DREAMERS Interview

While on tour with 311 and Dirty Heads, I was able to catch up with the lead singer of up-and-coming indie band DREAMERS, Nick Wold, at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. We talked about music from their most recent album, LAUNCH FLY LAND, as well as inspiration for writing new music. Catch it all right here!

To start, how has touring been for you so far?

Tour has been amazing. It’s kind of just a summer of love for us. I was working way too hard in LA, so now I’m at my wits end, but this tour has been pretty chill. We only play for 25 minutes, so it feels a lot like summer camp.

Have there been any really good dates or cities you love?

Yeah! We got to play Red Rocks in Denver, which is one of the greatest venues ever! I hadn’t ever been there before.

Yeah, I haven’t either.

Up on a mountain; it’s everything it’s hyped up to be. That was a lifetime highlight, I think for all of us, to be there and feel the vibe.

So I see that your music has started making it to radio stations recently. How does that feel?

Yes! It feels crazy, like all the dreams from [my] childhood kind of connect me to that. It’s just one of those things. It’s been a while now that our songs have been playing on the radio, so you kinda get used to it. You hear it and you’re like, “Is that our music?” I don’t know, it’s surreal.

So let’s talk about the latest release, LAUNCH FLY LAND. what was the writing process like for that album?

We wrote that while we were on the road touring nonstop for two years. We’d be home for five days and try to write five songs. That’s how the title came out eventually! We had all been going through these crazy journeys in life like tragedies and successes, and just a lot of stuff that changes you. We wanted to write about that; the journeys that you go through.

Are there any songs off the album that you hope everyone will resonate with?

There’s two songs for me, the first being “Die Happy.” It’s the land phase of LAUNCH FLY LAND, and it’s about coming out of something and through to the other side. “Die Happy” is the song that starts that story for me, like coming back to happiness after a lot of really sad songs. “Celebrate” is another one. That’s my philosophy of life right there, through that song.

What’s your main motivation for writing new music and playing shows? What inspires you to create even when you feel uninspired?

Deep down, it all started from feeling such crazy things that I felt like I couldn’t express with words and I wasn’t able to communicate. Just wanting to try to be able to write it down or figure it out and somehow communicate it to people. I think that was my original drive for wanting to write songs. Now sometimes, I just force myself to write. If I’m feeling uninspired, I’ll just sit down and force it and that seems to work. It seems to work better for me even more than waiting for inspiration.

How has your music evolved in the short amount of time in between your first album, This Album Does Not Exist, to now, LAUNCH FLY LAND?

The first album felt like this fun summer record to us, and the second one, I feel like it has a lot more depth and angst and weirdness going on. The stuff that we had gone through in that time changed us as people.

How does it feel knowing that people are able to connect with the music you guys create?

It’s amazing. That’s really the whole point. I mean we could have just made our favorite music in our garage and that could have been enough, except there’s something magical about connecting with people and making it into a big phenomenon. A place like this, here at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, with people who just want to vibe together, that’s the real beauty of the art of rock n’ roll.

If you could tell all of your listeners one thing, what would it be?

That’s a great question. There are so many things, and to stick it down to one… in the words of Bobby McFerrin, “Don’t worry. Be happy.”

DREAMERS’ ever growing fanbase has allowed them to grow to almost 30k followers on social media in just four years from their first release, This Album Does Not Exist, in 2016. Now, they are playing on tour with huge names in the rock scene and scoring spots on massive festivals like Lollapalooza in Chicago, IL. You can “Die Happy” knowing all of their music is available on all streaming sites. Be sure to go check them out on tour before the LAUNCH FLY LAND era is over!

Hosted and photographed by: Piper Rosas