jeffrey alan bright

darke county

san francisco ca 1988-1991

After the breakup of The Pleasures Pale in late 1987, Darke County was conceived in the southwest corner of Ohio by songwriting duo Jeffrey Bright and Eric Schulz. Bass player Chris "Troy" Green, formerly of industrial music kingpins Dementia Precox, was added and the three packed bags and headed west. Bright and Green arrived in San Francisco mid-August 1988, Schulz two months later in October.

Spending the better part of 1989 developing a sound and auditioning drummers, the trio began playing the city's small club circuit in the months surrounding the October Loma Prieta earthquake, debuting on September 9, 1989 at the deliciously funky Chi Chi Theater Club on Broadway in SF's bawdy strip club corridor. San Pedro native David Rojas played drums for the band's first half dozen shows and is heard playing on DC's first full band recording — captured live at Turk Street Studios in the city's seedy Tenderloin district.

In early 1990 a demo was recorded at Tom Mallon's 350 Bryant studio with Kenny Dale Johnson of Chris Isaak's Silvertone sitting in on drums. Finally, in March of that year, Bay Area native and former member of local 1980's punk act Impatient Youth Christopher Fisher (also a 1970's teenage skateboarding sensation), was added as permanent drummer, beginning a musical relationship that would endure through the band's various future incarnations.

Darke County's music was a  landscape of tall tales and mysteries of the heart. Fronted by Bright's crooning and neonoir lyrics, the band's sound swung from sparse and moody to sonic fury, mixing twang, groove, shuffle, 50's jazz cool and straight ahead rock punch.

In addition to vocal stylings, Bright played trumpet and occasional acoustic and baritone guitars. Schulz played electric 6-string and acoustic 12-string guitars and added backing vocals — and just about any other instrument that needed playing, including accordian. Green suppled the backbone with 4- and 6-string bass guitar, as well as acoustic double bass, and Fisher propelled the sound with solid beats on the trap set, including delicate brushwork on more intimate numbers.

Moving toward a harder, more expanisve sound, and feeling constricted by Darke County's implied and overt Americana, the band changed direction and identity. After much consternation and debate, and increasingly louder rehearsals, the band re-introduced themselves — to the bewilderment of many followers — in August of 1991 as Myself a Living Torch.

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