Datura are: Justin Johnsen, sequencing, guitar and vocals, and Anji Bee: vocals and guitar. Justin has been recording under the name Ravensong, having released two limited edition cassette singles and a full length cassette entitled Exorcism. Joining hím ís Anji, who appeared on one track from that cassette with vocals. Datura is composed of two independent voices: there is harmony and discord, ascent and descent, cleanliness and dirtiness, pushing and pulling… This is what they have to say about themselves.

Interview conducted by Christ Reider of Concept: Personality via mail.

Christ: What made you decide to work together as a new band, rather than continue on as Ravensong?

Justin: Hmm… The music we were beginning to write together took on a different character than the material I recorded as Ravensong. Even if Anji didn’t actually contribute musically to the newer songs, they were influenced by her in subtle ways.

Anji: We have been working on songs based on my guitar lines to some extent. I am not really a guitarist per se, but I like to work with it when I’m in that certain mood. I’m a bit reluctant to get too involved with the instrument as far as playing live, because it tends to distract from my vocals by making me nervous. We’ll see. I think that my influence, as far as guitars, especially, is to make the music more noisy, more layered, and less keyboard reliant.

Justin: Ravensong is definitely more electronic than Datura.

Anji: We still use the synth as the backbone of the compositions, certainly, and all our percussion so far is electronic, but it sounds a bit warmer now. Particularly with the addition of a bassist.

Justin: The actual bass gives us a sound that that keyboard could never achieve. More of a groove.

Christ: Will Ravensong continue?

Justin Yes, but it won’t be as much of a focus anymore, I’ve got some vague ideas of what the next Ravensong cassette will be. They’re all concepts as of yet, nothing actualized. It will probably be awhile before the next release. With the birth of Datura, Ravensong will probably become more instrumental, more atmospheric.

Christ: Do you have plans to release a demo?

Anji: Of course! It’s been done for months now, just like every other project we’ve done!

Justin: We just need to get the jacket together and do the duplication.

Anji: And settle on a band name! We’ve gone through a few. We had been perfecting the material, shall we say, over the last semester of Justin’s recording arts program. I think we’re finally settled on the songs and their order. Two of the songs are newer versions from the Ravensong demo, which is unexpected. We scratched two songs because we just weren’t satisfied with the recordings. Ran out of free studio time there at school.

Christ: Are you planning to do any shows?

Justin: We’ve wanted to for a long time, even before we became Datura. I think that the possibility has finally become real, now that we have a bass player. It was kind of intimidating to imagine just the two of us up there with a guitar and the computer.

Anji: The biggest obstacle was lack of equipment, really! We had to build up from just about nothing once school was over. We had our guitar equipment and that’s it! We’ve had to buy a synth, drum module, and effects, not to mention the sequencer. Luckily we had held on to an old Mac to use with it. Now we’re pretty much situated. Don’t have any vocal equipment yet, sadly, for me.

Justin: We’ve got the bare minimum. Fortunately we do have friends who have offered to help.

Anji: Yes. And as far as playing, we have tentative plans to begin a round of coffee house gigs, all along the Long Beach circuit and out towards Orange County. There are so darned many in these parts, it shouldn’t be hard to find some willing to have us. Art galleries, too, are good places.

Justin: We’ll most likely play with Dichroic Mirror. We’ve got similar setups so it would be easy for us to share equipment and help each other out. I think that our sounds will complement each other, too,

Anji: Hey, plus we’re neighbors. Yeah, so, we just want to start out small and gain confidence before any larger venues or more major shows.

Christ: I noticed some subtle mystical references in your lyrics; are they a statement of your personal beliefs?

Justin: Everything I write is full of mystical references.

Anji: Everything he does is!

Justin: It’s just an integral part of me.

Anji: Our name alone is a mystical reference. The Sacred Datura plant has been used for visions all through history.

Justin: It’s especially close to our hearts because it grows in many of our favorite places in nature.

Anji: And on the 110 Freeway on the way to work. We just saw a bunch in San Pedro, too, all along Channel street. We got excited

Justin: Nature plays a major role in our spirituality.

Anji: Not that we’re Wiccan, or Dianic — or any organized faith. I don’t like it when people try to lump me in with any movement. We embrace so-called Pagan beliefs, but incorporate them into our own loose belief system.

Justin: Although our lyrics certainly reflect our personal beliefs and practices, we’re not consciously making a statement.

Anji: We both have strong beliefs, but we prefer to discuss them amongst ourselves outside the context of the band, for the most part. Whenever I have tried to think of lyrics in that manner, I come up empty.

Christ: Justin has made a number of animal references in his lyrics, one might make the assumption that animals are important to you.

Justin: Animals as symbols are very prevalent in the Ravensong lyrics, but the Elements appear more often in the Datura lyrics. One of our original concepts for the demo had been to include four songs, one for each of the elements. Unfortunately the two songs whose recordings we were unsatisfied with were the songs for Earth and Air.

Anji: I’m sure we’ll work them out for the live set though. But, yes, animals are very dear to both of us. We have three cats, would love to have many other pets if we weren’t in an apartment. We often go out to different places where we can visit with wild animals. We don’t eat meat. Justin just joined PETA not long ago, and I used to distribute their materials at shows and in fanzine mail.

Christ: How do you feel about the Gothic categorization (! certainly wouldn’t describe you as such)?

Justin: Try as I might, I can’t figure out exactly what kind of music “Gothic” describes. I’ve heard it applied to many non-complementary styles of music. In L.A., at least, Gothic seems to be more of a subculture than a musical movement. I don’t really see us as part of that.

Anji: We aren’t a part of any one underground movement. We flit from circle to circle, participating in whatever seems interesting. We like many styles of music, and our music reflects all of their influences so, we couldn’t fit into a tidy niche.

Justin: Our music has a certain darkness to it…

Anji: Which may attract a Gothic listener, but our style would probably turn away most of that crowd. We’re much more casual about our appearance than a typical Helter Skelter goer. I hope we’ll be well received by the fans of 4AD, Independent Project, Projekt style bands, but then again, we may be too harsh or energetic. Hyperium Records, now there’s a label we might accommodate stylistically.

Christ: How would you describe your music?

Justin: We have bits and pieces of many styles; dark, industrial, ethereal or dreamy, distorted guitar stuff, I don’t know… tribal, a little of the exotic.

Anji: I prefer to tell people what we use to get our sound; sequenced keyboard and drum sounds, guitar, bass, female and male vocals, lots of effects.

Justin: We’re very eclectic.

Anji: It’s not that we’re doing anything new, it just comes out slightly different somehow. You know, having been a fanzine editor and reviewer for so long, you might think I’d he more comfortable with this question, but ironically, I’m more wary of the labels.