Meet Brandon Dove

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Dove.

Hi Brandon, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a New York native, born and raised on Long Island. I earnestly bring with me to the West Coast all of the classic Metro-area New Yorker tropes, from the accent to the strong opinions about bagels and chicken parm heroes.

My family was spread across LI and NYC, so I spent plenty of time bouncing back and forth between the two and continued to do so once I started working as a musician. I like to think there’s a through-line between these aesthetics (salt and sand meet skyscrapers and traffic) and those of Los Angeles, or at least enough to foster what felt like a seamless transition. I definitely feel proud to wear the proverbial “NY-LA” hat.

I grew up in a musical household, with parents who were generally big on the arts and one who spent many years working as a live and session musician–which meant they knew well how tough of a livelihood music can be and were weary of it for me, but also really “got it” when I arrived at wanting to pursue music for a living. I technically started on violin in elementary school, but it was really when I picked up my brother’s guitar as a young teen that the sort of “this is what I need to do with my life” aha-moment came. From that point forward, I immersed myself.

As a teen, my come-up was equal parts formal and informal: If I wasn’t studying/playing in school through traditional channels (lessons, orchestras and jazz ensembles, summer workshops, etc.), then I was out somewhere with my friends playing in rock bands, teaching ourselves how to write and record songs, and booking local shows. This progressed through college, where I studied music composition while working as a music theory tutor, continued chasing creative pursuits funded by various side jobs, and more properly stepped into the “gigging musician for hire” side of the industry. After college and into my early twenties, I dove even deeper into the NY gigging/professional scene while very gradually making headway in original projects toward bigger shows, small DIY tours, etc.

I suppose one of the more unique aspects about my eventual cross-country move to LA lies in acknowledging that I didn’t head straight here at age 18 or 20. I instead logged the better half of a decade really “chasing it” from where I was, in NY, planting seeds and going to great lengths to do the “say yes to absolutely everything” sort of thing. I can say in good faith that those years were spent “working every job in the kitchen,” so to speak, and really honing myself as a player and person. I was playing and writing in my own bands/projects (and DIY-businessing in that one-stop-shop way, punching uphill for opportunities, trying to build industry relationships, etc.); as a player or contributor in other peers’ rock and pop projects across the original scene; as a backing musician for rnb and hip hop artists; in various jazz combos for events and festivals; in bars with cover bands; in multiple wedding bands and cocktail hour string ensembles; in gospel churches; in pits and orchestras for musical theatre productions; I was in studios recording and aiding in the production of all sorts of tunes and records; I was working music transcription and arranging gigs; I was teaching private lessons at numerous music schools and tutoring for college music courses; the list goes on. I was also working a separate university day job and chipping away at a grad school degree on the side.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Spending years juggling everything I just mentioned all at once (each with its own laundry list of story-worthy experiences) while continually feeling like I was only treading water at best inevitably brought me to a place where I began crashing and burning. An art career will always be a grind by way of wearing a million hats, but I could tell that for all of the time and energy I was putting in, I wasn’t getting measurably ahead or in an environment where I could do so. Social-media-success-comparing never helps, either.

As life got increasingly complex growing into an adult, I felt increasingly stuck and increasingly discouraged from getting back on the horse each of the (many) times I was knocked off. These feelings, and with them the need for a serious change, stirred in me for a year or two prior to 2020 but really came to a head during the Covid-era. That time brought about a ton of “closed chapters” across almost all aspects of my personal and professional life. As the dust settled, I found myself pretty tangibly at a crossroads, and continuing on with music at all became very much an “all or nothing; now or never” sort of decision.

I had given some thought to a move in that time prior to Covid and even had a few conversations with friends specifically about an LA move. But as a chronic “people-pleaser”-type, it took having my slate wiped almost-entirely clean and having very little to physically keep me where I was in order to commit to myself in that way. After working through all of that, allowing myself to accept that I needed to leave the environment I was in (and that LA was the environment I needed to be in), and acting on it, things began moving at lightning speed.

My then-fiancée and I sped up our small wedding plans, got married, and hopped on a flight from JFK-LAX to spend a few “trial” weeks crashing on a pullout couch. I got a call three days into our visit from a supportive friend who needed a last-minute fill-in guitarist for a pop gig. I changed my flight home, extended my stay and moved to another couch, borrowed a guitar, and learned a 14-song set that night in time to show up at rehearsal the next morning ready to kill it (huge thank you to the NYC pop gigs that would surprise me with new music to learn on my way to rehearsal). Doing well on that gig opened up some avenues for me and more importantly fostered some of my closest friendships/tribes here. In fact, arguably none of the projects/tours/gigs/etc. that I’ve been a part of since moving here may have happened for me had I not taken that plunge on my first visit.

