Dayglow finds himself in Full Bloom

Sloan Struble, better known as Multi-Platinum Certified artist Dayglow, has been a breath of fresh air for many listeners in the indie-rock scene. With unmistakably funky arrangements that are always combined with creative visuals. All of which are recorded, edited, and produced by himself.

The world was introduced to him through his now triple-platinum song “Can I Call You Tonight?” off his debut album, Fuzzybrain, which he wrote at only 19 years old.

However, a lot has changed for Struble since then. Getting married in 2021 to his now wife, Reagan Struble, moving from his hometown of Austin, Texas, to Southern California, and traveling around the world on tours and playing festivals. As well as releasing a total of three albums (Harmony House, People in Motion, and Dayglow). The latest being a deluxe edition of his Self-Titled album. It released on June 27th and is entitled Dayglow: Superbloom, with six additional tracks.

He describes the deluxe album as feeling “like the end of a big chapter, yet the start of an even bigger one.”

On a Zoom call with Struble, as he called in from what seemed to be a room in the process of being moved into, he reflects on his past musical eras, and what he’s got on the horizon. He joined with a baseball cap and a smile, in typical Dayglow fashion.

Hey Sloan! The deluxe is out after teasing it for like three months. How do you feel?
I feel really stoked. I’m really glad that it’s out. It’s funny ’cause it kind of had to be a deluxe to the album, but it feels like a whole other album to me, and so it’s awesome.

You played them all across your European tour, so why the wait until now to announce and release it?
I’m always so creative, putting stuff out, [so] I don’t wanna overwhelm people too often because the Self-Titled record was not that long ago. I think it gives the songs more of a chance to be heard.

Experiencing change and dealing with it is one of the main themes you tackle in your discography, and Dayglow: Superebloom is no different. So now that you’re looking back, how do you think your approach to experiencing change has shifted and how so?
I definitely just care less about how I’m being perceived. It’s ironic ’cause when I’m in that head space that I’m in now, I’m way more creative and like productive. You know? The less I care, the more I make stuff that I enjoy.

But I think right now in my career, I’m just not that concerned, at least to the masses, how I’m coming across. Just doing stuff that’s really special for my fan base and the people that care. Focusing on that, not trying to like make it blow up or something. Just making the art that I wanna make, and seeing what happens then.

Were there specific moments in your career before this where you felt held back by your fear of ‘not fitting’ in or not conforming? How do you combat those feelings now?
Especially in the indie alternative world, so much has to do with coolness and being perceived in that way. Putting yourself out there on social media can just be so exhausting. I’m definitely doing that more than I’ve ever had to in my career so far, which has its pros and cons. Just growing up and having it be my career despite anything, I’m just amazed it’s still happening.

When I was making Harmony House, I was like fully convinced, like it came and went. Fuzzybrain is still, the biggest album that I’ve had. I was fully convinced nobody’s gonna show up. Then, People in Motion, same thing, Self-Titled, same thing.

People are still showing up, I’m finding new people who care. Just seeing that it hasn’t disappeared has made me feel like I can relax a little bit and let go of the control and let go of the fear, and just like let. Do its thing.

It’s always still there, no matter how big of an artist you get. I’ve heard stories from people who are way more famous than me and they have the comparison issue. Just learning how to get outta that headspace and not care about being too nonchalant. I’m trying to be myself as much as I can.

Many of your fans have mentioned that your music meshes well with a lot of other indie artists. Is there a reason you don’t do collaborations or features on your music?
Not really a reason, it just kind of never happened. So much of the industry is just being like extroverted. I just can’t, for the life of me, get myself to network. Like, I can’t do it.

When the right opportunity comes, I’m sure there’ll be a song that I have with someone. I just always end up making stuff myself. I just always end up finishing something, and then it becomes really personal to me. I’m just like pretty specific on the vision of the way I wanna present myself and put my art into the world.

I think it would just have to be like a specific artist that I’m collaborating with that makes it feel right.

So who would you be your dream artists to collaborate with?
I feel like it’d be really cool to work with a legacy artist. Like, if Michael McDonald wanted to do a song, that’d be really cool. I’ve been listening to a ton of Phil Collins. Just that type of music. But modern artists, I love Declan McKenna [and] I love DJO.

The Superbloom imagery is very fun, scrapbooky, and funky, which is pretty different compared to the self-titled imagery, which is more like classic and bold and simple. So What was your process for finding the imagery, fashion, and themes in general for Superbloom?
Just like making mood boards for myself and really studying references on what I was liking at the time. I think the scrapbooky thing comes from just wanting it to feel like Tangible. I love working with things that feel real and authentic. Working with paper, paper textures and stuff like that just comes across really fun. I think [Dayglow] was missing some color, visually. I was like, ‘I’ll just add a bunch of colors.’

It was definitely like a risk [for Self-Titled] to not do anything, just like Norm Core. The rest of the albums were like a concept, where Self-titled, there is no concept. Right.It’s just Dayglow in and of itself. Where Superboom kind of takes everything that Dayglow has been and makes it one thing.

