Blindwish: The Fine Sonic Art of Good Excuses

Blindwish: The Fine Sonic Art of Good Excuses

Meet Blindwish from Dallas, Texas – the latest signing from Rise Records, ready to rock your world in an epic way.  Fans of Taking Back Sunday and Bayside are destined to be enraptured by the sonic entreaties found within Good Excuses, Blindwish’s debut for the Rise Records compound.  They’ve shared stages with the likes of Underoath and Dance Gavin Dance and will be appearing locally with label mates Palisades at Chain Reaction on October 7th.  Highwire Daze Online recently caught up with vocalist Zackary David to find out more about Blindwish, a few songs from their compelling Good Excuses album, signing the dotted line with Rise Records, and other topics of intrigue.  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Blindwish, and how long the band has been together.
Hi! We’re Blindwish and this is Zack (Vocals). We’ve been a band since March of 2016

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
Our members are actually from all over the United States but we’re all now in Dallas, Texas. Our favorite local band is called Mount Tyrant, everyone should go check them out right now! Everyone in the Dallas music scene is really supportive and we couldn’t be luckier to base our band here.

How did you wind up signing with Rise Records?
We recorded some demos with Drew Fulk in October of 2015, and then started shopping them once we announced as a band in march of 2016. By April, Rise had heard them and hit us up!

Is there any overall story or concept behind the title Good Excuses?
The entire album is about my anxiety about pretty much everything. A lot of the songs are about toxic relationships and just a lot of different things that have happened to me throughout my life. The title “Good Excuses” comes from the 5th track on the album “Down” from the line “I’m the king of good excuses“.

Select two songs from Good Excuses and what inspired the lyrics.
We have a music video for our song Single Word, and it’s about not wanting to be confined or described by just one thing that you are or that you do. For example, I’m the singer of this band, but that’s not the only thing I do, I don’t only want to be known as a singer. I also play a bunch of instruments, I’m a song writer, I own a company that makes clothing and accessories from recycled material, I love to cook. No one should ever be happy being labeled as just one thing. The 8th song on our album “Tied In Nots” is about people that you see everyday on social media that are constantly complaining about the state of their life or the situation that they’re in, but they never seem to be doing anything to help their situation, i.e. the line “There’s a difference between being stuck and choosing to stay“.

Who produced Good Excuses and what was it like working with them?
Ryan Furlott produced 8 of the 10 songs on the album. Writing with him in Portland was an amazing month of all of our lives. His studio was extremely conducive to writing and gave us the creative freedom to make the album we really wanted to make. 2 of the songs were produced by John Feldmann. Working with him in California was another truly unforgettable experience. I’ve always admired him as a song writer, yet somehow I left with even more respect for his process after writing with him.

What could one expect from a live Blindwish show?
Lots of energy, lots of different types of songs, and some of the best merch out there, we always have items that are one of a kind.

What was it like opening for Underoath and did you get to meet or hang out with them at all?
We opened up for them at a festival so unfortunately we didn’t get to meet them (festivals tend to be hectic) but we caught most of their set and it was incredible.

If you could open up for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
We would love to open up for Brand New. They’re one of the if not the biggest influence on our album. A lot of people have a hard time hearing it since we have some heavier songs but there’s a part of them in every one of our songs.

What’s up next for Blindwish?
Touring, Touring, Touring! We’ll be coming to a town near you SOON.

Any final words of wisdom?
Pick up Good Excuses! It’s available wherever you listen to music.

Blindwish is:
Zackary David – vocals
Billy Barber – guitar
Dakota Dufloth – guitar
Kendrick Nicholson – bass
Garrett Grothe – drums

(Interview by Ken Morton)

Blindwish on Facebook