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Music

The Dreggs talk debut album, playing Fornite, and taking pride in their music

We caught up with The Dreggs fresh off their new album to chat all things ‘Caught in a Reverie’, touring and social media. 

In April, The Dreggs treated us to their long-awaited debut album ‘Caught in a Reverie’.

A 12-track collection bathed in warm and lush indie-folk, the project brims with dreamy melodies and lustrous instrumentals, emerging as a sonic daydream carried by the Sunshine Coast duo’s reflections on loss, grief, and personal growth.

The Dreggs INTERVIEW
Credit: Jordy Wydra

Fresh off the release of ‘Caught in a Reverie’ and in anticipation of their mammoth Australian/NZ tour (find tickets here), The Dreggs swing by Happy to dive deep into songwriting, social media, and getting the album to “to a point where we were proud.”

Catch the full interview below, and scroll down to listen to the duo’s new debut album ‘Caught in a Reverie’.   

HAPPY: What are you up to today?

THE DREGGS: We’re currently heading down to play a couple of sold out shows around Victoria! Finishing off our album release parties!

HAPPY: Can you walk us through the creative process for Caught in a Reverie? How do you approach writing a new song or album?

THE DREGGS: Well, we’ve never written an album before so it was all new to us. We wrote most of it in the studio which was nice but also a different experience to how we normally wrote songs, just the two of us sitting in our kitchen at home haha!

 

 

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HAPPY: Can you tell a little about the inspiration behind Caught in a Reverie?

THE DREGGS: It was written through Covid, during all the lockdowns and uncertainty.

We wanted the album to have a narrative and as we both went through some pretty hectic breakups during this time we thought what a better narrative for an album to have than to be about the trials and tribulations you find yourself dealing with post breakup.

HAPPY: Who or what are your biggest musical influences?

THE DREGGS: We honestly have so many to be honest. From Mumford and sons, The Lumineers to Sam Fender and of course Noah Kahan

 

 

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HAPPY: Your latest album has a distinct “Dreggs” sound, yet you mention each song being somewhat different. How do you achieve this balance of stylistic variety while maintaining your core identity?

THE DREGGS: This was unintentional, in the end we just wanted to write heaps of songs and get the album to a point where we were proud of what it was.

I think we just wanted to stay true to our songs which was guitar, banjo and piano always being the staple instruments. 

HAPPY: From busking to sold-out shows and international tours, your journey has been remarkable. What are some key learnings you’ve gained along the way? 

THE DREGGS: We feel it’s been a gradual incline as we have just kept turning up and, in a way, forcing people to listen to our music haha but the biggest lesson we have learnt is there’s no linear line to making music a full-time career.

HAPPY: You’ve described the album as a reflection of personal growth. Did specific experiences or turning points inspire certain songs?

THE DREGGS: Yeah definitely, we both went through breakups at pretty much the exact same time, On top of that we were dealing with the Covid lockdowns and the identity crisis’s that came with all of that.

It made us realize how much growing we actually had to do ourselves haha so that’s how the album came about.

HAPPY: Collaborating with multiple producers seems like an interesting approach. How did this contribute to the album’s diverse soundscape?

THE DREGGS: Originally ‘Caught in a Reverie’ was supposed to only be an EP with 4 or so songs on it, some of the songs from the album had been sitting finished for a couple of years now.

One thing we never really thought about was how much each producer can bring to the table. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s not so good.

All the people we have worked with on this album have been a dream and we are stoked we had the opportunity to work with each one of them.

 

 

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HAPPY: You mentioned wanting each song to stand on its own. Are there any particular tracks you’re especially proud of or excited for fans to hear? 

THE DREGGS: We are so proud of the album as a whole but I think the story behind ‘Peeps with the Goods’ is worth talking about.

We got the opportunity to go down to Matt Corby’s ‘Rainbow Valley’ studio and we co-wrote the song with him and also our friend Alex Henriksson.

We walked in with no song and two days later we came out with ‘Peeps’. Sometimes with songs the post recording mixing stage is the hardest part but with ‘Peeps’ how you hear it now is exactly how it was recorded. We barely touched it. 

HAPPY: What are some common misconceptions about the life of a musician that you’d like to address?

THE DREGGS: It’s not always fun haha with social media all everyone sees is the highlights.

They don’t see the struggles of being independent musicians, they don’t see all the flights, the early mornings and late nights. To be honest we wouldn’t want it any other way.

 

 

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HAPPY: Looking ahead, what have you got coming up?

 THE DREGGS: We have a massive year coming up. We head over to Europe and UK next week for a month and come straight back and jump into our biggest Australia and New Zealand tour to date!

HAPPY: Lastly, what makes you happy?

THE DREGGS: Seeing people enjoy our music, getting in the ocean, playing Fortnite and good food.