Photo by Shane O’Neal – SON Studios
In March, Black Label Society guitarist Dario Lorina released not quite his first solo album (he put out two instrumental records in the 2010s) but his first as the leader of Dark Chapel, a project he’s been developing for some time. Schooled in hard rock and influenced by the masters, Lorina’s solo work doesn’t stray far from what he plays in his day job, though growing up during the late ’90s and early ’00s grunge era certainly left its mark on Dark Chapel’s sound.
As Lorina told me in a recent video call, some of the songs on Spirit in the Glass date back five or six years, so he was glad to write and record new material for the deluxe edition, which was released last week. Perhaps coincidentally, the timing aligns with Dark Chapel’s first real tour, opening for his BLS boss’s Black Sabbath tribute band, Zakk Sabbath. Lorina made it clear that while he’s sharing the road with Zakk Wylde, Dark Chapel is its own entity: they’ll travel in their own van and operate as their own band, not as an extension of Zakk Sabbath.
Born in Boston – Lorina still carries a strong East Coast accent – the guitarist moved to Las Vegas as a teenager, and while most of his friends were just getting their driver’s licenses, he was already touring the country with Warrant frontman Jani Lane. After that stint, Lorina joined Lizzy Borden before getting the call to join Wylde’s Black Label Society in 2014.
Though firmly committed to BLS, Lorina views Dark Chapel as equally vital, not just a side gig or creative outlet. With Spirit in the Glass (and its deluxe edition) out in the world, he’s eager to push forward with his own band while keeping pace with his packed schedule.
You’re hitting the road soon opening for your boss, Zakk Wylde, and his Black Sabbath tribute, Zakk Sabbath. Will these be Dark Chapel’s first shows?
DARIO: We’ve done four shows as a band. The album came out in February, but we did our first two shows in January, opening for Zakk Sabbath. We did those shows in New Orleans and Little Rock, Arkansas. Then we came back to Vegas and had an album release show when the album came out. That was at the beginning of March. We played at Vamp’d. And then we played Fremont Street over the summer, on the outdoor stage. That was pretty awesome. Our fifth show will be with Corrosion of Conformity and then off we go with Zakk Sabbath.
Is the live band the same band that played on the record with you?
DARIO: A few of the guys are different. We just got a new drummer, but everybody else – the guitar player, bass player, and myself – contributed to the album, as well as the new songs on the deluxe edition.
What can you tell me about the deluxe version of the album?
DARIO: It has three new songs, brand new songs that are previously unreleased, unheard. I’m excited about the three songs. “Sign of Life” is going to be a streaming exclusive. The other two songs, “Hit of Your Love” and “Echoes of a Stone Heart II,” are going to be on the vinyl deluxe edition.
Did you plan on making a deluxe version of the album?
DARIO: I’ve never done a deluxe edition for my solo albums, so it was just an idea that got thrown in the hat, which I loved. I sat down to write brand new songs. They weren’t anything that was left over, like, “We’ll just throw the song here that I didn’t put on the album.” I wrote these three songs in three to four weeks, recorded them, put it all together. “Echoes of a Stone Heart” on the deluxe edition is called “Echoes of a Stone Heart II,” and it’s a remake of a song that I had on my instrumental album that came out with Shrapnel Records several years ago. That was one of my favorite songs on that album, melody-wise. I recreated that, and it’s going to be a new version on the deluxe edition.
I’ve sometimes thought that it would be cool for a band to re-record a past album, like 20 years later, to represent the songs as they currently sound. I have to imagine artists mature, find a new voice, evolve, and after playing the songs for decades, they might even take on a new life.
DARIO: That’s an interesting thought. I guess it depends on the band and the songs. Some of those songs that were recorded at that time just become pure magic, and that’s why everybody loves them. But I can totally see what you’re saying, because, I know for me, releasing the album and singing the songs live, I’m singing things differently, or I’m throwing on a different melody or whatever, and I’m like, “Oh yeah, that would have been cool on the album,” but I didn’t have it in my mind then.
Was it a given that Dark Chapel was going to open the Zakk Sabbath tour? Did you and Zakk talk about it?
