Dark Water Release Debut Single 'Paint It Blue'

Dark Water, the newest trio in rock music, release their first single "Paint It Blue" from their forthcoming self-titled album, out this Friday. The band includes Kristian Bush, solo artist and half of country music duo Sugarland, Brandon Bush, formerly of the iconic rock group Train, and Benji Shanks who plays guitar for Blackberry Smoke. "Paint It Blue" premiered with Billboard last week.

In his interview with Billboard, Kristian told writer Gary Graff of developing "Painted Blue," "I started playing around with this fun idea that there's an apparition, this ghost that comes to you in your dream and she's telling you how to make it through all the troubles that are going on in your life. She's like, 'Look, man, it's going to be OK,' and she's doing it in all sorts of interesting rhymes and thoughts and just keeps upping the game. It's a little bit of a puzzle, lyrically, that unfolds the more you listen to it."

Influenced by a lot of rock's greatest legends, like such acts as The Allman Brothers Band and the Grateful Dead, Dark Water comes full-force with a sound that's remnant of something familiar, but simultaneously has an edge to it that's totally fresh and different. Combining forces, the trio, who have eminent past experiences in everything from soul and country to various evolutions of rock, have come together to create the perfect storm of all genres. "Paint It Blue" specifically represents that convergence, ranging from classic rock n' roll to southern twang.

"These songs don't feel like they have an expiration date, and neither does the production," says Benji. "In 10 or 20 years from now, they will still possess their sense of urgency."

"They feel like they existed before and now we have to be good servants to the songs," shares Bush. "If you were to make a comic book out of the Dark Water story, it's like we found them somewhere in a chest and were magically able to play them. And now they're here."

Dark Water originated out of a jam session in Atlanta, with Benji and Brandon creating the music and Kristian writing poetry to come up with lyrics. "You know enough to recognize when something becomes a band," says Brandon of the experience. "I know when something is better than its individual parts and has a life of its own. That's when you just get out of the way and let it happen."

And where did the new group's name come from? Well, the band was inspired by a report on NPR about magnetically charged water beneath the south pole. They wanted their music to have the same effect, for their sound to encompass the listener completely. The theory is that the "deep water," as scientists call it, absorbs energy and contains it forever.

"I think we'd all love to dip our whole bodies in that and let it wipe our troubles and mistakes away," confesses Kristian.

"This music is an emotional reset for everyone," Brandon says. "It's an opportunity to reconnect with what inspires and soothes us. And everybody needs that in their

creative life."