Atwood Magazine is excited to announce a new partnership series, Sugar High, formerly known as The Tour Manager’s Guide, a podcast by Danny Carissimi featuring various musicians and industry professionals as they talk about their life and career. The next episode features Nick Wold, lead singer and guitarist of DREAMERS.
hiplash is a movie about killing yourself for art, specifically jazz. And although Nick Wold of DREAMERS identified some faults in the film, such as the musicians counting off their songs with 5 6 7 8 as opposed to 1 2 3 4, he also identified with the protagonist’s insane drive to be the best. Prior to starting any of this band nonsense, Nick was deep in study at NYU. Originally from Seattle, Nick’s lifelong fascination with saxophone lead him across the country in a pursuit to perfect his craft at the collegiate level. Like many music students, the college experience left him burned out and into the world of rock/pop, an art form that is, on paper, less rigid but one he approaches with the aggressive focus of that drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket.
I’ve known that I was going to get along with Nick for some time now. He toured with my all-time, all-star homies The Griswolds, and runs in similar circles as myself in Los Angeles. Fortunately for the band but unfortunately for me, they’re gone all the time, so we’ve never actually hung out. DREAMERS have been on a mad dash across America since releasing their record This Album Doesn’t Exist, and are about to record the dreaded sophomore LP. As far as debuts go, TADE was a resounding success. Spotify plays for DREAMERS jumped to over half a million a month, opening spots for every established alt-rock band were offered, and festivals across the U.S.A started to take notice.
Nick and his bandmates have laid the groundwork, and now he needs to execute. Our interview took place as this process was starting. Full disclosure, I had just conducted an interview and was flying to Japan, so I wasn’t exactly in the mood to do this interview. My heart was focused on one thing: all that sweet, sweet ramen I was about to destroy in Tokyo. But from the second he opened the door, I was into it.
Before this interview, I’d hear “stoners” and “party animals” to describe the band. I did hear that Nick partied less but either way I figured, garage rock, Hawaiian shirts… party animals. Per usual with these things, my expectations were thwarted with an even better situation. Nick immediately broke out the Jack Daniels, I think lit candles, and we sat down at a mildly romantic little table that belongs in a quaint French restaurant on the Lower East Side. He is a subdued individual but it’s not awkward or put on. Studying jazz at the level Nick did is a laborious process that requires immense self discipline. You don’t like, cram in that situation. You need to put in 5 hours a day, every day, 7 days a week. This is the mentality he brought into rock when he started and why it’s gone so well. But it hasn’t been easy. Nick has been at this for 10 years. His decision to keep pushing has brought him personal success and satisfied our ear drums with his music.
Expert note: DREAMERS are better live. I’m serious, go see them.
Also just a note, we are doing a t-shirt giveaway for this episode. Sign up for our mailing list and we will pick two people by the end of the month and send out a dope a$$ Dreamers shirt / CD. Isn’t that nice? It’s FREE.
If you like this episode, or are just a person reading this, please subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. It will make both of our lives better.
Last thing, this episode is brought to you by Master Tour, Jabberjaw Media, and unofficially Focusrite. I just like their gear, and want more of it.
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