Interview with Dylan Baldi of Cloud Nothings, 2013
Below is my interview with Dylan of the indie-rock band Cloud Nothings. It first appeared on the Australian events site Everguide, which no longer exists.
Hannah Joyner: Hi Dylan!
Dylan Baldi: Hi, how are you?
HJ: I’m good. I understand you are from Cleveland, Ohio. Apparently that is the ‘Rock n Roll capital of the World.’ Is that true?
DB: That’s what I hear (laughs). I don’t know, it’s an okay city.
HJ: It’s a pretty small city isn’t it? In terms of population. What was it like to grow up there? Was there lots of other musical people…Oh wait, it is the ‘Rock n Roll capital’…
DB: (Laughs) Well, being a kid growing up there, there wasn’t a whole lot to do, so I just played music.
HJ: Cloud Nothings came about when you got to college. How did you meet the other band members?
DB: The guys who are in the band I met from just going to shows around Cleveland. They’re a little older than me actually.
HJ: So there is an ‘indie’ music scene going on there?
DB: Hmm, there’s always been a lot of bands in Cleveland. Though none of them really tour or leave Cleveland so nobody knows about them, but there’s some good stuff going on there.
HJ: That’s true of a lot of local band scenes around Australia as well.
DB: (Noise of agreement)
HJ: Your third album was released at the beginning of last year. Is Attack on Memory also the name of one of the singles?
DB: No, but it is a lyric of one of the songs on the album. A song called ‘No Sentiment.’
HJ: So why that lyric, in particular, for the album title?
DB: Well, this album sounds a lot different to the older stuff. I was kind of sick of what we were doing.
HJ: I see. So what was it like to get discovered through your MySpace page?
DB: Yeah, we got contacted through our email. A band friend of mine on MySpace knew the guy who contacted us so we just went, ‘Oh, okay.’ We were kind of lucky.
HJ: (Laughs) Did you think it would be that easy?
DB: No, not at all (laughs).
HJ: Was success outside of Cleveland what you were aiming for?
DB: No, not really. I was just making music because I was so bored at school. I needed to do something other than go to class.
HJ: You were studying the saxophone weren’t you? Or was it something else…
DB: Yeah, I was studying the saxophone. It was kind of a dead-end, I’m glad I got out of there.
HJ: (Laughs) What’s wrong with the saxophone?
DB: Oh, nothing iswrong with the saxophone. It’s cool. It’s just though, what do you do after college (to make money) apart from play the saxophone really well?
HJ: I guess it isn’t the 80s anymore. Saxophones used to be everywhere, especially in hip hop music.
DB: Yeah, and it was usually the same saxophone sample looped on all those records, like across at least forty different groups records. So quitting the saxophone isn’t a decision I regret (laughs).
HJ: And you weren’t interested in the big band music, or Jazz or anything like that?
DB: I like Jazz, and I liked playing the saxophone. I just didn’t like the school environment.
HJ: I see! It all clicks, we got there eventually (laughs). And now you’re coming all the way to Australia to play Laneway Festival. Do you like playing festival shows?
DB: I do like playing festivals. Some more than others, and I’ve never been to Australia before, so… cool.
HJ: Well, after you dropped the Saxophone. What was it about indie music then that appealed to you?
DB: Well, I like bands that are just like me. Bands that look like a group of guys who just finished work and then go play a show that night. It just seemed a lot more possible than pursuing other kinds of music.
HJ: Well, Cleveland is quite an industrial town, is that right?
DB: It was. It used to be a big industrial town but now everything is a bit dead. A lot of things look like they should be working but aren’t.
HJ: Oooh, like a ghost town.
DB: Yeah, in the 20s and 30s, there was a big steel industry there but that stopped cause it was no longer needed. Now Cleveland is kind of just hanging on.
HJ: It’s weird to think about. My understandings of the early parts of the 20th Century come from movies and old photographs. Sometimes it feels like it never existed. Do you ever get that feeling?
DB: Yeah! Well, there was such a big industrial and cultural boom and now everything is sort of just, staying still. Nothing really going on.
HJ: I mention that only because I only recently started listening to your music and that was the immediate feeling that I got. There was a real yearning I could hear. Which I like, angsty is good. Sorry if that wasn’t your intention.
DB: No that’s cool, that’s a good feeling to get (laughs) thank you.
HJ: That’s alright. The label you are signed to, Carpark Records, I’ve never heard of that one before. Do you plan on staying with them for a while?
DB: It is run by one guy and it’s a pretty small operation (just a few bands being managed, Beach House used to be signed to them) out of Washington D.C. It’s a cool little label, so the band and I don’t feel any great pressure to leave. Plus we’re friends with the guy now so that would be kind of mean (laughs).
HJ: So when you started out, you used GarageBand and other modern computer applications. That’s so far removed from how bands did things when we were kids. How do you feel about all the new technology?
DB: It’s cool that everyone can make music if they want to. It doesn’t matter, because people always make terrible music, even if it is in their bedroom for free. So the mediums aren’t making anything worse, they’re just giving more people an opportunity.
HJ: Some people tend to be a bit precious about it I guess. You don’t think the ‘scene’ is over-saturated or anything. There are about five different popular bands with ‘Cloud’ in their name, you know what I mean?
DB: Well I don’t feel overwhelmed (laughs). I mean, if you don’t go on the music websites, you don’t have to hear about all the bands. You can choose to be as overwhelmed as you want to be.
HJ: Especially because your first record came out in 2009. Which is when indie music really blew up. I find it overwhelming to find new music sometimes. Do you feel any stress to stay popular?
DB: Not really. Being popular doesn’t do much for me (laughs). I’m only stressed to put out music I’m happy with. I’m sure if it’s good, people will want to hear it. They will eventually find it too, as long as it’s marketed all over the place.
HJ: Even with illegal downloading and all that going on?
DB: Yeah, I can’t say I’ve never found music that way. All it means for me is that more people come to our shows.
HJ: (Laughs) Sorry, you’re surprising me with how chilled out you are. Must be an Ohio thing.
DB: Yeah (laughs) not caring about stuff is kind of an Ohio thing.
