EPK – DieveNoire – The Story of a Gunslinger (2025)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
“As a newly formed idea which started in Lariyah’s head without an exact direction, but a large collection of content to create this album into a concept of a gunslinger’s journey, in a very basic old school blues rock way, with a touch of southern gothic feel to it. After encountering Jakob Herrmann, a very well-known and accomplished producer from Gothenburg, Sweden, the demos have been reworked and encouraged to incorporate heavier sounds. Quite proper of a move for the involved musicians’ preferences”. – Dieve Noire
For fans of Clutch, Dorothy, Everybody Loves an Outlaw, Pretty Reckless, Halestorm
DieveNoire.com | Facebook.com/dievenoire | Youtube.com/@DieveNoire/videos | Instagram.com/dievenoire
Dievenoire.bandcamp.com | Spotify | Apple Music
“The nostalgic whistles, the storytelling approach of singer Lariyah Perrin, and the overall atmosphere of the song take the listener on a hypnotic journey. The song is the band’s third track before they drop their new album, which already seems like it will be a feast for the ears. Pushing the repeat button is the only way when the highly engaging, beautiful song ends.” – New Noise Magazine
“It may be true that Lariyah’s personal and dramatic story pushed her to see life from a somewhat different perspective. Her dark words, at times, attest to this. Through the darkness of West American history, is this some kind of introspection on her part? I will conclude by writing that this album is the result of a fusion of dark blues rock and Southern-gothic rock, carried by an expressive voice, powerful guitars, and a universe where the Wild West meets shadow and rebellion. For this album, 9/10 is essential.” – Rock Meeting
If DieveNoire should be recognised as anything, it should be as an unreckonable cultural force, wielding music as a conduit for their ethos, one that scratches beneath the superficial and strikes at the cerebral. Their latest seminal single, IDGAF, delivers an intimately candid rum-soaked vignette of a soul clawing for freedom through the rebellion of living authentically, sacrilegiously in the eyes of many, yet chasing redemption through defiant selfhood.” – A&R Factory (anrfactory.com)
“Hailing from Elgin, IL DieveNoire is a Dark Blues Rock Band that started from the vision and creation of Lariyah Perrin. Originally, this new endeavor was intended as a solo project. However, after the overwhelmingly positive reception of her debut single, “Gunslinger in Black,” Lariyah decided to form a full five-member, stage-ready band. Since a young age, Lariyah was exposed to none other than Johnny Cash, a key influence. Combining her Slavic roots, which are evident in her vocal style and songwriting with a newfound passion for blues and southern gothic rock, Lariyah began work on the band’s debut album, “The Story of a Gunslinger.”” WGN Channel 9 (Chicago)
Album Title: ‘The Story of a Gunslinger”
Release Date: Sept 5, 2025
Label: Self-Release
Genre: Bluesy Heavy Rock
Location of Band: Illinois/North Carolina
Track Listing:
1. Preacher – 3:36
2. To The Gallows – 3:43
3. Gunslinger in Black – 2:44
4. Streets of New Orleans – 5:04
5. The Graveyard Song – 4:04
6. Morning Star – 4:00
7. These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ – 3:48
8. Spell of White Oleander – 4:55
9. Throughout the Night – 3:28
10. IDGAF – 4:24
Album Length: 39:50
Album Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: Lariyah Perrin, Lothar Keller, Jakob Herrmann, Jonas Ekdahl
• All songs written by: Lariyah Perrin, Lothar Keller, Jakob Herrmann
• Produced by: Jakob Herrmann (Top Floor Studios, Gothenburg, Sweden)
• Mixed by: Jakob Herrmann (Top Floor Studios, Gothenburg, Sweden)
• Mastered by: Jakob Herrmann (Top Floor Studios, Gothenburg, Sweden)
• Album Artwork by: Lariyah Perrin
SONG CREDITS:
1. Preacher – songwriting: Lariyah Perrin, Jakob Herrmann, Lothar Keller
