By Every Friday through the pandemic, Merry-Go-Round Magazine hosts Dime in the JQBX, a fun event where artists from across the musical spectrum come and hang out! During these events, Editor-in-Chief CJ Simonson attempts to navigate a short and often spontaneous interview in the chat with the artists! We figured why not save those and publish some of them, along with the songs that the artist played that night. This edited transcript is from March 12th with Tyler Dozier, aka Lady Dan! Lady Dan has an excellent debut album out Friday on Earth Libraries. You can find a playlist of all his picks from that night below! Join us on JQBX.fm every Friday at 6 p.m. PST!
I have heard the new album, I AM THE PROPHET… A LOT of times. It’s incredible. It comes out April 23rd, the day before my birthday so, going to go ahead and choose to believe it’s for me as a gift.
Tyler Dozier: Holy shit! It comes out two days before my birthday. HEY TAURUS! Oh my god. April Taurus. We’re special!
That’s what those who know things tell us, I’ll plead ignorance ha! It’s out on Earth Libraries, a label who have just an insane treasure trove of cool stuff. And they’re a label that’s only on my radar really because of this Dime in the JQBX event. Bryant wandered in here, asked if he could play stuff from the label, and it was a resounding yes and been a fan ever since.
TD: Bryant is obsessed and I love it.
How did you guys get linked? Did Earth Libraries do your previous EP, SONGS FOR THE SOULLESS, too?
TD: I lived in Birmingham for a time, but after I moved to ATX, they signed another ATX based band and that band linked us up. Technically, that EP was released independently. However Earth Libraries re-released it once I signed in April.
I feel like that’s almost always the answer when I ask that question doing these mini interviews in JQBX but at some point someone’s gonna have a crazy story.
TD: Yeah linking up felt serendipitous for me!
Do you feel like the album is a big musical step forward? It feels… bigger to me. The energy is really defined. The EP is great but it’s almost more reserved by comparison
TD: Definitely. Jeremy Clark took it to the next level on production and Adam Grover really blew it up on mastering. I’m aiming for everything to feel bigger from here on out.
The press has been really great, I mean, that Stereogum bump is great, NPR, etc. Does it FEEL like suddenly a lot of things are just happening all at once? I don’t know what kind of press the EP saw but, from the outside looking in it’s like “ohhhhh Lady Dan is about to be big,” whatever that means in indie rock.
TD: The press has been pretty badass for this album. I think it’s also a matter of knowing how to approach your release… business has to pair with it ya know? But yeah, at the same time I’ve been so surprised with the response on these new tracks.
We often talk to artists who have JUST released albums, rarely in the lead up so always curious if it feels like things are happening or if it’s just like, na, another day doing music!
TD: NPR was a big and pleasant surprise for sure and also Sirius?!
Yeah that was a wild spin to come through no question What’s a good way to support you and other artists leading up to the album being release?
TD: FOLLOW ON SPOTIFY! It shouldn’t matter a lot BUT IT DOES!
Check out all the tunes Lady Dan played during Dime in the JQBX below and check out I AM THE PROPHET this Friday!
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