Chatting with Zach Taylor of Dreamer Boy About Touring, His New Album, and Feeling Fulfilled

In support of the release of his third album LONESTAR, Zach Taylor, aka Dreamer Boy, has been—very fittingly with the record’s theme—making his way around North America, performing at some of the world’s most iconic cities and venues, including Toronto’s Velvet Underground. There, I was fortunate enough to spend some time with him and talk about life, art, and everything in between.

This being my first time seeing him on tour (which was way long overdue, might I add), I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I was immensely happy to learn that, on top of being an incredible and lovely human being, he is also a brilliant and powerful performer. Zach seems to own the stage like only some of the biggest, most memorable rock stars can, and gives every bit of himself to the music and to each person that will show up for him.

Taking the time to sit with me while his bandmates hung out on the venue’s rooftop, the 28-year-old shared some of his favorite things about his current career path, as well as the struggles and growing pains that inevitably come along with them.

SH: Can you tell me where you’re from? The internet gave me a lot of different answers.

Zach: I’m from a lot of different places, honestly. I guess that I don’t really know where I’m from, but I do feel like I call a lot of different places home. I’ve lived in Texas, then I moved to Alabama, then I moved to Washington, then I moved to Tennessee, and now I live in L.A. So I really don’t know where I’m from, but I’ve lived in the South for a long time, most of my life.

SH: How long have you been in L.A.?

Zach: Only two years.

SH: How are you liking it so far?

Zach: I like it alright. It’s a place that I’m still trying to figure out for myself, you know? It’s beautiful, I like going on hikes, and walking around my neighborhood. [I have] made a lot of friends there, but I’m still just trying to, I don’t know, I’m still settling in.

SH: You have a lot of friends that are also in the industry, right?

Zach: Yeah! It’s part of the reason L.A. is kind of weird. It’s just like… very saturated with that. And so I’m trying to develop a relationship with living in a place where a lot of people are doing the same thing you’re doing, and I have lots of friends that are just doing similar things. And it can be strange for that reason too.

SH: Do you ever find yourself comparing levels of success, or just what people that you know and your friends are doing? Like, for example, who is doing bigger tours?

Zach: Oh, 100%. And anybody who says they don’t is lying.

SH: How do you handle all that?

Zach: I think what it is is that you should constantly be trying to protect that part of you that is the purest thing of why you’re there. What you’re doing, why you’re making things, all of that. But I would say that the proximity to all of that makes protecting that even more of a priority. I think at the same time –just to balance it out though– the proximity can also be a beautiful thing. Something me and my friend have talked a lot about is treating the time of living in LA, at this time in our life, as a way to keep learning and kind of soaking up. Whatever that means with relationships and people Seeing it as an opportunity to learn from people and from how close you are to people that you look up to, or just our peers.

I think looking at it as a chance to be able to learn has been something I want to take back to L.A. after this tour. Whether that’s just getting breakfast with a friend, who also does music, and sharing tour stories. It’s a chance for us to connect and learn from each other, because we’re both doing the same thing.

SH: Do you think you have a good support system in the industry right now?

Zach: I think so. I feel really close to a few people and have friends who I think are really grounded. I think that part is the most important thing, that support system. But I definitely think in some ways, I’m going through a phase there, recalibrating that support system. And that can be a little scary.

SH: You mean like re-choosing the people in it?

Zach: Yeah, I’m just… going through a breakup (laughs). When one pillar of a support system, like, falls, then you sort of have to reestablish some things. That’s also another reason why L.A.–the way I’m maybe even talking about it right now feels very blurry for what my life looks like there–because I just kind of left during a turbulent time and now I’m just out here.

SH: So, your music… I like the deep questions more, but I need to ask about the music.

Zach: Yeah, in a way though, I do feel like conversations like this… I’d rather just talk about life too, because I feel like it makes its way to the music anyways.

SH: Right! That’s true. So since you’re going through… not an identity crisis, but you know… like regenerating.

Zach: No, sure, we can call it that! I’m down to call it that. I don’t know what I’m doing. I honestly don’t.

SH: I don’t think any of us do! But your three biggest projects are all very different from each other. Was that merely a creative choice? Or has that been you reinventing yourself the three times?

Zach: I really don’t know, other than I do feel like I continue to find music that I want to make at the time, and chasing that down doesn’t feel too far off. But obviously I think when you’re only putting out music every couple years,it can feel like there’s all these different projects or different things. I’m just open to that exploration, just like I am to changing as a person over those years, or seeing friends grow or that sort of thing. I think evolving is good, but I think artists are also always kind of looking to feel like they’ve arrived somewhere as well, and maybe no one ever feels like they arrive. But I do think that as far as making the music goes, I’m always craving to reinvent what I’m doing.

