An Interview with The Dave Black Expression

A brand-new album release from The Dave Black Expression delivers a soiree of reggae soundscape but also blends in elements of pop, indie rock, and much more, all rolled into one huge release that feels absolutely refreshing from beginning to end.

Sixth Sense pulls together so many different influences and creates reggae songs with them with the greatest of ease, and it does it with a lush and full-bodied soundscape, a lot of the time along with plenty of personality.

One of the things I love most about this record is how each song, although reggae-based, is built and written a little bit differently from each other.

The record wastes very little time coming in with its first track and delivering that heavy reggae feel with "Rasta Morning Sun", which is an amazing title for the track as it does boast this breezy and bright vibe.

This track, in particular, is very well built and delivers an array of instrumentation from electric guitar to keys, and even horns, giving this song a robust reggae approach. I must say, the song does an outstanding job of introducing you to the album.

This track boasts some of the staples that you're going to hear throughout the record, but again, there are more than a few surprises around the corners, and no two songs are really alike.

There are a lot of different songwriting approaches, tonalities, and textures throughout this entire record to the point where I could say listening to one or two songs just won't do.

Checking out a few songs from this record will give you a slight idea of what you might expect in terms of the reggae presence, which is there through and through; however, it will not give you the full spectrum of what the album has to offer as a whole.

Great fluctuations of energy, arrangement, and influence throughout the album, and to really soak it all in, you should listen to it from beginning to end.

Doing this also gives you the full experience that it was meant for.

Songs like "Preposterous" give off that great reggae rhythm and soul but also add heavier guitars that lend a hand to rock backbones, and I love that essence. The combination of reggae and rock elements is beautiful here because none of it is overpowering or overdone. Everything is balanced tastefully.

Then you have songs like "Quicksand," which is far more key-based but also includes plenty of instrumentation to thicken it up. The unique approach to this track is its time signature and rhythm, as it veers away from the standard reggae elements while keeping that Soul intact.

So, the deeper into the record you go, the more experimental it begins to get.

Tracks like "Hit Song" have this amazing live performance feel as if everything was being recorded live, right there on the floor.

It somehow puts you right in the moment, and it feels like everyone involved is feeding off of each other's energies, giving the song an almost alive and breathing feel.

As you listen through the album, you also get plenty of Pop influence in there. A lot of the songs have that reggae Soul, rhythm, vibe, and songwriting approach, but there's a lot of pop layers involved, especially with the song "Let's Pretend", the last track on the record.

So, you have this influx of influences along with beautiful tonalities that come through vast at times but also colorful, delivering mass amounts of personality and this almost cinematic underbelly.

This was a truly eclectic and wonderfully woven reggae record built with fewer boundaries than you may be used to.

This is also one of my favorite aspects about the release.

I am not sure I've heard a more eclectic or diverse reggae record in my entire life, and I really dig how each song stands on its own two feet very well, but also how the album as a whole is cohesive and works together so well.

With the release of such a beautiful record, we wanted to have a talk with Dave Black himself and find out where this record came from and what might be coming up next for the artist. 

Here's what happened.

Buzz Slayers: Let's talk about the Sixth Sense album! This was such a great record

with classic and fresh reggae approaches blended with other elements

to give it flavor! Where did this album come from?

Thank you! It was kind of funny actually how this album came about. I had written

a song titled “Quicksand” and was going to put it as a pop song on our “Corner

Stones” album, but I just couldn’t hear a beat I liked, so the idea was scrubbed.

One night it just hit me, this may be a good song to play around with and see if we could do a hybrid beat that had some indies elements along with an electronic reggae sound. We putzed around and found the beat that we ended up using and we were off and running writing with a vision. Our vision for this record was to experiment and factor in complementary elements to our deep reggae desires.

We just sort of rolled with the writing of songs and over about 4 months we were

pleased to see where this project landed.

We had made another reggae album in 2024 where our theme was more

traditional sub genres of reggae, with a Caribbean flare, that matched what one

would likely hear on a beach vacation with “Reggae Island Reign”. We wanted to

push ourselves in a slightly different direction without giving in completely to the

notion that all music has to be indies in order to attract viewers. We don’t like

writing for the sake of attracting viewers necessarily, we just try to approach each

song as its own and worry about were it fits later.

One by one we started to gain boldness and momentum and that made this

album a really fun project and we hope it shows in our work. We had another

song, “Enigma” which also didn’t quite fit as a pop song, so we spiced it up, added

a little intrigue and mystery in the beat and almost a chant as part of the theme,

which we loved doing. I think we smiled more on that track than any other. And

that in a nutshell is how this album came about, almost like lab work that found a

direction of its own.

Buzz Slayers: I'm hearing a few different approaches on this record! Who are some

of your biggest musical influences?

