Dollarosa

Australian bands have a tendancy to come out of nowhere. Their music slaps you in the face with a, “yeah this is awesome, and I know you want more of it!” Dollarosa is one of those bands. Their sound is reminiscent of A Day To Remember, Circa Survive, and Four Year Strong, although they come from the land down under. We had the chance to catch up with the frontman, Lachlan Dann, of this up and coming band about their music so far, and what we should be expecting from them in this coming year. While you’re at it, take a listen to their song “Curses” right here and you’ll know what I’m talking about!

How did Dollarosa form?
Back in 2010, the bands previous front man decided to part ways with the guys. The band was just starting to gain momentum and securing some spots on big shows.  I had known everyone in the band for a very long time, growing up with most of them. When they were having trouble finding a new singer, I decided to try out. There was an instant and natural connection, but that isn’t to say that it was easy. This was the first band I have ever fronted. I was a drummer before, so going from the back to the front was interesting haha.

Now, you guys are from Australia. Are you mainly working on breaking through the Australian scene, trying to transfer over to the US, or just trying out what works?
I guess we are trying everything. Not just to be that flavor of the month, but to get there and stay there. We are hungry and ambitious and love the attention that Australian bands are getting over in the US recently. We try and do things very old-school. We look at bands that we grew up listening to and figured that if they can get to where they did without Facebook, Twitter and YouTube…those are the steps we will take, still using social media, but using it in a different way. Far too many bands rely on social media these days, and although I will admit that it does work for some, before too long, the next band comes up with 100,000 Facebook likes and they forget about you.

What was it like working with JR Mcneely and Tom Coyne?
Getting to work with such amazing and respected engineers was something we never thought we would get the chance to do, at least not this stage of our careers. Both of them have won Grammy awards and we never thought they would be interested in working with some Aussie band. In saying this though, it was never about how decorated they were or who they had worked with in the past, it was always about who could add the most to our sound and justice to the songs that we had worked our asses off to write.

How do you think your album, The Never Ending Unfamiliar, would have differed if you worked on it independently?
We aren’t signed and we did it independently in the sense that we had no financial backing, no label to report to, no management agency booking shows…it was all us. We basically started again as a band, and no one would sign or book a band that doesn’t have so much as an EP on the market. We sacrificed a lot to get The Never Ending Unfamiliar out and continue to work hard to earn the respect of anyone who listens to us.

Was the fan response to the album what you had expected?
The general comment we get is, “where the hell did you guys come from?”, which I am pretty happy with. We have had very positive feedback from people in places that we never thought our music could reach. We have also had some…constructive criticism, but we take everything on-board and love talking to people and bettering ourselves.

Will we be seeing Dollarosa on the road in 2013?
This year is going to be extremely busy for us. We are working on a few tours and are hoping to come over to your side of the world soon. We also have a new single coming out with a special guest vocalist from the US, and we can’t wait to share that with you!

What would be a dream tour you’d love to go on?
If it was possible to draw a few of these bands out of hiatus….Thrice, Alexisonfire, Letlive, Every Time I Die and Circa Survive. I could keep adding to that list, but you get the idea haha.

What makes your band different from the others in your genre?
As I was saying before, we have a very different approach to things than most bands do these days. You have some bands that will spend thousands of dollars on Facebook promotions to get people liking their page, we aren’t opposed to those kinds of methods, but they disappear just as fast as they popped up on the radar. We don’t really listen to other bands and think “hey, we should do that too”.

What are your goals as a band for 2013?
We have so much planned for this year. Touring, a new single coming in the next month and more touring. We are hoping to get our feet firmly planted in the US and are wanting to come over towards the end of the year to record our first full length.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Getting to play with such a broad range of bands such as Attack Attack, Peirce The Veil, Dream On Dreamer, Cartel, even bands like Hawthorne Heights, All Shall Perish and P.O.D. Meeting new people and getting the opportunity to make a living out of something we love, that is probably the main thing.