Interview: Dreamreading - 25th November 2018

Dreamreading - 25th November 2018

Vibrant though our scene may be, at its core it is powered by young, dedicated artists. Among this group is Dreamreading, one of the youngest, brightest bands on the scene. While their youth has been a barrier to their gigging career, their determination and talent remain undiminished. One of the more cohesive, organised and resolute bands around, I sat down to talk with them about their new EP, influences and plans for the future.

So how did you guy’s actually meet up? 

Ruben Carver (Drums): I just met Orion on the bus where he started talking about being a guitarist. I mentioned I was a drummer, then I said ‘I have this studio in my garden, do you want to come over and jam for a bit? I have a spare bass and a REALLY bad amp.’ It went really well and the next day in school, he came up to me like ‘Hey, I’m in a band, I like your style, do you want to be in the band?’

Jack Marshall (Guitar): The first person I met was Rory, who I met a couple of years ago. We had some weird connection through mutual friends and then we just didn’t talk to each other for a few years. The I meant Orion in 2016 at this thing in Holywood called The Rock Project. I thought he was really weird, but I noticed at one point he was wearing a muse T-shirt, so I knew we had both been to the same concert in the SSE Arena. We got talking and I realised we both liked a lot of the same things, the same music. We went down to the space theatre, which is where we practice, and had a jam and it was fun. It just kind of went from there.

Rory Kinghan (Guitar): I got into the band because I replied to an Instagram story Jack had put up and we just got talking about music for about two hours. It came about that he was in a band, and he recommended that I get in contact with Orion, who wanted me to send him some music. I sent him a video of me playing ‘Just’ by Radiohead and I must have played it well because…

Orion Courtney-Lee (Guitar, Vocals): I watched you playing barre chords and was just like ‘yep, he’s good’ (laughs).

RK: Then I just started turning up to practice.

O: I met Jack through The Rock Project, we jammed out with this other drummer, then I met Ruben. Rory kind of crossed over at some point but this is now the main line up. We’ve had our fair share of different ones at this point, but I think we’re sticking with this one. But it’s a bassist we need now (laughs). Everyone who plays bass is like, 25.

It’s a peculiar name, but it does fit your style. Where did it come from?

J: That was me. We had this absolute, like a behemoth list of absolute crap names.

O: What was the name…?

J: (Nervous laugh) It’s going to make me so uncomfortable to say them. I think it was ‘Lavender’ at one point. ‘Melatonin’ as well but we got bored of that, and it was too similar to ‘Serotonin’. Also, it’s the name of a Radiohead B-Side and they’re quite harsh with their lawsuits. Like they took down Lana Del Ray because she had a similar chord structure in one of her songs. So then it was ‘Survivors Guilt’ for a little while, but we really hated that because of the connotations, it was a bit too negative and ‘edgy’. I think I was having a brainstorming session and I came up with Dreamreading. They liked it because out was weird and I liked it because it's a bit unlike anything else.

RK: And no one else had it.

J: That was the main criteria, no one else had it.

What is the songwriting process like for you guys?

J: I suppose its mostly… It usually starts with chords, so that's Orion.

O: Normally what happens is… the first song we ever wrote was Thursday. That was the result of me REALLY liking the major 7 chord and just playing that in every note in the scale that the song was in. It just sort of evolved into something that wasn’t just a mess of the same chord in different places. It just happens with, an idea I’ll have, I’ll find chords working together and I’ll show it to the guys and we sort of write on the job. Basically, I just come in with the chords and the general structure.

RK: We all throw our own ideas in, our own parts over the top of it.

J: Orion will come into practice with chords, I’ll write lyrics over them in like 25 minutes, even less sometimes. I think I wrote one song in under three minutes. Orion will play the main body and then Rory and I will add our own bits while Ruben lays down the groove.

O: The chorus of Wear Out, with the shifting rhythm, that was actually just Ruben and I. We were trying o get Wear Out to be semi-functioning and he played it wrong for a second and I was like ‘Hang on a second, let's do that.’ So the chorus came in just because Ruben came in on a different beat.

