Meet Your New Favorite Indie-Pop Duo: Q&A with DWLLRS

---

by Norah Jerinic-Brodeur

photo by Norah Jerinic-Brodeur

Southern California indie-pop duo, DWLLRS, are officially back on the road for the tour of their sophomore album, tell you when you’re older. Their relatably honest and vulnerable album dropped on July 10th and tackles themes such as the “fleeting nature of growing up” and finding peace and purpose in life. The “One of Those Nights Tour” kicked off with the opening show in Costa Mesa, CA on July 16th and will be continuing  around the country for the remainder of July and August. If you’re looking for a sign to buy those tickets, here it is. 

DWLLRS is made up of Bren Eissman (lead vocalist and guitarist) and Joey Spurgeon (vocalist, guitarist, production). The two were “mutual friends” while growing up and became closer after rooming together in college and ultimately forming DWLLRS. The duo has a rather impressive discography with a collection of singles and two albums dating all the way back to 2020. Phoenix was lucky enough to have DWLLRS on their third stop of the “One of Those Nights Tour”, July 20th at the iconic local venue, the Rebel Lounge. I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with the boys prior to their show and gained insight into the process of creating their newest album and what significance this tour holds for them. 

***

ECHO MAGAZINE: What is the origin story of DWLLRS? 

BREN: We met in like 5th grade and we played basketball together, but we weren’t close until college. 

JOEY: Yeah we were friendly in high school and had a lot of mutuals, but then we got close in college. 

BREN: Joey asked me to room with him at Vanguard and he’d been playing music for a while. I had never played music but I had a lot stored up within me that needed to come out. He taught me guitar and then we started writing music together. 

JOEY: We actually met our original drummer and our sound guy at college too. 

How did the name “DWLLRS” come to be?

BREN: The name actually came from my dad. When Joey first taught me guitar I was playing all the time when I was home. My form of writing back then was just playing the same cords and just verbal diarrhea. My dad believed in me and said that ‘you guys are always singing about overthinking and how you feel…you’re dwelling on stuff. You should call yourselves the dwellers’. 

Tell me a little about your life outside of DWLLRS.

BREN: I play basketball and run a lot, but I’m just always writing music honestly. I hang out with my fiancee, she’s from Canada so we spend a lot of time Facetiming. 

JOEY: I rock climb a lot with my wife, we got super into that. I like to run too. 

Do you think your experiences growing up in Southern California have influenced your music? 

BREN: I think that realizing we live in a bubble in San Clemente has been big for our perspective on the world and has humbled us. It’s weird growing up in a bubble, location wise, but then also growing up in the internet generation where you have access to everything. We’re definitely not “hometown heroes” because we really grew our band online. We’ve always looked at DWLLRS from the lens of being applicable to everybody outside of San Clemente too. 

photo by Norah Jerinic-Brodeur

Your sophomore album, tell you when you’re older, just released on 7/10…tell me a little bit about the album and its meaning to you.

BREN: tell you when you’re older is essentially about all the things that you want to tell your younger self but realizing that, even if we were to tell our younger selves all the lessons that we’ve learned, it wouldn’t work. You have to go through the experiences yourself. 

JOEY: It also correlates to our relationship with God in terms of wanting to understand things at a young age but realizing that you need to experience certain things to get to where you want to be.

BREN: A lot of it is about coming to an understanding that you can’t understand everything.  

Your newest album is titled tell you when you’re older…what is one thing you would tell your younger self?

BREN: I would say that “all things you’re going through are going to make you stronger and count it all as joy because it’s going to pay off.” It’s like trials in life building endurance. 

JOEY: I would say that “you don’t have to prove yourself.” I’ve felt a lot in my life that I was trying to prove my worth with what I would do. It’s about coming to a place of acceptance for you. 

What is your favorite song to play off the new album?

BREN: “one of those nights” and “one of those nights (summer version).” They’re fun to play because it gets lit. I feel comfortable singing those and they feel seamless. 

JOEY: “driving (pt. 2)” was so sick in San Diego. 

What are you most excited for on this tour?

JOEY: Just traveling with my best friends. My wife gets to come on the whole tour with us. 

BREN: I think just to prove it to ourselves that we can still do this. I had some intrusive doubts before the tour wondering if we’d tour again. We sold this show and the first show out, which was affirming. The affirmation of creating something and then going on tour feels fulfilling as a whole. 

What artists do you have on repeat right now?

JOEY: I’ve been listening to Olivia Rodrigo’s new album.

BREN: I listen to the most random songs but I’ve been into Ivan Castro, he’s a worship artist, and Abby Gamboa is super good too. 

***

DWLLRS have already sold out the first two nights of their “One of Those Nights” tour and I would not be surprised if that keeps up throughout the tour’s remainder. If you are lucky enough to have DWLLRS coming to your city, I would highly recommend you buy a ticket and go experience them live for yourself. After chatting with Bren and Joey, I can confidently say that they are both very kind and genuine people who really seem to love and appreciate what they do and the support of their fan base. Aside from that, their stage presence and crowd/fan engagement are two notable factors that make a DWLLRS show a truly worthwhile and unforgettable experience.