DERYK G Finds Peace Amidst the Chaos
Photography by Julien Carr
DERYK G has always had a respect for musicianship. Before he ever picked up his first instrument, Deryk found himself mesmerized by the charisma of the live bands that performed at the parties and quinceañeras he attended growing up. Despite describing his younger self as the type to not get up and dance at these functions, Deryk felt connected to the artists he saw on stage jumping, screaming, and shredding guitars, recounting, “They looked like superheroes to me.”
His fascination for make-believe characters and surreal worlds unsurprisingly trickles into his craft. If you pay close attention to some of Deryk’s lyrics and visuals, you might even recognize a homage to one of his favorite classic films. By merging fantasy with his own reality, Deryk taps into a special method of storytelling that lives within his take on funk and rock.
In light of the release of his third project, Peace in Armageddon, we connected with DERYK G to talk about balancing school and music, the backstory behind some of his favorite songs, and what he’s looking forward to as he makes his return to the city.
While being a college student and musician, did you ever find it difficult balancing school and music?
It was really hard honestly the past four years, but I thought it was a good thing at the same time because I know a lot of artists that do [music] a hundred percent every day, all day. It’s all they think about and I feel like that could be really bad for your mental health sometimes. You’re constantly reflecting on yourself, the world, and everything. Imagine you’re writing a diary entry for hours every single day–that’s what music is like. I feel like you need a break from yourself sometimes. I’m glad I was able to do engineering and then when I really wanted to make music, when I was really inspired, and really tired, angry, upset, that’s when I made music.
Congrats on the release of Peace in Armageddon! I know you released a single with the same title a while back, but I was wondering why you also chose to carry the same title to this album?
When I started out the project, like two years ago, I wanted to encapsulate what was going on in the world and also with myself. I felt like the world was ending in 2020. I felt like everything was fucked and we didn’t know what to do. All we could do was try to find some peace in it, so that’s kind of why I went with that whole idea of finding peace in armageddon. When I made [“Peace in Armageddon''], the single, I had that intention that that’s what the project is gonna be about and it carried onto the title. I couldn’t really think of any other title to be honest because it just captured the picture I wanted to create so well.
I think my favorite song from the project is “Damian.” I was wondering though if you could tell me who is Damian?
I was trying to play into the whole armageddon thing where it’s kind of biblical almost. I wanted [the names of the songs] to really match that theme of an armageddon, biblical world ending type of thing. Damian came to mind because a lot of people associate that name with the devil or something. Especially ‘cause the movie The Omen. The kid’s name [in the movie] was Damian so a lot of people associate that name with the devil and spooky stuff. I was like, That would be a sick name to put in a song for this project. I looked up the name and what it meant and it meant ‘to overcome and to subdue.’ I was like that’s perfect ‘cause it explores this idea of this scary name right? But it’s not what I’m trying to talk about. What I’m really talking about is having trouble getting out of bed and having trouble understanding myself in a world that just feels like it’s fucked up. It’s kind of like a cry like everything just feels like it’s falling apart–kind of like a manic episode almost. Especially at the end of the song where I talk about how I’m so fucking lost in the world and I just want someone to hold my hand.
Do you have a favorite song off the album or one you hold close to your heart?
It’s definitely between “Don’t Be Afraid” and “Had It All” mainly because the writing on those songs were my best writing that I ever did for the music I’ve been making. For “Had It All,” I was really inspired by the scene in Fight Club at the very end when Edward Norton and I forgot shorty’s name are holding hands and the world is blowing up–like everything is going crazy. It’s such a beautiful scene and it’s really chaotic but romantic at the same time. That’s kind of the vision I had for “Had It All.” And when you hear the chorus, I talk about how this image of would you hold my hand for even how shitty I can be as a person? Would you hold my hand through all these crazy things that I’ve gone through and my perspective on life? Would you accept me for all these things? It’s a tale of love and wrong time, right place. I was trying to really capture that and it’s such a beautiful scene. I even quote a line in the movie in the song where I say, ‘You caught me at a strange time in my life.’ I think that’s just really dope. I’ve never done that. It was like I was writing the song for the movie. A lot of the music video stuff that I have coming out soon captures that element a little bit. The “Chaos and Disaster” music video that I have out, it’s an animated video, there’s a scene where I’m holding hands with some girl and the world is blowing up.
“Don’t Be Afraid” is dope because it was the first song I started with. I was constantly envisioning the kind of person I wanted to be and so that song is me trying to manifest that shit in my life two years ago. I feel like I’m getting closer to that place where I wanna be. It’s a three part song where I have different instrumentals. I just really tapped into my producer bag and went crazy. I’ve never really went that hard on chords and melodies. I was really singing. I was really in my room for hours. I spent like eight hours singing and trying to get everything right in my hot ass room. The song sounded like an ending to something, so then I just made a whole project around it.
Now that you’re leaving school and returning back to Chicago, what are some things that you’re most looking forward to doing?
Since I’m working on new music, my intention was to work on music with people that I really look up to in the city and with people that I really care about. I’ve been making a lot of music with old friends, new friends, and so I’m really excited to get back and link up with everybody and make cool shit. And take control out of my hands for once and really just collab with people and enjoy the city more than I ever did when I was eighteen and not really knowing myself. Now that I’m at a better place, because of Peace in Armageddon, I feel like that project really helped me get through a growth spurt almost. It was a nice way to end my time in college and now I’m going back home. Now I’m ready to be myself, do what I wanna do, make good music, hang out with my family, and enjoy time in the city again. It’s kind of like a re-do. I wanna start over.