Date Signed: October, 2024
Label: Mnrk Heavy (pronounced “monarch”)
Band Members: Dario Lorina, guitar and vocals; Luis Silva, drums; Dylan Dyce, guitar; Mike Gunn, bass
Type of Music: Hard Rock
Booking: Mike Monterulo - TKO NY, mikemonterulo@tkoco.com
Legal: Nick Ferrara - Nicholas C. Ferrara & Associates, PLLC,
nick@ferraraentlaw.com
Publicity: Amanda Cagan - ABC Public Relations, amanda@abc-pr.com
Web: darkchapelband.com, Instagram @darkchapelband
A&R: Scott Givens
Named after his home studio, Black Label Society guitarist Dario Lorina formed Dark Chapel in 2024. The band’s path to a label deal was relatively straightforward. Lorina had recorded an album in full and mentioned it to Black Label Society founder and legendary axman Zakk Wylde. The industry waters soon began to flow.
“I’d worked on Dark Chapel for a bit and had some down time from Black Label Society,” Lorina recalls. “When I finished the record, I spoke with Zakk’s wife Barbaranne. She works closely with Black Label’s manager Rob ‘Blasko’ Nicholson and its label MNRK Heavy. She connected me with Scott [Givens] in A&R there. They dug it and offered us a deal last October.”
Without a home studio, recording can become a challenge, both in terms of time and money. Consequently, it’s not uncommon for studio-less unsigned artists to have only a few songs in the can or perhaps even an EP. But Lorina had Dark Chapel’s entire record wrapped before a single label had even heard a demo.
Some of the recording—guitar solos, primarily—took place at Lorina’s home studio Dark Chapel. But since it lacks a drum room, commercial space in the group’s hometown of Las Vegas had to be booked to record the rest of the band. “My goal was to get the album done,” he explains. “You could say I produced it. But to me, [producing] is just creating your own music.”
Lorina’s career got off to an early start. When he was merely 16 he was hired as the touring guitarist with the late Jani Lane, early frontman and hit-crafter of glam metal outfit Warrant. He went on to play with veteran metal merchants Lizzy Borden and, of course, Black Label Society.
Dark Chapel’s debut Spirit in The Glass dropped on February 28. The album’s lead single “Glass Heart” was released in September. The band will host a record release party on March 1 at Las Vegas’ Count's Vamp'd. Dark Chapel also played a few warm-up dates with Zakk Wylde’s Black Sabbath tribute band Zakk Sabbath. Lorina urges rising artists to follow their hearts and to stay driven. – Rob Putnam
