Dylan Gardner Introduces Communicant
Dylan Gardner Introduces Communicant
Dylan Gardner is a massively talented singer / songwriter whose Warner Brothers debut Adventures in Real Time received a good deal of critical acclaim. A second album Almost Real was then self-released. After that time, Dylan would find himself exploring a different music direction and would soon unveil a brand new band named Communicant onto the world. After kicking off their residency at The Hotel Café in Hollywood, Dylan Gardner spoke with Highwire Daze about these new beginnings with Communicant and what the future has in store for this vibrantly dynamic trio.
Where did you get that name Communicant?
Communicant – I got the name after a short Ingmar Bergmann film. I was going through inspirations and I was trying to name the project after the record had been finished already. And I really wanted something that conjured the dreamy vibe – kind of the aesthetic of the world that is created in the music. I had a list of like 600 names – and I was going through my movie collection and I noticed that short little film called The Communicants. It’s a really interesting word – you don’t hear that word too often. I looked it up everywhere and it’s never been used – so it was like “This is a sign!” And that’s how we got the name.
What made you decide to go by this new band name of opposed to just Dylan Gardner?
The album started as a third Dylan Gardner record. And it got to a point where my last two records as Dylan Gardner, the second one was veering into this pop, major label territory, and it was getting away a little bit from what I actually loved. I would ask myself why am I making different music than what I am listening to? Because what I’m listening to is like 60’s psychedelia and like shoegaze – just stuff that I had been listening to since childhood, but it always was a different mechanism when it came time to songwriting. So I started making this album and I produced it myself – that was a big change. I self-produced this record – I’m going to do this myself. And through that, I ended up making music that I actually listen to. The album was finished, and I look at this and I thought “This is even bigger than Dylan Gardner.” It would be like listening to Nine Inch Nails and it’s called Trent Reznor. It’s just a little bit bigger, and I saw this as an opportunity to come into something that’s been my dream this whole time. I think Dylan Gardner was all pieces of this puzzle right now, and yeah, it felt really good!
What are you the most excited about doing this residency at The Hotel Café?
I’m most excited about building the word – building the crowd – building a new vibe. We have old fans – we have new fans – we have people that are getting turned on to the sound. I feel it’s a really exciting time to be in this band and to be making this music. It’s great! There’s other people besides myself in this band. it’s just a really fun time. I’m playing music that I was always meant to play.
Select two songs that you played tonight and what inspired the lyrics for you.
Spotlight – which is the music video that just dropped – that was inspired by a wild night in Sin City Las Vegas. We were driving down the strip and we were in the van and the Bee Gees’ More Than A Woman came on. And it had this profound experience to me. That week I was listening to a lot of disco and a lot of psyche(delic) – and I just kind of blended them both together. But the song is kind of singing about that intangible crazy night. And the song I opened with Temporary – that song is about different phases in your life – and the phase that I’m in right now, coming from Dylan Gardner to Communicant. It’s a temporary phase – all things are temporary and nothing is permanent – in the best way possible. So I’m reflecting on past love, past life, past events – and all of that was temporary. So that’s kind of what those lyrics are about.
If Communicant could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
If we could open for anyone, I would love to open for MGMT. They’ve always been a huge inspiration to me. They were really ahead of their time on the neo-psychedelic wave. Ever since they came out, they’ve been like mentors and inspirations to me. And I got to work with Ben Goldwasser of MGMT on the song Temporary which was really cool. But that’s my dream to open for them, or to open for Ariel Pink.
What’s up next for Communicant?
We’ve got more some dropping obviously. We have more shows at Hotel Café. We’re looking at a tour at the end of the year – beginning to next year. The album is coming out in October. So there’s a lot to be happening, so if you follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Youtube – you’ll be updated.
(Interview by Ken Morton – Photos by Jack Lue)
