Gina Bafile, also known as Darkyra or Darkyra Black, is a singer and songwriter from the Western Australian city of Perth. Darkyra is also the name of the singer’s Metal project, which initially started as a solo project. She now works closely with drummer and producer Garry King, with whom she has a long-standing friendship. Their third album, ‘Life Force’, was recently released. At the beginning of the year, Gina Bafile could also be heard on Anfítrite’s debut album ‘Clitemnestra’. So, it’s time to ask the singer and the band Darkyra a few questions. Singer Gina Bafile answered my questions.
MHF: Hello, I’m Rainer and I write for Metalheads Forever Magazine. Thank you for doing this interview with me. How are you?
Gina: Hi Rainer, I’m well thank you, also thank you for taking an interest in Darkyra.
MHF: Darkyra is relatively unknown outside Australia. Please introduce yourselves briefly.
Gina: Darkyra is a project which began about 10 years ago, initially as a solo project but became much more. There was a lot of interest around the first couple of releases but unfortunately there was a lot of issues with unreliable distributors and labels that eventuated with both albums being released independently. Fortunately for me I have found someone reliable at last to help get the Darkyra brand out into the world again. Pete from Battlegod Productions is amazing and so far the results for ‘Life Force’ are off to a great start.
MHF: Gina has chosen Darkyra as her stage name. What does it mean?
Gina: Darkyra, I’ve been told, is derived from the Greek language and the meaning in some way or another means ‘Dark Lady’. I’m not 100% certain but anyway I liked the name.
MHF: I read in the press release that Gina Bafile and Garry King have been friends for a decade. How did you two meet?
Gina: I met Garry at the time of recording ‘Dragon Tears’ through Online Recording Masters. Garry had just started working for the Greek production company and he was recommended to me to provide the drums. He took a liking to my ideas and put his hand up to oversee the production. After a lot of Skyping back and forth we soon became good friends and we got to hang out for a bit on the recording of the second album, ‘Fool’ when we both made the trip to Athens. It felt like we were neighbours and our friendship has always remained despite the distance and the years apart.
MHF: The musicians featured on the album all live in Europe. How did the collaboration work, particularly in terms of songwriting, recording and production?
Gina: The first two albums were a combination of European and Brazilian musicians and this recent album ‘Life Force’ Only Garry, Fab, James and Lucio are based in Europe. Gus is in South America and Vinni, Maaz and Myself are in Australia. Writing in this way is quite productive but you need to be very organized and paint the full picture of the sound you are trying to achieve. What works for me is creating the shell of the music which contains the structure, vocal melodies (including all the stacked backup vocals) and basic keyboard melodies, synths and simple bass line with some guitar loops. Garry sent me a whole collection of drum loops he created for Magix Samplitude to make the mapping out process easier, sometimes I used midi drums if I couldn’t find the right pattern to lay down the structure. Once I was satisfied with how it all sounded in basic form, I would send it to Garry to see if anything needed to be rearranged before it got to the recording instruments stage. There wasn’t a lot of re-arranging but more or less shortening some of the pieces and sometimes timing adjustments are made on Garry’s end with there being time signatures that might work a bit better on certain sections. Everyone involved in the recording process has really been on the same wavelength when it comes to recording their parts and I’ve always trusted that their creative ideas are what’s best for each individual song. They’re really all phenomenal musicians. Maaz and Vinni (who made his debut with a couple of small parts), are based here in Perth and are still very young in their recording careers; their parts were recorded in my own studio.
MHF: Ten years have passed since the release of the first two albums, ‘Dragon Tears’ (2014) and ‘Fool’ (2015). Why such a long hiatus?
Gina: A lot of things happened. I’m sure there is plenty of information out there if you search. I went through Breast Cancer and started treatment right on the same week I was meant to have my debut tour (Netherlands / Germany) I really wasn’t in any state of mind to return to music for a long time after treatment, then my father also went through lung cancer and passed away a few years ago along with a few other relatives that also passed, we had a pandemic..so the timing just wasn’t right.
MHF: What have you been doing in the meantime, especially Gina?
