Interview Under Fire Podcast · Interview Under Fire

S.18 E.07 - Interview with Dreamwake

August 12, 2025·55 min·5 clips

DreamWake discusses their new album 'The Lost Years' dropping August 8th on UNFD, reflecting on seven years as a band.

1. Interview Under Fire hosts Sonny and James Brezza interview DreamWake — Bobby, Dave, Kevin, and Andrew — from New Haven, Connecticut, about their debut album The Lost Years. 2. DreamWake are four friends, ranging in age from 30 to 33, who formed in 2018 and have spent seven years building their sound and fanbase. 3. The episode centers on the August 8th release of The Lost Years on UNFD and an upcoming tour with Thousand Below. 4. When asked to reflect on 2018, the band describes the early years as putting in groundwork without knowing where it would lead, and emphasizes the importance of appreciating how far they've come. 5. The album title refers to childhood and adolescence — that period of freedom, rose-colored glasses, and transition into adulthood where the person you were can no longer be clung to. 6. Individual members name their favorite tracks: the collective answer is 'Cold Summer,' described as pulling at all the right emotions; one member picks 'Stargazer,' the opening track, for the same reason a great novel's first line captures attention. 7. DreamWake's sound blends metalcore with heavy synthwave influence, a combination that emerged organically from the members all being fans of both The Midnight and bands like Oceans Ate Alaska and Veil of Maya simultaneously. 8. When asked what makes the formula work, the band answers with one word: passion. They write music for themselves, trusting that authentic investment will connect with others. 9. The hosts describe the synthwave integration in metalcore as requiring significant artistic courage, noting that the album's sound required no sonic adjustments on first listen. 10. Producer and mixer Steve Perino is called the fifth member of DreamWake; the band describes being 'relentless with the smallest tweaks' toward the end of the recording process and says the album needed to feel like it hit the listener's chest in a car. 11. The album's visual aesthetic — including the album cover with a PlayStation 1-inspired gaming console — is described as a collective effort drawing from the band's shared love of 90s culture, synthwave, and retro gaming. 12. The band members are nostalgic for specific touchstones: Mallrats as their unanimous favorite Kevin Smith film, N64 over PlayStation, and Smash Bros tournaments at their merch table. 13. The New Haven local scene shaped DreamWake indirectly through the band Currents, close friends who were 'doing the thing' before DreamWake and proved it was possible to break out of the local area. 14. The band was not afraid to lean harder into synthwave on The Lost Years, describing it as an evolution of their sound that stays true to who they are while finding new ways to expand. 15. The interview has a loose, conversational energy — the hosts and band discuss sports, hot sauce made by a staff member named Cory, and the possibility of doing the interview with wings next time. 16. On the question of second-guessing finished songs, the band describes it as an inevitable part of artistry — you save good ideas for the next album, but at some point you declare the song done, because unreleased music is not yet art. 17. The band describes plans for the live experience around The Lost Years: cultivating nostalgia in show form, making the set feel familiar, like walking into an old familiar place. 18. The tone of the episode is celebratory and relaxed — neither the hosts nor the band are performing; the conversation flows like old friends catching up at the end of a productive summer. 19. This episode is best for fans of metalcore and synthwave who follow bands on UNFD and want to understand DreamWake before seeing them live. 20. Listeners who prefer clinical music analysis or discussion of music theory will find this episode focused on vibe, nostalgia, and personal story rather than technical craft.

As heard by us

A loose, scene-aware band interview with real pre-release momentum.

DreamWake's turn on Interview Under Fire is a loose, lively check-in that folds album talk, scene chatter, and a fair bit of side-road banter into one easy stretch.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play if you want band talk with album-rollout energy and actual personality.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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