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Dreyer’s unique vocals, however, are something of a mystery even to him, as he recalls his outfit’s formative stages back in 2004 when he was still in high school. “It’s just the fact that I didn’t know how to sing before we started,” he says with a laugh with regards to his band mates. “It was all our first go at it, especially mine. Everybody already knew how to play an instrument, but I didn’t know what I was doing; it just came out that way. I never had a particular {musician} person I really liked or a vocal style I wanted to emulate. More than anything, it was an accident.”
With several LPs and EPs under their belt, La Dispute will have plenty of material to draw from when they make their first visit to Central New York on Friday, April 27, 6 p.m., at the Lost Horizon, 5863 Thompson Road, DeWitt. But wait, there’s more on the bill: traveling tour mates Balance and Composure, All Get Out and Sainthood Reps, plus local tuneage from The Scarlet Ending. Admission is $12; call 446-1934 for details.
Also during this tour, La Dispute has partnered with 826michigan, a nonprofit tutoring center that helps kids with writing and self-expression. At each stop the philanthropic band will sell fundraising limited-edition packets that include photos, postcards, a poster and more.
Dreyer took time out from a stopover in Texas for a quick phoner, whereupon he was pleasantly surprised that the Syracuse New Times enlisted some teenage fans to help with the grilling: Cicero-North Syracuse High School sophomores Amy DeLapp and Taylor Leden.
Q: What is it about Grand Rapids and cold weather: Is that an incubator for rock’n’roll music? Because Grand Rapids probably has the same type of weather as Central New York.
A: I think it’s impossible to not be affected by your surroundings and weather is a part of that. You know, for four or five months a year it’s cold and snowing intermittently, and it definitely affects your mood and that translates to your songwriting.
Q: How did the band get its name?
A: It comes from a {1774} piece of classical French theater by a man named Pierre de Marivaux, something that I saw performed when I was younger and we were first starting to write songs. And the play’s theme of French discord was exactly what we were talking about at the time, and it made sense and it stuck and here we are years later.
Q: What was more important to you when you were getting into music: making the music or using music as an entry for meeting girls?
A: {Laughs.} It was making the music. All of the boys shared a common interest in music, and we enjoyed going to shows, and more than anything it was just a way to have fun and make ideas and, for the second time in five minutes, here we are now years later and still doing it. It’s always been about making sense and being creative.
I was a junior in high school when we first started playing music. {Incidentally, Dreyer’s birth date is Sept. 3, 1987.} We really didn’t start consistently touring or taking it terribly seriously until a few years after that, but the very beginning was in 2004 so, yeah, I was 17.
Brad Vanger Lugt, our drummer, and I started playing music together around that time and we enlisted a couple of friends and shortly after our first release {the 2006 EP Vancouver on Friction Records} came out we had a member change: Chad Sterenberg, one of our current guitar players {along with original member Kevin Whittemore}, replaced his older brother Derek the day after we put our record out. A couple of years later our original bass player {Adam Kool} quit and a friend of ours from Indiana {Adam Vass} moved up here and joined. And really, ever since then we’ve all been on the same page and taking it seriously.
Q: How early did you start writing songs?
A: When we first started playing music together. I’ve always enjoyed writing, but it was my first stab at writing songs.
Q: What was it like singing for the first time?
A: Probably pretty similar to what it feels like now. I’m sure I was nervous, and there are still days when I get nervous now. But there’s a whole lot of adrenaline involved, being up in front of people and playing, and it doesn’t take long to shake that nervous feeling and settle in.
I did a fair amount of theater in high school. I did Forensics—not the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation forensics—but dramatic performance, and I really, really enjoyed that, and that probably helped. I’ve always been comfortable in front of people.
Q: How flattering is it when people at the shows know all of the complex lyrics to the songs and are singing them along with you?
A: It’s an incredible feeling. The physical representation of people’s interest in your music is pretty exciting, something that I’ve never been able to put into words, and something I can never really get used to. It’s a brand-new excitement every time it happens.
Q: Have you visited any real dives during your years of touring?
A: Ohhh, man, when we first started touring consistently, we were getting self-booked places like kitchens, basements, back yards, anyone with a PA who would let us come in and play. We’ve seen some strange things, we’ve been to some filthy places, but they’re all cherished memories.
Q: (Amy): How do you feel when people refer to you as a modern-day Shakespeare?
A: Ohhh, man {laughs}, about what I feel right now hearing you say that. I’m not entirely good at accepting compliments and I think that’s a pretty bold one to make, but it’s very flattering.
