Volume 1: Sunbather Die

If you’re a regular Seattle show-goer, then you’re probably with the authentic and gritty sound of Sunbather Die. Uniting creatively while attending the School of Rock music school years ago, Sunbather Die has been in the works for a long time coming. Despite playing together for only a little over a year, the trio has been able to captivate audiences in a multitude of venues around and outside of the city. Whether you’ve caught them during a set at Cal Anderson Skate Park, or have seen them covering Crystal Clear by The Garden in full jester makeup, their dynamic and sharp sound is unforgettable and leaves any listener wanting more. Luckily, we can look forward to the release of their very first official EP release, which will be available on streaming services in the near future. For now, take the time to get to know Sunbather Die, and make sure to stay updated on upcoming shows and music releases through their Instagram.

FULL INTERVIEW BELOW!

First thing, I just want to give the people an introduction to the three of you. Your name, your age, where you’re from.

[DOM] I’m Dom, I’m 22, and I’m from Anacortes originally. I moved up here, what, three years ago now? 

So basically you’re a local now.

[DOM] Local-ish, yeah.

And for you?

[HENRY] I’m Henry, I’m 20, and I’m also from Anacortes. 

Are you all from Anacortes?

[DOM] We’re [HENRY] brothers, so yeah. 

No way! Okay, that’s kind of mindblowing. And where are you from? 

[GABE] My name’s Gabe, I’m 21, and I’m originally from Mesa, Arizona.

Wow, what brought you here? 

[GABE] My dad’s work. So, I’ve been here for about 10 years now.

Well, that’s super cool. So, how did you guys come to meet each other?

[HENRY] School of Rock.

[DOM] Yeah, we all did School of Rock here in Seattle. 

That’s a great origin story. So, how long ago did you guys meet? 

[DOM] Oh, us? What was that, like 2016? 

[GABE] 2016 to 2018, yeah.

You guys were kids basically! That’s awesome though.

[DOM] Yeah, our parents used to drive two, three hours every day to get us up here to practice and go to gigs and stuff like that. 

What great parents you have! That’s really sweet. So, kind of a followup question to that, when did you form Sunbather die? And I’m curious as well, what is the origin story of the name? 

[DOM] I was in music school in L.A four years ago, and I hated it so much. I came back for spring break one time, and Henry showed me a bunch of really cool songs he had. And I was like, well, this is so much cooler than anything that’s in L.A. I said that I would move back and that we should start a band. So, I left school and it was perfect. Gabe has been our best friend for years now, and we ended up all in a house together with my old roommate from L.A too. The four of us have been living together for three years now and we’ve been jamming since then. That was the whole point of getting the house together. But, we didn’t play any shows for the first, like, year and a half, probably. We were just really bad at practicing.

It’s hard to get to that point, you know? I see it happen. 

[DOM] Right. A lot of jam sessions, but nothing really serious. I was in another project, I am still in a bunch of different projects around the city and stuff like that. But, one of my bands could not make a show I was scheduling. So I was like, ‘Hey, what if we do this and then we have something to practice for?’ We were like, ‘This is freaky, okay, we can do it, I guess!’. So, we ended up taking that gig, and that was two Decembers ago now. So, we’ve been gigging for a little over a year now. 

Where was your first gig?

[DOM] Skylark Cafe, actually, in West Seattle.

I haven’t been there before, interesting. 

[DOM] They’re really good to a lot of up and coming artists and I feel like everybody’s first show is there. It was great though. And then the name too, as much as the show was a last minute thing, the name was also like, ‘Uhhh… I guess… Sunbather Die!’ 

Really? You just put two words together and it just happened?

[GABE] Basically, we were in San Diego for Thanksgiving dinner. And we were in the backseat of the car on the way together just thinking of band names. And that somehow just came to be. 

I feel like it flows together very well, so you got very lucky with that combination. 

[DOM] We were all kind of hesitant at first, but now I feel like it’s really grown on all of us. 

I think it works because you remember the name because it’s such an interesting name. So, you guys met, started jamming, how did you collaborate together to make the sound that you do now? Because I’m assuming you guys have similar tastes, and maybe you also have some different tastes, so how did you put that all together? 

