INTERVIEW: New Dialogue
By McKayla Dyk
When a new group tours with established bands like Smallpools, lovelytheband, and Blue October, it grabs attention—up-and-coming band New Dialogue lives up to the standard of those contemporaries. For those keen on the indie/alt-pop scene, New Dialogue needs to be on heavy rotation.
We got to chat with them about their start, their sound, and their dreams for the future. Based on their current trajectory, those dreams will be coming true sooner rather than later.
Thanks so much for taking the time to interview while on tour! Where do you find yourselves right now?
Taylor Morrow: Of course! Right now, we are in Texas on tour supporting Blue October. We have 2 shows here at the halfway point of this tour with them before we start heading back up north.
You’ve toured with lovelytheband and Smallpools, and now you’re with Blue October. How does this current tour differ from past experiences?
As a support act on all of these, every tour has been different in its own way because it’s an entirely different fanbase each time. This current tour, however, has also taken us to some cities that we’ve never played before and nontraditional venues which has been a really interesting experience for us. A lakeside amphitheater in North Carolina and underground in a cave venue in Tennessee have been a few of the standouts so far.
Let’s dive into New Dialogue a bit. How did you all meet? What were the circumstances surrounding the creation of the band?
Ela and I met some 9 years ago and started writing and performing together in the wake of the dissolution of our earlier bands. The music took shape and went through a myriad of different lineups and names before we locked in together with the group we have now.
So, why the name “New Dialogue”?
We want the band to speak to a lifestyle, conversation, and musicality that is nontraditional, collective, and progressive—not only in its aesthetic, but also in its substance as well. We feel there are a lot of residual stigmas and dialogues today that are rooted in antiquated detail and stand to be pushed back and reevaluated a little.
Your EP Teach Me How To Feel provides a great introduction to who you are as a band. Would you consider it a concept record with a unifying theme, or is it more of a collection of individual songs?
It’s definitely more of a collection of individual songs, each with their own unique intention. There are some common threads and elements between them, no doubt, but not so much a consistent narrative underline as would be found on a concept record.
What inspired the EP as a whole?
The EP was born from us deciding to branch out from the more indie sound that we had originally cultivated into more of the alternative/pop world with the major label collaboration [with RED Music]. The songs are more polished and structurally “pop” than anything we had written before.
What is everyone’s favorite song on the record?
Always a tough question. I think it varies from day-to-day based on vibe and condition and whatnot. For instance, “Are You Like Me” and “Loose Ends” are really fun to play live but “Neon Ocean” and “Pilgrims” really capture a lot of the dynamics and lyrical substance that we love and stand behind.
Who does the majority of the songwriting? Or is it a group effort?
Ela and I [Taylor] do all of the lyric-writing together in cowrite sessions. The music is usually much more collaborative: I’ll lay down the basic bones of the instrumentation and then we generally build around that in the studio together.
What can we expect from you in the future? Is there a full-length album in the works?
Absolutely! We don’t know what the timeline is for release or anything like that but we have close to 50 songs in the mix right now that we will trim down to a full record as soon as we can. We are constantly writing and love putting out new music. We’re actually playing a new song on this tour, as it were, with the working title “Flesh and Blood.”
What information or encouragement would you like to share with fans and new listeners?
We are just happy to have new ears on the songs every day and are honored to be growing the New Dialogue family. Everyone that takes the time to listen and come to shows means the world to us and we love hearing from them in person or on our socials. [It] makes our day every time.
Always my last question—what is everyone’s favorite dipping sauce? (ie. for chicken nuggets, fries, etc.)
Well, Michael is a Buffalo, NY boy so loyalty to Blue Cheese is basically a requirement of birth (although secretly he might be a Ranch guy). Jeff is a vegan so he loves a good hummus or avocado spread. The fancier parts of our persona love a good aioli but you can't go wrong with a little ketchup and ranch combo either.
Check out New Dialogue on tour with Blue October and listen to their new EP on your favorite streaming services!