AFI/Blaqk Audio (Davey Havok) – 08.08.07 by Steve Henderson
I recently had the opportunity to talk on the phone with one of modern rock’s most recognizable, influential, and admired frontmen – AFI’s Davey Havok. I got to pick his brain about his new Blaqk Audio project, and what the new venture means to fans and strangers alike, among other things. Here is what he had to say.
For the record, can you state your name and what you do in your respective bands?
Davey: I am Davey Havok, currently of Blaqk Audio and historically of AFI. I sing for both groups.
Can you give a history of how the Blaqk Audio project came about? How long has it been in the works?
Davey: Basically, Jade and I have been electronic music fans for most of our lives – since we were really young. And around 2002 or 2001, we started to discuss creating Blaqk Audio for our love of that genre, and Jade started programming. That’s when the band actually began. We demoed some songs in between then and now, only one of which made the CexCells record. Well, most of CexCells then was recorded in the past year.
In general, what sort of vision do you have for the project in terms of longevity and frequency of issuing albums? Is this just a one-off or is it something you want to do as a creative outlet for a long time?
Davey: It’s definitely something we want to stick with, and something that we really enjoy a lot. We don’t really see it as a one-off – I know Jade has been working on Blaqk Audio material since we recorded CexCells. We have actually already written one new song. Our hope is to continue this as long as possible. We’d like to be able to flip-flop back and forth between the two bands and maybe continue that pattern of maybe releasing an AFI record, followed by a Blaqk Audio record. It is very work intensive in that doing it this way in that every minute we have off the road with the rock band is spent working on the dance band. And that is how we did Blaqk Audio. For now, it is working really well – we love it so much that it comes pretty natural.