After flying back home to NY, my wife and I tied up some loose ends (which casually included an entire real estate transaction), got rid of some belongings, packed two suitcases into our 07 Honda CRV and filled the rest of it with musical instruments, then hit the road with our sights set on California. It was a wild ride, and it’s been even more wild of a ride since pulling up here as proper residents. I showed up ready to run at full speed, and that’s pretty much what it’s been like—though not without its own set of struggles. We experienced very quickly, for instance, the great struggle that can come from being so far away from family and loved ones, especially during critical times on familial fronts. My being out on the road a lot these days has definitely compounded this truth.

In spite of this, I’m fortunate to know very well how much my family and loved ones are rooting for me in this self-actualizing chapter of my life. And as it pertains to music, the alignments and self-actualizations since moving here have been uncanny enough to wonder if my Brandon-simulation is closing in on itself. Meanwhile, getting involved in the LA scene has expanded my horizons to include entirely new goals and visions for myself that would never have existed prior.

I’m incredibly humbled by the opportunities that have come my way in my relatively short amount of time living here. But, much like the “learning songs overnight in time to show up the next morning and kill it” anecdote I mentioned above, all of them have involved being nimble, prepared, and unafraid to take the plunge; tapping into seeds planted many years prior; and/or having qualities as a player and person that I wouldn’t have were it not for the path that led me here.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Musically, I identify as a player, performer, and writer.

I’m focused on being a good human, facilitator, creator, and player—in that order. I’ve made a mantra of sorts out of that phrase as of late, as I think it encompasses what’s most important to me in life and in art.

I play multiple instruments, love collaborating with others, and tend to serve the role of “Swiss Army Knife” across different projects and gigs on stage or in the studio, whereby I’m using one or more of my creative vehicles (i.e., my language on guitar/bass/violin/piano/etc., my music theory or compositional vocabulary, my knowledge of tech and production, even my linguistic vocabulary, etc.) to contribute ideas and help other people articulate their ideas, all for the purpose of making something, accomplishing a goal, or solving a problem.

The bulk of my work lately has been in the form of playing in bands on shows and tours across different genres. In the pop/alt-pop realm, I’ve been playing guitar, running live playback tracks via Ableton, and serving as a live band leader of sorts for RCA artist Isaac Dunbar. Some cool highlights there over the last year include a headliner tour, some dates on the Fall 2022 Bleachers and Carly Rae Jepsen tour, and the Austin City Limits Festival.

My primary focus is on a rock band I joined last year called Covet. I play bass and even break out some violin for the band while also wearing whatever other hats necessary behind the scenes. We’ve already done a full US headliner plus some festivals together, and at the time of writing are gearing up to head out on another North American headliner. After that, we have our sights set on overseas gigs and eventually writing some new material together. It’s been such a trip to find my way back into doing the “original rock band” thing after some time away from it, and my bandmates Yvette Young and Jessica Burdeaux feel like family.

Aside from all of that, I fill the gaps in with various one-off gigs and sessions around LA wherever possible, much like I did back in NY, and see myself next growing further in my songwriting/production capacities. I’m also coming to acknowledge that I love talking, writing, communicating, trading ideas, and sharing myself (he says as he neurotically checks the word count of this interview, for fear of loftiness and oversharing). I’ve grown curious to know what other avenues within the arts I might apply these joys to.

As discussed earlier, it will always be a grind by way of wearing a million hats, but I’m definitely feeling built for it.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Like I alluded to (and as I imagine much like the experience had by others), the Covid-era brought about an immense amount of change in my life, which held varying degrees of personal control/autonomy. Some of those moments sunk me pretty low, but with them came some introspection that was needed for a while.

Something I improved upon during that time, but am still working on now (and likely always will be), is dialing in that sense for what it feels like to fully commit to yourself. Finding a balance between trying to always do right by those around you while also being brutally honest with yourself about which environments bring out better or worse versions of you is an art. Sometimes, that may involve being willing to completely swing off the vine in order to grab onto a new one.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandonmdove
• Other: https://jammcard.com/brandonmdove

Image Credits
Andrew Hunter Steven B-Sides TV Christopher Valley Eli Chavez (Elias Photography Co.) Summer Swee-Singh