Good afternoon friends,
It has been a wild start to 2025. So much has happened and the time has been flying by.
Over a month of this quarter has been spent traveling for work across 6 states. In various coffee shops, hotels, and airports, I have tried my darndest to crack away at this draft.
The time has come to finally commemorate and share an experience that happened wayyyyy back at the beginning of this year — the release of our Sophmore, self-titled album: Did I Hear Dare?
The Album That Almost Wasn’t
2022
We met over Zoom to pitch songs for an album.
The band was spread across the country. But we still wanted to make it happen. We recorded our instruments separately in bedrooms across 5 states.
In an ideal world, with unlimited time and money, we would all be able to meet up, go to a proper recording studio with a sound engineer and record all sections ~professionally~ in person and in tandem.
But strapped for cash and time — we put together the highest quality recordings we could and decided to prioritize studio time and funds for the most important pieces of the song: vocals and drums.
July 2022: The 5 of us met up for two days of rehearsal in Columbus, OH. This was to get a feel for the songs and hear the demos we sent live and with a full band.
August 2022: Jake and Dom recorded piano and drums for our first batch of songs in New York, NY.
September 2022: Cooper and Connor laid down guitar and bass tracks in Columbus, OH.
October 2022: I boarded a plane to NYC to record vocals with Dom and Jake.
December 2023: We held our second song pitch session to fill out the album.
February 2023: Dom flew to Austin, TX to complete vocal recordings.
May 2023: Dom and Jake recorded drum tracks for our additional songs in New York, NY.
Then came the call none of us wanted to make.
In mid 2023, we faced reality: we didn't have the time, energy, or funds to complete the mixing process.
Over another somber Zoom meeting, we made the painful decision that finishing the album to our standards simply wasn't possible. Better to split up the discography and pursue individual projects than compromise our vision.
And so it happened—a classic band breakup story. Hours of recording, cross-country flights, and creative effort seemingly spent for nothing. The album was no more.
The band fell into radio silence through Fall and Winter.
May 4th, 2024
Dom reached out to schedule what the calender invite was titled as “just a casual catch-up call”—no expectations, just friends checking in on each other's lives, side projects, work, etc.
During the call, Dom shared a cut of the third episode of our documentary series, Did I Hear What?
He had been working on wrapping up “loose ends” during his downtime.
As we watched together, something shifted. The footage awakened a powerful sense of nostalgia, friendship, and shared musical purpose that none of us had fully realized we were missing.
Then, almost as an afterthought, Cooper mentioned he might be able to carve out time between his PhD studies to finish mixing the album—if we wanted to bring back the songs we hadn’t released, and try again.
Dom had been planning to release another one of the pitched songs as a solo project just a week later. Without hesitation, he canceled the release that very night.
The timing was serendipitous. The Force must have been strong. We were back on.
Each of us was missing this musical collaboration from our lives.
And if this was the last album we were going to make together as a group, we wanted to do it right.
Revival: The Band is Back
After our May reunion call, the real work began. What followed was six months of what I refer to as, beautiful chaos—the kind of focused creative frenzy that only happens when you're racing toward something you deeply believe in (whilst also juggling the many other spinning plates in your life).
There are SO many grimy details between, commitment (“we are soooo back”) to completion (releasing the album we had always envisioned).
In brief:
“Vehement yes; or no”: We made difficult decisions about cutting beloved songs and adding others to create not just a collection of tracks, but a cohesive album with a clear emotional arc. The time we spent on the order of tracks alone… was lovingly ridiculous.
“Cut that cut that cut that”: We meticulously identified and rerecorded parts that weren't mix-worthy, sometimes scrapping weeks of work to get a section just right.
“3am calls again”: I boarded another flight to NYC for an intensive weekend of filming. We then continued with an Austin crew to complete the vision for our first real music video—a complex logistical puzzle involving many Google sheets shot lists, props, actors, locations, and countless hours of post-production editing.
“The DiHD? Experience”: As the album took its final form, we simultaneously planned the in-person release party—securing a venue, creating a detailed schedule, making make-shift merch, and designing an experience that would honor the music and everyone who helped create it.
Each of these elements deserves its own chapter in the Did I Hear Dare? story. A beautiful chaos — with everyone involved sacrificing something of self, for the greater whole.
What mattered most was that with each challenge we overcame, our conviction grew stronger. The same distance that had once threatened to end our collaboration now made each in-person moment more precious, more focused.
Album Release Party: The DiHD? Experience
The moment finally arrived to celebrate our creation together, in person. Four band members and three of our closest friends flew in from across the country, converging in Austin for what would become an unforgettable night—a perfect blend of everything we had envisioned for Did I Hear Dare? from the very beginning.
The Screening
The evening began with a screening of our documentary series, "Did I Hear What?"—a visual chronicle of our journey as a band:
Episode 1: A Cosmic Intro – Our origin story, complete with the awkward first meetings and early creative sparks.
Episode 2: The Fourth Wheel – The evolution of our sound as we grew from an individualized trio to a cohesive quartet.
Episode 3: Season One – The world premiere of our newest episode, capturing the roller coaster of creating and releasing our first singles—to playing our first house shows.
Episode 4: Coming Soon… ;)
Watching our history unfold on screen, surrounded by the very people who lived it, created a powerful moment of reflection before we jumped into celebrating the present.
The Live Show
Next came the part I had been both dreading and craving—playing live together again. After a whirlwind day-before rehearsal (our first in nearly three years) (we had actually NOT planned to play live for this event until a few days before arriving in Austin😅), we took to the makeshift stage.
The familiar nervous energy quickly transformed into pure joy as we locked into rhythms that had once been second nature.
The Album Listen through
After catching our breath, we gathered everyone for a complete playthrough of the album—except for the final track. There's something uniquely vulnerable about standing in a packed room while people listen to your art for the first time, watching their reactions in real-time.
3AM Music Video Premiere
As the penultimate track faded, we shuffled folks back to the screening room, dimmed the lights and premiered the music video for "3am (Calls Again)"—the culmination of our cross-state filming, recording, and event-planning efforts.
Final Reflection: It Takes A Village
As the final frame faded to black, and the credits rolled, I looked around the room at the mix of old friends and new faces, all united by their connection to our music, and realized we had created something that transcended the notes and lyrics themselves.
We had created a community. A village.
Selfishly, I wanted to document this event because it represents a major personal accomplishment 4+ years in the making. During both its creation and the celebration itself, everything felt like a blur. Even reflecting back now, I can hardly believe it happened.
Being able to create art and an event that gathered people I love from every chapter of my life was simultaneously the most amazing and exhausting experience I've ever had. What keeps coming back to me is the image of friends from all circles of life—high school, college, work, and Austin—all in one room, celebrating together.
My heart overfloweth.
Gratitude
I have deep gratitude for everyone who has been a part of this project. Huge thank you to:
Rish, Anya, Franklin, Brennan, and Cameron
Jacob, Matiss, Michael, Curtis, Nader and Nadeen
Team Funga
Everyone who has contributed to the making of Did I Hear What?
Everyone who has ever come to a show or listened to a song
Dom, Jake, Coop, and Connor for being the best bandmates and creative collaborators.
None of this would have happened without you.
From the bottom of my heart: thank you, thank you, thank you.
ML and until next time,
Anthony
(PS — here is linktree to all things DiHD? and some other BTS photos I liked :)