DARIO: I mean, it was tossed around, but everything kind of fell into place at the right time with Dark Chapel and the album coming out, and that there was going to be a Zakk Sabbath tour.
I love the fact that the AC/DC tribute band Bonfire and the Guns N’ Roses tribute band Use Your Illusion are opening. I think that really rounds out the package.
DARIO: It’s going to be awesome. We’re actually opening, we’ll be the first one on, and then I think one of those two bands will be right after us.
The album’s been out for eight months. Has it met your expectations in terms of sales and people listening or do you feel like it’s still in its infancy?
DARIO: I love that the album I was able to put together, and that it came out on MNRK HEAVY. They are amazing. I’m just excited about the whole thing. This is really the beginning for Dark Chapel in this whole journey, so this is just step one. That’s why I’m really excited about the deluxe edition of the album because it’s new songs that are freshly recorded. Some of the songs on Spirit in the Glass were recorded five or six years ago. I added a handful more to complete the album. I’m looking forward to the future and what lies ahead.
Is it hard to sit on songs for so long, sometimes years, before they are released?
DARIO: It’s just part of the process. I had recorded a bunch, and then I was on the road for a while with Black Label, and then I was finishing stuff up in between. I had some songs that ended up not going on the album. I was like, “Once I get new ones written, then I’ll have a package ready to go.” It is definitely weird to sit on songs for a while. The last single that came out, “Dead Weight,” is one of my favorites on the album. I’ve had that song done for a long, long time. It was recorded and ready to go. Same with “Afterglow Corpse Flower.” We remade “Dark Waters.” These were all early, early songs.
How did you know it was the right time to put together a band and release these songs that you had been building up? And did you already know that you were going to call this Dark Chapel or did that come after you had a collection of songs that you wanted to release?
DARIO: I always had a vision for putting a band together like this, and everything has happened pretty much at the right time. I was always singing and writing songs, but I never thought of myself as a singer. I was always just playing guitar, but the more I would demo, I’d think, “Let me just throw a vocal on that.” Some of those songs are the ones that ended up on the record.
I call my home studio Dark Chapel. There’s a huge Dark Chapel sign right at the end of the hallway on the wall. As the songs were coming to life, and the band was coming together, it was like, “Just call the band Dark Chapel,” and that’s what it became.
I must admit that I was surprised to hear you sing. Have you always known that you were a good singer?
DARIO: I just sing onto the songs. I play guitar, and hopefully everything just falls into place from there. I enjoy it. When I was playing with Jani Lane, I was a teenager. He would always joke with me, “You’ve got to learn to sing, you’ve got to learn to play slide guitar.” Those were the two things he told me.
Being on the road with him, I met Ron Feldman, who was a vocal coach of Jani’s when Jani was a lot younger. It was at a show somewhere. After the show, he gave me my first vocal lesson and showed me how to breathe, how to use my diaphragm, and how to feel my chest vibrate. I would meet with him once a week on Skype at the time, and he would show me scales. That turned into playing the scale on the piano, and reading the scale, and singing the scale. He’d have me write a song, one a week, and sing it for him. He was monumental in all that. So, I was always singing, but it developed into singing and recording and putting it on my own songs.
So it was no surprise to Zakk that you can sing?
DARIO: All the bands I’ve played in, other than Jani, but since then, I’ve always sang backup. Some of the instrumental shows I did, I was singing a little bit on some songs we just threw in there to have some fun with. I look at it overall as just being a musician, whether it’s singing or playing guitar or playing piano.
You joined Jani’s band when you were 16, which means you were playing and learning before that. Because you’ve been playing for so long, are you still finding guitar players to be influenced by or do you think the roles have changed and now you are more of an influencer yourself?
DARIO: There’s always something influencing me, and it doesn’t even have to be guitar playing, it could be all kinds of different music. I love all kinds of music. I’m constantly absorbing. There are so many great guitar players out there, especially just scrolling through Instagram and seeing all these guys that are ripping. I’m always listening to music, and it doesn’t even have to be heavy stuff, it could be jazzy, or pop, or bluesy, or lo-fi stuff. I love it all.
