Editor’s Note: Another Day Dawns has been around for ten years. They formed in 2010 out of Lehighton, Pennsylvania and have established a name for themselves along the Northeast and East Coast of the United States. They do this with a hard working, take no prisoners attitude and this has earned them privilege spots to be opening for bands such as Hinder, Cold, Issues and Buckcherry. In this interview with Mark Dean of Madness To Creation, Dakota Sean of Another Day Dawns discusses coping with the Covid-19 pandemic, their EP entitled “A Different Life”, along with a smattering of fun questions including “first song they performed live”, “what song would you want played at your funeral” and so much more. Fans can find Another Day Dawns at the following locations:
https://www.anotherdaydawns.com/
https://twitter.com/an0therdaydawns/
https://www.instagram.com/anotherdaydawns/
Mark: How are you coping with the current situation? I saw a few videos on the band’s Facebook page.Are you all holed up together?
Dakota: At this time we are doing a lot of writing. We are putting together ideas for videos, and have doing a lot of live streams to keep engagement up. Needless to say though it has been a little quiet.
Mark: Are Another Day Dawns currently professional musicians, or also working other jobs?
Dakota: Yes some of us do have other professions at this time to pay the bills while time goes by, but Nick and I are full time musicians.
Mark: Does the worldwide lockdown fuel or stifle creativity?
Dakota: I would have to say that honestly it is a little bit of both. There are some days I feel energized and excited to write and then some day it is groundhog day. Our inspiration normally comes from chaos.
Mark: The band has had a longevity of ten years ,why do you feel that your career is only on an upturn since last year?
Dakota: Well it is a huge thanks to our John from our management team and getting us the right connections and putting us in the right places. In the last four years we really honed in on just being an original band that obviously helped propel us creatively wise.
Mark: You have toured with many large names ,but does one artist or band stand out as having personally taught you the most as a band?
Dakota: Honestly there have been a couple of bands that taught us what not to do with our careers but there have been ones that have taught us how to be better with the crowd and on stage. We have been fortunate enough to go out with some of our peers which is incredible and humbling.
Mark: The band have released an Ep,rather than a regular album -what prompted that decision?
Dakota: We really didn’t want to bore people with a 12 song album with people who do not know who we are. This was more or less about giving our best up front and getting people to know us.
Mark: How do you feel that the band’s creative process in terms of writing music and recording has changed since you released A Different Life?
Dakota: The experience and heavy influence with Desmond with. Joe Rickard and Desmond were not only massive weapons, but a great influence on getting us to explore our creativity. The both of them helped us to grow in our writing process and explore avenues we did not think of.
Mark: Can you take me track by track through the EP,revealing the “story”behind the song”maybe how they were individually created-were they already written before the band entered the studio or created organically in the studio environment? Lockdown Listening !
Dakota: We initially came to the studio with an array of songs and we actually scratched two of them believe it or not. The ones we kept were Beautiful Suicide, Am I, and Taste of Heaven. Desmond co wrote Am I. and “Taste of Heaven” with us. Forget me Not and Never Okay were written at the studio. Forget me Not was essentially a riff that Tyler had and we morphed it into the monster that it sounds like. Never Okay we wanted to write a song from the perspective of Buffalo Bill which is kind of twisted.
Mark: First music that you remember hearing?
Dakota: I would have to say 50’s or 60’s Doo Wop. I used to listen to this a lot with my dad when he was a musician and this really stuck out.
Mark: The first song that you performed live…
Dakota: I remember this from a first grade talent show when I was in Catholic School. It was actually “God Bless the USA”.
Mark: The best live band that you have seen.
Dakota: KORN. Hands down by far. Loved the energy from the guys. i remember watching. them and there is not one person that does not try to amp the crowd up. I was out with Mike and Max Portnoy and essentially was the fly on the wall that night.
Mark: What track represents your Saturday night party song?
Dakota: “Girls Just Wanna have Fun”
Mark: What song always emotionally affects you,no matter how many times you hear it?
Dakota: GOOD QUESTION! “Ocean” by Blue October would be the song. The lyrical content of that song is just off the wall and really hits you.
Mark: Just a final one if I may? I am sure that you have done many interviews but if the roles were reversed and you were interviewing someone(not necessarily a musician) -a personal hero or inspiration who would you choose and why?
Dakota: I’d say Kurt Cobain.I think it would be cool to just hear his outlooks and his views on life.I would love to hear some stories or even just hangout and see what kind of personality he had. Big idol of mine.
And there you have it! Check out Mark Dean at the following locations: