The resurgence of metal and heavy music has come with the rise of many new and interesting bands. One of them is Orlando metalcore band, Dark Divine. Forming in 2021 with vocalist Anthony Martinez, guitarist Robby Lynch and drummer Tristan Blaine, Dark Divine released their first single “Halloweentown” in 2021. They released their debut album with the same name under InVogue Records with popular songs such as “Halloweentown” and “No Escape”, which featured Ricky Armellino of Ice Nine Kills. In 2023, they released their second album, “Deadly Fun” under Thriller Records, which included hits such as “Cold”, “Drown” and “Paper Crown”.
In the fall of 2023, Dark Divine set out on tour as support for Black Veil Brides and Ville Vallo. But they didn’t stop there, as they were invited back to tour once again with Black Veil Brides on their Bleeders Tour. During this time, Dark Divine released a brand new single, “Burn The Witch”, with a music video to accompany it.
Tune in to see the conversation with Dark Divine’s lead singer, Anthony Martinez as he talks about their latest single, “Burn The Witch”.
Vic: Let's get started. My name is Vic. I'm gonna be the one interviewing you on behalf of Ultraviolet Magazine.
Anthony: Awesome.
Vic: Yeah, so you're Anthony, and what's your role in the band?
Anthony: I am the singer of Dark Divine.
Vic: Hell yeah. Can you throw us a fun fact about yourself that no one really knows?
Anthony: Um, I don't know if this is a fact that no one really knows, but uh yeah, I played trumpet, I went to college for trumpet,
Vic: That's so cool!
Anthony: Yeah, I was supposed to be a music education major and then I ended up dropping out because touring is more fun.
Vic: That's that's so interesting! You wouldn't expect the lead singer of like a metal core band to go to school for trumpet.
Anthony: You'd be surprised like a lot of people that go into heavier music usually started out—I think there was like a study where where the music genre that most metalheads had in common like in interest was like classical and I've met a lot of people that were either in band or some sort of like non-traditional metal instrument growing up that's so it's kind of fun to talk about.
Vic: That's so cool honestly and they're so either end of the spectrum; metal versus classical.
Anthony: Oh it's amazing. I mean we're on uh we're on tour with Black Veil Brides right now, and I know Jinxx he's like a virtuoso on so many instruments. He's got you know, piano, violin...Vic: Yeah, that's it great! Actually, I discovered you guys when I went to see Black Veil Brides a back in September in Toronto, and it was really awesome.
Anthony: That was a fun show on that tour. I think that was my favorite show on that tour Because like the energy brought the energy in Toronto.
Vic: Yeah, Toronto's great beacuse bands usually only ever tour in Toronto, so there's always so much energy there.Anthony: Yeah Yeah, they brought the party.
Vic: Hell yeah. And so, recently you guys have just released your single burn the witch via Thriller Records—which is incredible by the way. Would you be able to share a little bit about the track and like what inspired you to write it?
Anthony: It's, I mean, the song itself is sort of about like, kind of like a toxic relationship where you are condemning the actions of a partner,but in doing so, you almost... become just as evil as the partner. You kind of take on all the negative stuff that you're so much against. I wanted to kind of like harness that into a song. And I feel like the Salem Witch Trials is a really good kind of like blueprint of that where it's like, they were casting out these girls as witches, burning them at the stake, but they themselves were doing the more evil act. These were just normal, these are normal people. They weren't witches, but they had to die because of the absolute evil act. was you know yeah those who condemned them.
Vic: Absolutely oh my goodness! With that insight it makes the song make so much more sense and that's such a creative way of going about it!
Anthony: Yeah, I wanted to be a little artsy with it.
Vic: Yeah absolutely! Is this a continuation of your latest single "Halloweentown"?
Anthony: Okay. I'll just so I can say that we're going to be doing a deluxe edition of our most recent album, Deadly Fun, and it will be a part of that.
Vic: Oh, my God, that's so awesome. I'm excited for that. Oh, my goodness.
Anthony: Get the insider scoop.
Vic: All right. Okay, so you guys have put up to a lot currently and this is your second tour with Black Veil Brides. Could you share your tour experiences and what you've learned since touring with bigger artists?
Anthony: As far as learning things and touring with bigger artists, bigger tours are just expanded versions of like what I've come to understand as touring what's you know, what are what smaller bands, like smaller tours and bigger tours kind of follow the same formula. It's just bigger tours have a little bit more resources behind them so I was very nervous when we did the first show with Black Veil, but I very quickly kind of got into the swing of things because it's all just schedules.
Vic: Yeah, you said that you were nervous about it. Were you also shocked to be able to join them and receive this incredible opportunity?
Anthony: Oh when we found out we were on another tour when we were getting this tour, I was freaking out that whole like week up until we actually started the tour, because I've listened to Black Veil Brides forever. They were one of the bands that got me into this, so it's the kind of really cool to be able to see them and hang out with some of them.
Vic: Oh that's lovely! You know, especially when you said they got you into it, that's so cute. It's like, full circle. Now in touring with Black Veil Brides, what would your dream lineup be? And if there was to be a future collab, who would you want to do it with?
Anthony: I mean, so our sound, everyone makes the comparison of us to Motionless In White.That would be an amazing band to tour with. Really, any spooky band that appreciates the visual side of things. Honestly, any visual spooky band I'd be down at tour with.
Vic: I'm a huge fan of those visual spooky bands, which is what drew me to you guys' music in the first place. 'Cause the theatrics and good music, when you pair them together, it's incredible.