Do you think your life would be different if you were 16 now? Kids are learning to play instruments by watching YouTube and then are uploading their own stuff. There are a ton of young people out there who are just making videos for YouTube, not interested in joining bands or making music a career. Do you think you would have gone that route if you were 16 rather than joining bands and touring?
DARIO: I’m not sure. My desire was always to play in a band. When I was young, I loved music, especially heavy metal and rock music. That’s all I thought about and playing guitar was all I did, especially in middle school. It was “come home, do homework, play guitar”. I’d play guitar all summer until my dad was like, “You’ve got to come down and eat something.” In middle school, it was three years in a row of play, play, play. That’s all I thought about doing. When somebody would say they were going to play football or that they wanted to be a doctor or whatever they wanted to do, I just thought to myself, “I’m going to be a guitar player.” Whether that was delusional or not, that’s what my focus was.
Well, here we are 20-plus years later, and it wasn’t delusional.
DARIO: Yeah! MySpace was big at the time and that’s where I saw that Jani, or somebody on his team, had posted an ad saying he was looking for a guitar player. At that time, I was 15 or 16, I was heavily into ‘80s guitar heroes and all the music that revolved around the ‘70s and ‘80s. That’s where my heart was at the time so I jumped on the opportunity and tried to make it happen any way that I could.
I have to imagine your parents were either like, “Do it, this is your chance,” or “Hell no, you’re not doing this,” and you rebelled.
DARIO: My family was musical, so they were extremely supportive. But my mom was like, “As long as you can finish school.” I left in 11th grade to go on the road with Jani, but when I was home, I did a program where I finished everything and went to school. I was in a program here in Nevada called the Community College High School, so I was in college classes. This might have been 11th grade, and half the day was entry-level college classes and the other half was high school classes.
I saw you play the Alrosa Villa in Columbus when you were in Jani’s band. I might be one of the few people that have seen you play with both Jani and Black Label Society. I wrote about the show with Jani and said, “Lane’s clean and sober performance was almost overshadowed by the prodigy he has playing guitar with him, 17-year-old Dario Lorina, who by far is the most glammed-out rocker in the whole venue on this Friday night. I swear he looks like a young Randy Rhoads and seems to be following in Rhoads’ footsteps as an amazing guitarist.”
DARIO: Oh, wow, thank you, man. That’s crazy. If I remember correctly, that was my 18th birthday that night, or I graduated high school that night, but there was something that we celebrated afterwards.
In that band, you were playing with guys at least twice your age. Were you part of the gang or did you feel like the kid who was trying to keep up?
DARIO: I was very quiet, wide-eyed, my ears were open. I was just psyched to be there. Mike Fasano [Jani’s drummer] is like my big brother, especially at that time. He took me under his wing, and I roomed with him. Everybody that was involved in the band at the time – there was a couple different bass players, a couple different drummers, but Mike was in there for most of the time when I was there – it’s like Troy Patrick Farrell had played just prior, and a bass player named Chad McDonald, and then Jani had some of his friends playing in there, and every guy was awesome. They took me under their wing, so it was a great experience.
And yeah, of course, there were some tough times here and there. The journey had some ups and downs, but overall, it was amazing. When he was on, he was on, and we had a great time. Jani was always making lasagna and we watched football together. It was awesome.
Last Jani question, what was your favorite song to play when you were on tour with him?
DARIO: Oh, man. I mean, of course, some of the classics. I loved playing “Mr. Rainmaker.” I really loved playing all of them. Jani was such an incredible songwriter, and then he got into his solo stuff, which was amazing as well.
So, you went from that to then playing with Lizzy Borden. That’s quite a jump. Both were rock bands, but pretty different musically.
DARIO: Totally. I loved the guitar – the ‘70s and ‘80s style of playing. Eddie [Van Halen] was the guy for me. And anything that revolved around that, I wanted more of. It wasn’t just that stuff. I loved thrashy stuff, heavy stuff, prog stuff. Anything that was hot and heavy, I loved at that time.
I may be crazy but I feel like I hear some [ZZ Top] Billy Gibbons-style guitar playing on “All That Remains”.
