Diving Into DACEY
Photo of Courtesy of Universal Music Group
How do you incorporate lo-fi, R&B, neo-soul, indie, and jazz music all in one song? Round up four talented students at Vancouver's Nimbus School of Recording and Media and let their musical expertise unfold. Frontwoman Dacey Andrada, joined by guitarist Justin Tecson (JT), bassist Joshua Akow, and lead guitarist Nathan Chan, just released their new single “LUV U A LIL BIT.” Together they make up DACEY, an electrifying ensemble you can’t quite pin down to just one label.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Dacey, Joshua, and JT over a Zoom call that pulled the curtains back on how they met, what they’re doing, and their songwriting process (a big deal for me, a brand new fan who’s had “LUV U A LIL BIT” on their Spotify On Repeat Playlist).
Who is DACEY? How would you each describe your involvement with the band?
Dacey: My role is the frontwoman of the band and I write the songs— well, we all write the songs, I’m one of the writers— and I sing.
Josh: She also coordinates a lot of the visual aspects of the band as well. Especially when we do live shows, she usually tells us what she wants us to wear and what concepts in photoshoots she wants to do, and most of the ideas for the music videos as well, in collaboration with whatever director we’re working with. Me, I play bass in the band and I also help a lot with the production. I do some mixing as well, and then I also manage our live tech for our live shows because we’re trying to improve our production quality. There’s a lot of tech that goes into that nowadays.
JT: I produce, engineer, and play guitar for the band. I also help with emails too, try to get all organized and that.
How would you describe Nathan’s role?
JT: He’s the lead guitarist.
Joshua: He helps write stuff too. And the way we write is interesting, just because we don’t always write as a full band. Sometimes, one of us as an individual will bring something to the table. We try to pick all the best ideas and make them into a full song.
So, to get into how you guys got started, you all went to the same school?
JT: I know that Josh and Dacey met at orientation.
Josh: We [Josh and JT] were classmates. Nathan was a mutual friend, and we also went to high school together. We didn’t talk much back then, but we already kind of knew he was a good guitarist. He was one of the later members to join the band, he wanted to audition but we were like, no, just come practice.
That’s so cool that you reconnected after high school! How would you describe DACEY to a new listener? What do you think needs to be emphasized?
Dacey: I would take on a sonic approach. It’s hard to pinpoint what genre we belong to because all of us have different tastes in music. I come from a Mo-Town, R&B/jazz background, whereas Nate comes from math rock, hardcore, metal genre background. And with Josh and JT, I believe that they’re similar to each other. They like electronic music production and hip-hop. So we like to incorporate a bit of our tastes into our music. As of now, I’d like to describe it as fusion, but mainly alternative R&B.
Do you find it difficult to make the general sound of the song cohesive with all of those
elements, or does it give you more freedom?
Dacey: I would say it gives us a lot of freedom in terms of writing, because we can just make anything we feel that day.
Josh: Sometimes it can be a little bit challenging in the studio, because sometimes if someone presents an idea that’s maybe leaning in direction that’s too far towards the original influence versus what our sound is shaping to become, then we’ll have to tweak it a little bit. But usually having such a diverse background in music gives us a lot of options, so we don’t get stuck too often. Everybody always has ideas.
Are there any artists, in particular, you draw inspiration from?
Dacey: Visually and aesthetically I love Tyler, the Creator. I like his whole vibe and thematics. Sonically, I am drawn most to Amy Winehouse and her songwriting and her voice in general.
Josh: In our sound it’s a lot of hard-hitting, punch-y drums, and a lot of bassline, centric riffs. So, that comes a lot from our R&B and hip-hop influence, and even with electronic music. Those components are very driving.
Dacey: I forgot to mention Tyler, the Creator’s production and everything.
JT: Heavy.
Josh: For Nathan, a lot of the riffs he likes to write and a lot of licks on the guitar, he is very inspired by math rock. Artists like Yvette Young, and a whole myriad of Japanese math rock, emo bands.
JT: Tricot.
Josh: Yeah, that would be one of them.
JT: It’s mostly stuff from 2000s, like Kanye and Timbaland are the main ones I’d say. I’m inspired by what I listen to nowadays too, so a lot of Boylife, who is pretty dope. I get inspiration from everywhere. Or I try to, at least.
In “LUV U A LIL BIT” you speak on codependency and toxic relationships. How do you
incorporate your own real life experiences into your song writing?