RC: The songs inform by, they’d play their ideas and I’ll just throw my drums in, and they’ll pick what they like, we just get creative and groovy.

O: We don’t really sit, we tried it a couple of times…

J: It always ends in a scrap

O: We always end up disagreeing, sitting and playing on top of each other.

J: It’s better to have the parts done separately and then brought together. The longest part of the process is arrangement because it doesn’t take us all that long to come top with something cool.

O: Error was… it was almost improv. The ending was completely on the fly. The fact that Ruben ends on beat two was just because we were trying to get it to the end.

RK: We were all looking at each other like ‘Is that it? Is that how it ends? Okay cool.’

J: It definitely was not supposed to go that way.

On the subject of lyrics, where do they come from?

O: I suppose we should start with Thursday.

J: Thursday was a collaborative effort.

O: Thursday was the catalyst for everything here, I wrote the lyrics about a (laughs) a month-long romance. I, at the time, was really (laughs) really hurt by it.

Did it start or end on a Thursday?

O: Both. 

That's… very emo.

O: (Laughs) Yeah, I know. So I wrote the first part listening only to Motion Picture Soundtrack and Placebo. Jack wrote everything else.

J: I like to read, I’ve always liked to read, so I have this little bank of phrases in my head I like to use when I’m writing that I've picked up when I’ve been reading. Orion usually brings me some chords and I think about what kind of vibe they’re putting out and I’ll just write how I feel.

O: Sometimes, whenever I’m writing, like Moneybags, I have a vague topic. More often than not I don’t stick to it whatsoever. I just end up being whatever sounds good phonetically and what fits with the rhythm, just whatever works with the melodies and chords. It’s quite complicated in my head.

I'm intrigued by your influences, care to describe them?

J: This could take ages for everyone.

RC: Radiohead. Nirvana. Kind of the classics. Not very old classics but like… the vibe I get off alternative rock, I love it. I was always a poppy person when I was younger, but going the band just got me more into rock. Deftones are amazing.

J: I don’t have a certain influence, I taught myself how to play. General Influences: Radiohead, that's a common one. I’m really into weird electronic music as well, like Aphex Twin. The Smiths. Kate Bush. I love Kate Bush. Just anything interesting, interesting sounds.

RK: I taught myself how to play power chords when I was younger and it took me like two years to realise that was boring. Peter Buck, I usually cite him as the person who sort of taught me how to play good, and then I was just learning R.E.M. songs on the fly. Lee Ranaldo, they all just kind of amalgamated into how I play now. J. Mascus, all the pedals that he uses, that's always been an inspiration.

O: In terms of writing: Radiohead. In terms of playing, I’m going to have to go with Johnny Greenwood. I think that… (turns to the band) how long ago was it that I stopped being a Johnny Greenwood lookalike?

RK: You still are.

O: I have a kill switch on my guitar just because Johnny Greenwood does. I base all of my playing around ‘how would he play this?’ Billy Corgan, a little bit of Prince. Thom York, he’s really sloppy but like good kind of sloppy.

J: As a rule though, we try not to sound like any of those guys.

RC: I love being played things and thinking ‘What would go well with that? What is different? What’s good about it?’ I love seeing the reactions because of it.

What was it like being in the studio?

J: Pretty surreal. it was really cool to be in the studio but it was super rushed. I think that we spent 40 minutes out of a 4-hour slot getting set up. I think it was one take for the music and three for the vocals.

O: I had to do around seven takes for the first song. My throat was essentially closing over by the end of it.

J: We were very thankful for the opportunity to do it. We’ve had a lot of people say nice things about it. It was cool to be on the Chordblossom playlist. Lauren and Taylor from Brand New Friend, Molto Vivo, Pierce from The Fake Flirtations, they’ve all been super supportive.

What do you environs for the future?

J: Hopefully a bassist. More interesting sounds. Nice sounds.