“I hope that the last page of your 800-page novel is missing.”
That’s the fantastic opening line to the great closing song (“Bad Day”) of the pretty solid debut album, “Darwin Deez” (2010), by band Darwin Deez, named after its lead singer, Darwin Deez.
“If you drop your keys, I hope there’s a sewer somewhere very near by.”
We’ve probably all had a similar thought about someone at a given point in time. And every now and then you hit a day that you wonder if Darwin was singing the song about you.
That sort of simple and universal message wrapped into an immensely catchy tune is what made Darwin Deez somewhat of an indie sensation upon their first break on the scene. At a time when Owl City were dominating the charts, Darwin managed to offer up a kind of off-beat counterpart. Perfectly suited to nestle in with counter-cultural hipsterdom that shied away from chart-topping main stage artists, finding itself closer to geekdom, maybe.
Quirky curls, trendy stache, and thin hairband in tow, Darwin Deez looked like something belonging in an early Wes Anderson film, and, arguably, the instrumentation also matches that bill. Not to mention that the band would choreograph and perform Napoleon Dynamite-esque dance routines on stage for their shows (and still did, last I saw them a couple of years back). Par for the course, really.
Additionally, the fact that Darwin had studied Philosophy at multiple universities, gave listeners like myself a feeling of ‘getting it’, the simple texts captivating something profound without being overly pretentious. Something good, something genuine.
As such, the aforementioned song, “Bad Day”, closes by taking a step back and softening the claim that “every day ought to be a bad day for you”, by admitting “I’m sorry if it is.” Be nice, things will be alright.
Have a good one
Coryphe 