L.A. rock band, Dead Sara, are currently out on tour with Muse.
Dead Sara are still touring behind their 2012 self-titled album which features their well-known single, "Weatherman".
On Thursday, Dead Sara vocalist, Emily Armstrong, took some time to share how the tour is going and talk about where the band is headed from here.
Q: How is the tour going so far?
Emily: It's going pretty good. It's funny because we're singing the same songs that we wrote like 3 years ago but it's really awesome because the thing is that we're on tour with Muse!
Q: How did this tour come about?
Emily: Well I know that Muse's drummer, Dominic (Howard), had mentioned us in an interview that he was doing once just like being in L.A. and the interviewer asked him what are you listening to and he was kind of saying how on the radio they still play Rage Against the Machine and he thought that was cool. Then he just started talking about this one Dead Sara song is really cool. "Weatherman" or something and he just kind of was saying how it was this huge monster riff and how the girl is screaming her bloody brains off and that was about it. From there I was like you know what let's try this. I called the manager and everything and I was like this is our opportunity if we ever want to go out on tour with Muse. So we were on the short list and then from there we got on.
Q: Have you been getting a chance to get out and watch their set?
Emily: Oh yeah. They're phenomenal! We've seen them before actually. We had a band date to go see them with Rage Against the Machine. It was really cool.
Q: Since you have been playing these songs for such a long time, was it hard to put together a set list? How long do you have to play on this tour?
Emily: We only play for about forty minutes. It's kind of like what fits in that time. What rules together very well basically and what translates. You don't want to make it boring or make it too screamy. You've got to have it well-balanced. If you have a certain amount of time you really have to pick and choose based upon how it flows.
Q: With the large crowds on this tour are you seeing your fan base growing?
Emily: Oh yeah, absolutely! That's been great. That's been the best part of this whole tour. Muse fans are like real music fans. Obviously it's always nice to have people come up and say your music's awesome. It's a great acknowledgment and when you play for arenas you get a lot more of that just because the amount of people are bigger. It's just cool.
Q: Have you seen the crowd reacting more to a particular song or songs?
Emily: Not necessarily. Most of them are all new to them so by the time we play "Weatherman" at the end they're cheering louder than with the first song. It builds up. That's always a good sign.
Q: Is there a song that stands out for you?
Emily: Well I think it's "Weatherman". I know it sounds stupid but that was the first song that we wrote together. There's that one and then "Sorry For It All", which is one that I wrote years ago and we decided to put it on the record even though it was already released.
Q: Are you working on new music?
Emily: Yeah I've been writing. After this tour we're gonna focus on writing new stuff. Hopefully we can get a new record out by the end of the year. That's depending on how fast the process is.
Q: Are you looking to change things up?
Emily: I think it's grown more and I hate when artists say that because it's like what does that mean but you just got to understand that when we got into a room altogether for the first time and wrote "Weatherman", we didn't really play together before that. After doing that first record we'd only played a hand full of shows. Now we've gone on, well this is I think our fifth U.S. tour, so it's like we've gotten to know each other a lot more musically and understand a lot more like oh these guys can sing too! It's gonna be a different approach for this next record. It's just gonna be better I believe because we understand each other a lot more and are in tune with one another. We've grown a lot together.
Q: What's your goal for the rest of the year?
Emily: Yeah I'd love to go to Paris...you know, Europe. There is talk about going out there this year too so that would be cool. It's obviously not set in stone. Touring Japan would be awesome. Just something that would be a total mindf*ck. You know, what the f*ck is this? It would be just the oddest but greatest thing. Just a trip.
Q: Do you have more plans for touring after this?
Emily: Not anything set in stone just yet. We'll probably be doing some festivals.
Q: What's the best part about touring?
Emily: I love to see new places. I like to travel but the way we're doing it right now on this tour is that we travel at night so we're just sleeping. We just wake up in the next city and it's just like okay, here I am. It's not as exciting in that regards but if we threw in some new songs on a set list it would be super exciting. Obviously you try to make the old songs new every time you go on stage just to keep it interesting. It's obviously great to see fans and stuff like that because they've been supporting us for years now. They come out and are like totally geeking on the fact that we're out with Muse. They're proud. They're almost more proud than we are.
Q: They're taking the journey with you.
Emily: Absolutely! I love that so much. We're keeping them happy by being accessible.
Q: With the larger venues are you still getting a chance to go out and interact with the crowds?
Emily: Yeah we've been going out to the merch booth and giving out posters and stuff.
Q: You're playing in Detroit on Saturday evening. You've played out here before right?
Emily: Yeah, absolutely. That was a great show for us out on tour with The Offspring. It was awesome. The people there really love rock and roll, I tell you!
Q: You've toured with some big names, who's left for you that you really want to go out with?
Emily: Foo Fighters would be rad.
Q: You've said before that Stevie Nicks was a huge influence for you but who or what else inspires you?
Emily: Yeah she was a strong influence when I was younger. I listen to everything. I literally just draw inspiration from a good song but what inspires me the most is what is around me. You know what are my friends doing? What are they inspired by? What are they doing that's inspiring? It's like this feeding off of each other type of vibe. It's a lot more inspirational that way.
Dead Sara will be opening for Muse at Joe Louis Arena tonight.
Doors for the show open at 6:30 pm and Dead Sara takes the stage around 7:30 pm.
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