By Sarah Yoerger
Los Angeles/Brooklyn based pop- rock duo Dreamers have come a long way since their inception as teens attending NYU, an era frontman Nick Wold describes as “a time when I had zero money and was just trying to make the band happen.”
Since their inception in 2013-2014, they’ve shared stages with the likes of The 1975, The Vaccines, Walk the Moon, and Bleachers, received coverage from FADER, Entertainment Weekly and Paste, and even performed on Jimmy Kimmel. Two of the band’s past singles, “Die Happy” and “Sweet Disaster” have broken the Alternative Radio Top 10. And on August 22nd, the band released their latest single, “Robbery” featuring pop-punk artist Sueco. This followed the debut of tracks “Black Confetti,” and “Body Language” (ft. Kiiara).”
Dreamers have nearly ten years of experience playing in just their own band under their belt, in combination with Nick Wold’s prior experience as the lead singer and guitarist of grunge band, Motive. Wold, recognizable for his distinctive blue hair, says there’s no magic formula, secret equation, or exact science to the band’s songwriting. Rather, the inspiration for writing songs comes from the field of the fantastical—where Dreamers get their name in the first place. Wold explains, “We call ourselves Dreamers because I write a lot of music in dreams, or I dream about songs and wake up and write it down in the morning.”
Continuing to explore the band’s creative process, Wold adds, “I’ve found no pattern for what works for songwriting, I just kind of try to be everything, and be inspired or craft something out of a concept or whatever. Sometimes, things work, and sometimes it doesn’t, and you just have to kind of write a lot and pick out the best of [what you have], [that’s] kind of how I do it.” Wold also adds that songwriting—even in dreams—has grown to become second nature throughout the band’s career. “At this point, I’m kind of in the zone. We write so often I’m always thinking about it.”
However, there is one core element that always inspires his songwriting process. Wold explains, “The thing that inspires me the most to make music is sometimes this crazy feeling that there isn’t a word for, but it’s kind of like nostalgia, or sadness mixed with happiness. It’s a certain type of sadness that makes me inspired to be better or something. And I get that a lot from music, or just from something in life. So often when I feel that, I just want to express it.” He holds out hopes that Dreamers’ music will offer this to their listeners and those that happen to stumble across their music. He adds, “I think, hopefully, our music can do what great music has done for me… inspired me to do more, and to be a better person.”
In Wold’s opinion, music is one of the only media forms left standing that has been untainted and uncorrupted by the issues the world is facing during these troubled times. Perhaps that’s why music is one of the few things that’s able to hold this essence. Wold explains, “I think music is one of the few art forms left that can be pure in that way, and be righteous. There’s so much bad stuff in the world, and people just being assholes, and being selfish, and grabbing the money. I think music is just one of those places where it can be real, in the best case scenario, at least.”
But Dreamer’s music isn’t all nostalgia and sadness—rather, they cloak these heavy concepts in pop beats to make listening to a Dreamer’s song a balanced experience. A self-proclaimed “movie nerd,” Wold uses a film analogy to describe the essence of Dreamers to someone who may be unfamiliar with their music and sound. Wold says that if the band were a movie, they’d fit somewhere in the middle between deep art films and popcorn movies: “Deep concepts, but they’re being conveyed in a way that’s really fun, and almost like a guilty pleasure to watch… Deep, but also cool and fun. I probably think of music the same way.”
Despite the recent departure of drummer Jacob Lee Wick, Dreamers are still going strong as we finish up the year. Their most recent release, “Robbery”, has already racked up over 800,000 streams since it dropped last month. If you’d like a taste of Dreamers’ poppy, bittersweet nostalgia-fueled sound, catch them at a live show. The band have just wrapped a tour with The Score and poutyface, with another run joined by Smallpools and Young Rising Sons just around the corner. Grab your tickets here!
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