Anthony: That's why I love the tour we're on right now, 'cause the Creeper and Ghost Kid, they're two great bands. They have the whole spooky get up. I know Creeper, they're they're all vampires, and Ghost Kid, they all have really intense makeup looks and they're just a joy and a treat to watch on stage.
Vic: Yeah, that's so awesome! You mentioned earlier about like about schedules and stuff like that when it comes to tours, so what does your day-to-day look like once you arrive at the venue and leading up to your show?
Anthony: So this tour is a little bit interesting 'cause it's rotating support, which means some days we'll play first, some days we'll play second, some days we'll play third. But typically we roll into the venue and we'll load in and if we're opening,we get a sound check. And so if you're opening, on an opening day, we'll sound check throughout that and then we're kind of just hanging out until doors. 'Cause if we're second or third, we don't really get a sound check. We'll line check before the actual show. But that means we have all that time to just kind of kill and hang out, which is sometimes really nice. Sometimes we get to go get food and then go, you know, see what's around town. But yeah, for the most part, everything, like the day really starts once doors open. That's when everyone's kind of locked in and ready to go.
Vic: Nice. Before your doors. you have any like pre -show rituals that you and the band do?
Anthony: Weep as much as possible. But, well, we do like a pre -show huddle and that's kind of been our little tradition.
Vic: Nice.
Anthony: Super secret, no one's allowed to know but us. Super fun.But yeah, so we'll do a little pre -show huddle and that'll, you know, be our little good luck charm for the future. For the most part, we don't really have that much of a tradition. It's just kind of you know, get through the day, get ready to play and do the thing.
Vic: Yeah, do you get a lot of pre-show nerves or… just not anymore?
Anthony: Yeah, I get pre -show nerves the first two shows, once we're still kind of locking stuff in, but you know after a while it’s just another day at the office and muscle memory kicks in once you've worked all the things out of your show You just sort of like, got through them, going through the motions, but like doing the thing, you know, doing the thing you're meant to do.
Vic: That's really nice, yeah. “Going to the office” must be a sick ass office.
Anthony: It’s a fantastic office.
Vic: So I have a little bit more sort of lighthearted questions for fun, for the memes. If Dark Divine was to be a horror movie, what would it be?
Anthony: Um, ooh... if Dark Divine was a horror movie. I would say,so, okay, my favorite movie is "Trick or Treat." And because the different stories kind of compacted in the one, I feel like that describes our band pretty well.So yeah, I'd say "Trick or Treat."
Vic: "Trick or Treat," nice. I actually haven't seen that one yet.
Anthony: I highly recommend.
Vic: I've been meaning to get into a lot more horror movies. I used to be deathly terrified of them when I was younger and now I'm starting to like them a lot more.
Anthony: Oh, fuck yeah. I highly recommend it. So that one's not really like a, it's not a horror horror movie. It's more of a getting the Halloween season kind of movie. It's my all time favorite movie.
Vic: Oh hell yeah. So you guys are pretty band that's like based around some like creepy visuals and stuff like that. So do you guys have any creepy experiences or like horror stories that happen while you're on the road?
Anthony: Um, I mean—
Anthony proceeded to freeze up for a solid five minutes, cutting in and out of reception. We believe that was our spooky moment: when computer ghosts started to attack his phone and turn him into a computer virus momentarily.
Anthony: There we go. So I think we just experienced the answer your question. Yes, I think just now is a spooky experience.
Vic: I think so too. Do you have any other ones other than currently when the little computer ghosts are trying to get you?
Once again, the computer ghosts attacked Anthony and he proceeded to cut in and out of reception again.
Vic: All right, you're– Hello? Okay, you're back now. Let's hope you stay here.
Anthony: Yes, hopefully if we don't, you know, move too far out of range. Although we are like just weaving in and out of mountains right now. So maybe, I don't know. I think we got our creepy experience right here. That's enough for the year, I think.
Vic: Yeah, I have one last question for the meme and this is my favorite question out of all of them that we prepared: what is the most useless talent that you have?
Anthony: Useless talent? Singing. The fuck. I can't do shit with it. I can't do sports with it, I can't cook with it. It's not gonna get me a job anywhere else. I could do one thing with singing and it's this: getting lost in the mountains and losing cell phone reception.
Vic: It was not where I was expecting this entire to go, but I think that was the best answer I could have ever had to for it.
Anthony: I also have a useless talent on of losing cell phone reception.
Vic: Yeah, yeah, that's a good one. Oh my goodness.
Anthony: Yeah, it comes in handy.
Vic: Oh my God, this has been so, so much fun.
Anthony: It's been eventful, it's been a journey.
Vic: It has been a journey.
Anthony: I think we're both different people coming out of it, so it was good. Good experience.
Vic: Yep, I am a changed person now coming out of this.Anthony: For better or for worse, it's yet to be discovered, but you know, we'll figure it out.
Vic: Hell yeah. I talked to a human computer virus. It was really wild. Yeah, it was great.
Anthony: It was great. I talked to the singer of this band who turned into a computer virus like momentarily. I kind of talked to this singer of the band and kind of degraded into ones and zeros.
Vic: Exactly! This was awesome experience thank you so much Anthony for hanging out with us. If you have one message you would like to share with your fans what would it be?
Anthony: Stay spooky, don't be afraid to be yourself and, yeah we'll always be here to hang out.
Vic: That's so sweet. So everyone make sure to stream Halloweentown, Deadly Fun, especially Burn The Witch on all streaming platforms. Thank you so much, Anthony, for joining us.
Anthony: My pleasure, thank you for having me.
Vic: No problem, it was very nice to meet you.
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