Interview: Follow Your Curiosity With Dylan Nash
Interview by Lindsey V. Britt
Australian Songwriter/Producer/Sound Mixer, Dylan Nash is the guy working behind the scenes on hit songs such as Gretta Ray’s “Love Me Right”, The Million’s “Therapy”, and Dean Lewis’ “Be Alright”. The London-based artist has quite the history and discography already and he’s just getting started.
How would you describe making a song? Most people don’t know much about the producer’s and mixer’s input on a song
It really varies depending on what stage of the process I’m coming in at, some artists that I work with I have a relationship where I write songs with them and produce their music, and for some people, I purely produce their things. There’s a project right now that’s a mixture, thankfully they have enough trust in me to bring me in to do lots of songs. Some of them are songs I’ve started with them, I’ve written, other songs I’m coming in when the song’s been done and I’m kind of finishing it off producing it, there might be some little writing touches or changes we make throughout the production process. So it really does vary. Some people I just write with, and I don’t end up producing their songs, so it really varies, and I think that variation is something that keeps me interested, keeps things fresh. I might be working on a project over here that I’ve just done a one-day writing session on, and then there might be a project I’ve been working on for months and months and something I’ve picked up or worked out or been inspired by on this other project lends its hand to the other thing over there. It’s a different project each time an artist might come in with something they really want to talk about, something might’ve happened to them, I might have an idea, something might’ve popped into my head enjoying a shower or as I’m about to go to sleep. It often doesn’t happen the same way twice, so trying to mimic a way you’ve had success before doesn’t seem to work on me. You’ve just gotta show up and be present and be open to ideas and listening and not be afraid to follow inspiration or feel silly when you’re writing a song with people in the room and go from there.
You have worked with several artists, all of them with different styles and methods, how do you navigate that as a producer/songwriter/mixer?
I think that’s one of my strengths and I think people who do what I do successfully. Some of the best people I know are really great with people, and great at reading the emotions and state of mind of the people who come through the room. They try and be really vulnerable and write music. Trying to adopt the same approach for person A and person B never seems to work, and it can vary day to day, so I think it’s really being in tuned with the mood of the day, the mood of the person, what they need at that time. Sometimes an artist needs you to really take the lead and show them a bunch of ideas. They might come in and have had a tough evening, something might have happened in their life and they need that. Other times they come in full of inspiration, and they’ve got a million ideas. My job is to kind of sit back and sift and curate those ideas. There’s no right or wrong way. I think it really evens out over the course of your career. There are days I’ve come in and had nothing, and an artist has been there and been like I’ve got this great idea and I’m feeling really passionate about this - Equals out the times where they come in and like I’ve done a lot of sessions in the last month I don’t have many ideas left but I wanna make something great. And I’ll be like, you know what, I saw this word on a street sign the other day and that could be a cool start to a song. But ultimately, I think just having empathy and emotional intelligence, you’re creating a comfortable environment for yourself and artists to collaborate and express themselves. And if you come in with the wrong energy or you don’t curtail the atmosphere or your energy to match what’s going on, really often that doesn’t work out.
You used to be in bands but chose the producing side of things, what made you enjoy that more than being on stage?
I just followed my interest throughout the whole experience, when I first started playing music I was really into guitar, got obsessed with that. And after making some of my own ideas I wanted to record it, I wanted to learn how to do that. That’s what got me into trying to produce, if you can call it that on an illegal version of Logic on my Mum’s computer, and then from there playing in bands got me into songwriting. More and more I realized that I was more interested in continuing to follow my inspiration in production and less passionate about being on stage. I just naturally drifted that way. I really enjoy collaborating with different artists and being able to work on one style of music one week, and a completely different one the next. I think it just suits my lifestyle a bit more, I’m quite introverted, and I get very obsessive about things. So working on people’s projects in the studio with them just really fulfilled that same feeling as being in a band. I enjoy doing long projects, maybe it’s an EP or a whole album, or something like that. So, I still think I satisfy that part of me that enjoyed being in a band, but who knows. I just didn’t really enjoy being the frontman or on tour as well, who knows, maybe I’ll change to something else in the next ten years.
Is there anything you do miss anything about band life?
I think you make a lot of really unique memories touring. You end up in strange circumstances, it’s chaotic, you build relationships with people that you never would’ve come into. Everyone who’s a touring musician, it’s an odd and unique experience and it bonds you together. I still think I have a lot of that meeting people in my studio and writing sessions, other than that not really, I don’t miss playing shows and I really enjoy where I’m at now.
Recently you worked on Sody’s new song “Wannabe Poet”, what was that experience like?