I do think it can sometimes feel a little frustrating that that feels normal to me, or that it feels like what I need to do to stay excited. The frustrating part isn’t as personal, it’s trying to see if an audience would want to follow me there. It’s more of that part. Because I think making anything you want to make is what the key is to continue to make true things.

SH: Things that fulfill you.

Zach: Yes, exactly. And that’s all I’m doing.

SH: How would you define success? And when you put out your albums, what is the reaction that you would think would be the perfect one?

Zach: I think, on a good day, I define success as something I’ve already done, which is just believing enough in something you’ve made to put it out, you know? That, to me, is hard enough on its own. There’s been points in my life where that’s all I wanted, just to arrive at the point where I’ve finished something that I’m proud of and put it out. But then there’s obviously all the external things that come with making music, being vulnerable, trying to build a life, trying to stay hungry and aspirational, all those things. So success is maybe more nuanced, rather than “if I can just put out something I’m proud of, I’ll be successful.”

And then the reaction part is almost a completely separate thing. I’m just curious to see what people think and what people find in it and what people connect to in the things that I’m making. And I don’t let those reactions and people’s reception to it interact with my version of success. It’s just like a bonus to see what people think. So I think the success part of it hopefully comes way before that. It’s just being proud of what you’ve made.

SH: And hopefully that will translate into a good reaction anyway, because you’re creating what you want.

Zach: Yeah, exactly. You hope what you make translates to someone. Even if it’s just one person, that’s a success. But I would say I’m caught in this weird place of feeling very aspirational and driven. I want this music to find as many people as possible. I think that’s what we all want, to receive some sort of validation from that. So I’m managing that pursuit in life right now, at 28 years old, and it’s hard. But you try and put that aside and live kind of more presently, and live for those however many people connect to it. Whoever’s here tonight, that’s amazing to me. It’s like a miracle. But yeah, it’s tricky. It’s tricky when you want to fly, you just hope that you do what you’re capable of.

SH: Live up to your potential.

Zach: We all want to feel like we at least gave it enough to see what that might be, and so I’m trying not to be hard on myself.

SH: You do seem a lot more confident, even vocally, in this new album. “If You’re Not In Love”, it’s my jam, and I feel like you sing differently in it too. I just keep thinking “oh, he probably realized that he can actually sing!”

Zach: That’s actually a really high compliment, because I do think that, through one way or another, experimenting through making this album, I do think that exploring what my vocal could do. I do feel like my only real skill is to write lyrics and to use my vocal, and so I do feel like I’m constantly tinkering with that tool to see what I can get out of it. I do think that nobody has a bad voice, everybody can sing. It’s just how you get familiar with that instrument, and figure out just a creative, emotive way to use it. And I get so excited about discovering new ways to use my voice. One of the only things that I have to express myself, how can I use it and dig deeper to get the most out of it or do something exciting and make choices that feel like they push the song or performance. I love that it comes through on this album, because that was something that I was really excited about, trying to just push.

SH: A more technical question: the aesthetics for each era. Does that come at the same time as the music? Or do you go through it afterwards? Or how does it all happen?

Zach: Pretty, pretty much they’re both happening parallel. I feel like it’s one of those things where, when you’re in the weeds with an album, you want to submerge yourself in it. More physical, tangible ways to manifest that world you’re building, you naturally want to do that too. Whether that’s just something you might put up on the wall in your room or you know, a jacket you wear, the way you start expressing yourself, style wise, all that stuff, I almost feel like it starts seeping out of what’s going on inside you that you’re making. That is the music. All those other things just can’t be contained in just the music, it needs to burst out of it into just who you are. Then you get to figure out more tactically how to package that feeling for people so they can visually understand the thing that you’re seeing and feeling inside of yourself in the music. It almost becomes like its own whole creative process, the backdrop, the feeling, what the colors are, what the font looks like, all that stuff.

SH: Who are your best kept secrets in music? Artists that you feel, maybe only you know, but you think will eventually blow up?

Zach: I’m on tour with my bandmates, Christian Taylor, Aidan Spiro, Aaron Wing, Rick West. All those guys have music that they work on with each other or have solo music, and they worked on this album with me. It’s not that they’re secrets, but I’m so close to them all the time, and I do feel that proximity to people like that, makes you know that they’re special. And in the same way that they try and give me reassurance that everything’s gonna work out, I feel the same way about them. I know everything’s gonna be great and everything’s gonna work out for them.

SH: Last question. Your music, is it for live shows or do you make it for like, listening in a room or with friends or with headphones while on a walk?

Zach: I make it for live shows, for sure. I’m thinking of how it will feel live more than anything else. But that’s just me. I think I value all experiences, but when I’m writing a song, I’m thinking about how it will feel live, if I had to pick.