Since 2007, Sam Collins has been one of the original Dark Pioneers. If you ever had a chance to see our band live, you know that he effortlessly switched from upright acoustic bass, to keyboards, to electric bass, then back again (while singing backing vocals all the way). If you haven’t seen us live, then you’ve heard his work on The Chroma Session EP, The Gospel of Rust (where he also did all of the string arrangements), and the experimental Argot album.
Sadly, Sam is leaving the TDP compound at the end of June for warmer climes, pursuing higher education down in Santa Barbara. This is a completely amicable departure and we wish him all the best. He brought so much creativity and finesse to this band and we will miss him terribly.
So what comes next? Well, the music ain’t gonna stop, but starting in July, The Dark Pioneers are going on an indefinite hiatus until Brian and I have time to build TDP v2.0. I’ve always reckoned that we’d need to hire 3 people to replace Sam–a bassist, a keyboardist, and a cellist (because he also played bowed bass like nobody’s business)–and now may be the time to do just that.
Since this hiatus mostly applies to live situations, we still have an EP to lay on you this summer. We’ll also cull the archives for live recordings and maybe produce a few more gems from the vaults. Coincidentally, I’ve been on a pretty prolific songwriting jag, so there’s plenty of new music to come; only time will tell how it comes to light.
Stay safe/stay vigilant,
Nathan Wade