Sody is an artist, I’m Australian and when I moved to the UK about two years ago and she was one of the first people that I came across that I really connected with, so the fact that I’m good friends with her and also making music with her is really cool. That’s probably the fourth or fifth song we’ve produced together now. We’re really comfortable with each other in the studio, we know the process, we’re comfortable with failing. We’re comfortable with getting ideas wrong and knowing we’ve each got each other’s back. And we’ll try again the next day, which I think is so important for a long-term musical and working relationship. That song in particular, it was one of those songs that as soon as I heard the voice memo and the demo. Unlike some of the other songs we worked on I knew exactly how I wanted it to sound, I could sense the end product it was just the matter of getting in there and doing it, whereas some songs you just have to get in and experiment. I kind of got the vibe pretty quickly and there was also another song that her and I had written last year with a very similar vibe, so I was actually able to bring in some of those elements. I even used some of the drums from that previous song. It was really fun and we did it quicker than any of the other songs we produced. It was also nice to produce a song that was a lot more guitar based, as a lot of the recent ones had been more piano ballad-style songs, which I also love but it’s nice to mix it up. She sounds great on everything but I just love the energy of that song, and I like that it’s got a bit of grit and edge to it.
You also worked with Kat Edwards on her latest single “Waiting Room”, what was it like working with her?
So I produced “Waiting Room”, Kat is one of my favorite artists I’ve ever worked with and hopefully continue to work with, we’ve done two EPs together now. She has a way of pulling me out of ruts that I experience musically, her music really inspires me. Anytime we start working on a new project together it just reignites that passion I have for music and the process. “Waiting Room” is a song that I really liked from the beginning. There was just a couple of little things to figure out in the production process to bring it all together structurally. I had so much fun! I really, really enjoy this song, once again very guitar based, kind of grungy 90’s, which “Wannabe Poet” has as well in common. I didn’t really listen to the genre of music that Kat Edwards’ music is in before meeting her but there was just something about her songwriting, her voice, her lyrics, and her delivery that I fell in love with. And now that’s one of my favorite genres of music. A very special place in my heart and my life, and I have so much fun making music with her. We laugh constantly and sometimes we need to stop doing that so we can do actually work, but she’s the best. She wrote it in Sydney and then we had a Covid scare in the studio so I had to leave. And I think she wrote the song while I was in my room and then we produced it in London. And then we finished it off when I was back in Sydney with her recently, so yeah, all around the place.
What’s something about the producing side of the industry most people probably don’t know about?
I think a lot of people don’t understand how much time goes into producing a song. You can get 80% of the way there extremely quickly but that last 20% is painstaking and laborious and frustrating, but so worth it. Especially, as the demand, the quality increases, and we have all these incredible tools to refine and enhance performances, some of which make the process easier, some which take more time but you get a better result. It just takes such a long time, especially if you have really high standards and you’re trying to achieve the sound that’s in you and the artist head. Don’t get me wrong there’s some songs you smash it out really quickly and the planets align and that’s great, but in terms of all the editing and going through all the takes and refining it and printing files, all that stuff, it just takes such a long time. I don’t know if everyone knows or appreciates that, but there’s the same way in which when artists are in the studio with me and producers, that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. I don’t experience all of their conversations about artwork, videos, styling, costumes, touring, rehearsals, all that stuff. It’s the same sort of relationship, whereas sometimes, it’s hey can you just send this quick bounce with this one thing changed. It’s actually like a whole process and I think it’s nice to be reminded that there’s a lot more that’s going on in people’s lives, especially in the music industry than just the face to face time. It’s really fun, it’s just every job and every process has that part that is really difficult to get done, and frustrating. But that last 20% that I’m talking about, we can write a song, it can feel cool in the room, we can get 80% of the way there but that last 20% takes 80% of the time. That’s the part that makes all of the difference, that makes it feel refined and like a finished product.
What artists and producers are you inspired by?
In terms of producers George Daniel from The 1975, he produces for other artists as well, he’s just someone I have so much respect for and I really enjoy that he does really varying projects and works under a lot of different genes. Ethan Gruska, and just everyone involved in the Phoebe Bridgers project, obviously Phoebe herself, but the musicians and producers and everyone who works on that project I think are incredible. Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian, they work with Kacey Musgraves a lot. I think it takes a lot for me nowadays cause I work in music nearly every day of my life. It takes a lot for me to convert from just hearing a one-off song to becoming like a fan for life and becoming obsessed with all the songs, sounds, and production. But those I just pointed out there I think do that really time and time again, especially with different artists. I think you can just hear how dedicated they are to authenticity and how much they’re trying to reflect and enhance what the artist has there, it’s not like production for production sake, it’s trying to enhance the song and protect the song and everything’s in service of that, and I think you can hear that and that’s what I try to do, and I also really like that they work on long projects with people.
Since you’re a songwriter, how would you go about making a song you’ve written, would you release it yourself, contact an artist to collaborate, or sell it as a demo?
