Interview with Trevor Dahl of Plug in Stereo

Prodigal wunderkind, Trevor Dahl of Plug In Stereo, released his latest EP, titled The Patience EP, early in January. Touring with the likes of Dashboard Confessional, Never Shout Never, and The Ready Set, Dahl’s songs are tightly crafted with a charismatic appeal that seems to be the same sort of charm that seems to come so naturally to the young and gifted singer/songwriter. He stopped to chat with TheCelebrityCafe.com for a few minutes while on the road and on tour about his craft, his views on the industry and about music overall:

TCC: Tell me about yourself. How did you get into the music business?

TD: My name is Trevor Dahl, and I started playing music in sixth grade six to seven years ago, and I started playing in Ontario three years ago. A couple of accidents and I was in a band and we played and had a break, and I just wrote a couple songs and after a while I was able to take it more seriously. I left high school and just really went for it. Kind of used the chance I had and I got a manager. I didn’t really like school and just let it go. So here I am now, actually. Just got to do what I like to do - I like music and just got to play it out and got to find my destiny here, you know.

TCC: Did you do musical theater in high school or anything like that?

TD: Nah, I didn’t. I just wrote music all the way through sixth grade. I wrote poetry since elementary school. And my dad played music while growing up. My dad played acoustic guitar and sang songs that he wrote for us. He’d sing songs he wrote while he was my age and so I just got more into it. Now I’m really into it and just got kind of stuck on it and I love it.

TCC: How would you describe your music?

TD: I would say acoustic pop soul band, I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s such a hard question. I don’t know, it’s like a fun, very acoustic driven, acoustic vocals and some are very big pop acoustic songs.

TCC: I know that you’re currently on road right now, but how was the tour you headlined in back in January?

TD: That was good. We got to hang out with a lot of good friends a lot. That was so fun. And it’s our first time headlining out in the east coast so that was cool. Yeah, it was so great. Been touring a lot lately, and it got to kind of all blended together, you know.

TCC: Are you normally touring on the west coast?

TD: I live in Portland, Oregon. Yes, so we like to play in the West Coast. Well, we like to play all over, but that was the first time headlining in the East Coast. We actually played East Coast more than in the West Coast though.

TCC: Can you name some of your musical influences?

TD: I would say I love, love the Shins, and I love Jack Johnson, The Beatles, and Bob Dylan, and Freelance Whales, and Norah Jones, and this band called Parachutes.

TCC: A lot of them have their records out right now. Like the Shins just had theirs come out.

TD: Oh, I know! I just saw them a few days ago in Texas, they just played at SXSW.

TCC: Oh wow, and I know that Norah Jones is coming out with her new album.

TD: Oh yeah. I heard about that. That will be awesome.

TCC: Yeah, definitely.

TD: I’m so excited about that.

TCC: You had two EPs out prior to The Patience EP. How would you say your sound has evolved from your past recordings?

TD: While I had sure stuff while in Ontario, I wasn’t taking things seriously. I was just writing songs for songs. And just didn’t really pay attention to it, and like spending more time with it led me to take things more seriously. With things in the beginning, I realized it was just for fun. Once I began to take the lyrics more seriously, I really started writing songs. You know that indie stuff that’s been going on, that the world’s all in knots about, I try to keep it really organic and chill and just less fake, and just a walk with Jesus. That’s personal, real, and organic as much as possible, and more time with God will get you more and more like that too, so I don’t know it’s going to progress hopefully and you will like it and as long as I like it, it all that matters.

TCC: Yeah, and I bet that people will see the authentic side and be really receptive to that.

You played at quite a few festivals. What would you say would be your favorite touring experience?

TD: We played at a few festivals. A lot of cool festivals in New Jersey. That was awesome.

TCC Was there anything that stood out to you?

TD: I think the only indie band that played there was really cool. Bruno Mars was there. There were a lot of big artists that were pretty huge and big. It was pretty cool to watch all sorts of bands and artists and see all the bigger bands to the smaller bands.

TCC: Could you tell me about the inspiration behind the band name and your The Patience EP?

TD: The band name was something someone just gave to me in the beginning and, like I said, I was not taking it seriously and I just took the name and went with it, so I didn’t change it. It’s just a name. Music makes more of an impact than the band name.

The EP is named after a song called “Patience.” It’s a title track on the EP. It’s just about the song is about being patient and doing what I love and trying not to change my childhood and work to appeal to other people, you know. I was just trying to write music. I was writing and not trying to just chill out and not try to meet other bands and artists.

There’s other bands and certain artists that I know that got signed early and they changed their songwriting and trying to be something that they weren’t. My EP and that song is just more about what it’s gonna take, and that it’s going to be a little while to be where I want to be, and to keep to what I’m doing - hopefully it will pan out and work for the best in the end.

TCC: What can fans expect from this release that will be different from your LP Nothing to Something?

TD: I feel that on the EP I try to put something that you can check out, at least one song that you can tell anybody [about]. One song that’s really acoustic, indie, rockish kind of called, “Frozen Heart.” And then there is “Patience,” and then another one more upbeat and the one regular pop song. I try to have a song in there for every type of person and so I thought it was okay with the other bands. I wanted to give what other people liked, so kind of based off of my opinions with this new album and work on this EP. Before the songs were a lot under the album, because I was really young. I put it out when I was 16, so I was a lot younger and so much that is behind these songs for sure.

TCC: What are you listening to now?

TD: I’m listening to the Shins new album right now which is awesome. I’m listening to a band called Randy Jam, who is really good. I’m listening to a lot of music right now. I’m listening to a band called the Brunettes. Their album is really good.

Want to know more about Trevor? Read his blog!