Dropping Daylight Interview

Two months before the release of the bands debut album on Octone Records, The Gauntlet caught up with Sebastian (vocals) and Rob (bass) of the piano rock quartet Dropping Daylight.

The Gauntlet: Give us a little background on the band Dropping Daylight. Fill us in on some of the details about the bands beginnings.

Sebastian: We started off as high school friends. Our drummer (Jake) and I went to The Berklee School of Music and decided that college probably wasn't for us. We started writing some music and thought it would be cool to start a piano rock band. We moved back to Minnesota and that's when we got our buddy Rob on bass. Next we started looking for a guitarist. My little brother who had been playing guitar for about 3 months came in to practice with us. He turned out to be this wiz kid on the guitar. We started playing around Minneapolis and touring around the area. Then we made a CD in Nashville which caught the eye of some labels. Last year we did the label schmoozing part and this year we made a record that we'll be releasing in February, 2006. Since we finished recording, we have been pretty much touring nonstop.

The Gauntlet: You mentioned you wanted to start a piano rock band. I hear piano rock and think of Billy Joel and Elton John. Is the current Dropping Daylight what you envisioned from the start?

Sebastian: That's a good question. When you say piano rock band, it can mean anything. The truth is over the course of our band, we have tried everything. We've played the Billy Joel songs; we've gone harder than we are now. We just thought it would be cool to have an aggressive band with piano. I don't think we knew exactly what that meant. It has taken us about two years to figure out what exactly what kind of piano rock band we want to be. I think we have now settled into the style we were looking for.

The Gauntlet: What were the reasons for both you and Jake leaving Berklee School of Music early?

Sebastian: I think it helped a little bit, but if you want a profession in the music industry you need to jump in. There is a lot they couldn't teach. There is so much you can only learn by starting a band and touring. You can learn about the tours from reading a book or at college, but you really won't understand until you are out there doing it. That was part of the thing. We felt rather than sitting in the classroom learning about it, we'd rather learn by doing it. We have made mistakes and learned from them. We also learn from our successes.

The Gauntlet: You have an album coming out in February. How will the album differ from the EP?

Sebastian: The EP is mainly demos we made in our practice. We really like the EP songs. The album will be much bigger and badass sounding. There is more depth to it, a little bit more going on. The songs also got to a new place. We worked with the songs more on the record. It's a little less spontaneous and more thought out. All the songs from the EP will be on the album, just reworked versions.

The Gauntlet: What is the songwriting process like for the band? Do you and Jake pull rank since you have been schooled in music writing?

Sebastian: [Laughs] Everybody has a say in what shapes the songs. Usually what happens is I will have an idea for a song that I'll start developing. I'll write out a melody and some lyrics and bring that to the band. Then the band puts in there opinions on what will work here and there. Then we start playing it and jamming to it and in the end everyone just helps shape the song.

The Gauntlet: How is the live show?

Sebastian: We seem to really kickass in those tight situations.

Rob: A cool thing about what we do and how we play live is we enjoy playing together and we kind of feed off ourselves and the crowd so we can give that energy back to the crowd.

The Gauntlet: How has the tour been going with Plain White T's and Spitalfield?

Sebastian: There have been a lot of kids out at every show. It's been really good and I really like all the bands on this tour which is refreshing and nice. We are kind of bummed we aren't going to be on this entire tour as we have some dates on the west coast with Unwritten Law. They are just doing some Southern California shows.

The Gauntlet: Have you played in LA before?

Sebastian: We played in LA with Keanu Reeves' band and also played at the Chain Reaction.

The Gauntlet: What types of pairings do you like for tours?

Sebastian: We can play with many different types of bands from hardcore to indie and rock. There was one time we played with Jason Mraz and Papa Roach in the same week and both shows were great.

The Gauntlet: Your brother Seth is in the band. Do you guys fight a lot or are you united and gang up on the others and force your will.

Sebastian: Probably the latter. We probably fight less than anyone else in the band. We are a pretty much united front in the band

The Gauntlet: What do you think sets the band apart from other bands?

Sebastian: I would probably say our versatility. Also our music is less about the music and more about the energy we put into the songs. Lots of bands define themselves by their genre and stage moves. I think that our band really isn't about that. We really don't pigeonhole ourselves one what or the other?

The Gauntlet: Has Rob been able to move out of his parent's basement yet?

Rob: [Laughs] I talked to my dad yesterday about it. It will probably be a long time before we move out from our parent's house, money or not. It doesn't make sense to move out when we are on the road touring for 10 months a year.

The Gauntlet: Any plans after the Unwritten Law shows?

Sebastian: After those shows we are taking a couple weeks off for Christmas and then in January and February we take off for a 5 week headlining tour with House of Heroes and Love Arcade who are awesome. That will lead up right until our album comes out, then who knows what we do after that.

The Gauntlet: You signed with Octone Records. What factors led to the decision to sign with them over the other labels making offers?

Sebastian: They were the only label who seemed really ready to invest their attention to our band. We talked to a lot of other labels who had lots of money to throw, but we didn't get the feeling they respected us a lot. If you don't have that respect, they won't put much into the record. Octone Records seemed really ready to give our album lots of personal attention and they have, almost too much some times. I feel like we often nit-pick over the littlest details. It is a good problem to have. The label cares a lot about this record.

The Gauntlet: Anything to say in closing?

Sebastian: We always have to say 'syke ya moms', and old Shaquel O'Neil quote. And look for us in 2006.