Interview with Dakota Sean from Another Day Dawns
Alonna was able to catch up with Dakota Sean, vocalist of Lehighton-based hard rock band "Another Day Dawns", who recently charted on Billboard's "Heatseekers Northeast" Chart, and discuss many topics, such as humble beginnings, current song obsessions, choosing to do music full time, and everything else in between!
A: Let's start off with an introduction first!
D: Dakota Sean, vocalist for Another Day Dawns.
A:What individual musician initially inspired you to make music?
D: My dad was a musician, so definitely him. As far as celebrities, Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, or, Kurt Cobain from Nirvana
A:What was the first instrument you learned to play?
D: Drums, when I was around 9/10, then I started singing after that and it just went from there!
A: What would be your dream venue to play?
D: Madison Square Garden in New York, for sure!
A: Would you ever venture outside of the hard rock genre?
D: Yes, I always think I have cool rap and beat ideas. They usually turn into rock songs, but I think rapping/beat making would be cool!
A:What quote do you live by/describes you the best?
D: First impressions are the best, give it your all. You know, like people who have never seen us come out to our shows and are totally blown away by us, and I think that’s really important because you want to make a good impression!
A:Who introduced you to the genre that inspires you?
D: I kinda just found it myself, scrolling through youtube. I found that my friends at the time were into the hip hop genre and I was more into gritty guitars and gritty vocals, like Pearl Jam and such. When my friends were listening to Soulja Boy, I was jamming Nirvana.
A: If you could collab with ANY musician, dead or alive, who would it be, and why?
D: Post Malone, no question, I just think it would be really cool, to kind of fuse like all the genres together, like rock, rap, metal, etc.
A: What current songs are on replay in your playlists?
D: A lot of Blue October, and really just lots of heartfelt songs, music you can really resonate with.
A: Any side hobbies outside of music?
D: I like sports alot, you know like football, golf, I like to golf.
A: Who predominantly wrote what song?
D: I write all the lyrics, Tyler(our guitarist) comes to me with a rhythm part, or something, and I put the lyrics together and then we pass it off to Nick & Livi. It’s really a team effort.
A: Backstory behind All of Me?
D: All of Me is sort of like a relationship thing, like sort of showing your significant other that you’re going to block everyone else out, and solely focus on them, pretty much saying “you have 100% all of my heart”
A: What made you guys decide to get a cat? Who named him?
D: The girl I’m seeing had some strays and I saw the black one and i wanted him. You know, there’s a common misconception that black cats are bad luck, but I felt like he was good luck, I took an instagram poll and asked for name suggestions and I saw someone mention the name Manson and I liked the name a lot because it was weird and uncommon, and could be up for debate as to which Manson we’re referring to.
A: Which song means the most to you, and why?
D: Empty, from our EP. i wrote it about the first time a girl cheated on me and broke up with me. It’s a major heart break song. But really, I feel like I poured my heart out into that, and “All of Me”
A: What’s the best thing about touring? The worst?
D: I love touring because we can see so many cool places, you know, like beaches and places we’ve seen on TV, and so many cool restaurants. The worst is definitely sharing an RV with 3 other people who haven’t showered in days, myself included (laughs)
A: Who thought of the band name?
D: We originally went by the name ADD, and as time went on, we came to realize that were so many other bands with the same name, and we wanted to be differentiated from them. So we all sat around one day, and Tyler’s dad came up with the concept idea, and decided on the name “Another Day Dawns”, and we thought “This’ll do for now” and the next day we decided that we really liked it.
A:Do you ever get nervous before shows? What do you do to control your nerves?
D: I do get nervous, but I embrace it because I feel like I work my best under pressure. You know, just seeing or hearing how many people are in attendance, and you get the butterflies, but then you just let your body take over and go from there.
A:What made you decide to pursue music full time?
D: Seeing my dad do it as i grew up. I tried working and going to college, and it just wasn’t for me. When I left college, I made sure I didn’t have a backup plan, so that this was the only thing I had to do. You know, you have so many people saying ‘Yeah, I do music, but I’m also a doctor on the side’ and most of the time, they end up gravitating towards their backup plan more, and I didn’t want that to happen to me.
A: Anything you’d like fans who haven’t heard of you to know? What can fans expect in the future?
D: We are going to be hitting the road with Buckcherry in a few weeks. We will be hitting the road in September/ October as well, so we will be getting out of state more. We also have another new EP dropping soon, and of course, more songs!
A: How do you feel about fans doing covers of your songs?
D: I love seeing fans do covers of our music, its flattering. It’s really nice to see that our music resonates with people so much that they want to cover it, and sing along with us.
A: What's your favorite venue?
D: Probably when we played Musikfest with Godsmack, that was our biggest turnout yet, over 7,000+. It was really surreal.
A: What's your least favorite venue?
D: Probably the former Croc Rock in Allentown. The staff was extremely rude and disrespectful and just all around had bad vibes to it.
A: How does it feel to have a lot of recognition? Especially being from a small town in Carbon County, where a band hasn’t gotten much recognition since the 80s?
D: It's crazy, like, we've gotta keep pinching ourselves and saying “This is really happening” It’s rare to get recognition for a band from a small town, but we have people from all over the place coming to us and supporting us, even as far as LA.