Q: (Taylor): If you weren’t a musician, what else could you see yourself being?
A: I have a hard time calling myself a musician as it is. I love to write, so if I wasn’t doing this I’d probably be pursuing a career in writing elsewhere.
Q: (Amy): Who would you like to make another split EP with, like you did with Koji {for the 2011 Never Come Undone on No Sleep Records}?
A: Oh, we were talking about this the other day. There are so many phenomenally talented bands out there and we have so many really great friends who make great music. I don’t want to say anyone specific because it might not materialize, but any of our friends, truthfully; it’s just a matter of making it work. We’ll see what happens in the future.
Q: (Taylor): When people hear your name, what do you think they think of?
A: {Laughs} I don’t know, hopefully not terrible awful things. I hope they think I’m a nice guy and that I care deeply about what I do and all the extensions of that. . . but who knows?
Q: (Amy): The Wildlife album (2011) has a completely different sound than the experimental Here Hear albums (2008). What sparked that change?
A: Well, Here Hear is a separate entity altogether; it’s something we’ve done since 2008. They’re both significant parts of who we are as a band; Here Hear we did as a challenge to ourselves creatively as a way to expand our horizons and also broaden the context for anyone else who is interested in checking who we are as a band. There was no deliberate stylistic shift; it was just the things that we did {musically} that coexisted with each other.
Q: (Amy): I’ve been trying to look up the set lists for the shows that you’re playing but they’re all so different. How do you choose the songs that you play?
A: Ummm, well, typically before we go on tour we practice a bunch of songs and then we kinda separate them into groups. Then before the show we kind of switch things up depending on where we are, or the venue; depending on how close we are to another show we might have played; depending on if other people who are coming out who have already seen us before; depending on the last time we were in that city. So we try to change it every night to keep it exciting for the people in attendance and also to keep it fresh for us.
Q: (Taylor): What was your favorite Halloween costume?
A: Do you remember those really bad Alltel cell phone commercials, where the cool guy was the Alltel guy and the Verizon guys were the nerds? One year we dressed up as those five guys in the commercial and the Alltel guy was named Chad, so we made {band member} Chad dress up as Chad. He even got his hair cut short and he never had short hair, which was pretty hysterical.
The only bummer is that we didn’t really get a chance to play because we were doing a show in our hometown at a university and {the venue} was only rented out until midnight, and then there was going to be an Edgar Allan Poe fan club reading of The Raven. So we had to be done by midnight and two of the bands had technical difficulties and it took them way longer to play their sets. By the time we were ready to play it was 11:45 p.m., so we played only three songs, all under the violent stare of a bunch of people dressed up as Edgar Allan Poe characters.
Q: (Taylor): Have you ever performed in front of a crowd that didn’t seem into it? And did it make you perform not as good, kind of?
A: We’ve performed in front of a lot of crowds who were not into it over the years, and there are two reactions that I think you can have. The easiest one, and the most defeated one, is to let it psych you out and not care about your playing. The other, I think, better option, is to channel it into your performance, to accept the fact that people are going to hate you, so you might as well make them hate you even more, and just play as hard and fast as you can.
Q: (Amy): Who is your favorite band you’ve toured with so far?
A: Oh, you’re going to get me in trouble. I can’t give you a favorite! I had a really good time touring with Trash Talk; they were so much fun to watch every night. More than anyone we’ve toured with Touche Amore {last seen April 17 at the Lost} and they’re our best friends. They’re amazing live.
Q: Do you have any favorite rock’n’roll movies?
A: A Hard Day’s Night is a good one. And This is Spinal Tap, too, of course. My favorite piece of music-related cinema is the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster: It’s hilarious in a completely non-intended way. But I think it’s also interesting to have a sneak peek into that realm of music, you know, four dudes who have never been required to grow up and be responsible adults.
Q: You’re coming to Syracuse for the very first time to play the Lost Horizon, a club that’s been around for 40-plus years. A lot of acts have performed there over the years: the New York Dolls in the 1970s, Bobcat Goldthwait in the 1980s, and many more. So you’re part of a historical bunch of people who have played there.
A: Wow! It’s the first and last time you’ll ever hear our band’s name
mentioned in the same sentence with Bobcat Goldthwait. Or the New York
Dolls, for that matter.
This was great and it was refreshing that you guys didn't ask them super-cliche questions that he's probably sick of answering.