That Darn Racket Breaks New Ground with ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ Release and In-Depth Interview
- STAFF
- Sep 3
- 12 min read
By: Staff
‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ is a bold, electrifying masterpiece, raw, authentic, and undeniably captivating.
In a world where authenticity is increasingly hard to find, one artist is making waves with a raw, unapologetic sound that cuts through the noise. We spoke with the creative force behind ‘Overwhelmingly Positive,’ an album that is as complex as it is exhilarating. This debut release, from an artist who first rose to fame in the digital space, fuses 90s rock influences with modern introspection, all while grappling with themes of personal growth, relationships, and the chaos of the world around us.
The title track is an explosive journey into the tension of pretending to be happy, masking resentment, and battling internal conflict. Songs like "From A Mile Away" peel back the layers of emotional abuse, while "About Face" confronts the weight of false promises. Yet, amid these darker explorations, there’s an undeniable undercurrent of resilience, of trying to understand how life fits together in a world that’s constantly shifting.
We also delved into the recording process, where the artist’s collaboration with Patrick Coffin, a powerhouse in the music world, took demos and turned them into polished gems that feel alive with human emotion. Amidst the rise of AI-driven music, this project stands as a bold statement in favor of genuine expression, emphasizing that only real, raw artistry can cut through the surface.
Get ready to dive deep into the world of ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ as we explore the artist’s journey, the creation of the album, and what’s next on the horizon.
Keep scrolling to get into it with That Darn Racket.
Here’s how it went:
Begin Interview:
Hello That Darn Racket, we’re thrilled to have you here for this interview! We've had an amazing time exploring your music and diving into your creative journey. Now, we’re even more intrigued to get a deeper look into both your brand and your personal and professional inspirations.
Q. Can you dive into the inspiration behind "Overwhelmingly Positive" and its exploration of internal conflict?
A. Well, we often hear about about how people are so negative. Which is true! Many people are indeed negative, and they tend to be quite vocal, so we tend to hear from them. But the thing people often say in response is, “Why can’t people just be nicer or happier?” And that is really not an answer to the problem! It’s ignoring the problem by envisioning an outcome. And the thing is, when people pretend to be happy or nice, it usually ends with them being less happy and sometimes even angry and resentful. Often, this culminates in some explosion, which is essentially the concept behind the music video for the song. We hear about something people call “toxic positivity” all the time, and I think that’s basically what the song is about. The album is about addressing problems or, in some cases, not addressing them.
Q. What role did your background as an internet personality play in your approach to music creation?
A. Well, being an internet personality has been a blessing and a curse. It brought me many of the good things I have, and a lot of the bad things I have dealt with. But the thing I think I have realized the most, is that it is not a healthy thing to be. Most jobs really aren’t, but “internet personality” is a distinctly unhealthy job. There are incentives to express certain opinions or be against certain people, and although I have not really followed them, I have been treated like some kind of monster for not doing so. That is part of why I have stepped back from it as a job and I make what I want to make. That’s also why I made a rock album. One tries to get a creative job so they can express themselves, but what I have learned is that it molds the self, too, and it often punishes resistance to that molding. In some ways, I’ve repeatedly had to re-learn what I genuinely want from life and a lot of that is expressed here.
Q. "From A Mile Away" is a raw take on emotional abuse. What made you want to create a song around that subject matter?
A. If I’m being honest, I’ve experienced emotional abuse myself, and recently, I’ve seen someone very important to me go through the same. Many people go through it and never tell anyone, because when you go through it, you’re trained to believe it’s your fault and that you’re the deficient person. I wish I had been able to hear what I say in the song, “You can leave, and there are people who care who will help,” and I wish I had said that directly to the person I mentioned. I hope some person who needs it hears it, too. Would have helped me a lot!
Q. What message were you hoping to convey with the track “Moth... Or?” and its focus on addiction?
A. We have many songs about addiction, but not many feel truly optimistic. I have an incredible, wonderful person in my life who struggled with addiction but managed to overcome it. Honestly, I always believed they would, and I also believed they could conquer other challenges in their life. That’s what this song is about. Not necessarily about them specifically, but me. There are so many people out there who love someone with problem, whether it’s a family member, friend, or partner. But I can’t think of many songs that encourage believing in someone’s ability to overcome their struggles, even when setbacks happen. Unfortunately, that lack of belief sometimes leads us to behavior that undermines that person’s efforts. The truth is, the only way someone can truly move past all that is if they want to, for themselves. The person I’m talking about did it, and I am incredibly proud of them. But ultimately, they did it, not me, and I have to believe in them.
