Klank — that horrible, grating noise that one hears when metal drops on another hard surface. This noisy one-man entity, which was first heard on the Demo-Lition II compilation album, then recorded and released its full-length debut album on Tooth & Nail. In our dissection efforts of this subject, we contacted song craftsman Daren Diolosa and conducted the following email interview.

What made you decide to pursue Klank full time?

"Well, I've been working on Klank for almost 4 years now. It hasn't been easy. Circle of Dust's untimely demise kind of gave me the kick I needed to finally get things off the ground and motivate myself. It was unfortunate it had to happen under these circumstances, but sometimes these things are out of our control."

Why did Circle of Dust break up?

"It was a bunch of various reasons. First off, we were railroaded into thousands of dollars of debt because our old label flaked out on a financial agreement we had made with them. To this day, almost one year later, we have not seen this money that is owed to us. We are literally in deep trouble financially. Also, due to legal reasons that have yet to be resolved, we could not continue to record as Circle of Dust. We just decided to part ways and see what other avenues we could eventually pursue. We still have Circle of Dust merchandise, and it would sure help us out if people bought some."

Tell me about this album.

"Well, the album is titled Still Suffering, and Fans of the Circle of Dust style of music should be into it. It's not a death metal album, as some have suspected, but it has its heavy moments and its not so heavy moments. I tried to be versatile and not get lumped into any one category. There are elements of Circle, maybe some Fear Factory, Machine Head, and what I consider to be my own style of electronically-influenced music: elements that have a heavy groove, almost hardcore type vocals, with heavy guitars."

What are your tour plans?

"We have done some touring already, but we plan on starting up again on Halloween in Detroit and going up till after new year's some time."

What type of promotional plans are under way (videos, singles, etc.)?

"Buka and the label have been discussing doing ‘Downside' cause it was the first single, but my friend Justin from Oklahoma is gonna film our Halloween and our November 1st show in Chicago and get some footage for either ‘Deceive' or ‘Fall.'"

What changes have gone on in your life in the last year and a half?

"Well, quite a lot actually. I had to give up my apartment due to not being able to afford it any longer. Touring has been erratic, so income is very limited. I had and uncle whom I was very close to pass away and our drummer's truck broke down on the way to Cornerstone. We ended up having to rent a van, and that financially killed us big time. Things haven't been too pretty in the Klank camp!!!!"

What do you think God has taught you in this time?

"Ummm. I'm not sure, really. I guess to try and be patient and be a better person. I've been trying to break down some of the barriers that have been set up around me this past year due to rumors and people getting the wrong impression of me and my music. I have a hard time with really judgmental people."

How has the dissolution of Circle of Dust affected you? How do you feel about it?

"I basically feel that the rug was pulled out from under our feet. It was definitely a rough time for all of us. The transitional period between Circle and Klank was pretty screwed up. That's when I helped sixfeetdeep. I owe a lot to them, because they put me back on stage in front of people who cared about music. And that's exactly what I needed at that time. At the same time it gave me the chance to pursue Klank full time, and that has brought me some of the greatest moments in my life, as well as some really bad memories too, but that comes with the territory I guess."

How do you deal with the bitterness that must rise up within?

"Good question. I don't know exactly how I deal with it. I guess I'm still dealing with it."

What do you think about Jesus?

"Well, I think He was a great Person Who gave His own life to help the world. He died to help a world that I think wasn't worth it. All the violence every day, innocent people getting blown away, and all the other stuff that goes on. No one seems to care, either. A great example: look at Christmas. This is the day that the Savior of the world was born, and it's so commercialized that it makes me sick. No one really thinks about what it was originally intended for. All people care about is what they want and what they want to buy for others, and if they have enough cash to get it. It's sad."

What do you think about His claims to be "the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by Me," and the implications that Buddhism, Islam, Judaism — without Him — Hinduism, Spiritism, and other religions will lead one to Hell?

"I believe that the way to Heaven is to confess your sins to God, not to man, and to ask Him to forgive you. There should be no ‘human' middle man in there between God and man."

