Dead Lakes: Full Of Daydreamers

“The heavy boy band universe is a fun universe where you can just be yourself,” Sumner Peterson explains. The frontman for Seattle-based band DEAD LAKES is here to talk about the band’s debut album, daydreamer, as well as the storyline that runs through it. The main theme of the album is one of “going through the trials and tribulations in life.”

However, in order to tell a story, you need a main character. Enter daydreamer, a “superhero version” of Sumner himself. “To me, he was someone who wouldn’t let anyone stop him from getting what he wants. I felt like I was trying to make myself happy at the time of writing this album, so I was just projecting myself onto this alter ego,” he explains.

And who is to say he is alone? Haven’t there been times where we all have wondered what would happen if we embraced our dream self? Sometimes, all we need is simply that little bit of courage. daydreamer, the album, is how DEAD LAKES threw themselves into their true selves. But it would take a while for that to happen.

“We were doing all these cool things, such as getting signed, releasing our first EP. But then the EP came out right at the start of the pandemic, so we didn’t get to tour it,” Sumner explains. This caused him to daydream a lot, which influenced the lyrics of the album, which came from a place of freedom.

daydreamer, the album, could have sounded a lot more different. DEAD LAKES had been writing a lot due to the EP not doing so well. The demos that were made were sent to the band’s manager, and “they were like, ‘this is a little too far of a departure from where you’re at’,” Sumner explains. As a compromise, the sound that was eventually crafted was an alt-pop sound mixed with the sound that they are known for. The demos themselves might see the light of day, just in a new re-worked way, as Sumner says that they are some of his “favourite songs.”

The album itself is one that needs to be blasted at full volume as you’re driving down the motorway with your friends with the windows down. They suit the middle-ground sound that they chose; however, “it feels a little safe,” Sumner admits. He explains that the next few releases might have an edge to them. As the music tastes in the band have changed since they started, so does the sound of the band.

Unfortunately, if you are a fan of story-led albums, then you’ll be disappointed to hear that the uniqueness of daydreamer is a one-off. “There’s a lot of things that we want to say with the next record that if we were to try and put it in a box, we wouldn’t be able to.” This does not mean that the band are completely abandoning the storytelling aspect; they are just using it in a different way going forward. “We now have a lot that we want to say, and there are going to be a lot of different directions and moods from us in the future that won’t really be as much of a story, but more like a breath of fresh air over and over again,” Sumner laughs.

He’s very optimistic about the future of the band. Whilst he’s proud of the band’s debut album, there is also the acknowledgement that everyone has to start somewhere. daydreamer has opened the doors of creativity for DEAD LAKES, who now feel a sense of freedom to do whatever they want to next, especially songwriting wise.

“We wrote a lot of songs on this record that were all over the place. We had second halves of first verses and things like that. Our producer Sam Guaina really helped us refined the songs into what they needed to be. What we write in the future will be different to what we wrote on this record. But we also learnt a lot about about production as well. On this album, we learnt how to be the best pretty versions of ourselves, but we want to be a little more unexpected and a little more chaotic in the future from track to track. Throw a ballad right in after a song where we’re just yelling. Not screaming, just yelling,” he laughs.

Whilst the future for DEAD LAKES looks slightly uncertain, Sumner is hopeful. “I really hope 2023 is full of great things for everybody. But for us, we all work day jobs still, and we have no tours booked, so the future is very up in the air. But we hopefully have something for July/August as we have one tour offer.”

Hope and freedom are two of the best feelings that can happen to a person. Hope is just believing that something good can happen in life. Freedom is finally letting loose and having fun, not caring about what anyone else thinks, and just living for yourself. After the last few turbulent years, it appears that 2023 is finally the year where everyone discovers that hope and freedom and truly relishes in it. For DEAD LAKES, it is clear that their long-awaited debut album is simply opening the gates to those endless possibilities that freedom has to offer. It’s not that the band are not proud of the debut, because they very much are proud of it. It’s just that people change and grow, and their tastes change. daydreamer for them is based off the pandemic and the story of how they lived through it. It also signals a new chapter for the band. It is a chapter that is just starting to be written.

daydreamer is out now via SharpTone Records.

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