2. To The Gallows – songwriting: Lariyah Perrin, Jakob Herrmann, Lothar Keller
3. Gunslinger In Black – songwriting: Lariyah Perrin
4. Streets of New Orleans – songwriting: Lariyah Perrin, Jakob Herrmann, Lothar Keller
5. The Graveyard Song – songwriting: Lariyah Perrin, Jakob Herrmann, Lothar Keller
6. Morning Star – songwriting: Lariyah Perrin, Lothar Keller
7. These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ – songwriting: Lariyah Perrin, Jakob Herrmann, Erik Michael
8. Spell of White Oleander – songwriting: Lariyah Perrin, Jakob Herrmann, Lothar Keller
9. Throughout The Night – songwriting: Lariyah Perrin, Jakob Herrmann, Lothar Keller
10. IDGAF – songwriting: Lariyah Perrin, Jakob Herrmann, Lothar Keller
Album Band Line Up:
Lariyah Perrin – Vocals
Lothar Keller – Lead guitars
Josh Perrin – Rhythm guitars
Aaron Esquitin – Drums
Live Band Line Up:
Lariyah Perrin – Vocals
Lothar Keller – Lead Guitars
Josh Perrin – Rhythm Guitars
Aaron Esquitin – Drums
Paul McBride – Bass (joined the band fully after the album release)
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About the Album Artwork:
The album artwork was hand drawn ink ink pencil by the vocalist, Lariyah. The idea was to bring out the tree representing the roots of the beginnings and dead branches, which signify growth with the dead soul, rotten by the world. The wings and snake in the middle are actually a drawing depiction of Lariyah’s motorcycle’s sissy bar, which is made out of steel by a Finnish forge master, as shown in the music video of “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ “, a cover of Nancy Sinatra.
About the album (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
DieveNoire’s debut album, The Story of a Gunslinger, takes the listener back to an old-style New West, with most of the songs portraying the journey of an outlaw. Each song is styled appropriately to fit its narrative.
The introduction begins with the tribal and simplistically written “Gunslinger in Black,” which continues into “The Spell of White Oleander,” carrying on the story introduced in the previous track. The album fluctuates between energetic, driving songs, emotional ballads, and engaging chant-driven tunes, all while telling the story of the Gunslinger’s travels and his eventual death-row tale, from which he ultimately escapes.
Within the lyrics, there is also his admirer, who follows in his footsteps while being secretly watched over by him in disguise. The character of the Gunslinger eventually becomes a metaphorical and imaginary journey experienced by the woman herself.
The album’s tracks are intentionally not arranged in chronological order, prompting the listener to create their own interpretation of the story, visually set in an old-world landscape filled with bullets, alcohol, and the pursuit of a wanted outlaw who constantly challenges the law.
Track by Track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
1. Preacher – Gunslinger’s Story Part 5
The most dynamic and fastest track on the album, “Preacher,” opens the record by immediately throwing the listener into the middle of the Gunslinger’s story, leaving no doubt about the blasphemous direction of the album. A woman chasing the outlaw encounters a priest who invites her into a church, a decision that later proves to be his own mistake.
Musically, the song is a driving rock ’n’ roll creation with rhythms reminiscent of 1970s rock, but delivered with a modern heavy-rock approach. Chugging guitar riffs and powerful, rhythmic drums make it a simple yet effective anthem. This song depicts another location in the woman’s search for the Gunslinger and follows the New Orleans chapter of the story, which appears later on the album.
2. To the Gallows – Gunslinger’s Story Part 6
A slower-tempo yet still heavy, rock-driven song, “To the Gallows” features powerful vocal performances in the choruses and softer, storytelling verses. It describes the Gunslinger’s time on death row and his eventual escape despite the crowd chanting for his execution.
