Missouri power trio Dark Below are continuing their Breakout year with new single ‘Hate Being Human’. The song was produced by Malcolm Springer (Matchbox 20, Collective Soul, Fear Factory) and Jason Schrick for JPS Productions at East Iris Studios in Nashville. Noted music manager Jeff Hanson (Creed, Alter Bridge, Paramore, Sevendust) has joined the team to help take the band to the next level.
The song is a post-grunge anthem with a relentlessly heavy groove and thunderous backbeat, layered with Nirvana-esque vocals that lament the sturm and drang that is so pervasive in the world today. It is a cry of angst against the constant divisions in society as a whole, questioning when it will ever end.
Dark Below’s Josh Campbell says “Hate Being Human” was written because of our general frustration with the human race. I don’t literally ‘hate being human’, but sometimes you see the things we do to one another and the reasons why we do those things and it’s just frustrating. The lyrics come from that frustration and mostly describe what I’d consider to be pretty standard human behavior”.
He continues: “The song itself came together from an incomplete song idea I’d had for a few years and then the intro guitar riff was written in the studio. Malcolm was looking for a backing loop for a different song and when he started playing the one that is used in “Hate Being Human”, I started playing that intro guitar riff. I was just messing around so it wasn’t like something I already had, but it worked, and that combination of the loop and guitar riff ended up becoming the intro/verse for the song. Jason had the idea for the ‘Hate Being Human’ line and that’s honestly what made the song and set it in the direction it went”.
The band has previously released their self-titled EP in 2017, and the single “Halo” in 2019. They have toured for the past 5 years, opening for Buckcherry, Saliva, Pop Evil, Smile Empty Soul, The Veer Union, and more. 2022 has seen the band rise on the national stage with the release of ‘Tense’, which was supported with playlist placements on Spotify and Apple Music, and charted Top 20 on the BDS Rock indicator chart, and Top 10 on the SMR Active Rock chart.
A new full-length album is in the final stages of being recorded, with a release expected in the 1st quarter of 2023. All tracks will be produced by Schrick and Springer. The band has partnered with Toys for Tots of Northern Missouri for a Headlining Benefit show on Saturday, December 17th at Rose Music Hall in Columbia, MO.