Q. What was it like recording in an unspecified location? Did that help shape the creative process in any way?
A. Well, I put that in the TDR bio as a joke, or maybe because I didn’t want to say my basement. Maybe both. We don’t really need to pay thousands of dollars to rent a studio to record a sonically pleasant album, but it also doesn’t sound super cool to say, “Well, I did it in my home office.” That’s not really Rock ‘n Roll sounding, is it?
Q. How did Patrick Coffin's approach to production help you achieve the authenticity you wanted for this album?
A. Well, he’s my brother, so there is a shorthand with him I wouldn’t have with other people. He’s also an extremely accomplished artist and producer, so in a lot of cases, I just deferred to him on ideas. His music project, Appalachian Anarchy, wasn’t something he had expected to work out, but he ended up charting above Willie Nelson on Billboard. He makes stuff for fun, and granted, he has a “real” studio in his house with tons of vintage equipment in it. But I was thinking… “I could probably do something, too.” As we covered, I have somewhat of a following, so I thought they might find the music fun or interesting. My brother took my demos and went back and forth with me and what he was able to bring to the project is just insane. If it weren’t for Patrick, Horacio Paris wouldn’t have drummed on the album, and man that guy is incredible. He’s done drums for Patrick’s stuff too. Others who played on his projects were on the TDR record, too, like Bruno Migliari, who did a bunch of bass on it. I’m primarily a bass player, but I don’t have any delusions that I am the best out there. I wrote the album on bass and guitar, and Patrick played a bunch of guitar. Re-recorded a bunch of my parts. Just better when everything isn’t just one person. Everyone does everything just a bit different.
Q. You’ve expressed a strong belief in the power of human expression. How does that influence your creative process, especially in today’s world of AI tools?
A. Well, whatever you’re making, however you’re doing it, it’s a human being expressing authorial intent. Even the “slop.” But the best things, the “real” art, is communication. We’re trying to say things. I mean I hate saying “real” art, it’s all real. But I think the stuff people hate about AI is really the stuff people hate about anything. We don’t like formulaic crap that’s just an amalgamation of what “works.” And that’s what AI is if you think AI is a content button. And a lot of people do, to be fair. I’m very pro-AI, but you have to approach it as a tool and not like a “solution.”
Q. How do you use AI in your work, and do you have any boundaries of what you will or won’t include in your work?
A. Well, I like playing with Suno, and I put my demos into it to remix to hear alternate ideas and brainstorm, but ultimately, writing and recording music is a human thing. The lyrics are all me and the performances are me and some other people. But for other stuff, like I said, I don’t see it as a content button. It’s more of a means to organize thoughts. I take a lot of notes, but I take them very slapdash. Often, it’s cutting and pasting things I say to people in texts or on Discord or something. And I use AI to turn that into something digestible I can work from. And the two music videos TDR has done have been AI-driven, the first one, the one for the song Overwhelmingly Positive, is a finalist in the Tarzana International Film Festival in LA next week, so I’ll be there. But with those, I don’t really approach things via text prompt. I always start from image inputs. And that often means generating an image, then working on it in Photoshop until it’s what I actually wanted, then putting that into a video model. Then those video outputs need color correction and compositing. So, to me, the important thing is understanding that people are necessary for the thing to be good.
Q. "About Face" touches on the theme of false promises. How do you personally decide when to let go of toxic relationships, both professionally and personally?
A. When it’s clear that’s all they are! Ha! I think most relationships have their imperfections, maybe have a problem here or there. But I think it’s worth working through issues instead of avoiding them. Sometimes, someone might do something dumb or over the top, and that’s something you can work through together. However, if all someone ever does is that, then it’s kind of just “fuck it.” We’ve all known someone like the person in About Face, but the song isn’t just about that person — it also touches on self-help. The self-help industry often says people just need to manifest what they want, which can make folks think success is just a matter of wanting it badly enough. I hesitate to call this “lazy,” because many people in tough circumstances are unfairly labeled that way, but that’s not quite what I mean here. I mean that sometimes, a person believes they’re so talented that success should just be handed to them, and many books seem to support that idea.
Q. The title track deals with the complexity of pretending to be happy. Do you think society’s expectations of always being positive can be detrimental to mental health?
A. Absolutely, if it’s not an explosion, it’s an implosion. Faking happiness often keeps you away from happiness, because whatever obstacle is there isn’t getting the effort. Instead, the effort is going into creating and maintaining an image, and that’s exhausting.
Q. As the world transitions to more automated forms of expression, what do you believe the world will require to make true connections?
A. Oh my God, yeah. We’re at a point where I think people are afraid that’s going away. In my other life, I critique social ideology, and I think fandom is our current one. It gives us identity and community based on our consumption, but they aren’t “real.” It’s just a means to make us think we are whole and have other people in our lives when, in reality, we have neither. If Star Wars no longer existed, what would happen to the Star Wars “community”? We’re really very atomized and alienated people now, and we need other people, and not based on what we think is cool, or even correct. Just that they’re there!
