Born from the solitude of the pandemic, local indie band Deth Rali has emerged in recent years as a creative powerhouse driven by the vision of Jay Maike. The band features a stellar lineup of familiar Colorado musicians, including veteran drummer Nathan Rodriguez (Cherished, Replica City), Mean World Records co-founder and bassist Hunter Bates (Shady Oaks), synthesizer and guitar player Wes Hughes (Marafiki), and vocalist Jamie Fox (Snarklet). Their designer and creative director, Hanna Williams, has also played a pivotal role in crafting the fantastical world of their new album, Ruby’s Castle Island.
303 Magazine recently spoke with Maike to explore their formation, creative process, the eclectic influences that shape their unique sound, and their new song, aptly titled “The Video,” and the June 20th release of the song’s accompanying video.
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303 Magazine: I know it started with Jay, but how did the rest of the band come together?
Deth Rali: It was a pandemic solo project for me. After the dissolution of my long-time psych-rock project King Eddie, I started moving into more dark-wave, goth influences and performing from a synthesizer. In November 2022, we performed their first live concert at Colorado College, where I’m an instructor in audio and music technology. I formed the band with former student and guitarist Eliza Neiman-Golden (Tiny Tomboy) and the rest of the current lineup!
303: Where does the name Deth Rali come from?
DR: I saw it in a dream.
303: How do you approach songwriting as a group, or is Jay still the driving force?
DR: I write the songs and bring them to the band for further development. During the Light Levels-EP era, I started writing every song in Ableton. However, during our initial performances, we realized it was difficult to play songs written “in the box” without re-writing them in significant ways. On our new album Ruby’s Castle Island most songs have started from the piano or synth and passed through the band earlier in the process to ensure they can be performed live! I recently acquired an early 1980s Juno-106 synthesizer, which has served as a starting point for their songwriting for the latter half of the “Ruby’s Castle” sessions.
303: It seems like there’s a good variety of styles within your music. While exploring the various shades of 80’s pop, will you continue to expand on this sound?
DR: We pride ourselves on being unattached to genre. It’s all about serving the song and letting it go where it wants to. Even some of my favorite bands like Beach House, Tame Impala, etc., are so masterful at what they do, but their cannon can feel limited. I love learning the idiosyncrasies of what makes different genres work —both in the studio and live. It also fits into my creative philosophy: every song is just a snapshot in time and we shouldn’t be too attached to what happens. Go where the moment takes you and move on to the next thing. The 80s are a huge influence, but I’m influenced by a little bit of everything. That’s what creates a unique sound, in my opinion. To achieve that, though, at a certain point, you have to kill your darlings and stop trying to be your idols and just be you.
303: Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
DR: As a performer, definitely Bowie. I think I (like many weirdos out there) carry on the torch of the Starman. He basically won music, in my opinion. In the studio, I’m completely obsessed with Drab Majesty, M83, and Beach House. As a presence in everyday life, George Clanton. In terms of the modern era, we occupy a similar place and just love his melodies. I think I also have a side that loves absurdity that is attached to acts like The Garden and my Denver friends, Bun Bun. Honorable mentions: Denver-based metal band Blood Incantation, Tame Impala and of course, King Gizzard.
303: How do you balance the use of modern production techniques with the classic 80’s electropop sound?
DR: Always trying to balance what can be performed live with what sounds the best. They definitely run counter to each other. For example, how a snare sounds can completely change the vibe of a song. For as long as we remain a live band, I’ll try to make things as performable as possible. When I started writing songs, I had like 100 layers per song. Now I try to have just as many tracks as a live band has, usually, maybe a few more. But nothing orchestral! People’s expectations of hearing your record are always coming to bear when they see you live. I think we’ve all had that experience of being underwhelmed by the live sound of a band whose record you love. We’re not purists at all. Though our album was recorded on an incredible API console at DU, some parts of the overdubs were in my basement with no acoustic treatment. If it sounds good, carries emotion, and tells a story, it is good.
303: Your videos clearly take a lot of effort. How are those coming together? Who decides on outfits, locations, and aesthetics?
