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Derek and some of his darlings
Melissa Rasmussen
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"Music doesn't lie," said the great Jimi Hendrix. "If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music." On that note (pun intended and apologized for), I submit two "somethings" that need to be changed in this world:
That's where Derek Nicoletto and his new band, Derek and the Darling, come into the picture. Derek is a singer/improv perfomer who just so happens to be gay and just so happens to be a father and just so happens to be a rescuer of animals...and his bandmates are as equally diverse. With Rockface, a 5-song EP from Derek and the Darling, set to drop on April 27, it seemed like the ideal time to have a Planet Green chat with Derek Nicoletto.
But First: Meet the Band
Derek Nicoletto: vocals, keyboard, knuckles on skull
Sammi Garett: vocals, guitar, eyelashes
Mike Fisher: guitar, keyboards, Ableton, b/g vox
Will Haywood Smith: drums
WATCH VIDEO: Instrumental: Moby On Giving Back
My Conversation with Derek Nicoletto
Planet Green: So, let's see...you're a rocker, you're gay, you're a father, and you rescue animals. I'm guessing you're not too popular in the Tea Party demographic, huh?
Derek Nicoletto: I grew up in a house within a community of Indiana Republicans. So, I'm very used to them and their way of thinking. Just to give you some perspective, I met my first Jewish person in college at Indiana University when I was 17. And now, I live in New York City. So, it's been a glorious journey for me as I've met the world in my adulthood. I feel extremely lucky to have been born into the body of an entertainer because for some reason, it's a an exception the narrow-minded seem to make. I've long mastered the art of entertainment as survival. I got people to like me first and to think I was funny or talented. Then they forget I'm gay and let me in their club. I don't mind it. I'm doing the entertainment part anyway, so if I can use it as a tool to for people to put a human face on "gay father" or "environmentalist" or "animal lover" and force a pause in their prejudice, then fantastic. I actually love being from a small town in Indiana. I loved many parts of my childhood, but many were horrific because I couldn't understand why I was being bullied for something I didn't understand myself at the time.
PG: For those attending your gigs and/or buying your music, are you seeking to introduce them to tolerance and diversity or is it about the music, first and foremost?
DN: It's about the music, first and foremost. First of all, I'm in a band of four and I have a female co-lead singer, Sammi from Long Island. Will our drummer is from Hexham, England. Mike is an established nightlife personality and has traveled the world as a DJ, but grew up with a single mom in Massachusetts. Individually, we have four radically different stories. If we told our separate stories on stage at once it would be chaos. We're telling one unified story, the Derek and the Darling music. I fully expect fans of the band eventually to learn I'm gay. They will find out the minute I speak, actually. But I'm there to do a job for them, regardless of who they are. We don't discriminate or preach. If we touch the narrow-minded in our music, we've put our foot in the door for them to to meet a gay father, a Jewish girl, someone from another country and someone who grew up in a single parent family from meager means. Diversity is a fantastic by-product.
PG: Talk a little about your role in this unified story.
DN: All my life, I've been people's "first gay friend" or "only gay friend." Frankly, I forget I'm gay or even different in my day-to-day because my family operates very much like a fluid, working family would. There's a ton of love and joy. There's breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There are diapers and bills. But then I get reminded by others that I'm seen by them as something odd or even threatening either because I'm an artist or because I'm gay. I learned how to move through those situations when I was eight. Although, when I see the people who are so angry and fearful about gays, my first thought is they must be self-loathing closet cases themselves. Most people that I know who are secure in their sexuality don't have this irrational, vengeful fear. Either that or they've jumped on some bastardized form of religion or peer bandwagon and are terrified of non-acceptance. I believe in God, myself. But growing up in an intolerant community in Indiana, I know how much "fitting in" was cloaked as spiritual practice.
PG: How has your background informed your music?
