XYZPDQ

The Guitar & Whiskey Club, We Are The Black Things

Photo by Jack Lue

Meet Salem Darling of XYZPDQ

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Jack Lue

XYZPDQ is a young power trio from Southern California who are making their presence known in nothing short of an epic way. Vocalist/guitarist Salem Darling has appeard on The Kelly Clarkson Show and was a finalist in The John Lennon Songwriting Competition. The tremendously talented threesome recently did a photo session with the legendary Jack Lue at Dystopian Studios deep in the heart of Downtown LA. Highwire Daze caught up with Salem Darling right after the shoot to find out more about the very amazing XYZPDQ. Read on…

We’re here with Salem Darling from the band XYZPDQ. Give us a little background on the band and how long everyone has been together.

We started the band – I was 10 years old, and Dax and Julian were like 12 years old, and we were just playing together. It was a five-piece band at the time, but it was really fun. We used to play a lot of gigs – and then it went on for a couple of years – I think 3 ½. And then we all went our separate ways for a little bit. We just did some other projects and worked with other bands. But after Covid, we just kind of got back together – the three of us – and we just started writing and playing together and playing shows. And here we are. And we took the same band name that we had 5-6 years ago.

What do you think about our Los Angeles and Orange

County music scenes? I love it. I think it’s really fun. I think it’s a really good community. Everyone’s so supportive and there’s so many bands we love playing with. Everyone is so nice, and they ask us to play gigs and we ask them to play gigs, and everybody is just so fun to be around.

What do you like the most about Gibson Guitars and are you endorsed by them?

I am. I’m part of this program – it’s called The G3 Program – and what that is – Gibson has like ten teenagers from around the world everywhere – and it’s really cool. They have this little program and we get to do anything that they come up with. Recording stuff – we’re doing commercials – I got to go out to Michigan during the summer to do a Gibson commercial and it was really cool. I’m grateful to be a part of it. I’ve been playing Gibson since I was like 11.

What advice would you give another young person seeking an endorsement?

I would say post a lot on social media, cuz it’s not going to hurt to keep putting yourself out there. Something good could really come out of it. They found me on Instagram. I just posted a lot. If you want to be endorsed by companies and see if you could get an instrument from them, just post a lot of songs and stories on TikTok and whatever you can do. And maybe they will find you.

How did you wind up as a guest on the Kelly Clarkson show?

That was during quarantine. They found me on Instagram – and they were like, “Hey are you able to be on this show? We’re thinking about having this rock young person thing. Would like to do an interview?” And I said, “Yes of course, that would be great!” So, I filmed a little video saying who I was and then they interviewed me. And then all of a sudden, I got it, and I was freaking out. It was so crazy! I was like, “Oh my God, what is happening?” Anyways, it was really great. And they just wanted me to film me playing something, cuz I think because of Covid, they didn’t want any in person playing or anything. So, I got to go in and get interviewed by her in person. I didn’t get to play but I got to go, and they played the video on a screen behind me. And then I got to talk to her and then they surprised me with Melissa Etheridge. It was one of the best ever and I’m very grateful!

Tell me a little about the John Lennon songwriting competition you were in.

I wrote a song – it’s called I’ll See You – it’s a very personal song. It’s about a family friend who passed away. This was about 4 four years ago I want to say. I don’t remember when we submitted the song in the competition, but all of a sudden, I’m a winning finalist in it because of that song. I was surprised. I did it and I didn’t expect anything out of it – but I was like let’s submit the song and see what happens. So that was really cool.

What could one expect from a live XYZPDQ show?

A lot of original songs and fun. I think that is the main goal – we just want people to have a good time. We definitely have a variety of stuff. We have some angry songs if you’re mad. We have some happy, upbeat songs. We have some fun covers that everybody really likes. We have a ballad that we wrote too. We try to have a little bit of everything. We do some rock songs like Led Zeppelin, and we do some more modern stuff like Avril Lavigne, so it’s just a lot. I think there’s something in there for everybody.

If XYZPDQ could open for any band or project either now or from the past, who would it be and why?

I think we would all have different answers definitely. I’ll just answer for myself because I don’t know what they would say. For me, it would probably be Avril Lavigne because she’s my biggest inspiration with songwriting and everything. So that would be my answer.

Are you involved with any other bands or projects outside of XYZPDQ?

I’m not involved with any other bands, but I do some stuff on my own. I haven’t released anything, but sometimes I do little solo gigs – nothing too big, Here and there I do sometimes. I’m kind of doing both, but I’d say as of right now, the most I play is with XYZPDQ. But I sometimes occasionally a little bit by myself.

What’s up next in the New Year for XYZPDQ?

We’re hopefully going to release some songs, because we have a few that we’ve written that we’re really proud of, and we want to get those out as soon as we can. I hope that will happen really soon. And definitely more shows. We’ve been playing a lot, so I’m pretty sure that will keep going. So yeah, new music and new shows!