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Download a collection of Darrreck's music (featuring his bands SECRET, No Bones, C O R P S, and a solo skate soul song) at:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1k7kGTsp4MXlN_q-e-iAQYtqXSw8a8OHy?usp=sharing

Family man, unforgettable friend, exalted muse, high priest of the shred Darreck DeAndre Burns II (in body 12/16/97 - 1/12/19) has made an eternally warming impact on the lives of many. Among countless skills his mastery in dancing, art, skating, family/friend-appreciating, and music making/performance continue to awe and inspire. His physical presence is a precious privilege to been blessed by, and his benevolent influence shines on. May this collection of musical tributes let his light brighten more lives and further immortalize his impact.
Darreck Burns forever.

- LÜC ( 3/29/20 )


The song "Darreck Burns Forever" is an attempt at writing a SECRET-style song with lyrics containing what I may have shared if I spoke to the church-cramming crowd at his funeral service, also what I'd gladly share with those who weren't there. SECRET songs wonderfully weave key elements of some of Darreck's favorite music which we talked much about, some who are referenced in this composition include Rudimentary Peni, The Germs, Black Sabbath, Circle One, JFA, Cro-Mags, and local legends The Neckties. His first band No Bones (which he joined as singer at 12 with Matt the Drummer of SECRET playing guitar while Dristen the SECRET guitarist played drums) and his post-SECRET band C O R P S (which Dristen also drummed for) are attempted to be emulated musically and lyrically in this song, along SECRET. Enjoy this elaboration on how they were woven in:

SECRET original and cover songs often employed solo bass riff intros and transitions, it always seemed to be quite a characteristic trait of theirs and so it's placed throughout this song. Darreck often wore a shirt of The Germs' "What We Do Is Secret" record named after one of that visionary band's few songs which contained group vocals, chanting "Secret!" as a 1-word/2-syllable chorus, this same group chant is used similarly in "Darreck Burns Forever" (note: the SECRET song "Creeper" contains a nearly identically phrased 1-word/2-syllable chorus). Along with a Germs sticker on Matt's bass which Darreck used, was a decal of quintessential hardcore skate punk band JFA, who between original songs often played their versions of surf rock classics. The first show I saw SECRET at before I even knew them, was in an empty pool, which they skated and blazed the heck out of before playing; this was a way they embodied JFA spirit in lifestyle but they also conveyed JFA's essence in their music, especially with the SoCal surfer-skater slurred-lyric phrasing so authentically wailed by SECRET singer Cheyne while courageously yet effortlessly flowing with a smile through the tidal crashes of chaotic pits that they always summoned. JFAien guitar flavor is also strongly prevalent in SECRET guitarist Dristen's playing with his artful combination of all-out attack on chords and short sweet melodic passages keeping close to the main riff of the song on high single notes or 2-string chords (e.g. songs "Wizard's Staph" and "Creeper") which is musically referenced after the first and second anthem chants in this song "Darreck Burns Forever". The speedy surf drumming style used In JFA's covers (e.g. songs "Walk Don't Run" and "Baja") is sprinkled throughout the second half of this song. These beachy skate punk techniques are also consistently employed in the songs of No Bones, especially coupled with the Circle One beat (which will be talked more about soon) which was a pairing I implemented multiple times to "Darreck Burns Forever". Adding this rhythm to the second half of the second verses of the "Meat" and "Copsong" covers is the only way I intentionally deviated from the original version of the SECRET song aside from adding synth/organ and the additional vocals, which are used in "Meat" with a technique utilized by Rudimentary Peni (e.g. songs "Vampire State Building" and "Radio Schizo") who SECRET pretty much always covered in performances (three times per set on occasion). Darreck would usually sing for those songs, and it seemed he had an affinity for R.Peni's characteristic technique of blasting rapid fire vocals over dark menacing punk jams with preacher-like assertion (also prevalent in the music of C O R P S) which I attempted through the entire song after the spoken beginning parts until the final chants. A significant part of SECRET's unique musical identity is the infusion of Black Sabbath-esque relatively slow heavy riffs (also used by C O R P S in the song "Hopeless Sight) with break-neck speed skate punk (e.g. songs "Secret II" and the Vol.196 version of "Skate Church") which juxtapose in a way that makes them enhance each other's intensity; attempts at recreating this in "Darreck Burns Forever" are when the guitar first comes in, the first part of the second verse, and during the last two chunks of chants at the finale of the song, which sandwich a musical break over a beat designed to recall a part of the Cro Mags (a classic hardcore group among the earliest to incorporate slow heavy parts) song "Malfunction" which was another powerful cover in SECRET's repertoire. When jamming in rehearsal for the Darreck memorial anniversary performance with Dristen and I, Matt referred to the fast-paced alternating between kick+hi-hat and snare as the Circle One beat. I always thought the same of that rhythm because I hadn't yet or since heard an earlier punk band (their first show was in 1980) use that technique. SECRET's song "Surf Nazi 187" which was lyrically based on a true story of a nazi tough-guy biting off far more than he could chew at SECRET's 2nd show and the music accompanying this story is a blast of pure Circle One beat after a big foreboding buildup sounding like a full coliseum with synchronized accelerating heartbeats conjuring the scene of a matador prancing just before getting gored by a taunted bull. I never heard SECRET cover a Circle One song but I distinctly remember multiple members wearing C1 pins and singing their songs "Beware" and "Gospel" with the SECRET squad while romping up Ventura's main beach street analogous to South Bay's strand after picking up a case of Modelo with them before a show I threw at the haunted library out there. The Circle One beat appears twice in this song after the second verse and at the altered return of the first Sabbath-y riff which, like the bass/drum intro, was taken directly from a funky jam played by Darreck and Matt at SECRET's last show while the source that powered both the guitar and lights was being fixed, during which they had Luke (younger brother of Cheyne) rap. Matt's drumming blew my mind from the start, most people would need 8 arms to come close to being able to rip at such speed while incorporating such fills, and the mind of an alien genius to even come up with the insanity he plays. The mission of replicating his playing was a leap up from any work I'd done previously, as well as attempting to compose "Darreck Burns Forever" in his style. I'd never gotten deeply educated any D-beat flavored music before being captivated by it in the music of SECRET and their older brother band The Neckties (e.g. of their D-beat usage songs are "Tech Is Over" and "SSCGC") with drummer Miles, easily one of the most prolific musicians in South Bay punk history [also playing in C O R P S, L.L.D., The Imposters, Acid Fad, Chum Ruckus, RONCH, Grimly Forming, and ROLEX to name a few], songwriter/guitarist Marty [also played drums in Chum Ruckus] whose distinct raging adolescent voice is replicated in the end chants, and Guitarist Nate Brady who immortalized all of SECRET's music through recording as well as NmE's Kylee Memorial Demo and C O R P S as from creating a plethora of his own [In Krypthonico an more as well as ROLEX, Grimly forming, Acid Fad, and More] who earlier kept alive the South Bay scene that SECRET blossomed in and shared many shows with them including all 3 'official' last shows (The closest I'd come to studying this rhythm before that mind-widening exposure was in the tunes of OG Venice punk band Neighborhood Watch's "Acid Rain" and "Straight Edge"). This is the first song I have ever composed with D-Beat ( in the first fast part and first "Darreck Burns Forever!" chant section) and it is a discipline learned completely from these savage SoCal serenaders. I thank them infinitely for the deep and permanent impression they've made on me as a musician, music enjoyer, and person.

- LÜC 3/29/20

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