[DOM] Well, 90% of the songs are Henry pretty much, you know, the basis of everything. He writes all of the words and progressions and stuff. We kind of helped more with the arranging side of things a lot of the time. But, the idea was we were going to switch instruments a lot, which we still do occasionally. But, it’s like, whoever writes the song, plays guitar, is kind of what the thing is. So, Henry’s written most of these, so he’s playing guitar.

[HENRY] Yeah, I think moving forward we’re gonna collaborate more. I mean, we’ve been collaborating on everything, but more equal parts, I guess. And, you’ve always wanted to switch.

[GABE] Being more fluid.

Yeah, I love to see when that happens.

[DOM] But yeah, we’re just trying to figure out our sound. And Henry has this really good kind of flow of new ideas that I think just works really well with the sound we want to create. And now, I feel like it’s a lot closer to what that is. At the start, we’d show each other stuff and be like, ‘Oh that’s good, but it’s not the sound of the band.’ Henry just captured that immediately, I think. 

Interesting. So, do you guys find inspiration from similar types of music, or do you individually have your own things that drive you to make a certain sound? 

[HENRY] Yeah. We always show each other our favorite songs, so it’s kind of all mushed together in our music. 

What would you say are your favorites right now and your all time inspirations would be? 

[GABE] I know my all time inspiration is Soundgarden. Specifically, Chris Cornell. That guy’s crazy. 

Yes. Definitely the ultimate inspiration. 

[DOM] I mean, you [HENRY] turned me on to Failure, hardcore.

I love Failure! That’s great.

[DOM] That’s been a favorite. What about you?

[HENRY] The Witches. 

I love that. I can definitely hear the inspiration from Failure and Soundgarden combined, very cool. So, I know you guys said that you guys don't have any music put out right now. Are you recording?

[DOM] Yes, we’re doing it all in our basement. We’re just kind of finishing up the vocal stuff right now, so it should be out relatively soon. Getting the final touches on things, getting mastering done.

Yeah, so what is that looking like for you guys? I know some people just happen to know a guy that knows a guy, so what is your game plan for that?

[DOM] I’m doing all the recording and mixing stuff. 

[GABE] He’s been the guy that has been mixing meticulously. 

[DOM] We’ve had a lot of 4 A.M nights just like, ‘Take 56! No this sounds like shit!’  and they say, ‘No! It sounds great.’ and you don’t give me any other type of feedback. And I’m like, ‘It’s horrible!’ But, I have a really close friend that’s in another band called Wilts down in L.A, and I know he does really good mastering for all of their stuff. They’ve just kind of blown up recently, so it’d be cool to not only get that kind of high level quality production, but also maybe a good little shout out from them later, too. 

Yeah, I mean it seems like you guys are familiar with California, so you could definitely go down there and play a show or two with them.

[DOM] We played L.A, when was that? Like back in November? Yeah, on our little road trip we hit Corvallis and L.A, that’s the only time we’ve gone though. We were supposed to go twice, but he [GABE] got food poisoning the day we were supposed to leave.

[GABE] Yeah, the morning of [the show] I was just throwing up like crazy. 

That’s honestly one of the worst things that could ever happen to somebody, food poisoning. 

[DOM] We could not put you in a car for, like, 24 hours. [LAUGHS] Oh, yeah, that was bad.

Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen the next time you go to L.A. So, E.P coming soon, what can we expect from that? I know you guys said you’re trying to switch instruments and kind of collaborate a little bit more, so what can we expect sound wise, technique wise? 

[HENRY] We don’t really have any expectations. I mean, especially, for new songs, we just seem to get together and jam, so we could go any direction. We’re happy with what we have.

[GABE] Yeah, it sounds like us. 

It sounds like you guys have a good system and relationship going where it’s very free flowing to be creating and recording, and things like that. I can imagine it would be hard, you know? 

[DOM] It has definitely been a learning process for us. 

[GABE] Definitely very relaxed. 

That’s good though! Some bands get in fights over things like this, so you guys seem to have it on lock. 

[DOM] I think we’re pretty good about that. 

That’s awesome! That was pretty much all of the questions I had for you guys, unless there is anything else you’d like to put out there.

[GABE] Smoke weed and be nice.

[DOM] [LAUGHS] That’s great!