Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucid Dream. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Lucid Dream started in 2017 when best friends (and birthday twins!) Cami Robertson and Meena Aspeytia started taking guitar lessons with Mark Huls – originally being called the Chocolate Cherries. After looking for a drummer, Alyson Valdez joined in hopes of learning drums. But that didn’t last long, as we all learned Alyson’s true talent was playing bass, and we decided to change the name to Lucid Dream. From that point – Cami, Alyson, and Meena continued practicing and trying to write songs together; becoming as close as best friends could be. We continued our search for a drummer, but no one really clicked with our sense of humor and creative flow. Finally, for the 10th time, we begged the drum god (Jake Richter) to finally play with us- and he eventually agreed. From that point, we became closer and closer friends and had so many ideas and ambitions for the future.
We have grown so much in the past four years- after playing dozens of shows all over southern California, rehearsing for many, many hours, to recording and releasing some of our first songs; and we are very excited to finally finish our first full-length album and release it sometime next year. So stay tuned!!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Right before the 2020 quarantine, we experienced a major burnout. Practicing three times a week became very tedious, as we were also trying to record our album with a limited amount of studio time each week- it felt like we were stretching ourselves too thin. Playing shows almost every weekend left little time for songwriting and we became stuck playing different variations of the same few songs.
Over quarantine, we were not able to meet up to practice for a few months, which put a huge pause in our recording process. Though the pandemic took a huge toll on us individually, it helped spark a new love for music and our songs. We took a new approach to playing and writing with new ideas and excitement for the future. Now, we are finally recording our album and writing new songs to play at our shows. The COVID-19 Pandemic put a bit of a halt on our progress, but now that shows are back, we are more ready to go than ever. We have lots planned and cannot wait to share it with the world!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Lucid Dream is a punk band from Poway that makes fast, high-energy rock music. We play fun and energetic shows at venues all over San Diego County (and your backyard too if you’ll have us!). We love fast, crunchy guitar riffs, paired with deep and lively bass breaks, intricate drum beats, and powerful, emotional vocals. Currently, our main goal is to release as much original music as possible and to play as many shows as we can (inside and outside of San Diego as well). We love going out and connecting with other local bands and meeting other people who are interested in music, art, and the process of creating something they are passionate about; like we are!
Being a female-fronted band in a mainly male-dominated genre has definitely set us apart from others; and we have been able to bring a new perspective and ideas to a genre that sometimes lacks feminine influence- so don’t knock us before you see us when it comes to playing!! You can keep up with where we are playing next by following us on Instagram- @luciddreamband and find our music on all streaming platforms. We would love to connect and hang out with you!
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Though our roots are in punk, I can see us continuing to grow outside of our comfort zone. One of our newer, unreleased tracks is less punk in comparison to our previous tracks but I think this track has helped us have more confidence in our musicianship. It’s also one of our favorite songs to play live. We also plan on adding experimental elements and more textured sounds into our music, especially on our upcoming album. We don’t really know what the future holds, but a show at 924 Gilman up in the Bay Area would be really cool! Aside from touring and music, we’ve always joked about writing a cookbook that would contain the secret ingredients to a seven layers sin sauce, so that’s always an option. No one really knows what the future holds, we just take it one day at a time and have fun doing what we love.
Contact Info:
- Email: luciddreambooking@gmail.com (Business – if anyone wants to book a show/interview/etc.)
- Instagram: @luciddreamband
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/luciddreamsd
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/TrZh7JWOtPE
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-147080874
- Other: https://linktr.ee/luciddream
Image Credits:
NAMM Images taken by Stuart Robertson ☺️
