DARK HORSE FLYER, LLC
WEAVERVILLE, NC

In the 1970s, two friends, Don Mularz and Scott Lane, had a promising band called Breeze that flamed out after a grueling period of poor music business practices and mismanagement. Four decades later, the two have reenlisted in the mission of music; they call their new band Dark Horse Flyer. The band’s debut, Dark Horse Flyer’s evokes the majesty of such icons as the Allman Brothers, Steely Dan, Eric Clapton, Little Feat, and Santana, the South Florida-based sextet is of its own modern vintage with a sonic bouquet spanning notes of classic rock, folk, soul and traditional R&B. Dark Horse Flyer is Don Mularz (lead vocals, guitar), Scott Lane (guitar, vocals), John Tillman (guitar), Richard Taylor (bass) Raul Hernandez (drums, percussion) and Bob Taylor (keyboards). The musician’s first mission began back in 1974, when Don and Scott were students at Broward Community College, and burgeoning songwriters and musicians with an affinity for Steely Dan, James Taylor, Tom Petty and the many other forefathers of what now is considered prime classic rock. The two promising talents formed the band Breeze, and a little while later welcomed hotshot guitarist John Tillman into the brotherhood. Sadly, Breeze never got the chance to live up to its potential. The band did a handful of shows and recorded an album, Last Mango in Paradise, that it was never able to release. The unreleased album would be the band’s epitaph. Breeze was a casualty of unsavory music business practices that ultimately broke the spirit of the band. “In all honesty, the whole thing was a real emotional let down for me. It took me a long time to get over it, so I decided to focus my energy elsewhere,” Scott reveals. In 2011, Scott was thinking about making some major life changes, contemplating diving back into music. “I had had a successful forty-year track record in business,” he says. “I understood the music business now way more than in the 1970s. I felt with my background I could help us succeed where, I felt, we failed before. I could right the wrong,” he says. Reinvigorated, Scott, along with Don, decided to try and reunite the original members of Breeze, but, as it turned out, due to various commitments, Don, Scott, and John were the only ones available to partake in the new adventure. Undeterred, the trio set out to find bass, drums, and keys. Dark Horse Flyer ultimately gelled around the expanded lineup of some of South Florida’s finest musicians, including bassist Richard Taylor, keyboardist Bob Taylor (who previously recorded with Don’s band Split Decision), and drummer Raul Hernandez. New recruits Bob Taylor and Raul Hernandez have separately shared the stage with such notable artists as Ernest Ranglin, Buster Poindexter, Etta James, Temptations, Kansas, Chuck Berry, and The Gin Blossoms. , with the album’s second half beginning with “You’ve Got Your Reasons.” The track has an immediacy and raw emotionality that’s startlingly direct for an album crafted with thoughtfully opaque lyrics. The burly riff rock of “Evil Woman” offers a nice sonic counterpoint to the other tracks; it’s a slice of good time party rock n’ roll that lightens the mood. Throughout the album, the band’s top flight musicianship shines brightly, but the smoldering Latin-rock numbers “You’ve Got A Hold On Me” and “No Good,” are undeniably virtuosic and profoundly showcase Dark Horse Flyer’s gnat’s ass tight rhythm section. has a layer of mystique with intriguing scenarios and perspectives on relationships laid out but, cleverly, never tidied up—outcomes are left for the listener to ponder. The title track is a prime example of this artfully intriguing writing. “That’s about big events in life, you’re given the choice to stay or break away. A lot about life is how you react to big decisions,” says Don, Dark Horse Flyer’s main songwriter-vocalist. “I like the ambivalence in this song because you never really know if the person stays or breaks away.” “Music is the mission.” It’s the night of the Oscars and we’re reminded of the recent disappointing news that an irreplaceable antique Martin acoustic guitar was destroyed in the film The Hateful Eight. Apparently, in a scene where Kurt Russell’s character decides to stop Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character from playing the guitar, there was supposed to be a cut. At