We have always loved the group Rebelution and their approach and how great

they are to see live. We also wanted to try and create our own niche, so to speak,

by throwing in different elements. On the song “Hit Song” which started as a joke

as Dave said, “I want to write one hit song” and we were off and running. We

combined some traditional rock guitar riffs into the beat and kept it pounding

load with the most fun chorus we could make. One may laugh but we used a little

sing-song type approach for the chorus almost like the Elton john song “Crocodile

Rock”… Chanting, “fingers do your work so neat, bringing on a special beat,

Miracle takes us there so sweet, make this one hit song complete.” The reference

to Miracle is important because he really drives our train and is our lead singer

throughout this album.

Like most reggae groups we go way back in trying reggae to the great Bob Marley

and how they opened so many doors for other groups over the years. We had just

finished our first album that was more country rock based, and I told some friend

I was going to write a reggae song just to see if we can do it. It was fun and the

beat requires less lyrics, so we did another but left reggae for more of a rock

sound for our second album “Genre Jump’n Fool”

Buzz Slayers: Are you performing live right now? Any touring in support of this

release?

So far, we have done all of our work in the studio as many of us live in different

locations. Our lead vocalist is from Nigeria, and he is our most gifted one. We

have talked with a couple groups about playing some of our work and go from

there. Never say never.

Buzz Slayers: Did you record this in a home studio setup, or did you go to a big

studio for this?

Our recording is done in stages and at various locations. We combine and get

everything professionally mixed when we are done. We all have our own varying

degrees of home studios, more so for the musicians. It’s a great time in life we all

these elements can be combined without worldwide travel. We have hired a

number of different musicians pending the song and what we are looking for.

“We're not quite like Alan parson’s but we do try to go outside the box as needed

to get what we want.

Buzz Slayers: Now that this is out, what's next for you?

Great question. I promised my wife and family that we would do a Christmas

album as a tribute and that project is starting. The album will be titled “Cross My

Heart - A Christmas Tribute”. We had done two Christmas songs as singles, and

they were well received so why not do something different. Being different is in

our DNA. We have a bunch of material which we’ll sort out and if we catch a beat

and song, we like we’ll record it no matter what genre it is. We are genre jump’n

fools, which ironically was the theme and title of our second album. I’d expect we

will write more reggae using this same formula and see if we expand it. Or we

could do more rock, pop or balled songs as well. We like to stay busy!

Buzz Slayers: Who's in all your headphones right now?

I have to laugh on this one as my wife got so tired of me playing all kinds of crazy

songs, and beats that I just put my headphones on, and it became a habit. In fact,

one time she accused me of ignoring her and I responded, “Can’t see me with my

headphones on.” And thus, a new song was born, “My Head Phones” is on our

Corner Stones album. “ it was a classic sad love balled but it struck a chord that

headphones do provide peace to many, self-included. I love to feature an artist

and their work each week and comb through their catalog and listen deeply to

how their styles developed through the years. Afterall we are a fairly new group

and although ‘Sixth Sense will be our 6 th album, we’ve only been doing this for a

little over two years. I just finished studying the Moody Blues and how they

evolved their sound and included amore orchestra feel as time went on. Not sure

how that will fit with reggae but believe it or not is does fit a bit into some of

where we can take indies.

Buzz Slayers: Was writing and recording this track a big undertaking? How long did it take to finish this?

It’s funny because most albums go pretty slow at the start, gain momentum and

drag a bit at the end. I’d say ‘Sixth Sense” had a life of its own. It started in

December with a couple songs and in January we hit our stride but had to slow

down so we were paying attention to the details and not rush. In total this

project was about four months. Along the way we released a couple singles just

to see what the responses would be. We got pretty good results which really

fueled us. Overall, we just love the challenge of making songs and experiencing

each one shape into final recording. We change our minds in the process and it’s

almost always for the better to do this then, before we go final. We review the

lyrics and listen closely to see that they are hitting their marks and ty into the

music. Sometimes this process can pull us into too many changes, so we try to

limit think tank time and from it we often spur ideas for another song during this

time.

Buzz Slayers: What would you tell people they can expect on this release?

People should expect to be entertained by ‘Sixth Sense”. We hope we can reach

some new listeners, maybe some who are not big reggae fans with our original

style. We think we put together a good variety of songs and tried to expand our

sound. Our hope is that you hear a more mature group that has worked together

for a while now and that we are starting to hit our stride.

We are an independent group and that gives us a little more room to try things

and that is what we like. It will be interesting to see which songs turn out to be

the most liked. We always say let’s try to get as many songs as possible out there

and see which one becomes the most popular. We surveyed some friends and

family asking for their top three songs and we got a couple songs which appeared

to be clear favorites but what surprised us most was there were eight different

songs that placed 1 st , 2 nd or 3 rd in our internal poll. We were flattered!

Buzz Slayers: Before we go, what would you like to express to fans of the music? 

We would like to say thank you for your support. I think it was best said when

touring a winery, “the biggest compliment a wine maker can get is a customer

asking for another glass.” For us we believe our glass is half full and we hope

listeners will play our music a second time and pass it on to friends.

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