KWVA Music Blog sits down with Eugene natives and brothers Dana and Alden McWayne to discuss their upbringing’s influence on their music, returning to The Jazz Station as professional musicians, and their efforts to introduce young listeners to jazz aesthetics. Together, they are Dana and Alden and are opening for Remi Wolf on her upcoming tour.
How have Eugene and KWVA influenced and affected the music you make?
Dana:
I think first off, we have to give a big shout-out to KWVA. We definitely grew up listening to 88.1. I mean, I remember, like, back in high school, I'd be in my mom's minivan driving around late at night, listening to whoever was on, and people would have, their whole squad in the studio, and they would end up playing like three songs in an hour because they were just talking so much. And, yeah, I love KWVA, we played in the little studio there back in the day.
Alden:
That's a good segue because I was gonna say the Grateful Dead and jam band culture influenced us a lot, just like listening to American Beauty by the Grateful Dead growing up, and then just going to Saturday market and hearing Grateful Dead cover bands. The way we open our music, like, when we're in a live setting, we try to open our compositions up and kind of just see where they go and how we play each song differently every night. I feel like that’s definitely a product of one, the jazz scene, but also the jam band scene.
Dana:
Yeah, and just the general counterculture that exists in Eugene of people really living in their own way, you know, only eating food cooked over an open flame or harvested on a full moon. That influenced us eventually. We just kind of stick out here in New York, whether we like it or not.
Alden:
I always tell people that I'm normal in Oregon, but I'm weird in the Northeast.
Dana:
I think it's kind of natural for us to get out and end up here in New York because even though we're from Eugene, our mentor was this guy, Kenny Reed, who was a jazz drummer. He was from Crown Heights, Brooklyn originally, and we grew up going to a jam session every Sunday at The Jazz Station in Eugene. So he really mentored us and showed us how to play, and obviously learning from him, it was always our dream to someday make it to New York City. But I would also say, the Eugene music community is so rich and so supportive. I can think of so many people over the years, from our middle school, and high school bands, playing in community groups around town. So many people supported us over the years and showed us how to play music. Eugene’s music scene in general is so supportive and loving.
Andrew Mitchell on Bass Guitar, Dana McWayne on Saxophone and Alden McWayne on Drums, performing at The Jazz Station on September 29th, 2024.
What was it like being back at The Jazz Station in Eugene and what does The Jazz Station mean to you?
Alden:
It was crazy because we played there on a Sunday, and we first stumbled into The Jazz Station just over a decade ago, literally, on a Sunday afternoon for the Jam Session with Kenny Reed. So it felt full circle to be back there. And it's funny, our dad was in the crowd, and he was the person who first dragged Dana to the Jazz Station, so that was full circle. And then it was so nice, seeing and performing for neighbors and old friends, but also for high schoolers who we've never met, and literally go to our high school and now kind of look up to us.
Dana:
I would just say really full circle because The Jazz Station was kind of like the center of the musical community that raised us and taught us how to play. So really, The Jazz Station every Sunday was like going to church for me. We didn't really attend church like that as a family, so it really just became my place where I found confidence in myself as a super angsty teenager who was quiet and shy otherwise. Going there every weekend, playing in front of a crowd of people, and learning how to express myself, really kind of held me down throughout my adolescence, so it was really special playing back there.
Family seems central to your music, even to someone less familiar with your discography. At your show, you played songs like "Family Garden," and "Ivan’s Theme," which all touch on family themes. Plus, touring in your mom's minivan highlights that close-knit dynamic. How does your family influence your songwriting and performances?
Alden:
I feel like family is everything to us, because our parents have been so supportive of our music, and have been there every step of the way. Our dad showed us Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders when we were little. I feel like it's a very kind of unique situation to have parents like that, and to have moms come up at our show in Georgia and dance on stage when we were playing “Family Garden,” it was truly special.
Dana:
We didn't really have parents to rebel against in that way. Like, “Screw you, Mom, I'm gonna go be a musician. She was like, “Please go follow your passion”. I think family and friends have always been important to us. We write about what interests us in life, and mostly what's important to Alden and I, is our relationships. I think that what leads to a rich life is the relationships that you have.
Alden:
Yeah, all of our songs are either about our girlfriends, our cats, or our family.
Your album, Quiet Music for Young People, feels like a jazz project aimed at introducing the genre to younger generations, particularly Gen Z. How do you think jazz appreciation has evolved in the digital age, especially among younger listeners? And how did your social media presence, like your TikTok persona as Gucci Pineapple, influence the way you marketed the album?
Dana:
As far as Jazz goes, we've really been overwhelmed with the response from young people who didn't even know that they loved this music, because I think all of us have grown up in the age of sample-based music. So anyone who listens to hip-hop has heard Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, maybe without knowing those names, but they know those sounds intuitively. I think the other thing we're finding is that we are not at all making this music because we're like, “Oh, I think people will be drawn to it, I think people will like this music if we make it like this”. It's just what we're into because we grew up as, like, dorky jazz kids. Also, I think that music in the last couple of decades, after the 70s and 80s, got more and more quantized, more and more polished, more auto-tune, compression, everything. And I think it also got really homogenized, where everything kind of sounds the same. I think people are really just tired of that and want to hear just a group of people playing in a room. You know, someone's out of tune, someone makes a mistake here and there, but they're coming up with something that inspires them and is new and totally creative. So I think people are just thirsty for the kind of music that we're playing.