How did it feel playing The Scoots Inn again after all this time? Was it like a full circle moment? How did that feel for you?

Oh, it was sick. Um, it was really, really fun. The first time I played Scoots Inn in Austin, it was like a room that could fit. 50 people. This time, I got to play the stage.

It’s always so fun playing shows in Austin and just driving around and being like, ‘oh, I’ve played a show in that backyard.’ Love and support that people keep coming back.

A lot of your newer fans don’t know that you didn’t always go by the stage name Dayglow. For your earlier career, you went by another name. So, what was it, and why did you change it?
I used to make music as Kindred. I wouldn’t say there’s much philosophy behind it. I was making Kindred music when I was like 15. I started making Dayglow music when I was like 17.

I think the difference between Kindred and Dayglow was, Kindred was more electronic-focused, and I was planning on performing it by myself. Where Dayglow, I was like, ‘I’m still gonna make it all myself, but it’ll be played live by a band.’

Do you have any plans to rerecord any more kindred songs like “Speed of Time” or, even your unreleased stuff from Fuzzybrain like “Crowns” or “All At Once” or will they stay on the Dayglow hard drive forever?
There’s a lot of songs that are just like totally unreleased that nobody knows about, that I’ve been going back to, kind of rewriting and working on. I feel like [it’s] the most explorative that I’ve ever been with my music. I’m going through some old demos and stuff, um, but we’ll see. But no one will know they’re old, because they’ve never been released.

Do you think you’ll ever do a specialty album, like a live album or an acoustic recording or something like that?
That’d be cool. I don’t know. It just comes down to what I can do with like my label when it comes to releasing music. I love throwing stuff on Instagram and just doing whatever there.

I’m definitely writing lately, a lot more acoustic stuff, more ballad-focused music. Were the Self-Titled kind of got that bug out of me, where I’m straight to the face, as loud as possible.

I feel like with every album that I make, I’m loud, and then I become quiet. I think I’m in that quiet phase. I’m still just in the creation process.

How did it feel finally getting to play in Europe?
It was sick. I love playing shows in the UK and in Europe, and I wish it could have been a longer tour. I love playing shows anywhere and especially when it’s out of the country. It’s so mind-blowing to me that people like really show up and like really care. Like I’m just so thankful for my fans and it’s awesome, I’m just kind of like winging it, like I’m a musician.

I make songs in my studio at home, but people show up and they care. It’s awesome

If you could give one piece of advice to your 19-year-old self writing Fuzzybrain, what would it be?
I would say, get myself to feel less of a perfectionist, and less stressed about it, just have fun. I would say, ‘you’re doing all right, you’re okay.’

The question everyone has on their minds, are there any plans for a Superbloom tour in the future?
I hope so. I honestly hope so. I’m talking to someone who’s going to give the information, so it’s like, I truthfully don’t have anything planned. But, I really want to It’s just a matter of like logistics, as boring as that is.

I will say this to both Melodic Magazine and Dayglow HQ. I really, really want to do a tour.

A few rapid-fire questions to end our interview off with, lets go!

Q: What’s your favorite drink or snack to have while on tour?
I drink a lot of coconut water. There’s gross coconut waters and there’s good ones.

I’m trying to think of snacks. What do I even eat? On tour, I eat cereal pretty often. I like to go to Whole Foods and get the Cocoa Puff Whole Foods version. I don’t know if it’s any healthier, but it just makes me feel like it is.

On tour I like to like go grocery shopping. Like when I’m somewhere that has a Whole Foods close by, that’s always a good feeling.

If you could remove one song from your discography, which one would it be?
Um, geez. If I had to remove [one song] from the entire discography from each album:

Fuzzybrain: I would probably remove “Nicknames.” It’s an awesome song! I think that it could have been on Harmony House.
Harmony House: “Moving out.”
People In Motion: “Stops making sense”
Self-titled: “Every little thing I say I do.”

What did you do with the Self-Titled encore shirts after every show ended? And which short pun was your favorite?
The one in LA was the Hollywood Star Walk of Fame. That one was cool. That was like one of my only drawings.

San Die-glow was a good one. Rolls off the tongue.

Did you do them the day of show, have them planned ahead of time?
I did them 10 minutes before going on with a Sharpie. I just have them in like a storage unit right now. My plan in the future, [is to] do some charity thing.

Do you still own the original medicine jacket?
It’s from this brand called Outsiders Division. In the Harmony House and People In Motion eras, I got a lot of clothes from them. It’s all like pretty limited edition clothes and stuff.

Do you like keep them for like display?
I just have ’em. Yeah. I think I am pretty sentimental with stuff like that and it’s like, I’m sure I’ll want this later.

Anything else you wanna plug?
I’ve got new music out. Dayglow: Superbloom Check it out! Make cute TikToks and let’s take over the world!

Stream Dayglow: Superbloom here

Keep up with Dayglow on his socials: Website // Spotify // Instagram // YouTube // X // TikTok