Most of the time now I don’t write full songs for myself, I try to find lots of little ideas. I’m constantly creating loops or guitar patterns, or just melodies and I store them. Sometimes I have an artist in mind that they could go to, or I keep a list of song titles in my phone that could be useful for sessions, but a lot of it is to have something to fall back on if you don’t have something in the moment, and that’s been so handy. So many songs I’ve worked on that have come out have come from a song title list in my phone or one of these silly little ideas that everyone can voice memo. It just comes in so handy and I think capturing it in the moment is so important, but it’s very rare that I’ll sit and write a song for myself. That being said, there are some artists that will come with a pretty formed idea. It might be a musical, 30 seconds to a minute of music, or it might be hey I’ve got this concept for this chorus, what if we did this and here’s a bit of a melody. You wanna create it with the artist, and working out which of those ideas would work for certain artists is also important. As you work more and more with an artist, over time you can work out how receptive they are to bringing in ideas from the outside. Once again I wish there was an easy way and a surefire way to do it every time but you know, it might be a word on a street sign, it might be a melody that pops in your head in the shower. Or it might be playing the wrong note accidentally and you all of sudden get inspired and that can create a whole song.
I attended a songwriting retreat earlier this year, I know some people love them, others not so much, what’s your take on songwriting retreats?
I think they can be a great way of meeting new people and connecting with people you don’t see very often. As a producer I don’t see other producers very often unless it’s at a gig or one of these camps or a social event, so it can be great in that way, it’s also just awesome too. Music and working on music can be such an isolating process, it’s just nice to socialize with other people who do the same thing. I found that unless it’s a really specific camp with an agenda, it’s more the social component, and the community building is hugely beneficial but maybe not as much as the actual songs you get out of it. Maybe if you’re doing a writing trip for a certain artist and they’re there or it’s a pitch camp for a certain thing and there’s some perimeters around it, I think that can be great. I love going on them just because it feels like you’re on a bit of a holiday, like a school excursion. It’s a great way of learning techniques from other people and it can happen in some really cool places.
You’re from Sydney but are now located in London, what made you decide to move across the world?
I’ve wanted to pursue music internationally, it’d always been a dream, like imagine if I can do this overseas, I don’t really know why. I think it’s part of being in Australia and the industry being so many talented people there, but it’s such a smaller industry. I think we look to places like America or the UK as somewhere you can go and test yourself, whether it’s real or not, but if I can make it there then I can make it anywhere potentially. I just really wanted the challenge, I work with so many amazing Australian artists, but I just wanted to challenge myself and put myself in a position where I was a really small fish in an enormous pond, and feel like a bit of a beginner again. I think that was really important and it still is really important to me to give myself a really hard look in the mirror and compare what I’m doing to some other people, and also get inspired by music in a completely different market. It’s definitely been the best thing I’ve done, obviously. I miss Australia in many ways, but I think the experience I’ve had from moving over here and meeting new people and challenging myself and being uncomfortable is the best thing I’ve ever done.
Would you ever consider being a judge on a show like The Voice or X Factor?
I think I’d be awful at that to be honest. When I listen to music for the first time or critically listen to music, my face just goes completely blank, and most people think I’m hating the song. But it’s just the way I’m trying to really focus and take it all in, also analyze what’s going on, but I think I look like a robot who’s been switched off for a second while I listen, so I don’t think that’ll make great TV.
Do you think that fictional bands like August Moon, or Daisy Jones & The Six could and should become a real band like Big Time Rush did?
The School of Rock band definitely! They were the most inspiring, that movie was so inspiring when I first started playing guitar. So I say yes, if the School of Rock was real then they would be killing it.
What do you think the song of the Summer is going to be?
I have no idea but everyone on TikTok is claiming that they’ve written it, so we’ll find out. Surely, it’s “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, gotta be.
Is there any advice you have for singers, songwriters, producers or anyone who is starting out in this industry that you wish you knew when you started?
I think just follow your curiosity, it’ll lead you down avenues that you didn’t think you would end up in, stay open to that. I feel like there’s a really nice positive version of this and then there’s the really hard truth that working in music can be extremely tough and you have to make a lot of sacrifices in your life to do it. I don’t think anyone who pursuing music passionately is going to listen to those sort of pieces of advice because it is something that you’re compelled to do, it’s a passion that you’re following. I would definitely give advice to my younger self to try and take a break and go to sleep earlier, take more weekends off, and live in the present moment a little bit more, because there’s periods of my life and a lot of other people’s lives that I think just go by in a flash because you’re working so hard to try and establish yourself and that’s so important. Like I said I don’t think I would’ve listened if I had heard that advice but it’s definitely something I am trying to make up for now.
And my final question is, do you have a recommendation? It can be anything you want, a movie, restaurants, an artist, literally anything you want.
Hit me up in person or on Instagram if you want recommendations for places to go and eat croissants in London, I know the places! In East London specifically Pophams, E5 Bakehouse, FORNO, and Weirdough.
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