DTE Energy Theater
Clarkston, MI
July 5, 2019
Nick Wold – lead vocals, guitar
Marc Nelson – bass, keyboard, vocals
Jacob Lee Wick - drums, vocals
By: Brooke Elizabeth with Sonic Live Media
I had the chance to sit down with L.A. Alt/Pop Rock band, Dreamers before their show at DTE Energy Music Theatre here in Michigan to ask them a few questions about their upcoming tour and their new record, “Launch Fly Land.”
You are on tour with 311/Dirty Heads. Who else are you guys excited to get on the road with?
Nick: Well, we're really excited to do our first British tour after this. We've been wanting to get out to the UK and Lollapalooza. But right now we're just getting started on this one and we're super stoked to be here.
I caught you guys a few months ago at The Shelter down in Detroit. What's the difference between playing smaller shows like that compared to a huge amphitheater?
Nick: We have played every size of show from tiny nothing bars, to the big 10,000 Cedars. They're all kind of the same to me in a way. It's weird, it feels like we're always just with each other and we're trying to bring our all and just blast our energy out.
Jacob: The most important thing to us is the energy of the crowd. If that's there, then we have a good show.
So you put it all in no matter the size?
Nelson: It's a better show if you have like a small crowd that is just going nuts.
So its more about the energy of the crowd?
Dreamers: Yes, definitely!
What are the most memorable cities that you guys have played at?
Nick: We've been doing all US and Canada shows and we’re starting to branch out into other countries. We've had great shows in Phoenix, Chicago, Seattle, New York and Detroit. Everywhere really, it's hard to pin point just one.
Jacob: A memory that comes to mind of El Paso, Texas, walking into Juarez, Mexico, across the bridge or Montana was the last state on my list of states to visit.
Nick: We haven't played in North Dakota, Alaska or Hawaii yet.
You guys have been playing some new material on the road, how have the fans have reacted to the new songs?
Nick: We got to play some of the new songs on our last tour and it's been super great. We just we just released our second record, “Launch Fly Land.” I think the response from our fans has been overwhelming. It’s great and we're just debuting a bunch of the new songs on this tour.
Are there any songs that you are particularly excited about playing off the new record? If you were going to suggest a top song or two to your new fans?
Jacob: Yeah, “Die Happy.” All the new songs really, just because it’s been two years now in this album cycle and with the new songs, it just feels like a new band.
Nick: Yeah, I feel like we have upped our game and its new and it's fresh. And yeah, it's been super fun.
Nelson: There's even some we haven't played yet that we were going to end up playing on this tour.
Nick: Such as “Take Me Home,” a personal favorite of mine.
Jacob: “Something To Be Alive.”
Nelson: “Wanna Stay.”
Your first tour, two years with your first album, how did that affect your songwriting with the second album?
Jacob: We were on the road the whole time we were writing a second record, flying back and forth out to L.A. writing. So I think a lot of the writing was influenced by what we were experiencing on the road. Writing about topics that felt like current events to us, trials and tribulations that we've all experienced.
Nick: Yeah, that's why we ended up calling it “Launch Fly Land,” it's kind of this concept about journeys that we go through in life. Not just the journey of being on the road, but just going through stuff and coming out of it a better person. We all related on different things that were going on in this crazy period of our lives, so that was the concept for the record. The first record was written mostly by me before the band was even fully formed. I was living my practice space in New York, just writing songs from this one period. This record feels like it's totally from a different period, after we've been together and wrote a lot together.
Almost like another lifetime?
Jacob: Yeah.
So you all shared in writing this album?
Nelson: Yeah, Nick is still the primary writer, but there are songs we’ve written as a band.
Jacob: “Wanna Stay,” and “Screws,” are songs that we were apart of.
The first tour can be really hard on a band: emotionally, physically and mentally. It's nomadic kind of lifestyle, but it seems to have brought you guys a little closer together. I don't feel any friction between you, it doesn't feel like anyone's trying to outdo another. I felt that way when I saw you guys first play. When you see a band for the first time and how they connect that stage, their album can sound like one thing and then on stage sound like something completely different. So I hadn’t heard your album, I'd only seen you guys live, then I listened to your album. Like I said though, it feels and sounds more like a cohesive energy.
Nelson: It's awesome.
Nick: Yeah, we're definitely a band of bros. Tour life is not for everyone. It's crazy.
Jacob: Being on the road away from home is hard on personal relationships you know. Yeah, so a lot of relationships suffer from that. So people around you have to really connect with them.
Nelson: It's like being married, every day you’re with the same people. You spend so much time with the people you’re in a band with, it’s really important to have a good relationship with them. There's a degree of work that it takes to maintain those relationships. These guys know way more about me and my life that they never wanted to know.
And yet you're all still here!
So other than your UK tour, is there anything else that's coming out that you guys want to talk about or share with your fans?
Nick: Yeah, just take a look at our song “Die Happy.” It's on the radio right now. That's our soul in that song and we have a whole record out, but we’ve already got new music. It's coming!
Jacob: We just recorded again.
Nelson: We realized we were going to be on tour now until next year.
Where did you record?
Jacob: We recorded out of this house that supposedly Weezer used to live in and a couple of others.
Do you prefer recording in a house over a big studio? Maybe it gives you more of an eclectic feel?
Nick: We did our first record at Sound City, which is this legendary Studio where Nirvana recorded “Never Mind.” That's really cool too, and in a totally different way. I think now we feel like we're just more in control, like it's just us kids with no parents and when we can do it more DIY.
Jacob: When you're in a house, you have more time to think too, and there’s a kitchen!
Anything you guys would like to add?
Jacob: Yeah, call our hotline, 1-833-DIE-HAPY and leave us a message!
Catch DREAMERS with their new single “Die Happy” off their new album “Launch Fly Land” as they open for 311 and The Dirty Heads across North America this summer!