Countdown to TREMOLO Shoegaze Music Festival 2024 // An Interview with MODERN DAZE

• Thanks so much for the interview. Let’s trace the band’s roots and story. 

Modern Daze is based in Tacoma, WA, but only Zac (guitar/vox) is from there. Chris (bass/guitar) is from Kansas and Walker (drums) is from Alaska. Chris/Walker both moved to WA during the pandemic and started playing with Zac in the spring/summer of 2022.

Modern Daze initially started out as an Indie Pop / Indie Rock band but shifted toward music influenced by shoegaze/dream pop in late 2022. If you listen to our self-titled EP from December 2023, you’ll hear indie rock / indie pop that’s colored with overtones of dream pop and shoegaze. Since then, we’ve taken a heavier direction, with our latest 3 singles released in 2024 having a more grunge gaze influence. We’re excited for the future. Rather than getting softer and more pop as we continue, MD is essentially doing the opposite and getting more aggressive / louder 🙂

• What are your main influences and inspirations?
  

It’s hard to pinpoint them directly as a band, but we all listen to different aspects of Alt-Rock, Shoegaze, and Emo. 

Walker – Smashing Pumpkins, Saves the Day, Deftones, lots of Fat Wreckords bands and anything Mike Kinsella touches.

Chris – NVM, Turnover, The Smiths

Zac – Nothing, DIIV, Deftones, Title Fight, American Football 

• How would you describe your sound?

Modern Daze combines Alternative Rock with elements of Shoegaze, Dreampop, Grunge, and Emo 🙂

• What does the word ‘shoegaze’ means to you?”
  

Beautiful destruction.

• Tell us a little about your recording process and how you create your songs.
  

Songwriting: Zac comes up with the song ideas and then shares them with Chris/Walker. Usually, the ideas are full songs with guitar, midi drums / midi bass, some loose production and scratch vox / gibberish to get a sense of the melody and vision for the production. From there Walker/Chris do their thing with the bass / drum parts and provide general comments, then ideas eventually turn into official songs. Chris is a bit more involved in the songwriting musically and lyrically, whereas Walker is more involved in the recording/production process. 

Recording: We record everything at home and then do some light mixing, then send individual stems out to get further mixed and mastered. We’re super proud of the home recording so far and realized the living room at Zac’s place is great sounding, so that’s really come in handy for drum sounds. 

• Which song(s) are you most proud of and best represent the band?
  

Probably “Far away”. This song definitely represents the general direction of the band moving forward.

• What kind of old/new music are you listening to? Any current bands/artists that you are excited about at the moment?
  

Older? Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel, Hum, Slowdive, MBV, Deftones, Smashing Pumpkins, D-beat stuff, random Midwest emo, and other miscellaneous bands from the 90s. 

Newer/Newish:  Gloam, Gleemer, DIIV, Nothing, Downward, Trauma Ray, Turnover, Narrowhead, Balance And Composure, Title Fight, Drug Church… to name a few 

• Who would you most like to collaborate with?
  

Will Yip.

• What has been your best/worst gig so far (both as a performer and spectator)?
  

As performers: 

Worst – small random house show in Tacoma, the room was really small and it was packed so the PA speakers were right next to all our equipment so we got feedback the entire time in a bad way where it was hard for us to even play in time with each other…woops…still was fun though 

Best – Animal House in Seattle. It was outside so the sound was great and the sense of community was amazing. Definitely the most fun so far. 

Spectators: DIIV at the Neptune this last June was everything. 

• What are your expectations for the upcoming Tremolo Festival, and what should the audience expect from your performance?
  

We don’t have any expectations per say… we’re just going to try to play our best and meet/listen to some badass bands. We’re super thankful to have been invited to perform. You can expect a lot of energy from us. 

• What are your plans for the future?
  

We’re writing a lot right now and will hopefully be recording more in early 2025. We want to continue getting heavier and are focusing on more up-tempo music. More breakdowns and noise too. Discussing the idea of another EP or maybe a full album, who knows?  

• Any parting words?
  

Thank you. Come to Tremolo fest 🤘