There is a fine line between not calling yourself a Christian and denying Christ (the very word Christian is an adjective/adverb that is a descriptive term made by others due to observation — not a noun, and therefore it is a prideful statement to call oneself a Christian). I can understand not wanting to wear a label that you think is dirty, but what about Jesus Himself? Do you claim Him as your own, or do you deny Him?

"No! I do not deny Jesus or His existence or His claim to be the Son of God. I am aware that it does say in the Bible that, ‘If you deny Me before man, I will deny you in front of my Father in Heaven,' but, in the same respect, I do not go out and talk to people about what I believe. I am a Christian, but not as the world perceives the term ‘Christian.' The Swaggarts, Bakkers and numerous other frauds have left today's society a bit afraid of the term, and basically religion has given God a bad name. That is pretty sad also. Realize one thing: with time comes learning. I am always in a stage of learning. It has been a long path I have been on and I see things a lot differently now than, say, three years ago."

How do your friends in ministry-oriented bands feel about your approach to art?

"Well, that's also a good question. Some of them really don't seem to let it bother them. They just say that they will pray for me! Others trip out a little bit, but what can you do? They have their things going on and I have mine. Most of them are cool and have known me for quite a while and have seen me progress to the place I'm at now. Most of all, my friends seem to like the music, which is all that I really care about. My ‘religious' beliefs, I think, should not really have any bearing on my music unless I decide to mention something about them in a song or something of that nature. Most of my friends respect that; others, I think, don't really have a clue where I'm at."

Why did you slice your hand open & sign your contract with Tooth & Nail in blood?

"To prove a point that music, for me, is my life. A recording contract is not a joke or should not be taken lightly. Too many bands don't really understand that it's a big deal and could be a turning point in their lives. As far as I am concerned, I wanted to show Tooth & Nail that I'm no joke. I plan on doing this full time as long as I can, and I won't let anything stand in my way of pursuing my dream — whether its a person individually or a record label, I'm not stopping."

Do you write your songs on guitar? How does a Klank song evolve?

"Actually, it's pretty weird. Most ideas come from guitar riffs or melody ideas that I try to put a riff to. Other times I sit with a drum machine and put a guitar line to some beat I've been working on. It's weird, because I always have some kind of beat or loop going thru my head. Like, if I hear a door creak and bang shut, it sticks in my head. Then later I hear a loop in my head and I can picture the noise under it. I know it sounds crazy, but you can ask any of my friends and they'll tell you that I suffer from chronic loop syndrome. But I know it works, because this album is proof positive that it does. I gave Scott rough tapes of 4-track stuff I did that showed the basic song structure I wanted and we worked on it from there. 90% of the time lyrics come last. They usually reflect what I'm thinking at that point in time or thinking of stuff I've been through, or stuff I've seen in the past. That is also evident on this release."

Are you going to work with Scott Albert (Klay Scott) anymore?

"No, actually. He is very engrossed in his new thing and has no time and I basically am going to be doing the next CD with some friends I have in New York , Virginia, and Tennessee. I am also in the process of setting up a studio here in New York with some of my friends here. Hopefully we can start to eventually bring in a few bands and help them get a decent recording at a decent price."

What is Scott going to do with himself now?

"I have no clue really except for that he's working with someone else doing a new project."

Anything left for Argyle Park?

"Well for me, only the memories. I don't know what the future holds for any other releases from Argyle Park."

What do you want to say to the person who has just purchased your CD?

"Enjoy the music."

We've heard rumors that you've cussed on stage or at concerts and people have felt like "There's no way he could be a Christian and talk like that." What's the scoop on this?

"Well I can honestly say I have NEVER EVER cursed on stage at any show anywhere at anytime. I have gotten several letters from people hearing rumors of such and I would like to say to whom ever is spreading this to please stop. I am not perfect and I do make mistakes as we all do, but if you hear something, come to me personally and ask. Don't spread gossip because not only is it a bad rap to get it also hurts me deeply to see people getting off on making my life miserable."

While your songs do a great job of expressing pain, not too unlike some of the Psalms in the Bible, what about the lack of solutions in the same song? What solutions have you found in your own questions and struggles and pain?

"That is a good question because I am still dealing with a lot of pains and trying to get to the bottom of all that bothers me. I have no miracle answers for people who are suffering. I really don't know how I deal with them. I try not to be bitter at certain people who have hurt me and still be a friend to them. This only to have the other cheek I've turned slapped again and again. It is frustrating. I still question a lot of stuff at this point in my life."

Who are your favorite people to tour with and why?

"I had a lot of fun touring with Spyglass Blüe, even though it was only like 14 dates. We haven't done a lot of touring with other bands as far as multiple dates with them, but there a lot of bands I want to hook up with and play with. I have been working on getting a tour with Drown and pushing for Fear Factory too. They are both friends and great bands whom I would be honored to share the same stage with."

"These are the most frequently asked questions about rumors heard about me:

1) Are you a Satanist? No! Even though it sounds like a really dumb question, I get that a lot actually.

2) Are you related to Charles Manson? No. No relation whatsoever.

3) Are you a Christian? Yes — I do believe in GOD and that He died for my sins, I just don't preach at any of my shows. It's more of a personal thing for me.

4) Why do you curse at your shows? I have never cursed at a show before.

5) Why do you hate the church? Once again the rumor mill has had a field day with this one. I DON'T hate the Church. I just don't agree with organized religion because of all these ‘awesome men of God' that have fallen have given God a bad name and I think that is really, really sad."

Explain the following songs:

"Scarified" — "First let me start off by saying this is a touchy subject. I have always taken pride on not giving meanings of songs just because I don't want the original meaning to kinda offset the meaning a fan might already have. I have heard songs in the past that have touched me and I had pictured a certain meaning to it, then when I heard from the bands themselves what they were about, it kinda killed it for me. The meaning I had found I mean. But I will try to put it all out on the table here.

"Scarified is a direct reference to a few different scenarios that happened here in New York both at places where I was at, at some point in time. There was a man at a job I had who was a self- professed bi-sexual, and was very open about it and graphically used to describe to me what he did at his encounters. I was only 14 years old and that was a hard thing to stomach and deal with. Especially because he used to spend most of his nights with boys under the age of 16. This song was my way of interpreting what his "victims" had to deal with. I knew some of his young friends personally so it was really, really hard to practically witness this firsthand and not be able to do anything about it. (How does a 14 year old boy explain such filth to his parents, or anyone, at that age?) I'm sorry to say that this lowlife piece of trash is still roaming free to this day. No one ever pressed charges.

"Also, it deals with knowing people personally who were involved in several churches that I had attended over the years that were rocked by hardcore child molestation happening right on church premises. When it was brought to light — sort of — it was all swept under the rug, and to this day, the ‘men of God' who performed these horrible deeds are still there at their churches. No restitution, no jail time, just an apology. Well, I know I get flak at times for what I say, but that is totally not cool. These people needed to and still do need to feel what they have inflicted on all the innocent kids. I for one would like to be a part of the SWIFT justice that should take place there. It is a real personal thing for me and I can honestly say that I would enjoy setting these people straight. I know it sounds hard or almost wrong, but in my situation and my eyes, death still wouldn't be good enough for these people. I'm very adamant about that too. This, by the way, has happened along with several various events at many, many churches. I, unfortunately, can say I was a part of several churches that had a lot of this and other bad things going on..."

"Burning" — "This was a tough song to write. Musically I had the whole thing set up and complete, but lyrically I was stumped. I wanted to express the fact that I know God exists, but at times he seems so far away and distant . . . at least from me anyway. I was dealing with a lot of spiritual issues and trying to live a good life and still question God at the same time. That's where the line ‘deep down inside my heart, I still believe, I know You exist but where are You?' comes from. Basically, a soul searching type song."

And so went our "chat."

Interview by HM Magazine