DARIO: It’s a heavy, bluesy kind of song. You could be on point with that. I don’t know if I would have pinpointed Billy Gibbons, but I love bluesy stuff, like Richie Kotzen and all that kind of stuff.
How did you get the Lizzy Borden gig?
DARIO: I had a mutual friend who was friends with the bass player. She was a publicist and mentioned that they were looking for a guitar player and put us in touch. I went from Vegas to LA to audition. The audition went well, and we were playing shortly after. The first show, I think, was the Keep It True Fest in Germany with Lizzy. Lizzy was one of the headliners, so we were off to the races. I played with Lizzy for about four years, and it was a blast. They’re still my family, my brothers to this day. They’ve always had amazing guitar players, so all that was a challenge to learn, and it was fun, because that was the style of guitar playing that I was really into.
When you were a kid, did you travel a lot or did playing in bands open those doors for you?
DARIO: Music definitely opened all those doors. I might have been over there for a music trade show that they have there. I had been there a couple times before the Lizzy stuff, but I saw so many places that I had never been before with Lizzy. And I toured in the States with Jani before that.
There is a certain Black Label Society sound that you recognize as soon as you hear. Was it hard for you, when writing your own stuff, to break away from that sound?
DARIO: I don’t really even think about it. I just sit down and start jamming on something, a riff, and whatever sticks, I start demoing out. I love all styles of music, so it’s just filtering through and coming out.
How do you decide what songs become singles and videos? I think everything you’ve released so far has been worthy, but I also really like the song “We Are Remade” which I think would be a great single.
DARIO: It’s a challenge. I had a good friend, a great guy in music, and he listened to the album and sent me a review. “This would be a great single. This would be a great single.” So, I get different opinions and see how people view it and try to go from there. And, of course, everyone’s helping out – from the label to friends to guys in the band. I love “We Are Remade” too. It really is a challenge to pick singles.
Is sequencing a challenge too?
DARIO: The sequencing I didn’t have too hot of a time with, because I spent a lot of time on it. I tried to sequence it like, “If this album’s going to be played in a live show, how would the flow go?”
I’ve interviewed Zakk before and found that while he may look like a Viking, the look doesn’t match the personality. He’s a very nice and caring guy. You look like you fit right into the biker gang aesthetic of Black Label Society, so what is something about you that might surprise people? Do you drive a Prius? Do you cry when watching rom coms?
DARIO: I’m not sure. I don’t drive a Prius; I drive a truck. A rom com never hurts anybody.
You said you listen to a lot of different stuff. What is something that you’re listening to that people would be like, “Oh, really? You like that?”
DARIO: A lot of times I like to put on Bossa Nova music or something you’d hear in a French background scenery. Right now, Opeth is always kind of an obvious one, but the mellow stuff has been on my playlist a lot lately. I went through a huge Ray Charles phase. I love everything from early, early jazz to Motown to blues. I was listening to Adele a lot a few weeks ago, her songwriting’s amazing.
I’ve heard that the bands you like when you’re 10, 11, 12-years-old are the bands that stick with you throughout your life. What bands did you like when you were that age?
DARIO: I had a huge mix of everything. That was the late ’90s, so I was heavily into Van Halen and Queensrÿche and Dream Theater, but I would have mix CDs that I would make that would have Sum 41 and Papa Roach and stuff that was big at the time, like Barenaked Ladies. That was all on one CD.
What’s a song, artist, or album that, when you hear it, takes you back to something really specific in your life?
DARIO: That would probably be Metallica’s Black Album, anything from that album, because I listened to it so much. When I was a kid in Boston, I had a few guitar teachers. I think I was with my second teacher at that time, and those songs make me think of driving to guitar lessons, and it’s pouring rain in the afternoon in Boston. The Black Album, that’s what would bring those memories for me.
So, even now you hear those songs, and you’re like, “Yep, I’m in the car and it’s raining”?
DARIO: Yeah. Those Boston radio stations played so much Metallica and Alice in Chains. Boston radio stations WAAF and 94HJY always had Metallica on, so it reminds me of being a kid in Boston.