Q. Can you tell us about your full musical genre journey? Is this particular style something you've always embraced from the beginning, or has it evolved over time through influences or earlier genre experiments?
A. Well, ha. I was in a few bands as a teenager. Playing Metallica covers and originals of that nature. But I would say Offspring is at the core of how I write, because it’s how I learned to play guitar and bass. I am very riff-y, I regard the guitar more as a rhythm instrument than a melody one, I play chords, but don’t ask me what they are. I write songs on bass, and I found that regardless of if they sound like Offspring, I write “Offspring songs.” Maybe more serious? I don’t know. Some Chicken is kind of contemporary singer-songwriter, and the lyrics are tender and nice, but it was actually written with Primus in mind. That kind of insincere-sounding-but-actually sincere thing. Talking about making chicken, the boring domestic thing, like it’s some kind of grand subject to sing sentimentally about.
Q. Can you share the story behind the title Overwhelmingly Positive? Was it your first choice, or did it evolve over time? What does this title mean to you?
A. It’s the best rating a video game can get on Steam! Ha! It’s really just that. But it’s not that it’s that, it’s that the word combination just always struck me as strange. On Steam, it’s meant to convey a majority, but I always think of the more literal meaning of the word. It’s so upbeat, it’s devastating!
Q. Since Overwhelmingly Positive delves into emotional complexity, does it ever feel difficult to share such vulnerability in a world that can be judgment-driven, or do you find it liberating to express that level of openness through your music?
A. I certainly never did it before, not like this anyhow. I have made a lot of comedy music through the years, lots of insincere things and parodies. I kind of never thought myself capable of writing sincere music. Always thought it sounded corny. But I wrote a few of these songs for some personal reasons, and I was like, “Wait, I like these.” And there are a couple on the album I feel are a bit much; I feel pretty exposed. Amendment is overly personal. Some Chicken, I really like, but it’s also excessively personal. But maybe I was just hard on myself. People have sent me mostly kind feedback. I haven’t really had someone say, “This sucks.” And if you know how people act about me on the internet, that’s a small miracle. The fact that those people aren’t saying anything means they think it has merit, which makes them mad. There’s a certain contingent of people who hate the idea I could do something people don’t hate. But there were a lot of people who listened, a lot more than those who said anything to me about it. So I assume those people tried to find something to shit on and couldn’t.
Q. If you had to describe the meaning of a song from the album in just one sentence to intrigue someone to listen, which song would you choose and what would you say?
A. I’m terrible at that! I literally suck at self-promotion more than anything. I just hope it sounds good for people who like rock music.
Q. When meeting someone for the first time and they ask what kind of music you make, what's the first thing you say?
A. Rock, kind of ‘90s-tinged. Do you like The Offspring or Green Day? Weezer? Toadies? Lit? I like those bands, too! People tell me TDR sounds like The Offspring, and like I see it in the structure, but I don’t hear it in the sound. But man, Possum Kingdom is in the DNA of all those songs. I guess Metallica? KoRn? Limp Bizkit. Like I said, even Primus. You probably can’t hear that stuff in it but I think there is something to like for people who like all that stuff.
Q. How does making music make you feel? Does it help heal the emotions that inspired it, or does it bring those feelings back to the surface?
A. It’s part of healing. Sorting through things. Even when I write insincere comedy music, it’s still sorting through something I am thinking or feeling. But after finishing this thing, I felt like I understood a lot more about who I am, which I like. It’s obviously not just from writing and performing songs, but what I’ve done while making those songs. Going to a meeting for people with alcoholic or addicted loved ones, recognizing that in my early 20s, I easily could have gone down that road, just a lot of things came to light. It’s healing.
Q. If there’s one thing you want listeners to take away from the album closer, Power, what would it be?
A. It’s just the Serenity Prayer! Haha. Serenity to accept what you can’t change, courage to change what you can, and wisdom to know what you can’t, so you can put your energy into something useful. I’m not religious, but your life will become better if you start living by that as a mantra. Truly.
Q. We can’t thank you enough for sharing these intimate details with us! What's next for you? Can you give us an inside scoop on your upcoming projects and what fans should be excited about? We’d love to be the first to share the news!
A. Oh, no, thank you. I love doing this. We all love talking about ourselves, don’t we? Next is the Tarzana film fest, so I'll be in LA for a few days, and I’m producing a documentary on the Joker movies and Luigi Mangione. We haven’t figured out what the next music video is yet, but we will soon. Keep an eye on our website or IG! @thatdarnracket! Thanks again!
That Darn Racket, thank you so much, we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us!
End Interview
We’re happy to have shared That Darn Racket’s exciting journey with you and uncovered such inspiring insights about their creative process.
