I had the opportunity to talk with Ali Kouri, guitarist and vocalist in The Day Dreamers, about their debut album, All Through the Night, which hits iTunes stores today, April 22nd.
Q: Let’s start by overwhelming you with questions about the debut release! All Through the Night drops today on iTunes. How does it feel to finally be releasing music into the world? What was the process like? How does it exemplify you all as musicians?
Ali Kouri: We are all extremely excited. It’s a challenging process, especially with it being our first time around. We are completely self-funded, and we self-produced all aspects of the album, from the music to the design and everything in between. It’s so easy for things to go wrong so you have stay on top of every detail. It has been a learning process and we have grown a lot as musicians.
Q: Do you all have any exciting tour ideas planned? After the album release, can people expect you to be visiting them to play some music?
AK: For now, we really want our music to be heard. We don’t yet have much of a following outside of Montreal so we want to expand our fanbase through online resources first. We are hopeful that radio stations and websites will be picking up our songs to help us spread the word about our band. Our big event right now is our album launch on April 26th, in Montreal. We have a few gigs lined up in Montreal following the launch, and are working on a couple shows in Toronto and possibly other Canadian cities throughout the summer.
Q: Tell us what it’s like to be a female-fronted band of this nature upcoming in the Canadian music scene.
AK: It definitely plays in our favour. Surprisingly, so many people find it cool that we are a female-fronted band, and many other girls have even expressed admiration toward us and our music. There are so many amazing Canadian musicians, and we are proud and honoured to be part of the scene. Montreal has an especially vibrant music scene and one that has been welcoming us quite nicely.
Q: What was the time in your life when you absolutely knew you were going to be a musician? Something from your childhood or perhaps it was a random epiphany?
AK: We all started playing music at a young age, and all have very musical parents. I grew up listening to all my dad’s albums, and there was always music playing in the house. Music was always a big part of my life, whether I was playing or listening, but the biggest influencer in my decision to start a band was when my dad created a music room in our house and started jam sessions with friends. Being able to play with a group of talented musicians of all ages reinforced everything I loved about music.
Q: The Day Dreamers have a beautifully haunting sound and sense of lyricism, seen in your two singles from the album: “Vacancy” and the title track. Is this something you naturally gravitated toward or was there specific inspiration that drew you in this direction?
AK: We are inspired by a lot of the music we listen to, specifically Milo Greene, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes and of Monsters & Men, but our primary influencers are Half Moon Run and Daughter. Both bands have such a unique sound that incorporates rhythmical drumming, powerful lyrics and a dark yet dreamy sound, much like ours.
Q: What is your all’s favorite thing to write about? When you’re writing on something you’re passionate about, how do you want your listeners to feel when they hear it?
AK: We write a lot about our own feelings at a certain point in time. Being able to express our emotions through a song is our way of dealing with the events that happen, whether they’re good or bad. We are all still young, and experiencing so many things. Sometimes we write about other people, sometimes about moments in our lives that have had some sort of impact. We can’t expect our listeners to feel the same emotions we feel, but hopefully they will find their own meanings to our songs.
Q: Finally, with All Through the Night, do you want your listeners to take away anything from it? What do you wish to accomplish with this album?
AK: This album represents the last year and a half of our lives. We started writing these songs in the fall of 2014, never imagining that our music would develop into this huge project. The funny thing is, as much as these songs each represent a different moment of what is now our past, they all bring back so many memories and are still just as relevant and relatable. Our biggest hope for this album is that listeners feel and connect with our music. We want to touch others and evoke the same feelings that our favourite songs have done to us.
Listen to the single from the new album, “Vacancy” –
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And check out The Day Dreamers on their website and Facebook and purchase their album through iTunes today!
