynch’s sound designer, John Neff. Lynch had asked Neff to obtain a field recording of crickets chirping at night for inclusion in Mulholland Drive.
When Neff played him the tape, the Lynch immediately recognized the sound that the insects make when it is light which is apparently a little different to their nocturnal chirp. “No! No! No! These are day crickets, John! I want my night crickets!” Victor, Darwin, and David then instantly agreed that the project now had a name. They say, “Hark! Night Crickets are chirping as the world is set on fire and the sun is going down.”
