INTERVIEW: Day Wave
CC: Daniel Topete
By: Katherine Stallard
Jackson Phillips, popularized as indie musician Day Wave, took a bit of time away from music to focus on himself. Now, he’s back and better than ever with the release of his new dreamy and melodic EP ‘Crush’, which not only explores new sounds for Day Wave but also explores himself too. After focusing on producing for other musicians and being the touring band for singer/songwriter Pete Yorn, Heart Eyes had the opportunity to talk with Phillips over the phone and discuss the ins-and-outs of returning to music with ‘Crush’.
I hear you took a bit of a break from working on Day Wave to focus on yourself. Why’d you take the break and what is the most exciting thing about releasing new music after being on hiatus?
Since like the end of 2014, I’d been working on Day Wave kinda non-stop. It’s really all I’d been doing—recording and then touring all over again for a few years and part of me felt like doing something else for a little bit of time. I think that you can get so sucked into something that you just lose track of time and, all of three years have gone by and I’ve been doing this one thing the whole time. So I mean that was it, I just wanted to switch it up a little bit. I fell into producing for other people, and I just went with that for a couple years, like 2018/2019. Then, after I produced the album for Pete Yorn, they asked me to go on tour with him and play in his band. After doing that tour I kind of missed Day Wave a bit. It just made me miss doing the whole thing. The whole time I was just messing around with ideas for Day Wave and at a certain point I just felt like I’m gonna compile like a few songs, finish them, and get back into it. So, it wasn’t too big of a stretch, I just found the songs that I liked working on and decided to finish them.
After your mini-hiatus, how did you create the concept for ‘Crush’? Did you have the conscious decision to sit down and go back to creating music or did it kinda just flow out naturally?
I was working on it the whole time, and it was a conscious decision to go back and finish it, to get something together. It was kind of like, “alright I’ve worked on a bunch of music over the last couple years and I need to figure out which songs I actually like.” You know, a lot of times when you’re working on music, without a concrete plan to release it; a lot of ideas just don’t end up finished. It’s more so when you see the light at the end of the tunnel and you know, “okay, I’m gonna release this music here”. When you’re very structured about it, at least for me, I tend to finish my ideas, you know, I don’t let them sit. When it’s a little more ambiguous, as to what’s gonna happen with the songs, I have a harder time finishing them. It was kind of a conscious decision to be like, “okay I’m gonna go find these songs and finish them”, and it was funny because the songs that I ended up using for ‘Crush’ were all kind of made in like one time period.
How do you think the break you took off from creating music changed the way you work and the overall sound of your new EP?
I don’t know, I mean, I definitely felt—especially with this EP—kinda like getting back to the roots of what originally inspired me to do Day Wave, cause I had taken the time off and I just kind of missed it. I knew that I wanted to start with an EP, I didn’t just wanna go right into another album. Especially because these days, I don’t know how necessary albums are every time, it just seems like the music world nowadays—you just wanna have a constant stream of music coming out. I thought starting with an EP and getting back to the original inspiration for the project was where I was kind of at. And ending the EP with the song ‘Crush’, which is like a little bit of a departure from what I’ve done in the past, is sort of like the typing point of where I could take the next project. I didn’t change too much, it’s more so like taking the time off especially to work with other musicians, my process of producing with other people is so different from what it is to be making music for myself like alone. It was just nice to get some other perspective and then it made me appreciate the stuff that I do on my own.
As a musician, what would you say your music process is like? Do the melodies and instrumentals come first, or do the lyrics, and was it any different for this EP?
The process has always been like, I just have a little idea like, I play guitar or something and I have this little chord progression and a melody with no lyrics or anything and it’s almost just like a little chunk of a song and then from that idea. I just start recording and just let it take me where ever instead of preconceiving the song before I record. I just sort of let this one idea direct me and that’s how I’ve always done it with Day Wave. It usually starts with, “yeah I’ll make a drumbeat, and then I’ll record the progression that I came up with kind of as I’m layering stuff in my head. Kind of developing the melodic ideas that I originally had, turning that into something and then I kind of just collage an idea until the song is done. The first three songs on the EP are very much that way, and the final song ‘Crush’ is like, I actually just sat down and wrote that song on piano which is why stylistically, I wrote it in a different way. It almost feels like with the first song I’m ‘Starting Again’ and then ‘Crush’ is kind of like where I could take things.
It’s clear through the lyrics of the singles ‘Starting Again’ and ‘Potions’ that these songs and the EP itself are very personal. What was it like writing songs that are so potentially vulnerable knowing you were gonna release them to your listeners?
When I first started Day Wave, I’d never played guitar, but I knew I wanted to make guitar music. I wanted to do some sort of band and that was the original idea like, “I just wanna play guitar band” and no one was really interested in doing it with me. That’s how I ended up doing it by myself. So I was like, “alright, guess I have to figure out how to play guitar.” and part of me was like “yeah, what do I feel comfortable writing things about?” and I always just thought “well I’ll just be very personal about it” and I feel like when that’s the case, for me it just feels more effortless, like I don’t have to try to write. The more honest I can be to me, it just feels easier and hopefully comes off more genuine. I knew the writing style of Day Wave would be like that from the beginning, and so I kind of continued that on this EP. It’s always a little embarrassing, more so for people I know, because it’s more like they’re just thoughts that are in your head and you just wanna get them out into music, and for people I don’t know who listen to it, I don’t feel embarrassed or anything. Hopefully, they can connect to the songs. But for people I know, I try not to think about it.
Do you have a favorite song on the EP? If so, why is it your favorite?
‘Crush’ is probably my favorite song, just because it’s very fresh for me, and I just was proud of writing that song because I just sat down and wrote it on piano. I didn’t have to think about anything, it just came to me. Actually, all the songs on this EP I wrote very fast, but I don’t know that one will just probably stick with me for the longest. Every once in a while you write a song that’s unlike any other song you’ve made and it just works, and that’s how that felt.
When it comes down to it, how do you want your music to make listeners feel?
I don’t know, I guess just you just want people to enjoy it in whatever way they do. I mean some people enjoy music because it makes them feel sad or some people enjoy music that makes them like get goosebumps or just feel happy and like uplifted, so whatever works for people. Hopefully, everyone can enjoy it in their own way.
Check out Day Wave’s new EP ‘Crush’ out today on streaming services everywhere. Be sure to also check out his full 2017 LP ‘The Days We Had’ for more atmospheric and honest tracks, and definitely stay on the lookout for future releases and tour dates. Day Wave has big things coming.
Smart URL: https://ffm.to/daywavecrush
Links to Day Wave:
https://www.instagram.com/daywave/
https://www.facebook.com/daywavemusic/
https://twitter.com/daywavemusic?s=20