Life & Work with Dolly Dagger

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dolly Dagger.

Dolly, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Dolly Dagger was born from the dust of 2020, with a couple of Los Angeles years under my belt after moving from Melbourne, Australia; like almost everyone else I was shedding a lot of skins to arrive at a place where being creative felt right again. Taking a few small pieces of past projects and carrying their spirit over to this new iteration, I started working with Jesse McInturff on what turned out to be the most honest and confident I’ve felt as a musician and artist. From where I started to now, feels like a whole other lifetime ago and Dolly Dagger as a project feels like me starting again, which I believe we all do multiple times through our lives, and I’m so grateful to arrive at this place in life knowing what I know, and making and releasing music and art again.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Life is never particularly smooth but it’s always rewarding to grow as a human, I’m always happy to learn from the past and find some stability in my approach to art and how I pursue my dreams. I find myself taking a more thoughtful approach to my existence overall, and the last few years has helped me remove a lot of toxic and unhealthy behaviors that affected my physical and mental health, which is not only better for myself but better for how I contribute to the world and communities I’m part of. The hardest part has been avoiding hustle culture and not allowing outside pressures to compare myself, stress or rush my timeline to the point of making myself sick, which is an easy trap to fall into!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
In the immortal words of Jimi Hendrix, “Here comes Dolly Dagger…” Named after the iconic Hendrix song, Australian-born Los Angeles artist Dolly Dagger is doing her namesake justice with her fiery debut EP Nightmare dropping October 26th. With gorgeous vocal melodies and crushing rock guitar riffs that sear themselves deep inside your brain, the power of these songs is undeniable. Dolly’s true talent and real rock ’n’ roll grit ooze from every track of the 4-song EP.

“This is my survival. It always has been and will likely stay that way,” says Dolly. “Art is the vessel to process our emotions and then release them. I had a therapist once tell me I had a blockage. She said I needed to scream in order to release it, so for a while I’ve looked at singing and thrashing around with a guitar as therapy.”

Dolly proves herself an expert at weaving her struggles into empowering rock anthems. Emotional impact is cranked up high throughout these tracks, with poetic lyrics that effortlessly lace themes of perception, reshaping life for the better, and above all else, perseverance through the trials and tribulations of being in a creative profession. She has also produced, directed, and edited her newest music video for the track “SICK” to be released alongside the EP, featuring footage of Dolly’s captivating live performance along with co-writer and guitarist Jesse McInturff.

Dolly Dagger will also be celebrating the release of the EP Nightmare with a live show in Los Angeles at The Paramount on October 27. “This EP defines what we’re working towards,” says Dolly. “We’re really excited for what’s next.”

How do you think about luck?
Luck is just life. I don’t believe anyone inherently has good or bad luck, it’s just a game of chance and out of our control. Every day that I wake up I feel lucky to be here, the rest of my day is up to me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dollydaggerxo.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dollydagger_xo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DollyDaggerxo
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTX6hQQ4zz2dtnDjFZshZtw/videos

Image Credits
Alex Lang