The woman following his journey finally speaks up, pleading for his life and offering herself in his place, having realized her emotional connection to him. While the song continues the Gunslinger’s narrative, its chorus also serves as a message of empowerment for the listener.
“Oh yeah, don’t let them own ya, follow your own way, f*** what they say” reflects a personal mantra of Lariyah’s, encouraging perseverance regardless of obstacles. This mindset became the foundation of the song’s theme.
3. Gunslinger in Black – Gunslinger’s Story Part 1
The first release by DieveNoire and the beginning of the concept album, “Gunslinger in Black,” was originally intended as part of a solo project by Lariyah. It served as a showcase of the vision for what was to come.
However, after years spent in the rock and metal scene, she realized it was impossible not to expand the project and involve a full band. As a result, this song remains the most stripped-down and humble piece on the album.
Lariyah incorporated her Slavic roots through chanting in the chorus and combined them with dark, emotional vocals describing the Gunslinger’s first appearance in a tavern. This is the moment when the woman narrating the story sees him for the first time.
4. Streets of New Orleans – Gunslinger’s Story Part 4
Inspired by Lariyah’s love for the city of New Orleans and its unique atmosphere, this song follows the woman’s search for the outlaw through the city. It describes the sights she encounters, including voodoo practitioners and ravens circling overhead, creating a mystical and enchanting world that captivates her.
The ballad’s songwriting is intentionally composed to emphasize the vocal storytelling while highlighting beautiful guitar riffs and tasteful lead guitar work. Its style is easily comparable to 1980s power ballads, making it a perfect fit for the song’s atmosphere.
5. The Graveyard Song – Gunslinger’s Story Part 7
This is one of the eeriest songs on the album, filled with whispers, whistled melodies, and ghostly vocals. The band’s performance is intentionally restrained to place focus on the voice and its plea to be accepted into the underworld after death.
By this point, the woman’s search for the Gunslinger has come to an end due to exhaustion, giving the song a haunting sense of finality.
6. Morning Star – Gunslinger’s Story Part 8
To many listeners, this song appears to be a gentle acoustic ballad featuring dual guitars and soft bass lines, expressing love and devotion to a loved one. However, those who delve deeper into the lyrics will discover that it is actually a plea for death to embrace the soul of the narrator.
“Come to me, come closer to my arms” is not directed toward a lover but toward eternal rest itself. “Enter my realm, let me wipe this fear away” serves as the response from the underworld.
Every lyric in this ballad was inspired by a dream Lariyah experienced while in a coma following her 2015 accident. Having briefly experienced clinical death before being revived, she drew heavily from that experience when writing the song.
“Sync with my soul as the ravens circle low” describes her vision of herself fading away and being placed into a coffin, contrary to what many listeners may initially interpret as a romantic embrace.
This is the most personal and meaningful song in her repertoire. Lariyah considers it the true ending of The Story of a Gunslinger, raising questions about the Gunslinger’s identity. Was he a real person, a spirit, or simply a metaphor? Was the journey truly about him, or about her search for answers regarding life and death?
7. These Boots Are Made for Walkin’
A tribute to Nancy Sinatra’s iconic song, this cover was something Lariyah considered essential. In her view, it perfectly complements the album’s themes of rebellion, individuality, and refusing to conform to society’s expectations.
The strength and attitude represented in Sinatra’s original performance fit naturally within the album’s spirit. Musically, however, this version bears little resemblance to the original. It is significantly slower, infused with a modern blues-rock feel, and built around a foot-stomping groove that invites participation from anyone listening, whether they know the original song or not.
8. Spell of White Oleander – Gunslinger’s Story Part 2
Continuing the story from “Gunslinger in Black,” the woman watching the outlaw in the tavern becomes enchanted by him despite never having directly interacted with him.
White Oleander, one of the world’s most poisonous flowers, is left behind by the Gunslinger for a woman he meets in the tavern. The song is a beautiful ballad that explores the emotional impact of witnessing this powerful moment and the feelings it awakens within the narrator.
