Name: Damon Locks
Nationality: American
Occupation: Visual artist, educator, musician, DJ, vocalist
Current release: Damon Locks's solo album List of Demands is out via International Anthem.
Global Recommendation: Miko’s Italian Ice in Chicago in the summer.
Topic I rarely get to talk about: I love to think about the delivery systems of music making as well and the sound produced. Like how does the instrument itself convey information before a note is played? What does an electric guitar say to the world versus a boombox? That is like the difference between what an oil painting says versus an ink drawing. The way you deliver ideas effects how they are received and most people don’t really think about that but I love to.
Also, I like 60s, 70s, and early 80s comics. Mainly, the comic book artists: Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson, Marshall Rogers, to name a few. These artists still are very present in my mind which is impressive. I find their work still super inspiring.

If you enjoyed this Damon Locks interview and would like to know more about his music, projects, and upcoming live dates, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram.  



Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in writing lyrics or poetry? How and when did you start writing?

I started writing lyrics as a 15-16 year old. That’s when I joined my first band Potential Disturbance.

I was listening to The Clash, The Jam, The Specials, The Stranglers, Joy Division, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Scream, the Dead Kennedys. Those bands were making me think about the words in the songs.

I had to think about perspective, point of view, the ideas in the songs in order to think about what I should write about.

Entering new worlds and escapism through music and literature have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to writing?

I think about expressing my intentions with the work, be it a single song or a whole album’s worth of songs. What is the most creative way to approach the intentions of the piece? Just because I have intentions doesn’t mean I have to spell them out directly. I think, how should I tell the story that has the intentions imbedded within.

I do love escapism but for me it was always in the form of something like the original film, Blade Runner. It’s a different world and time but it reflects on the world we are in.

So even if my song “Click” might feel otherworldly, you can recognize the connections to your life.  



What were some of the artists and albums which inspired you early on purely on the strength of their lyrics? What moves you in the lyrics of other artists?

All of the artists I mentioned above had great lyrics that inspired me as a young person! You could add Stevie Wonder, Parliament, Dionne Warwick, The O’Jays and many more.

The lyrics often set the stage for what the listener perceives as the band’s identity. So, whether you are listening to Marvin Gaye or Tom Waits, the words they choose and the imagery they use crafts the meaning and it is THAT meaning the listener takes with them when hearing the songs.  

Have there been song lyrics which actually made you change (aspects of) your life? If so, what do you think, leant them that power?

Yes, so many punk bands made me more critical of the status quo early on. In many ways, the songs Judas sang in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar (like “Everything’s Alright”) primed me for that punk music because within the context of that narrative, he was very critical of the status quo.



Later Public Enemy also challenged the status quo in their own way which was appealing.

Further down the road, Sun Ra, Mixmaster Mike, African Headcharge all did their thing pushing boundaries. What leant them that power? Music. Music is a great vehicle to deliver ideas!

It is sometimes said that “music begins where words end.” What do you make of that?

I believe they work together wonderfully.

It is not so simple. There are places in the mind and body the music can deliver the words to. Places that words by themselves may not reach.

That being said, words can make a tool sharper and more efficient when attached to music. It is not an either or situation for me.

I have always considered many forms of music to be a form of poetry as well. Where do you personally see similarities? What can music express which may be out of reach for poetry?

I agree. Poetry is a descriptor as well as a form. Movement can be poetry. Music can be poetry. It is about expression and how something is said.

Each form is limited in some way by it’s nature so music can achieve something a written or spoken poem cannot but the same can be said in reverse.

The relationship between words and music has always intrigued me. How do you see it? In how far can music take you to places with your writing you would possibly not have visited without it?

I feel like I kinda answered that one already but in the case of the relationship between, music and words when working correctly they are not IN relationship, they ARE a relationship.

The art is made whole by them being as one.

What are areas/themes/topics that you keep returning to in your lyrics?

I think I am always asking why things are so messed up? That topic is unfortunately always relevant.


Damon Locks Interview Image by Jamie Kelter Davis

On the basis of a piece off your most recent album, List of Demands, tell me about how the lyrics grew into their final form and what points of consideration were.

There is a song off the new record called “Distance.” I wrote the text for that in Knoxville, TN before my group Black Monument was to play the Big Ears Festival.

Three of us went there a few days early to learn more about the area/community. At the Beck Cultural Exchange Center we learned the history of the destruction of the prosperous Black community which in the 50s & 60s got torn down and destroyed to build a highway. This was a familiar story. It happened all over the country. It happened in Chicago. We just all don’t know each story of this.

This led me to think about how despite the distance we share the same stories, our histories are intertwined.

Do you tend to start writing with what will be the first line of the finished lyrics? The chorus? At a random point? What are the words that set the process in motion?

Sometimes, a sentence might start me off writing. It might be a line in the chorus or it could be the first line of the song. Sometimes, I have an idea about what I want to write about and I have to write until I get to the idea and how to express it. Sometimes I am ruminating on an idea for a long time and I have to stay open to the moment where it’s time to write.

I recently had a bunch of ideas in my head and I was just waiting for them to emerge. One day I had a three hour drive (I wasn’t driving) so I wrote for three hours and when we stopped the text was complete.

I'd love to know how you think the meaning or effect of an individual song is enhanced, clarified or possibly contradicted by the EPs, or albums it is part of. Does the song, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

I think of a song as an individual but when you put it into relationship with other songs in a set or for a recording there is reverberation. The songs bounce off each other and create a more complex statement. You are able to create a statement out of many ideas that are fully formed.

Sometimes, an idea my not resonate or feel connected to the whole and in that case you don’t release it with the rest OR you create the connective tissue to allow it to be with the whole.

It’s an interesting process. I find it similar when making art for a visual art show.

When you're writing song lyrics, do you sense or see a connection between your voice and the text? Does it need to feel and sound “good” or “right” to sing certain words? What's your perspective in this regard of singing someone else's songs versus your own?

I don’t often perform other people’s songs. That has been very rare. When it was done I often felt very connected to the song so I could make it my own.

When working on my own stuff, I trust that I can write easily in my own voice so I don’t think about whether it is or not. Since in the process I am choosing words I like I don’t get thrown off or feel alienated by them.

Recently, I asked my partner Tara to present the text I had written (and have performed) and I enjoyed how she changed it to suit her. The next time I performed it without her, I delivered the text more like her. Her version became the definitive version to me.

I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

I always gain insight when people talk about the work. I don’t come across many misunderstandings in general. There is a foreboding nature to the songs and there is hope, I believe. I think people get those things.

I am intrigued with what songs stand out to what people? What songs impact people in what way. The most consistent feedback I have been receiving is that they are thankful for the music in this particular moment.

The record is just coming out so folks are just hearing it. So I will remember to ask for more feedback now that you have asked me this question!

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing song lyrics or poetry is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Art of all kinds creates proximity. It makes you feel closer to the person when you experience their work. It is really magical.

I do feel closer to someone when they make me a beverage but when I experience their ART that is a whole different think. Art connects in so many ways, it effects or mood, makes us wanna move our bodies, makes us wanna think differently about something. It is a beautiful this.

Sometimes mundane things are beautiful too. Sometime mundane things can bring us closer too, so then you make art about them so other people can feel it!