Alden:
Yeah, I think TikTok has been a really cool medium for us to spread our sounds, because I think it's a unique place where instrumental music kind of thrives and people want kind of something vibey, and then it kind of just ended up being a good place for our music to live and spread. Like we never expected the outro of “Dragonfly” to go crazy. And next thing we knew there were like, 100,000 videos under the sound. There were moms doing home improvement videos with our “Dragonfly” outro over it. That was super cool.
Dana:
Don't forget Kendall Jenner, Alden.
Alden:
Kendall Jenner used “Dragonfly”.
Dana:
Yeah, we're here, Kendall Jenner, we're ready.
Alden:
Just like what Dana was saying, I feel like young people yearn for something more organic and messy than the Top 40 we grew up listening to, I think we kind of provide a new sound. And one of my favorite parts of the tour was seeing 15-year-old kids that are super into jazz come with their parents, then seeing their parents get dragged to this TikTok jazz show, and then get super into it.
I think it's interesting you guys seem cognizant of the fact that you're probably the only jazz exposure that a lot of your younger listeners are really experiencing. You name-dropped a ton of jazz greats who people should really know, but if there was one jazz artist you would tell one of those 15-year-olds at your show to listen to and to really fall in love with, who would it be?
Dana:
I mean, my guy, Piero Umiliani. He's an Italian film composer who started out as a jazz musician. He's not in the kind of American jazz tradition so much but is still connected to it. And I think you can't find any song that misses in his decades-long catalog. But other than that, go to Miles Davis, go to Coltrane, and maybe try Thelonious Monk.
Alden:
I would say, if you're going way back, Dana's favorite player, and who I got super into, was Lester Young. That's like the roots, and we actually visited his grave in Brooklyn. So that was a really cool experience.
Do you have any advice for artists, or people starting out in the music industry, specifically in Eugene?
Alden:
I would say, don't cater to anyone besides yourself. Just follow your own niche. I think if you try to adapt yourself or your sound to what you think people want, then it's not going to be organic or authentic. I think literally just make what sounds good to you, make the music that you hear in your brain, even if it's weird or you don't think people will like it. Something that we always talk about is that you have to put out a bad project to make a good project.
Dana:
The way music used to work, you'd get a label deal, you get a big advance if they knew that you were really a big talent, and then you could have a whole team working behind you, thousands of dollars to make your marquee album and make your statement on the scene. Now, I think major labels are really a thing of the past because they just can't compete with the amount of choice that people have, which is a really beautiful thing where you can just release music independently, you know, DIY. And I think that people still have that old mentality that, “the first thing that I put out has to be undeniable.” If you have that perspective on making your music, you'll never put anything out. It's best to just put something together that's got your sauce that you like, that makes you happy in that moment. Make it the best you can. Don't overthink shit and put it out. And just refine project after project. Then, you get a little more support from fans, you get a little more money to invest in that instrument, this gear, and try something new. But just start by putting something out, like Alden said.
Dana:
Yeah, we gotta give a shout-out to Don Latarski, who used to be a professor at the U of O. Absolutely goated Eugene music legend in our eyes, and pretty much everyone else's. Go to Hideaway Bakery at 7 or 8 am any day and you’ll find him. We grew up two doors down from his house and then recorded our first album in his studio.
You guys are opening for Remi Wolf for her tour. What does that feel like? Tell us more about that. And also, are there any other artists you would love to open for on a tour? Or have open for you too?
Alden:
I mean, I met Remi Wolf kind of accidentally outside of a Red Sox game three years ago. I was filming a TikTok and then Remi Wolf, just like, came up to me, and I was like, “Oh shit, you're Remi Wolf”. So since then, we've kind of become friends. And, yeah, this opportunity is pretty mind-blowing, like we're just kind of trying to still process it and kind of sit in gratitude with the opportunity. We are beyond exhilarated.
Dana:
Yeah, we were jumping around like little children in the green room in Austin when we got the news.
Alden:
I'm gonna say Mk.gee for people to open for. Or just to play the same festival would be cool.
Dana:
I want to open for El Michels Affair. Oh, and I would love to open for Freddie Gibbs.
What's the best concert you've seen in Eugene?
Alden:
This is an easy answer. I think it was 2013 at Whirled Pies, the pizza place. Mac Demarco was on that stage, and it was divided into 21 plus and all ages. And the 21 plus were all just like, flannel people standing, drinking and nodding their head. And then this section was just like a mosh pit. I was 12 years old, and it was the best show ever.
Dana:
I'm gonna have to go with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band at The Shedd. Yeah, crazy jazz show.
As a Radio DJ at KWVA, I'd love to know if you were a DJ, what would be your name? Maybe list your show name, and what music you would play on your show at KWVA.
Dana:
My DJ name would be DJ Dana-Dane, and I would alternate between the 70s and the 80s. I would have one week of all 70s, one week of all 80s, and then I would go back.
Alden:
I think I would be like DJ Sad Boy, and I'd only play Adrianne Lenker. But I would play like Adrianne Lenker, but then I'd have soft, crying sounds behind it.