DR: The “Ruby’s Castle Island” music video was the only video that was truly “high production,” and we worked with Andrea Hoang and Jason Edelstein of the Salt Lick Denver. I wanted to go all out to create an initial concept for the album. It’s also the first project I brought in my daughter Jette and my partner Hanna. It was a really sweet family moment of testing the limits and building a new world. The rest of the videos—Aldebaran, Candle in the Dark, Baby, and the newest “The Video ”—were all done in the spirit of like… we’ve got a concept, a visual reference, some costumes, and we’re just gonna see what happens. I didn’t really have any idea exactly what we’d do for those. They kind of came together at that moment. Honestly, you could say our videos are more improvisational than the songs! hahaha
303: It seems like there’s a very self-aware humor throughout your music and visuals. Is that something that’s naturally interwoven or a specific stylistic choice you’re making?
DR: Humor is my natural language. It runs through all things — even our scariest music and videos. Though I live to create larger-than-life worlds with stories and characters and music and visuals, I can’t help but poke fun at the whole process a little. It’s kind of funny to go through all the work to make something grand, and we live such a short time. There’s an interview with Bowie where he talks about the sane thing to do is just have a nice home, get food for your family, and that’s about it. To go to great lengths to express yourself is kind of absurd. Yet I love to do it, and I also don’t take myself all that seriously.
I’ve kind of grown into a combination of David Bowie, Larry David, and Hayao Miyazaki in my 30s now. It’s very liberating because I’ve been doing this for a while and am starting to tap into all the elements of my personality that come naturally and weave them into my work seamlessly.
303: How important are the visual elements to your overall artistic vision?
DR: They are everything. Just as important as the music. They inform it and are informed by it. I’m not really a “musician” in the sense that I just jam around on things. Maybe at the very beginning to get ideas, but that’s it. I’m huge on using Pinterest boards, voice notes, and anything else that leaves me impressions to kind of chew on until something comes to life organically.
303: What was the inspiration behind “The Video?”
DR: The song started with my Juno 106. I was like “This is kind of hypnotic.” And what’s more hypnotic than the dynamic personality of someone with all the answers? So it started to move into the conceptual realm after the bassline and synth part was written. Creatively, there is nothing funnier and more interesting to me than when you can’t tell if something is a joke or serious. That line is where so many interesting — and honestly scary — things happen. We wanted to create a visual palette that was inspired by the extremes of Hippy/New Age spirituality combined with the drab, sci-fi look of someone like Devo or Drab Majesty. We watched the series Love Has Won about the Cult of Mother God down in Crestone, CO, and found it completely absurd how she wove New Age spirituality into essentially just being on a multi-year bender, manipulating everyone and consuming everything she could. You also see this with figures like Donald Trump who can wield people’s innate capacities for in-group dynamics. Sometimes he’s just spouting stuff off, just like Mother God, and I’m like does he actually believe any of this? He’s kind of the ultimate cult leader figure. People see themselves in these people like a mirror. Though “MAGA” is not the only political cult out there, it’s certainly by far the most potent and least funny.
303: I love the The Ring cursed videotape energy of the chorus. Was that movie an inspiration for the writing process?
DR: We were tapping into the element of internet and social media culture that is very evangelizing even for secular topics. People get really into something: a political or spiritual ideology, a new technology like crypto or AI, a social cause, a dynamic personality like a politician, coach, productivity guru, or “thought leader”, or even *gasp* an artist. And it checks all the boxes for them. They swear they’ve found the one true way and everyone needs to see/hear it. You start looking at everyone like… if only they knew what I knew and saw what I saw. I think at its core, “The Video” started with a question many of us ask: Have you seen that one video? The chorus is the affirmation: “I Saw the Video.”
303: Any live shows coming up? Or plans for future projects?
DR: June 15th at Two Moons (Sponsored Content’s EP release w/ Mananas DJ set + Deth Rali), July 2nd at UMS, and September 14 at Hi-Dive for the Ruby’s Castle Island record release show. We’ll have vinyl, in-person characters, and some really weird stuff planned. It took a year to write and record it and now we’re finally done and getting vinyl printed, making some videos, and launching a Kickstarter to help fund the LP printing! The Kickstarter runs from May 31st to June 20th.
Catch the music video for “The Video” June 20th