Oscar Wilde once said ”Experience is one thing you can’t get for nothing”. The band Dorydrive is a band that could probably use that as the name of their latest tour. In the topsy-turvy music industry that they are a part of, they have become road warriors since their formation in 2010 as they deliver their music to the people. Along their journey, they have experienced high points as well as low points, but each one has proven to be a lesson learned to further their development. That brings us to 2014 and the release of their brand new album Here’s to You.
The band is comprised of former Echovalve frontman Mathieu Nevitt, Joey Zak, Tom’e LaBrosse, Henry Koller and Nicholas Mendini. The band may be fairly new to many people, but each member brings a wealth of experience to the table, thus giving this young band a very seasoned sound. The band has been building a strong and very loyal following as they have shared the stage with such acts as Sevendust, Pop Evil, Hinder, Alice Cooper and quite a few others. Frontman Mathieu Nevitt recently talked to me on a rare off night as they were relaxing and recharging for a show the next night.
Hey Mathieu, how’s it going man?
I’m good Johnny, how about yourself?
Life’s treating me pretty well. What do you say we jump right into this so you guys can get back to enjoying your night off?
Oh yeah, let’s do this!
I’ve listened to the new album Here’s to You several times now and I hear alot of different elements on it. I have to start off by asking who or what has influenced the band’s sound?
I don’t know if there is an exact influence per se, just the music that’s coming out, or has come out over the last five years, whether it’s country or pop or whatever as well as the rock we’ve grown up on. It’s really more of whatever has moved us all. You know, there’s a lot that you can get from today’s music other than just active rock.
You just released a new album and it’s the follow-up to your 2012 album Calling on Angels. How do you think the two albums compare and contrast?
I don’t think we’ve pushed off in a crazy direction away from what we did on Calling on Angels. That album was really just the start to showing the capabilities that this band truly has. We all agreed, including the record label, that there was still a lot of great material on that album. If you notice, there are actually remixes and remasters of some of those marquee songs from that album on our new one.
That’s pretty cool to breathe new life into them like that and maybe even expose them to a new audience who is just learning about you with this new album. In regards to those marquee songs, who handles the songwriting duties in the band?
Everybody compiles ideas and we try to bring them to the table the best that we can. The writing process is always an intricate thing because everybody in this band does put their two cents in. We really don’t consider a song complete until each one of us is happy with it. That’s pretty much how it is musically and lyrically, I’ve been writing lyrics for almost 16 years now, so I do pull from that quite a bit now.
Do you let that creative process just happen on its own or do you ever lock yourself in a room until you complete a song?
No, we’ve never really locked ourselves in a room before. A lot of it stems from ideas and once we get in the studio we start pre-production on everything with the producer. We used two producers on this new album and the newer, more edgy stuff like “Here’s To You”, “Perfect Chemical” and “Radiate” we used our newer producer Erik Nelson. Overall, the writing process is an ever revolving thing and it’s never quite the same.
What would you say has been the biggest hurdle that the band has experienced so far?
I think that it’s been a big feat that we’ve been able to stick together. You know, it hasn’t been an easy ride for us and being in a touring rock band is nothing that I would pass on to my own children. For anyone reading this, you better have huge ambitions when you want to do this and you better have your heart 100% into it. You’re better off if you do know some day to day skills, especially mechanic skills because anything and everything can go wrong.
It’s not all glitz and glamour like most people think it is, especially when you’re starting out in the trenches.
Yeah, you’re absolutely right; it can definitely get to you.
What kind of tour plans do you guys have to go out and promote the new album?
We’ve been looking into some options for us that are a little bit bigger instead of staying independent. There’s nothing concrete to speak of at the moment, but we are trying hard to get on to be direct support for a bigger band. We’ve looking at becoming very busy in April and May and hopefully throughout the rest of the year.
Check out DORYDRIVE’s (Here’s To You) Official Video
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Now, it’s time for the tough questions. What are three albums that influenced you as an artist?
That’s a great question and I actually have to stop and think about it for a second. There’s just so much music that I’ve listened to in my lifetime. I’m going to go back to Boston’s Third Stage album. The production value and the singability of all those songs and their massive harmonies were second to none. Also, either Spirit of the Radio or Hemispheres from RUSH. The musicality that the band presents and in a way where it’s not at all boring really drew me in. These were albums that my mom and dad listened to as I was growing up. I guess I will add Pearl Jam’s Ten to that list as well. I think it’s one of the best rock albums ever written and it came out in a time when music needed some direction. I guess you could say that about Nirvana’s Nevermind as well, but I think Ten was just a little more substantial.
Do you have any printable guilty pleasures that may surprise even your biggest fan?
I would have to go with the Walk the Line soundtrack with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. That whole album was done in such an amazing way that it could really take you back to that time. The fact that they did all of their own singing is pretty amazing too.
Any closing words for your fans out there?
We hope that everybody will check out the new album Here’s to You and if we are in your town, please come out to our show and see us. We’re going to be out there supporting this as much as possible. You can keep up with all of that on our Facebook page.
