FOLIO
Words By Ambar Ramirez
At the young age of 18, Nick Wold would move from Seattle to New York City in hopes of achieving his dreams of being a musician. While traditionally nicknamed as the City that never sleeps, Wold probably didn’t know that it would be the city where his dreams would come true.
The band has shared the stage with widely known bands like the X Ambassadors, The 1975, and Weezer. From performing on smaller stages at clubs to larger ones at music festivals, the band DREAMERS always knows how to put on a show you won’t forget.
The band is heavily inspired by 90s grunge, growing up during a time where the Strokes and the Sex Pistols were at their height. Still, despite the inspiration of underground punk artists, Wold and the band took the liberty of adding their own sound to these classics. With music that generally comments on a sense of self and existentialism, the sound this band delivers is a range of eccentric pop and indie rock.
Luckily for Jacksonville, the alt-rock band kickstarted their Cameras and Coastlines tour with Smallpools at 1904 Music Hall. The downtown venue was packed with people (or dreamers, I should say) eager to see the indie-pop band.
While the band grew from what it once was, from a three guy show to a four person group, nothing in their music changed. Even with the colorful( and slightly blinding) strobe lights, as soon as the band took the stage, nobody could take their eyes off of them. Wold stands out on the stage with his cotton-candy blue hair and red electric guitar. Along with his bandmates that stood out just as much in their grunge-like attire, together they put on a show that felt more like a movie more than anything else.
With their hopeful lyrics, I think one of the main messages the band sends (while it may be cliche) is to not give up on your dreams. Which is fitting, considering their stage name. They performed songs from past albums like the popular “Sweet Disaster” and also a few unreleased (at the time) songs from their newest album “All Hallow’s DREAM”. Still, the set flowed perfectly, as if we were listening to a well construed playlist.
I left the show, feeling nostalgic. Like I had just woken up from a dream.
The band is on tour until November 22nd. Even if you don’t get to see them live, listening to their music on music streaming apps will give you the same level of pure sound that you get when seeing them on stage.
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