An interview with Dave Minyard of INSiGHT discussing the single “12:34” and their album “TrusT”
Tell us a little bit about the history of “12:34”
DAVE: Well, the music for “12:34” has been around for a couple years. The song in mind was originally called “Look at Life”, I even had a chorus written for it. But it never felt right, so it kinda sat on my shelf for a while.
So was the theme of it the same concept?
DAVE: Oh god no….Lol. “Look at Life” was a “look at the beauty of life” sort of theme. Which, looking back it makes sense that it didn’t work. It’s an aggressive kind of song. Lyrically, “12:34” is at the total opposite end of the spectrum.
What is the idea behind the song and the video?
DAVE: 12:34 has been one of those “recurring” things in my life. Random times, ever since I was a kid, I would look at the clock and it would be 12:34. AM/PM, it didn’t matter. There’s been instances where I would wake up from a dead sleep, look over at the clock and it was 12:34. So I kinda put a ‘nightmare’ theme to it, which I tried to convey in the video.
The vocals on “12:34” are unlike anything off of your previous album, was that intentional?
DAVE: I mean, I didn’t intentionally write it, or this album, with the thought that I was going to rap more, lol. It just kinda evolved that way. I did know early on that I wanted “12:34” to be kinda rap”ish” or at least have that kind of vibe. And it was the first song that I completed for the album, so I think the rest of it just followed suit.
On your last album, the song and the video in particular for “THiSisAMERiCA” created a lot of controversy, with some labeling it, and you, “protest rock”. Are we going to see more of that on “TrusT”?
DAVE: Let me put a little perspective on it, a lot of my songs sprout from current events. So when I write it, it's a fresh thought in my mind. For instance, “THiSisAMERiCA” was written on a day when there was a school shooting 2 days in a row. It was upsetting that nothing was getting done. So I vented the only way I know how. If you look at certain songs on the new album, you can almost pinpoint when I wrote it.“They Can’t Breathe” comes to mind, it was obviously written in June of 2020, after the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests. So to answer the question, yes.
The artwork on “TrusT” looks very political, what’s the concept behind it?
DAVE: To put it succinctly: INJUSTICE. The art is representative of Lady Justice being kinda shady and evil. Something not to be trusted. If you buy the CD, when you flip it over she’s holding a knife behind her back. Justice works well for some, but the fact that there is rampant IN-justice in our legal system based on racial inequality and classism, means that justice, as a whole, is flawed. There is definitely a flow of that throughout the album.
Tell us a little about the rest of the album and what we can expect.
DAVE: Well, like I implied earlier, the concept of the album is injustice, so there is definitely a lot of anger and frustration on the album and of course, for me that translates into a more aggressive type of song. So song’s like “Life Ain’t Fair”, “RISE”, and “EXTiNCT” are a lot heavier than my past music. But then you have “Alarm” and “Homeless” which have much more of a groove metal kinda feel and have actual melodic singing. And then there's “Struggle of the Everyman” which is absolutely a rap/rock song that I am pretty proud of. I’ve never written anything like it before. I wrote it late at night after watching a news story about a family man with 3 kids, wife, etc, who decided to take his own life after dealing with some financial troubles. It was a stark contrast to the story right before it which was about how the CEO of some big company making almost $4000 a second in 2020. It really is a travesty.
Also, I say some form of the word FUCK 15 different times in the song… so you can see I was definitely getting out some anger.
Tell us a little bit about the history of “12:34”
DAVE: Well, the music for “12:34” has been around for a couple years. The song in mind was originally called “Look at Life”, I even had a chorus written for it. But it never felt right, so it kinda sat on my shelf for a while.
So was the theme of it the same concept?
DAVE: Oh god no….Lol. “Look at Life” was a “look at the beauty of life” sort of theme. Which, looking back it makes sense that it didn’t work. It’s an aggressive kind of song. Lyrically, “12:34” is at the total opposite end of the spectrum.
What is the idea behind the song and the video?
DAVE: 12:34 has been one of those “recurring” things in my life. Random times, ever since I was a kid, I would look at the clock and it would be 12:34. AM/PM, it didn’t matter. There’s been instances where I would wake up from a dead sleep, look over at the clock and it was 12:34. So I kinda put a ‘nightmare’ theme to it, which I tried to convey in the video.
The vocals on “12:34” are unlike anything off of your previous album, was that intentional?
DAVE: I mean, I didn’t intentionally write it, or this album, with the thought that I was going to rap more, lol. It just kinda evolved that way. I did know early on that I wanted “12:34” to be kinda rap”ish” or at least have that kind of vibe. And it was the first song that I completed for the album, so I think the rest of it just followed suit.
On your last album, the song and the video in particular for “THiSisAMERiCA” created a lot of controversy, with some labeling it, and you, “protest rock”. Are we going to see more of that on “TrusT”?
DAVE: Let me put a little perspective on it, a lot of my songs sprout from current events. So when I write it, it's a fresh thought in my mind. For instance, “THiSisAMERiCA” was written on a day when there was a school shooting 2 days in a row. It was upsetting that nothing was getting done. So I vented the only way I know how. If you look at certain songs on the new album, you can almost pinpoint when I wrote it.“They Can’t Breathe” comes to mind, it was obviously written in June of 2020, after the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests. So to answer the question, yes.
The artwork on “TrusT” looks very political, what’s the concept behind it?
DAVE: To put it succinctly: INJUSTICE. The art is representative of Lady Justice being kinda shady and evil. Something not to be trusted. If you buy the CD, when you flip it over she’s holding a knife behind her back. Justice works well for some, but the fact that there is rampant IN-justice in our legal system based on racial inequality and classism, means that justice, as a whole, is flawed. There is definitely a flow of that throughout the album.
Tell us a little about the rest of the album and what we can expect.
DAVE: Well, like I implied earlier, the concept of the album is injustice, so there is definitely a lot of anger and frustration on the album and of course, for me that translates into a more aggressive type of song. So song’s like “Life Ain’t Fair”, “RISE”, and “EXTiNCT” are a lot heavier than my past music. But then you have “Alarm” and “Homeless” which have much more of a groove metal kinda feel and have actual melodic singing. And then there's “Struggle of the Everyman” which is absolutely a rap/rock song that I am pretty proud of. I’ve never written anything like it before. I wrote it late at night after watching a news story about a family man with 3 kids, wife, etc, who decided to take his own life after dealing with some financial troubles. It was a stark contrast to the story right before it which was about how the CEO of some big company making almost $4000 a second in 2020. It really is a travesty.
Also, I say some form of the word FUCK 15 different times in the song… so you can see I was definitely getting out some anger.