Meet Megadose, the Seattle rockers making waves with their colour-pop cuts

Seattle hailing and full of summer sun, Megadose are the newest band on the horizon to make waves with their colour-pop tracks and punchy beats.

This four-piece dream-pop outfit is awash with hazy guitar riffs, the DIY dynamos bring a whole new meaning to shoegaze pop. For fans of Canadian rockers Peach Pit, Megadose will satiate the lust for fresh summer anthems with their vibrant aesthetic and sonically pleasing earworms.

Starting off slow and steady with a dreamy rhythm, their latest track, 'Altreides Flight', gradually builds to soft vocals, electric flourishes, and contains sweet harmonies aplenty. Focussing on themes of companionship whilst facing certain adversity, sultry bass lines and vocal inflections highlight this track and set the band aside as one of the best up-and-coming rockers from the Seattle underground scene.

'Atreides Flight' offers a delightful insight into what the creators have in store for us with their upcoming full-length album 'Wild & Free'.

To celebrate the release of their latest feat, I had the pleasure of diving into the minds of Megadose to gain an insight into the origins of their collective brainchild.

Who are ‘Megadose?’

First and foremost, we’re just a group of friends from Seattle who like to create. We all knew each other from growing up in various Pacific Northwest music and art scenes. The first time we got together to jam, we all felt a pretty strong spark. The songs I brought into the group just popped in a special way when we tackled them as a group. James (drums), Laura (bass), and Mikey (guitar) all bring their unique approaches in and make the songs successively better. The result is a fun power pop vibe, often pretty fast and bouncy. We’re pretty playful people and do a lot together besides just music, like camping and long bike rides. I like to think that all that stuff helps make the music better. We’re definitely a tight-knit crew.

 

"The result is a fun power pop vibe, often pretty fast and bouncy."

 

 

What's the story behind your upcoming track 'Atreides Flight'?

My mom still runs a childcare in Anacortes, Washington, and I volunteered to come up and paint the interior over a couple of weekends. As I painted, I listened through the Dune series on audiobook, by Frank Herbert, and just got completely lost in that world: the desert planet Arakis, the mysterious Spice melange, and the unforgiving landscape inhabited by the banished Fremen people. It’s a very dramatic setting (also super nerdy!). So when I sat down to write my next song, a lot of those themes came through -- companionship through adversity, finding sweetness in harsh times, that sort of thing. The name Atreides from the song’s title is a nod to the family of central characters in the books.

 

How do you go about making new music – what comes first, the lyrics or the instruments?

Usually, it starts with a simple melody, something that I think sounds catchy enough to build a chord progression around, typically on guitar or piano. From there, it’s like sculpting - I do my best to surrender myself to the process, and allow the music and lyrics to reveal themselves through trial-and-error. The lyrics often come after the main chords have been established. The first line is always the hardest, but I try to start there because it’s a nice place to establish the thematic tone of a song. Once the basics of the song are mostly written, I bring it to the band and they work their magic to fill out all the parts.

 

"I do my best to surrender myself to the process, and allow the music and lyrics to reveal themselves through trial-and-error"

 

What was it like working alongside Trevor Spencer for your earlier releases?

Trevor is absolutely amazing to work with. Not only is he a talented engineer with a quality studio and tons of gear, he’s a great arranger, musician, and listener. Basically everything you would want in a producer. He has worked with some big names, and he manages to carry that experience with genuine humility and continued curiosity. On the technical side, Trevor’s especially good at capturing a sound that feels warm, alive, and intimate, even for songs with a “bigger,” louder sound. That’s an art.

What’s the underground music scene like in Seattle?

One thing I love about music in Seattle is the amount of genre crossover. I think that’s because Seattle’s actually not that big of a city. It’s a pretty normal thing for folks to play in multiple bands that have completely different vibes, like a soft folk band and a heavy rock ‘n’ roll band, or a drony sludge group and a straight-up electronic pop project. There’s amazing hip-hop in this city too. And just like any community, you get out of it what you put into it. If you’re inclusive and open-minded, you will likely find some folks who are excited about your stuff, and the cycle of inspiration just gets stronger.

 

Tell us about your upcoming album in September - are there any tracks you're particularly excited for fans to hear?

Yes! There absolutely are. We’ll be sharing another single over the summer that I see as a sort of anthem for us. But there’s so much more on the record too. Close listeners will find a fair amount of surf rock sound, some krautrock and new wave influence, even a little country twang. I’m so, so excited to finally share it with everyone.

 

Lana Williams

@swimdeeplana

Image: Provided by PR