With each new album comes reinvention, and His Dream Of Lions have taken full advantage of that on their newest release, Pseudo Star. Out February 16th, the new EP finds the Virginia pop rock band experimenting with their sound more than ever, broadening their range with classic influences peppered with orchestral and electronic elements. But the band hasn’t only grown sonically – this time around, His Dream Of Lions are more self aware and transparent than ever.
With Psuedo Star out soon, His Dream Of Lions are gearing up for their best and busiest year yet. Listen to their new single, “Love Me Like I’m Sick” and read more about the EP now below!
Interview by Dom Vigil
The last time we caught up with you guys, you were just getting ready to release your self-titled EP. How do you feel you’ve grown as artists in the past couple of years?
Beyond just progressing as players and writers I think we’ve all learned to be a lot more honest with ourselves and with the band. There’s a lot more of us in this record than our previous releases, we’re not really hiding behind the layers of ambiguity we had before. I’d also like to think that we’ve begun to really shape our own sound and style.
Creatively, what’s His Dream Of Lions’ vision right now? What do you hope to accomplish in 2018?
With this record we wanted to show that young bands could make music with a lot of classic influences and still make it fun and accessible. The goal is to keep making art that no one can get anywhere else, that when people hear our music or see us they’ll think “Oh that’s new, I’ve never seen anything quite like that before”. We’d really like to turn pop rock on its head in 2018.
You’re getting ready to release your new EP, Pseudo Star next month! What goals did you have in mind for this upcoming collection of songs?
I think the obvious goal is for the record to sell well and get out to a lot of people. But as I mentioned previously, we’re really hoping to give people a unique experience with Pseudo Star. Get them hooked on the visual and musical world we’re trying to create.
There is definitely a bit of a sonic shift on Pseudo Star. With quite a few releases under your belts already, was there anything you really wanted to accomplish on the EP that you haven’t done yet?
Yes we really wanted to bring the band forward on a core songwriting level with material that we hope speaks to people right off the bat. Also instrumentally there was way more experimentation that happened with this release. We’ve incorporated more orchestral and electronic elements, and completely reproached the way we arrange percussion. Everything is way more modular and it sounds like we have two or three drummers playing all at once.
You recently released “Love Me Like I’m Sick” from the EP. Can you tell us a little bit about the track?
Yes this was the song that pushed us to write the whole record. It was written at a time when someone really close to me was going through some tough medical difficulties and I wrote the catch phrase “Love Me Like I’m Sick” as a joke. I found that it had a really cool musicality and cadence to it when I would sing it under chords so we morphed it into a song. That track really acted as a template for the way the rest of the EP was going to sound. Kind of a road map for the different eras in classic rock we wanted to explore.
There’s also an awesome music video that goes along with “Love Me Like I’m Sick.” What inspired the visuals for this one?
The video was designed to bring together a bunch of visual elements that make up the vibe of that song. We ended up bridging a lot of iconic imagery from some of our favorite films and music videos; Blade Runner, Mad Men, The Bohemian Rhapsody video and so on.
Lyrically, Pseudo Star explores feelings of uncertainty and feeling lost. What would you like listeners to take away from the stories and emotions that you’ve poured into this release?
We all deal with uncertainty, and the feeling of inadequacy, but at the end of the day it’s okay to feel that way. This record was really a way for us to push beyond our own roadblocks and make something that really matters. It’s easy to become complacent, and even if you do that’s not a referendum on your own character. We all go through it; we just want to empower listeners to move beyond some of the dark stuff that creeps in on occasion.
Can we expect any more new music before the EP drops in February?
Yes! The plan is to have a single out by the end of this month.
Do you have any other big plans for the new year?
Just touring as much as we can and playing our hearts out.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you for the interview! And thanks to everyone whose picked up a pre-order copy of our new EP!
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