In between phone calls with his mom and preparing to go on tour, Andrew Dost of fun. took a bit of his day to chat with IYS. A genuinely nice and endearingly enthusiastic guy, Andrew shared with us on everything from touring and the dynamics of working in a group, to talking dogs and the rewards of making music.

IYS: So, your tour begins today.

Andrew: Yes, Yes it Does. Tonight we are playing at Chic’s Entertainment and Billiards in El Paso Texas. I’ve been through Texas before, but not El Paso. It’s interesting, that’s for sure.

IYS: With Hellogoodbye, right?

Andrew: Yep!


IYS: Have you gotten to know them much yet? Looking forward to?

Andrew: Actually, the place is completely empty right now. It looks deserted. I don’t personally know them yet, but I think Nate and Jack are familiar with the guys. I’m definitely looking forward to getting to know them.

IYS: And you've played alongside Jack's Mannequin and Manchester Orchestra too.

Andrew: Yeah!

IYS: How does this tour compare to those? Anything you'll be doing differently this time around?

Andrew: Doing anything differently this time around? Yeah, sure. I mean every group has to learn how they want things to be on the road. They have to figure out how they want their merch set up and how to order the set list and all that. By now we’re getting those things figured out and it feels good. Getting comfortable.

IYS: Have the fans coming out to see Jack’s Mannequin or Manchester been pretty receptive to what you guys have to offer?

Andrew: Oh definitely. It’s been great. I think everyone has just really been enjoying our music, and that’s such a good feeling. We’ve even had fans coming just to see us. And that’s incredible. I mean this is so new – we don’t even have a record out yet, but here are people coming just to see us. And those that were waiting to see Manchester or someone – they’ve been really respectful and receptive, and have had a good time with our music. It’s been great.

IYS: Shows are selling out right and left. How does that feel? To be presenting something new and have it met with such anticipation and excitement?

Andrew: Oh it’s amazing. It feels really good to know that people care about what we’re doing and are excited to see us. To know that people take the time to come and see what we have to offer. It’s amazing how supportive everyone is. Definitely an incredible feeling.

IYS: Has it been difficult with Jack still playing for Steel Train?

Andrew: He’s been doing an amazing job balancing his time between both projects.

IYS: Who all will be on stage with you? The album has such a full sound -- will you guys be covering all the instruments yourselves, or do you have extensions to your band for the tour?

Andrew: Yeah, well it’s Nate, Jack and I, and then we are also touring with John on the drums [who played drums on the last tour] Bass player Nate Harold, who is fantastic, and Emily Moore is playing keyboards and guitars. And they are all just phenomenally talented people – and fun to hang out with. So traveling so far has just been a blast. And then our good friend Rob Crohler will be meeting up with us for the headlining dates, and he’s just an astounding guitar player, so we’re excited to meet up with him.

IYS: Your sound has been described as carnival-pop. Is that kind of fullness and playfulness what you had in mind from the beginning, or has the sound evolved in the process of writing and recording?

Andrew: I think it’s where we had all aimed with prior projects. More than anything I think we are all on the same page with what we wanted it to sound like from the beginning. I’d say we set out to make kind of old-timey pop, but also very modern, carnivaly, waltzy, and very serious in some ways too, and hopefully also enjoyable to listen to.

IYS: So, fill us in on how you all ended up making music together anyhow.
Andrew: Well, Nate and Jack knew each other longer than I’ve known either of them – through touring together with Steel Train and The Format. And The Format toured with my old band, Anathallo, and I played some horns and keyboards in The Format. Nate and I became friends and developed some respect for each other in that way, and we also played some shows with Steel Train, and so Jack and I got to know each other a little better. And we were always doing different things, but we wanted to work together, and I think the opportunity finally came up for us to do that. So even though we had never really talked about it, it seemed like the obvious choice. And it’s been a total blast. It’s just a joy to make music with these guys and I’m glad it came together like this.

IYS: How do you think your personalities and strengths work together to create the music?

Andrew: Well Nate is very gifted with melody and with lyrics – his lyrics are just fantastic. I’m very strong with melody and with harmony and structuring things that support the song – like chord structure and strings, horns, piano, more the musical end of things. Jack contributes this amazing textural presence and energy to everything. Sometimes he’ll be playing a guitar part, and I won’t really know where he is going to end up, but then he layers four more on top of it, and it all makes sense with how jagged the first sound was. He contributes so much energy and presence and feeling to everything. A lot of intangible things. We all contribute very different things, but we all have such a tremendous amount of respect for each other that we’re all kind of just left to our own devices. Sometimes we’re left to work on songs alone and sometimes we do it together. It’s always nice to try both things and see what everyone else is adding.

IYS: How long did it take to record the album?

Andrew: We were in Eagle Rock about two months?

IYS: Nate had a few songs written already, did you and Jack bring your own material to the table, or was the majority of the album a team effort?

Andrew: It varied from song to song. Like “Light a Roman Candle With Me” is one that I had written and had been performing solo. And Nate had some songs left over from The Format. And some we came up with together.

IYS: Tell us about working with Steve McDonald.

Andrew: Oh it was awesome. In addition to being a tremendous producer, he’s just the coolest guy in the world to hang out with. Super talented, super fun, and just a very knowledgeable, awesome guy.

IYS: Any standout moments from the recording process you’d like to share with us?

Andrew: Yeah, one of my favourite moments was, well there are these YouTube videos of dogs who have been trained to say “I love you.”

IYS: Ah! I’ve seen that! I love it!

Andrew: You’ve seen that? Oh it’s so funny!

IYS: Yeah! Have you seen the one with the talking cats? It’s absolutely golden!

Andrew: What?! No, I’ve never seen a cat do it. It’s so awesome. Anywho, so we told John Goldstein who was making weird sounds with his drums to do it, to make his drums say “I love you.” And so we were in the middle of a take and he made it say “I love you.” And it was so funny. We weren’t expecting him to do it. I’m definitely going to check out the cat video too. I love seeing anything talk that’s not supposed to talk.

IYS: How do you like it at Nettwerk Records? Do you plan to stay planted there, or are you considering signing somewhere else?

Andrew: Oh we love Nettwerk. Everyone there is super cool and knowledgeable. They all have very specific skill sets, and they all put them together in really great ways. It’s a wonderful thing to be a part of. We really like it there.


IYS: What's the most rewarding part of this all for you guys?

Andrew: Maybe this is too obvious of an answer, but it’s really nice to know that people enjoy what we’re doing. When people sing along at shows, there’s really nothing else like that. I’ve never experienced anything else like it. It’s so nice that people care enough about what we’re doing to learn it care enough to be at a concert instead of watching G.I. Joes or something. They are taking part of their day to come see us and share these songs with us. And that’s a really special feeling.

IYS: Well, that’s all we have! We know you’ve got a show to get ready for, anything else you’d like to add?

Andrew: I guess I’ll just add Aim and Ignite comes out August 25. Check it out!

IYS: Well, again, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us!

Andrew: Oh no problem. Thank you! And have a great day!