DN: As a musician, I have a musical point of view and an enormous imagination that I have a duty to express to the best of my ability for those willing to support it. I see it as a job and I've accepted the whole world as my listeners, if they so choose. As an artist, you can't start your journey in someone else's head or begin with their belief system. I make the music I make regardless of whether my husband likes it, so why should I care if Glenn Beck digs it? Luckily, my husband likes the music. Same goes with our other artistic expressions like music videos. This current video, for "Hustler with a Rescue Plan" is setting off some strong opinions amongst my inner circle. But it's the video we wanted to make and I'm glad it pushes some buttons. Musical taste is so subjective; people feel so strongly about the bands they support. If a Tea Bagger loves Derek and the Darling and thinks what I do at the end of the "Hustler with a Rescue Plan" video is totally Rock and Roll rad-ness, then we've successfully introduced them to a diverse group of artists without having to preach anything. Score! I trust that the thought will eventually seep into the Tea Bagger's head that the lead singer is a gay father and her/his natural curiosity will challenge long-standing prejudices. I've seen it happen and when it works, it's great.
PG: Tell us how your experiences in improv helped create Derek and the Darling.
DN: Derek and the Darling was created when I met Sammi Garett in the Upright Citizens Brigade training program. It's wonderful and intense. Finding out this incredibly funny and attractive woman had graduated Berklee College of Music just months before made about 1,000 sirens, flags, and whistles go off in my head. After we performed a music-centric scene together which involved Stevie Nicks music as a subject, I thought to myself, "Maybe I've got my own Stevie Nicks right here." Somehow, Sammi still participates full-time in the Upright Citizens Brigade program. With Derek and the Darling taking off and full-time fatherhood, I had to pare down the improv.
PG: How did you get started in animal rescue? What can animal loving Planet Green readers learn from your experiences?
DN: My husband and I adopted two tabby cats from Minnesota Humane Society in our second year together. We moved to New York with them and shortly thereafter adopted a third cat from North Shore Animal League. Still wanting to scratch that paternal itch, we got Moses and Henry, our dogs, from North Shore Animal League as well. That means we have five animals, two guys and now a baby in a Manhattan two-bedroom apartment. It means we locate ourselves next to parks so the dogs and kid can play a lot. In addition, there are four walks day. Everyone who comes to my house (or "the Ark," or the "zoo," as my friends call it) says that my cats act like dogs and my dogs act like kids. I think it's because we didn't just adopt them and sit them in our house as decoration. The love they give, when paid proper attention to, is blinding. Their personalities, when fostered, are humongous. I've always preferred animals to people, frankly. It's not hard to see why I would.
PG: How did the animals welcome your son?
DN: I thought it might be a rough adjustment, but it wasn't. The tabby cats threw us some jealous bitchiness at first, as they like to do, but then got over it quickly. Our Dalmation-mix started standing by my son's crib right away, every time the baby cried. Now I'm to the point that I want to scream every time I see some puppy-mill importing store because I know there are no need for those puppy mills when there are so many gorgeous dogs and cats in the shelters. I'm gay, I know, "gorgeous." You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars for some puppy that came from an abused pure-bred parents in order to get a gorgeous, loving pet. If you buy from a stores that imports from puppy mills, you pay for animals to get abused. And don't trust what the store owner says, they want to make a sale. There are plenty of rescued pure-breds, if that's what you really want. My mother says our dog Henry looks like "a cross between a Beagle and a pot-bellied pig." But Henry gets complimented on the street almost every day. I should also note that he was three when we got him, yet he was the quickest to adapt to his surroundings. Older animals rock. Our cat Charlie was four. He head butts me every morning after I feed him. Love.
PG: Speaking of older animals rocking, tell Planet Green about the new songs and when we can hear them/watch videos/see live gigs.
DN: Rockface comes out on April 27 on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby (hardcopy), and about every other digital service you can think of. It's a 5-song EP that we see as our starting point. We're really excited to finally be able to share the entire EP with the world and will have more to share before the year's end. Rockface will be supported by several cross country tour dates this spring, summer, and fall, so we'd love to meet your readers in person.
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