Today we’d like to introduce you to Dillon Vanders.
Hi Dillon, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I first started writing songs when I was about 14. At the time, most kids my age were listening to 50 Cent or Eminem, and I was off in my own little world listening to Simon and Garfunkel and stuff like that. I became obsessed with music, particularly the acoustic guitar, and started to learn the tricks of the trade. As I got older, I started playing more distorted rock type music. As time went on, I wanted to get back to my folky roots, which lead me back to the style of music I write today!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, definitely not smooth, but bumpy roads lead to the most powerful art! There was all the typical band drama, creative differences, clashing egos, drug abuse, all that stuff. All that aside, the music industry and the rise of streaming has basically devalued music to zero, which has made being an independent songwriter increasingly difficult. Artists are expected to take huge financial risks with recording and promotion, yet are expected to give the final result away for free. It’s insanity! I would never expect a painter or photographer to give away their art for free, and those things are much cheaper to make. Thats why I decided not to release my latest record on streaming in its entirety, and release it exclusively on Bandcamp. There’s a few singles on Spotify and the like, but if folks wanna hear the whole thing, they’ll have to fork out a cool 7 bucks! I hope more songwriters empower themselves and realize the value of what it is they’re creating. I think it’s the only way out of this mess.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
So I just released my sophomore record, The Dark American Night, which follows my first record, Wildfires. Both are in the Country/Americana vein, but man, the experience of recording them couldn’t have been more different. Wildfires was recorded in a huge state of the art studio owned by Robby Krieger of The Doors. I had some incredible musicians on that record, including Mario Calire from The Wallflowers on drums, and Greg Leisz whose played on so many great records from Beck to Bruce Springsteen to Lana Del Rey. Robby would be in and out of the studio from time to time which was insane because I’m a huge fan of The Doors. As much fun as that was, there seemed to be a lot more pressure and expectation in an environment like that. The Dark American Night was essentially recorded in a bedroom studio, but that gave me the freedom to be a little bit more experimental and take a few more risks, and I’m really proud of what we achieved. A lot of country artists today sound indistiguishable from one another, or they try to look and sound exactly like country artists from decades past. There’s a lot of cosplay going on in that genre, especially here in LA, so I try to to set myself apart as much as possible. I refuse to wear a cowboy hat!!
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Probably that I’m gay, haha. Most people wouldn’t know it by talking to me, nor is it something I really wear on my sleeve, and when they find out, they’re usually surprised. “I thought you had a girlfriend!” is a phrase I hear pretty often, haha. I try to make my music relatable for everybody. I make it for people from West Hollywood to West Virginia, so I try and tell stories from a perspective that everyone can identify with. I think nowadays, most queer artists really try to play that card, but for me, there’s a lot more interesting aspects to who I am and what I’m trying to say than what I do with my personal life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linker.ee/DillonVanders
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/dillonvandersmusic
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@dillonvanders?si=Axg34zBXKgc8cV9M
- Other: https://dillonvanders.bandcamp.com/album/the-dark-american-night
Image Credits
Image 1: Tim Gray
Image 2, 3, 4, and 6: Rachael Adam’s
Image 5: Lucas VanderSchuit
