Darenots at Beat Kitchen in Chicago on 5.19.17<\/p>\n
by Fred Peth<\/p>\n
I first heard of the Darenots from Yesod Williams of the band Pepper. I am so glad he told me about them. I started listening to them and instantly fell in love with their upbeat style. They created a great combination of reggae, rap, rock, electronic music and dub and put it together on their debut EP, The Now Is Truth<\/em>. The meaning behind the EP\u2019s title is about \u201cthe moment you are living in right now\u2026all you have is the now.\u201d One of their greatest inspirations is Bruce Lee and \u201cthe now is truth\u201d is a direct quote from his book Striking Thoughts<\/em>. You can hear their high energy throughout the whole 7-song EP, especially on the standouts of \u201cGood Good\u201d, \u201cHeavyweight\u201d, \u201c911\u201d and \u201cFocus To Faded\u201d.<\/p>\n Darenots are from Toronto, Canada and formed in 2015. They consist of CJ Hinds on guitar and vocals, James Mascola and Rev on vocals and Swav Pior on drums. Rev and Swav went to high school together. Swav and CJ are in another band together called illScarlett. As the joke goes, they guys found James by \u201cswiping right\u201d and decided he was the one. Darenots have performed with Dirty Heads, Through The Roots, illScarlett, USS, Walk Off The Earth and others.<\/p>\n Darenots kicked off the Girls Summer tour supporting Ballyhoo! as they opened the night with \u201cHeavyweight\u201d. They showed why it is one of their party anthems as they jumped up and down on stage quickly getting the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd excited. They definitely did not slow down and kept up their intensity as the audience interacted and responded with cheering and singing with the band throughout their set. Darenots did an excellent cover of Blur\u2019s \u201cSong 2\u201d getting the whole crowd responding \u201cWoo-hoo\u201d in the appropriate spots during the song with our arms in the air. They ended on an intense high note with the song \u201cFortunate\u201d. I always enjoy a concert where the band makes the crowd feel like they are a part of the show. Swav, Rev, CJ and James were definitely appeared to have a great time on stage as they were smiling with sweat dripping down their faces.<\/p>\n I am sure they got a bunch more fans since this was their first time playing in Chicago. I saw a few people talking to the band and telling them they that were awesome on stage and loved the energy they brought. The Darenots are a great group of guys who also took the time to take photos with people who asked for them, myself included.<\/p>\n I am looking forward to hear what they come up with next. I can picture it is going to be an awesome combination of their influences with maybe a few other feature collaborations. Their great crowd interactive skills are going to help them grow and develop more followers. Put the Darenots on you list if you want to see not only just a fun band, but also a bunch of great guys!<\/p>\n