Metal Master/Michael Dargis

June 27, 2007

Practicing six hours a day is nothing new for rock guitarist Michael Dargis, who approaches his art with the seriousness of a classical musician as the axe man with The Conspiracy heavy metal group.
Founded in 2001, the Traverse City-based band is releasing its second CD this week, “The Dark Journey,” which will be showcased at a release party on Friday, June 29 at Streeters’ Ground Zero.
For Dargis and his bandmates Jim Steele on vocals, Pete Henry on bass and Matt Richmond on drums, the album is the culmination of thousands of hours of painstaking practice with an excruciating attention to detail that suffuses every aspect of their act: from their stage show to their marketing effort, to the CD production values and presentation. They are perhaps the most professional band in Northern Michigan, even though their gigs are relatively few. Yet what drives The Conspiracy is far more than a hobby; it’s more like an obsession.
For Dargis, that means keeping up to speed with the machinelike precision of the current masters of metal while also trying to find his own groove in a genre that can be slavishly imitative at times.

ROOTS
Originally from the Canton-Plymouth area outside Detroit, Dargis, 40, started playing the guitar at the age of 14. He’s had some far-flung addresses since then, including Florida, California and Peru. “My former wife was a citizen of Peru and I moved down there while we were arranging her visa from the INS,” he explains.
Family connections brought him to Northern Michigan (his stepfather is “Can-Do Dan Giroux of Crest Financial”). At present, he lives in Northport and his day job is that of a landscaper.
But in a larger sense, his real job is playing the guitar at a blistering pace that involves endless hours of practice.
“I’ve always loved heavy metal and hard rock power chords,” Dargis says. “I played rhythm guitar and bass in the past, but over the last five years I started playing lead. I spent a lot of time learning musical theory, flash guitar and the intricate side of playing. I learned I had a passion for playing technical guitar.”
By that he means the kind of disciplined playing that is often associated with classical or jazz musicians.
“When I first started into it in 2002, I had five-to-six hour days of practicing. Then, when I was laid off from a job, I started practicing 10-to-12 hours a day. I would get up, make my ex-wife’s breakfast, and then practice all day into the night.”

MORE DEMANDING
“That kind of practice goes with a lot of blues and jazz players, but I think metal is more demanding,” he adds. “It’s like a drug -- you really get into it. And musically, you open one door and find another one opening ahead of you. I could start playing at 7 in the evening and the next thing I’d know, it would be 2 a.m.”
Dargis is a self-taught musician. Although he’s had a handful of lessons, most notably from local music guru Ron Getz, most of his knowledge of music theory comes from poring over books and instructive CD-ROMs. He’s used his studies to explore exotic Eastern modes of music, breaking up the musical cliches of metal with some esoteric new directions.
“You have to think out of the box to keep things interesting. I like to mix up the (musical) modes a lot. My personal favorite is the Persian scale with some harmonic minors. Then there’s also a Hungarian influence you get with the Locrian mode.”
It’s high-flyin’ stuff, but the upshot is that Dargis’s exploration of unusual music patterns from the far side of the world give The Conspiracy a stylistic edge.
All of that practice extends to the band as well. “We have band practices twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays for three hours,” Dargis says. “Everything’s scheduled to make time for family and friends. It’s a hobby, but it’s a priority too. Some guys like NASCAR or golfing -- everyone’s got a passion, and this is ours.”

ROOTS
Speaking of the band, Dargis answered an ad in a local music store back in February 2001, where he hooked up with singer Jim Steele. Their musical ideas clicked and by the next summer, Pete Henry and Matt Richmond were on board as well.
Today, Dargis writes the music and melodies of their original songs, while Steele provides the lyrics. The songwriting is fleshed out by Henry and Richmond, making each tune a group effort.
The Conspiracy is spreading its wings with more live shows downstate and is hoping that their new album will generate

interest from a major label to launch a tour. “A real tour involves label support, a tour bus, shirts, merchandise and marketing,” Dargis notes. “That’s a real tour -- not just doing bar gigs around the state.”
Similarly, the band would like to play Europe, but only if they can score a lineup of concert dates. “We don’t want to go over and play for half an hour at a metal show and burn $2,000 on plane tickets. We want to play for a few weeks over there.”
There are 10 original songs on their new album, “The Dark Journey,” which was recorded and engineered in the band’s own Steelvault Studios. There’s a spiritual dedication to Jim’s mother, Connie Steele, on the album: “After years of battling cancer, I lost more than a Mother,” Steele writes in the liner notes. “I lost a lifetime friend in which my dark journey has no end.”

The Conspiracy’s CD release party is this Friday, June 29 at Streeters Ground Zero. The first 100 people through the door will receive a free copy of “The Dark Journey” CD, and the show is being filmed for a live DVD.