The Heartfelt Pop Rocking Reveries of His Dream Of Lions

The Heartfelt Pop Rocking Reveries of His Dream Of Lions

His Dream Of Lions is a pop rocking band whose heartfelt reveries are destined to break them out above and beyond their Northern Virginia music scene.  On the verge of self-releasing their Pseudo Star EP, the five songs contained within are blissfully endearing and dynamically infectious.  The band recently completed a tour with Hang Tight and are about to hit the road once again for a brief East Coast jaunt – and there is no doubt His Dream Of Lions will continue to traverse the highways of America throughout the year, especially if Pseudo Star EP is indicative of greater glories ahead.  Highwire Daze Online recently caught up with vocalist / guitarist Seth Coggeshall to find out a whole lot more about this exhilarating new band on the rise ready to hit the big leagues in an epic way.  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in His Dream Of Lions, and how long the band has been together.
My name is Seth Coggeshall, I sing and play guitar in the band, and we’ve been together for about five years.

Where is the band based out of and what is the local music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
The band was born out of the Northern Virginia pop punk/metal scene, though we ended up being a more alternative rock band. Its good! Lots of really talented people making really cool and honest music. Sub-Radio is a really cool band, we played with them a few times. Also In Your Memory and Body Thief are incredible.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Pseudo Star EP title?
Yes, this record was a big shift for His Dream Of Lions both musically and personally. We felt we needed to wear our hearts on our sleeves more so than we ever have before as a band. So this record ended up being a hard look at who we are as people and musicians. What we found was a lot of frustration, and unhappiness that was ultimately self inflicted. I feel that us making this record was a way for us to push through that. Pseudo Star is about that journey.

What is the inspiration behind the lyrics for Love Me Like I’m Sick?
That lyric was sort of a half joking catch phrase that I made up. Someone I am very close with was dealing with some serious medical problems and I was attempting to cope with some of that stress by twisting it into something you might see on a bumper sticker.

Select any other song from Pseudo Star and what inspired the lyrics.
There’s a song on the new record called Killer Trip that was inspired heavily by my experience with college party culture. I would go to these parties and kind of ruin everything because I would end up having a bad trip. A lot of those dark moments were where I would spend time self-analyzing. I thought it was sort of funny to be sitting there in someone’s house falling into these deep emotional pits while people were just relaxing on the couch getting wasted. There was some weird dark humor to that.

How did your recent tour with Hang Tight go and what were some of the highlights?
It was awesome! Definitely going to Nashville. That city has a lot of history and there’s a ton of really interesting music happening all the time. It was great to be around. Also our hometown show was incredible. Can’t thank our fans enough for that experience.

What could one expect from a live His Dream of Lions show?
Lots of sick karate moves from our guitar player Nick. Be prepared to get blasted by a wall of sound.

If His Dream Of Lions could play with one band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
I would personally go with My Chemical Romance just so I could watch them play! They’re a huge influence on our band. It would be a dream come true.

If the music of His Dream Of Lions was a donut, what kind would it be and why?
Probably jelly filled. You go in expecting one thing and then boom there’s a wonderful surprise buried underneath. I think people might expect us to be a regular pop punk band, but we try to bring in a lot of hidden classic influences.

Has Taylor Swift or Lana Del Rey heard your cover of their songs? Has there been any interesting reactions to the covers overall?
We’re not entirely sure, we heard a rumor that Lana did hear our National Anthem cover but we can’t confirm that. We’ve been generally surprised by how well even the die-hard fans of the original artist have received them. It’s always great to hear from the actual fans that we did a song justice.

Any chance of His Dreams Of Lions making it out to the West Coast?
Yes chances are good, and keep getting better. Hopefully this year!

What’s up next for His Dream Of Lions?
We’re going to push through till the end of the month and then we should be hitting the road in Feb!

Any final words of wisdom?
Find a passion and pursue it relentlessly.

His Dream Of Lions is:
Seth Coggeshall – Guitar/Vocals
Colby Witko – Keys/Vocals
Nick Jones – Guitar/Vocals
Justin Mason – Bass

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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