Heavy guitars emphasize the song’s sentimental qualities, while increasingly dynamic vocal performances draw the listener deeper into the magic of the experience.
9. Throughout the Night – Gunslinger’s Story Part 3
Another emotional ballad, “Throughout the Night” features memorable guitar melodies and soft vocals interwoven with powerful lyrical moments. It explores the Gunslinger’s inner numbness and resentment toward the world around him.
In this song, unlike others where he rides a horse, he rides a motorcycle, providing a more modern interpretation of the Gunslinger archetype. It serves as a symbolic gesture of defiance against the world and a commitment to living life on his own terms.
The song gradually builds in intensity, creating a beautiful musical progression that encourages listeners to close their eyes, forget their troubles, and leave their burdens behind.
10. IDGAF – Gunslinger’s Story Part 9
This song serves as the conclusion of the outlaw’s journey. The woman who has spent so much time chasing the Gunslinger has finally abandoned her pursuit and come to recognize the flaws of the world and the people around her.
After struggling with alcohol and repeatedly promising herself she would stop, she feels her fate drawing near and ultimately gives up trying to please others or hide who she truly is.
Lariyah wrote this song during one of the lowest periods of her life, when she had lost faith in good fortune and stopped caring about the opinions or expectations of others. It is a true bar song, built on the belief that all one really needs is a guitar and good company to celebrate whatever time remains.
With its simple rhythm, driving energy, and crowd-participation chants centered around the infamous phrase in its title, it stands as one of the album’s most engaging and memorable tracks.
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STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS ABOUT THE BAND
1. Lariyah at the beginning wanted the band to be just a one-person project with a synth, drums, clap, and stomp with vocals, and keep it more “tribal Slavic” kind of route. Still, after releasing the “Gunslinger in Black,” she felt the void of the rock and metal world she had been in since her teenage years. She made a decision that this must turn into a full band project. She had an initial idea to play rhythm guitar after finding a bass player, knowing that with her basic knowledge of guitars, she could make it work. Shortly after, she found a perfectly fitting musician to play the instruments with a whole different spectrum of skill, she stepped out from the double duty to give room for the seasoned musicians and focused on vocals only.
2. Josh Perrin, rhythm guitarist of DieveNoire, is known for playing bass in Akhlys and is soon to be releasing his personal project of 10 years + in works. Lariyah, who is also his wife, did not want Josh to be a part of the band first, wanting him to fully focus on his first love – black metal. Josh, also having a background in old school, outlaw country, really liked the idea of DieveNoire and wanted to be a part of playing it live with her, without involvement in writing music – purely from, as he claims, being a dirtbag rock’n’roll soul inside. In the future, there is a potential that he might step down and focus on his prioritized music.
3. Lothar Keller, on lead guitar, has been playing music since a child, as his father taught him to play multiple instruments. He is known from bands like Legions of Doom/The Skull, and Sacred Dawn. Lariyah and Lothar became the core members of the band.
4. Lariyah and Josh met Jakob Herrmann during their Halloween trip to New Orleans. Little did they know that he was also on his vacation time, flying from Sweden. Little did they know that Jakob is one of the most respected producers in the metal scene whose work includes albums of In Flames, Machine Head, Devin Townsend, Evergrey, and many more. He also offered to bring DieveNoire’s sound to where it should be and took on the production of “The Story of a Gunslinger”.
5. DieveNoire has no direct influence. Lariyah coming up with the idea of it was mostly listening to black metal and English heavy metal, but in the background, Johnny Cash was always a good escape. The KEY MOMENT when she decided to make her ‘years worth of ideas’ into DieveNoire was when she went to Finland for an extreme metal festival and experienced the same musicians (and friends) who just played on stage to put their shorts, flip-flops, and straw hats on, bring acoustic guitars and shakers, and start playing old-school rock and some country songs in the middle of the night, engaging whoever was listening to them, in this case – metal fans who stayed at the same hotel. The moment was so simple and casual to them, yet so impactful to Lariyah.
