Band of Dust Back From Hiatus
Milwaukee indie rockers Band of Dust have returned from several months in the shadows, kicking it off with an energetic Monday night performance at Cactus Club. Their last show had been at Bremen back in October.
Band of Dust consist of two sets of brothers: vocalist/guitarist Dustin Mayer and keyboardist Dan Mayer, plus bassist Jesse Liberty Tapola and drummer Ron Baake. Their sound is described as “evoking rustic afternoons and urban nights where suspenseful storytelling and confessionals intersect.” They hearken back to the noisy indie rock of the 90’s, laced with elements of art rock and heartland rock.
Their most recent EP, “Songs for All Blood Types,” came out last September.
“We had written a ton of songs and were ready to record something,” Dustin said. “We had narrowed it down to about ten songs that we wanted to do a live recording feel but in a live studio setting. We didn’t analyze it too much from a detail standpoint so the recording procedure we took we did a change-up from “Whispers Are Roars.” We got out of our comfort zone to a certain degree but we ended up settling on the first four songs we pumped out.”
Dustin and Dan find the dynamic of a band shifts when it has family members.
“It changes it drastically – I’d like to say all for the better,” Dustin said. “There comes a lot of trust and there’s not a lot of debate. We move on quickly when decision-making comes into play. We know each other so well that we can kind of anticipate a lot of decisions artistically; everyone in the group is a multi-instrumentalist besides myself. We end up bringing the songs to the table and come up with ideas and no one discards anything. You start to know your differences quickly when you play with guys that aren’t your brother.”
“I think it weans out a lot of typical band drama and issues you might have,” Dan added with a chuckle. “We’re family and we’re not gonna quibble over a whole lot. For Dustin and I music has always been a big part of our lives and this has really brought us closer.”
Band of Dust plan to release a series of singles in the next couple months.
