Healing through music in Death Valley Girls’ creative process

Transmission 148: Interview with Death Valley Girls

Death Valley Girls is an American rock band founded in Los Angeles, California in 2013 by Patty Schemel, Larry Schemel, Rachel Orosco, and Bonnie Bloomgarden. Their musical output combines garage rock, punk, psych rock, and gothic rock elements.

The band released their first album, Street Venom, in 2014, followed by Glow in the Dark (2016), Darkness Rains (2018), Under the Spell of Joy (2020), and Islands in the Sky (2023). After several lineup changes, the current members are Larry Schemel, Sammy Westervelt, and Rikki Styxx, with Bloomgarden’s powerful vocals continuing to lead their raw, energetic, psychedelic-tinged rock compositions.

Death Valley Girls’ Bandcamp

What initially drew you to the world of rock music and how did those early influences inspired your sound?

When I was five, I heard Billie Holiday singing, and it blew my mind. I didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl; I just thought it was so cool that someone sang like that, and everyone loved it. I became obsessed with her, and that was the beginning. They told me she was an alcoholic who had to sing to live, to earn money for alcohol, and I thought that sounded so romantic—just having to sing every day to live your life. I was obsessed with it.

Can you recall the defining moment that solidified your decision to form Death Valley Girls?

I was in a very low place, I had just moved across the country, and I had given up music. There was just a huge hole in my life. I didn’t know that it was music, I just felt so empty and lonely. Then once I started playing, I realized that I need music, I need to be part of it, I need to be obsessed, surrounded by all these things to fill the hole. I realized why I needed it after I came back to it.

How did growing up in Los Angeles influence the band’s formation and the creative direction?

Los Angeles is huge and filled with tiny mysteries and magical places, but you almost have to be shown them. It’s exciting with so many little areas and pockets. There’s a million worlds here, and you can pop from one to the other. It’s very artistic—everyone is trying to make art in their own way, even if it seems silly, like working out or whatever. Everyone here is on a mission, and it’s a neat energy to be around.

What were some of the challenges you faced while recording your debut album, Street Venom?

We couldn’t get any shows. No one would let us play any shows for like a year. So we decided that the only way we could get shows is if we had a record. So we made that as fast as possible. We just played for a year, just trying to get shows and then made a record as fast as possible. And it actually did work. It’s very helpful to be able to send people music, rather than an email, just explaining why you want to play their concert hall.

The lineup has changed over the years. How have these changes influenced your creative dynamic?

That’s super interesting. We see this as a spiritual journey and the music as spiritual, like a religion and a healing journey. As we go from record to record, we capture the growth we’ve had. Each new person who joins either teaches us a lesson or brings us sounds we didn’t know existed. It’s cool to be in a band focused on evolving and growing spiritually rather than just knocking out hits.

How did the themes of Islands in the Islands in the Sky come together?

I was sick for about seven months and kept going to regular doctors, but nothing was helping. Then I visited a healer, and while I was there, she said, ‘You were a jazz singer in a past life.’ That felt so strange to me because Billie Holiday was what inspired me to get into music in this life.

Then it hit me—if I could figure out who I was in a past life, I could listen to my own record. And that’s when I thought, ‘Why not write a record now for my next life?’ I decided to fill it with all the lessons I’ve learned so I wouldn’t have to relearn them again.

During that time, being sick, I spent my days dreaming and ended up learning so much—how to manifest and all kinds of interesting, weird things. It was like I was living in a dreamland for months. So, this record is for our future selves, so we don’t have to keep learning the same hard lessons lifetime after lifetime. Hopefully, the next one will just be relaxing on a beach or something.

Was there a particular track on Island in  Islands in the Sky that felt especially pivotal or challenging to complete?

There’s a song called Sunday. Honestly, we channel music, and I don’t like to write songs until I’ve learned a lesson. I’m not going to write about a breakup, something sad, or anything that makes me mad anymore, at least not now. With that song, there wasn’t much of a lesson—it was just me describing pain I had experienced for the first time. 

By the end of it, I thought, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t include this; there’s not much to learn from it.’ I wanted the songs to be lessons. But everyone else said, ‘There’s so much to learn from what you’ve gone through and from feelings. They can help someone.’ I’m glad I listened to them because I think it’s a song that resonates with a lot of people. I’m grateful I didn’t listen to myself.

Are there any new sonic directions or concepts you’re currently exploring for future material?

We’re currently exploring a lot of new ideas. We’ve added a saxophone player and several vocalists. As I mentioned, we channel music, and this time the concept is about channeling in a different way. We’ve spent a lot of time focusing on writing or finding messages to aid healing, which is such a mental process. 

For this next record, we’re shifting that focus to something physical—creating songs that move emotions through your body, that help you let loose. It’s for your heart and body, not just your ears and mind. I feel like I’m done with healing for now—I’m ready to move.

Matteo Damiani

Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others