6. Ever since Paul McBride, also known from many projects, including the Reticent, has changed the entire feel of the band, which will show in the new releases coming after “The Story of a Gunslinger” album songs.
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L-R – Aaron Esquitin – Drums, Lothar Keller – Lead Guitar, Lariyah Perrin – Vocals, Paul McBride – Bass, Josh Perrin – Rhythm Guitar,
Photo by Darrelle Esquitin
DieveNoire is a melodic, blues‑driven heavy rock band led by vocalist and visionary Lariyah Perrin, whose storytelling approach and emotional intensity shape the core of the project. What began as a solitary creative idea, simple beats, haunting vocal lines, and tribal‑tinged blues, quickly evolved into a full‑fledged band with a powerful, dynamic sound.
With the addition of seasoned musicians Josh (Akhlys, Havron), Lothar (The Skull / Legions of Doom), and Paul (The Reticent), DieveNoire transformed from a personal concept into a collaborative force. Their combined backgrounds in black metal, doom, progressive metal, and heavy rock brought unexpected depth and weight to the music, accelerating the band’s evolution.
Their debut album, The Story of a Gunslinger, is a concept‑driven journey born from a vivid dream Lariyah experienced, a cinematic tale set in the old wild west, following a wanted gunslinger whose skill keeps him one step ahead of death. Each track continues the narrative, blending emotion, grit, and a touch of southern‑gothic atmosphere. Other songs on the album step outside the concept, capturing raw moments of personal emotion.
While the album leans into a softer, blues‑rock foundation to highlight Lariyah’s dynamic vocal range, the band’s upcoming singles mark a dramatic shift, heavier, bolder, and more aggressive, reflecting the band’s rapid growth and sharpened identity.
DieveNoire’s writing process is deeply collaborative: Lariyah shapes the vision, lyrics, and melodic direction, while the band builds the musical architecture around it. Songs often undergo multiple transformations before reaching their final form, resulting in a sound that is engaging, emotional, and richly layered.
Onstage, DieveNoire delivers a theatrical, high‑energy performance that amplifies the grit and emotion of their recordings. Vocals take on a harsher, more powerful edge, and the band’s dynamic presence turns each show into a full‑body experience rather than just a listening session.
The album artwork, hand‑drawn by Lariyah, symbolizes the band’s roots and evolution: a tree with living roots and dead branches, wings and a serpent inspired by the custom steelwork on her motorcycle, and imagery that ties directly into the band’s visual world.
After working with renowned Gothenburg producer Jakob Herrmann (Draconian, Thyrfing, Art Nation), the band refined their sound further, embracing heavier textures while preserving the blues‑rock soul at the heart of the project.
DieveNoire stands at the crossroads of storytelling, emotion, and heavy rock, a band unafraid to evolve, experiment, and carve its own path.
Album Band Line Up:
Lariyah Perrin – Vocals
Lothar Keller – Lead guitars
Josh Perrin – Rhythm guitars
Aaron Esquitin – Drums
Live Band Line Up:
Lariyah Perrin – Vocals
Lothar Keller – Lead Guitars
Josh Perrin – Rhythm Guitars
Aaron Esquitin – Drums
Paul McBride – Bass (joined the band fully after the album release)
Discography:
2025 – “The Story of a Gunslinger”
Tours and Fests:
7/16 CHICAGO, IL – LIVE WIRE LOUNGE
7/17 MILWAUKEE, WI – SHANK HALL
7/18 CADOTT, WI – ROCK FEST
Artist Endorsements:
Josh Perrin – Mesa Boogie, Solar Guitars
Lothar Keller – Ernie Ball strings, Pighog cables
Paul McBride – GHS Strings, Arachnid Cabinets, Tsunami Cables
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