Dacey: When shit happens I’ll write about it after. Basically, it's my way of venting and getting my message across. I’m not one to be confrontational with somebody if I have a problem with them. I just find that music is my outlet of letting people know my opinion, how I’m feeling. For “LUV U A LIL BIT,” a little backstory to it— first of all, it’s not one of my deepest songs, lyrically. It’s a song that I wrote so I can get people to connect with what I was going through. Earlier this year I went through a weird breakup for this “situationship” I was in, and I was feeling, like, you know, shit around that time. I was just reminiscing about what I went through, the good and bad. Obviously, the bad outweighs the good for sure, but I just couldn’t get past that at one point. So when I wrote “LUV U A LIL BIT,” listening back to it, it helped me release that thought of wanting to get back with that person.
Josh: “Situationship” is a good word (laughs). We’ve all been there.
Going back to your first EP, SATIN PLAYGROUND, what was it like to write an album
with everybody? What challenges did you face?
Dacey: Some of the songs on the album I had already written before meeting these guys. I brought the songs to them and recreated two of the songs, “Sidewalks” and “I’ll Be There,” from a demo assignment from a recording or production class. I took it back to the guys and reproduced them as our own and started playing them live.
Josh: Dacey had already been doing her thing before she met us, so having her bring all these amazing songs to the table and putting our own little touches on them is definitely a really fun experience. A little daunting at first, because we were still getting to each other at first, like, “Is this good? Is this okay?” But throughout working on that album and spending more time with each other, it took us a while to get it out. I think one of the cool things is how we bonded over the years. We’ll get into a session and just jam, and no one talks. We just play. We take our time figuring it out and let the ideas speak for themselves. There’s always a certain point where we’re like, okay, yeah, this is cool.
JT: We finished up that album during Covid, and that was probably for the best. We had so many shows and didn’t get too much time together to make the album. But since Covid, we hunkered down on finishing the songs.
Josh: The pandemic was a bit of a blessing in disguise for us. Prior, we were playing a lot of shows, so between that and working jobs and going to school, it was hard to find time to book a session or get things recorded and finished.
Do you think the pandemic was an even play off, then? You weren’t able to perform as much, but you were able to write the album. What are your takeaways so far?
Josh: It definitely was a bit straining on our internal dynamic as a band. Everyone was trying to be safe, and it was quite a scary time because of the uncertainty surrounding the virus and how quickly it came on for all of us. Like, well, we gotta deal with it now, right? Trying to get things done while also trying to be responsible to a certain degree, to be socially distant and safe when people really didn’t know what was going on yet was quite difficult. But, I think in the end we were able to work through it. It’s another one of those things where— now, I think— we feel better than ever, as musicians but also as friends. Threw a couple of wrenches in the way and we had to work through it, but it was all for the best in the end.
Phoebe: That’s such a huge thing to overcome as a band.
Josh: Nathan not being able to play shows, which was probably his favorite part about being in the band, was pretty rough on him. But now that we’re finally getting out and doing our thing again, it’s reminding all of us why we’re in it. To play music together and share experiences with people who want to be a part of it.
What’s in DACEY’s future? Do you plan on writing another album, or do you want to
focus more on performances?
Dacey: Right now we are currently working on releasing four more singles. Then I think we’ll be working on an album. Hopefully touring, too.
Josh: We’ve only really played in Vancouver so far, but now it seems like we have some more fans from outside the city, the province, and even the country. Being able to get out there and really show them what we’re about. Getting to meet those people and spending time with them would be really cool. It makes it a little more real than just numbers on a screen, to see the faces behind the numbers. I think we wanna do another one or two music videos. What else, JT?
JT: World tour? Hella albums? Grammy? Aim high, you’ll end up somewhere in between.
Josh: If there’s anywhere I wanna tour, it’s Asia for sure. It seems like we have fans over there, so hopefully something will line up in the future.
If you could play one city in the world, where would you want to play?
JT: That’s loaded. Just one?
Phoebe: Just one.
JT: Pulling up Google Maps right now, hold on.
Dacey: From the top of my head, New York, Madison Square Garden.
Josh: Red Rocks, Colorado. That big natural amphitheater. If I see an artist I like play a show there, I’m like, alright, they made it. That’s where legends have walked.
JT: Maybe the Wembley in London. That would be cool.
Josh: I think Nate would want to play in Tokyo or Shibuya, just because a lot of the artists he’s super into are from Japan. That would be pretty fuckin’ dope.
That would be pretty fuckin’ dope. I had to throw in my hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the mix (just to put it out there), to which they assured me would be added to the list. One can dream.
Before we wrapped up the interview, Josh assured me that despite some stagnancy in the band’s past, the ball is now rolling and they are better than ever. DACEY has big things coming soon, and if they’re anything like the songs they’ve already released, we are in for a treat.