Gina: Garry has been recording and producing a few other projects in France. Although he isn’t really present on Socials or on the web as much, he does remain active in Music. I (Gina) are quite busy trying to get the live Darkyra shows happening.
MHF: How does ‘Life Force’ differ from its two predecessors?
Gina: ‘Life Force’ is very personal. It is basically me in my absence from music, my thoughts, feelings, losses, relationships and observations of the craziness that is life. The sound has evolved to be less in the traditional symphonic and orchestral vein. We have kept the Cinematic vibe but have headed more towards a Progressive Art Rock style. There is still a little gothic rock on a few of the songs but more of a pop metal edge. I was really adamant that I didn’t want to replicate the first two albums and after a decade, I’ve moved on from the Darkyra of back then. So much has happened in my own life since then and the world is also not the same so it is only a natural process that the music reflects this.
MHF: How satisfied are you with the current album?
Gina: I love it. Garry loves it, we are proud of everyone involved and know we have remained true to ourselves by creating something from the heart. We are not bothered by outside opinions. If you like it and resonate with it then great. If not then thats okay too as this album was created more for ourselves and less about what we thought everyone else would like to hear.
MHF: What were the reactions of the press and fans?
Gina: We have had a lot of really great reviews from both press and fans, but of course for every great review there’s usually just as many bad ones. All publicity is great, both positive and negative.
MHF: Gina is also a new member of the Venezuelan Symphonic Metal band Anfítrite. How did this collaboration come about?
Gina: Yes, I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved with Anfitrite. We released ‘Clitemenstra’ in December. It’s new and very exciting for me so I’m looking forward to what opportunities that brings. The band were looking for a singer for some time and I answered their online advertisement a really long time ago and didn’t hear from them until around October last year (took me by surprise because I totally forgot about it). They had already created the album but were missing the vocal aspect. The music is probably heavier than anything I’ve been involved in so the challenge was accepted. I had to familiarize myself with the mythological stories they sent me and write the lyrics to suit and come up with my own vocal melodies. I really didn’t know what they were looking for apart from fitting the brief of Soprano. They probably weren’t expecting all the layered backup and choral vocals, so it was probably a bit of a surprise, but they used everything I sent through.
MHF: I was impressed by Gina’s singing on both albums. Did she have classical vocal training?
Gina: I’ve had minimal classical training, about six months of private lessons (20 years ago) with a Perth Opera Singer just to help with range, posture and breathing techniques. I’m more of a natural singer that likes to focus on utilizing all aspects of my voice both rock and classical. I’ve learnt to embrace the little flaws. It is a rich and unique voice with a darker timbre and a lot of vibratos. Maybe not for everyone.
MHF: What can we expect from Darkyra in the future? Will the album also be presented live?
Gina: I have performed a few of the songs already and hopefully I’ll perform them some more throughout this year until I begin writing a new collection.
MHF: And will it take many years again until the follow-up?
Gina: There will be another album, maybe only a couple of years away.
MHF: Thank you once again for the interview. Would you like to say anything to the fans before we finish?
Gina: Thank you for listening and following our journey so far. If you want to see us perform internationally then we need your help to make it happen.
Darkyra are (on ‘Life Force’):
Gina Bafile – Lead Vocals, Backup Vocals
Garry King – Drums, Percussion, Loops, Backup Vocals, Extra Keyboards on „Tested The Water“
Lucio Manca – Bass Guitar (Exclude „Take Me Far“ and „Celebrity Smile“)
Gus Mansur – Guitars
Fab Jablonski – Keyboard, Piano, Synth
Maaz Manik – Bass Guitar („Celebrity Smile“, „Take Me Far Away“)
Vinni Bafile – Clean, Drone Guitar („Quiet The Mind“)
James Michael – Guitars On „Breathe’ and ‘Tested The Water’
Discography:
Dragon Tears – Album 2014
Fool – Album 2015
Life Force – Album 2025
Social Media:
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/4VRJy3osm0rMsYthOvKfKM
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@Darkyramusic
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DarkyraOfficial/
Bandcamp – https://darkyrablack.bandcamp.com
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/DarkyraMusic/
Website – https://www.darkyramusic.com/