You can catch "Another Day Dawns" tearing up a stage near you this summer, AND this fall! And be sure to check out their EP, "A Different Life" , available on all major streaming platforms!
*Questions co-written by Jordyn Diana.
A: Let's start off with an introduction first!
D: Dakota Sean, vocalist for Another Day Dawns.
A:What individual musician initially inspired you to make music?
D: My dad was a musician, so definitely him. As far as celebrities, Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, or, Kurt Cobain from Nirvana
A:What was the first instrument you learned to play?
D: Drums, when I was around 9/10, then I started singing after that and it just went from there!
A: What would be your dream venue to play?
D: Madison Square Garden in New York, for sure!
A: Would you ever venture outside of the hard rock genre?
D: Yes, I always think I have cool rap and beat ideas. They usually turn into rock songs, but I think rapping/beat making would be cool!
A:What quote do you live by/describes you the best?
D: First impressions are the best, give it your all. You know, like people who have never seen us come out to our shows and are totally blown away by us, and I think that’s really important because you want to make a good impression!
A:Who introduced you to the genre that inspires you?
D: I kinda just found it myself, scrolling through youtube. I found that my friends at the time were into the hip hop genre and I was more into gritty guitars and gritty vocals, like Pearl Jam and such. When my friends were listening to Soulja Boy, I was jamming Nirvana.
A: If you could collab with ANY musician, dead or alive, who would it be, and why?
D: Post Malone, no question, I just think it would be really cool, to kind of fuse like all the genres together, like rock, rap, metal, etc.
A: What current songs are on replay in your playlists?
D: A lot of Blue October, and really just lots of heartfelt songs, music you can really resonate with.
A: Any side hobbies outside of music?
D: I like sports alot, you know like football, golf, I like to golf.
A: Who predominantly wrote what song?
D: I write all the lyrics, Tyler(our guitarist) comes to me with a rhythm part, or something, and I put the lyrics together and then we pass it off to Nick & Livi. It’s really a team effort.
A: Backstory behind All of Me?
D: All of Me is sort of like a relationship thing, like sort of showing your significant other that you’re going to block everyone else out, and solely focus on them, pretty much saying “you have 100% all of my heart”
A: What made you guys decide to get a cat? Who named him?
D: The girl I’m seeing had some strays and I saw the black one and i wanted him. You know, there’s a common misconception that black cats are bad luck, but I felt like he was good luck, I took an instagram poll and asked for name suggestions and I saw someone mention the name Manson and I liked the name a lot because it was weird and uncommon, and could be up for debate as to which Manson we’re referring to.
A: Which song means the most to you, and why?
D: Empty, from our EP. i wrote it about the first time a girl cheated on me and broke up with me. It’s a major heart break song. But really, I feel like I poured my heart out into that, and “All of Me”
A: What’s the best thing about touring? The worst?
D: I love touring because we can see so many cool places, you know, like beaches and places we’ve seen on TV, and so many cool restaurants. The worst is definitely sharing an RV with 3 other people who haven’t showered in days, myself included (laughs)
A: Who thought of the band name?
D: We originally went by the name ADD, and as time went on, we came to realize that were so many other bands with the same name, and we wanted to be differentiated from them. So we all sat around one day, and Tyler’s dad came up with the concept idea, and decided on the name “Another Day Dawns”, and we thought “This’ll do for now” and the next day we decided that we really liked it.
A:Do you ever get nervous before shows? What do you do to control your nerves?
D: I do get nervous, but I embrace it because I feel like I work my best under pressure. You know, just seeing or hearing how many people are in attendance, and you get the butterflies, but then you just let your body take over and go from there.
A:What made you decide to pursue music full time?
D: Seeing my dad do it as i grew up. I tried working and going to college, and it just wasn’t for me. When I left college, I made sure I didn’t have a backup plan, so that this was the only thing I had to do. You know, you have so many people saying ‘Yeah, I do music, but I’m also a doctor on the side’ and most of the time, they end up gravitating towards their backup plan more, and I didn’t want that to happen to me.
A: Anything you’d like fans who haven’t heard of you to know? What can fans expect in the future?
D: We are going to be hitting the road with Buckcherry in a few weeks. We will be hitting the road in September/ October as well, so we will be getting out of state more. We also have another new EP dropping soon, and of course, more songs!
A: How do you feel about fans doing covers of your songs?
D: I love seeing fans do covers of our music, its flattering. It’s really nice to see that our music resonates with people so much that they want to cover it, and sing along with us.
A: What's your favorite venue?
D: Probably when we played Musikfest with Godsmack, that was our biggest turnout yet, over 7,000+. It was really surreal.
A: What's your least favorite venue?
D: Probably the former Croc Rock in Allentown. The staff was extremely rude and disrespectful and just all around had bad vibes to it.
A: How does it feel to have a lot of recognition? Especially being from a small town in Carbon County, where a band hasn’t gotten much recognition since the 80s?
D: It's crazy, like, we've gotta keep pinching ourselves and saying “This is really happening” It’s rare to get recognition for a band from a small town, but we have people from all over the place coming to us and supporting us, even as far as LA.
You can catch "Another Day Dawns" tearing up a stage near you this summer, AND this fall! And be sure to check out their EP, "A Different Life" , available on all major streaming platforms!
*Questions co-written by Jordyn Diana.
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