Dream Ritual’s heavy pop-punk sounds will fill Error Records the 1st of March. I talked to Jason Nunn, lead singer of Dream Ritual, about listening to Green Day and meeting his bandmates Ethan Hollingshad (guitar), Blake Mixon (drums) and Dakota Caldwell (bass). The four have a history of playing music together, and their past projects resulted in their current band and its EP, released last year.
Smile Politely: How did you start in music? What hooked you?
Jason Nunn: I got started in music as a teenager. I started learning guitar just because my uncle loaned me one and it was something to do. I got super passionate as a music listener, and the more passionate I became, the more seriously I took being a musician. I was getting super into Nirvana and was trying to learn all of their songs on guitar. Getting into grunge, and eventually punk and pop-punk like Green Day and Alkaline Trio was what hooked me for real. I played in several bands that sucked and eventually got interested in doing other things that didn’t involve playing guitar or bass. Over the years I have tried my hand at tons of different instruments, with guitar taking a backseat for quite a bit of that time, but when this band started, I picked guitar back up and am really enjoying it again.
SP: What are some of the other instruments you play?
Nunn: I got really into hip hop and turntable stuff for a few years. When I was learning to scratch and DJ…I was taking a break from playing guitar. I like to mess around on the melodica sometimes, but I’m not very good at that.
SP: What’s your favorite?
Nunn: I can’t decide if I like to play bass or guitar more. I think I’m a better bassist than I am a guitar player, but I enjoy playing both.
SP: Where did the band name come from?
Nunn: We had to change our name last year from our original name, and Dream Ritual was the one that we could all agree on. The band name came off of a list of band names that we thought were cool and fit with our aesthetic.
SP: Who are you all? How did you meet?
Nunn: We all sort of knew each other through being in bands together and being involved in the local music scene. Ethan Hollingshad (guitar) and I were in a pop-punk/90s emo band together. Blake Mixon (drums) and I have been in several different projects together, and I’ve been friends with Dakota Caldwell (bass) for a long time. Ethan and I live together in a house where all of our bands practice.
SP: How did you start creating together? What’s the Dream Ritual origin story?
Nunn: I had been in bands with Ethan and Blake, and had been wanting to be in a band with Dakota for a long time. We all got together in [Ethan’s and my] living room and things started from there. I had a small batch of songs that I had started writing towards the end of one of the bands we were in, and we started practicing with each other and fleshed the songs out as a full band. We recorded our first 6 songs in February of 2014, and by the time the tracks and the art were finished, we released the first song in the spring. We were approached by 6131 Records and they released our debut EP in December of 2014. We’re currently working on our follow up LP.
SP: What can listeners look forward to on your new LP?
Nunn: It’s a continuation of the sound from our EP so far. We’re still pretty early on in the writing process, so it’s difficult to say how much things will change by the time it comes out. We’ve got some poppier jams written…but its still rockin’ and has a riff presence. I’m really happy with the songs we have written so far; things are going well.
SP: How would you describe Dream Ritual’s style?
Nunn: I don’t like comparing our band to other bands, but, if I have to, I’d say we draw a lot of influence from bands like Soundgarden and Smashing Pumpkins. When I personally write, I draw influences from bands like the Pixies and Green Day—bands that wrote pop oriented songs that were still high energy and heavy at times. We want to be a heavy band, but we want our songs to be pop oriented as well. [We’re] finding a balance.
SP: What’s your song writing process? Do you write whole songs and present them or workshop it together?
Nunn: I typically come up with an initial idea for a song and get as far as I can. Then I bring that idea to the band and together we finish it. That’s how most of our songs have come together, but I wouldn’t say that it always happens that way. Sometimes I write the whole song and that’s that, and sometimes another band member brings an idea to the table and we build it from there. Overall, it’s pretty collaborative. Most things are on the table and negotiable. We just want to write the best songs that we can.
SP: What about when you get everything together and head out? Any crazy stories from the road?
Nunn: Most of my stories from the road consist of talking about amazing places I’ve eaten. I’m not the craziest guy, and as a whole, our band is generally the same. We pee in bottles just like every other band but don’t get too wild beyond that. Check back later and maybe I’ll have a new story for you.
Catch Dream Ritual, Looming, Krelboyne, Wir Konnen and $avageboy at Error Records on Sunday. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. with the show starting at 8 p.m. Entry is $5.