OFM Exclusive: King Dream Debuts New Track and Video ‘The Wild Card’

King Dream is a rock band from the Bay Area pulling in influences ranging from Pink Floyd to Springsteen to My Morning Jacket. They play an eclectic mix of styles brought together by a very talented band of long-time musicians fronted by Jeremy Lyon. Lyon prides King Dream on being a dive-bar band, but he’s also performed everywhere from street corners as a busker to big festivals like Outside Lands and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

In 2023, King Dream released their sophomore album Glory Daze, Vol. IV on Dimed Records, with Glory Daze, Vol. V slated for release in January. Today, OFM is proud to premiere King Dream’s first single off of their upcoming album, The Wild Card. The tripped-out song is accompanied by an equally tripped out video animated by Rob Fidel.

OFM sat down with Lyon to talk a little bit about the song and the band’s plans for the future.

So we’re going to be premiering your new video for the “The Wild Card.” What’s the song about? And how did it come about?

It was inspired by anxiety, I guess. I wrote it as the 2020 election was coming up. And I live in California, in Sonoma County, about an hour and a half north of San Francisco. And so, at that time, it was wildfire season, so wildfires (were) happening, and COVID was looming. And, also, (I was) a touring musician, but not making enough money, and (having) all the anxieties of how am I going to get married and have a family (when) I’m not making enough money to support a family, and that our house could burn down, and that Trump could have gotten reelected. And so it’s this whole freak out for four minutes.

And, yeah (it) started as a loop. Usually, I write with an acoustic guitar, and it’s a little more of a singer-songwriter base. And this was more of an experiment; I just programmed a drum beat and (used) some recording software and made a bass loop. And it became the song. I went through a bunch of different iterations because once COVID hit, I switched from being a live musician to learning how to be more of a studio engineer, producer, mixer.

And so this was the first song that I was learning how to do all those things with the song. (I) started in Logic, and then I moved into Pro Tools, and I sent out the track to a bunch of the best musicians that I knew that had been in my band, and everyone was recording themselves. It was the summer, (and) we were just we’re learning how to do all these other skills with the song as an experiment. It’s the first song that I mixed as well. And so it took probably over 20 mixes and about three years from the time I wrote it to the time I finished the recording and the video and everything. So it’s been a long process with it, and I’m excited for it to be out.

 And then the videos is a really trippy animation by Rob Fidel. How did that collaboration come about?

Rob’s my best buddy from college, and we used to have a band together called Tumbleweed Wanderers with him and me and Zach, the bass player in my band currently. And Rob moved to LA and after that the band broke up. And he just taught himself how to animate, and then he started doing animations for a bunch of big clients with a lot of bands that were on Epitaph and ANTI labels.

And we’d been toying around with the idea of him doing an animated music video for one of my tunes. And that song jumped out at him because he’s heard my writing since I was 18, and I’m 32 now, so he was like, “This is something different; I haven’t heard you make music in this style, (and it) felt fresh and different to him. So he was stoked to work on that. And I was really lucky (because) I wouldn’t be able to afford to hire him for what his normal rate is. So he did it as a as a gift to me and would just work on it when he had spare moments between all his other projects. So I’m really grateful that he made this video as a gift. And I think it’s incredible.

So I’m curious, this is going to be off of Glory Daze, Vol. V, and then you released Glory Daze Vol. IV earlier this year, but I can’t find any evidence of there being a volumes one through three.

No, we went four through six. It’s kind of a reference to the original Star Wars trilogy; I thought that was fun. And then also, for me, because (Glory Daze Vol. IV) is technically the second King Dream album, and then this trilogy of records would be the second to fourth records that are put out under this project. But I had two records with Tumbleweed Wanderers with my old band where I was primary songwriter for that. So in a way, it felt like my fourth through sixth records if we count those first two from the old band. So it’s a little confusing, but this is, I guess, my fifth fully realized work of put out into the world.

So what is the connection between the different albums that make them part of a series?

Basically we went in at the beginning, and, like, January 2020, we made a four song EP that had tracks that ended up being on Glory Daze IV. But the intention was to do this EP and pitch that around and tour that and try to get a label for making full length record. And then COVID hit, and then everything was put on hold. And so the way through that, for me, was to keep writing. And I was learning how to record, so it went from this four-song EP into this 24-song collection. I was like, I’m just going to keep writing and recording and not worry about how it all fits together, just follow the music.

And so there were songs that we did, like this one, where it was bedroom, experimental stuff. I was lucky; Lorenzo from the California Honeydrops was quarantining with us and living with his girlfriend, Erin, (who) is in the band with my wife, Caitlin, a band called Rainbow Girls. So we were fortunate during lockdown that we had a music pod so we could still keep playing. And so some of the songs, he would come over late at night, and we’d start jamming. He’s like, “You got any songs?” (It) started on my tape machine, and we would just have fun, stay up till 4 or 5 in the morning playing and working on these tunes. So there’s some of those.

There were some songs where I would send it out to everyone who was quarantining, and they would each record themselves, and they’d send it back to me and then compile everyone’s parts and mix it myself. And then, once things eased up a bit, we had gone back into the studio, and I had another collection of 10 songs that we recorded, more like a live band arrangement.

And there are some songs that me and my wife Caitlin did one day at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. We went in and just did acoustic duets for a day. So basically, I had all these this different material floating around and then was trying to figure out how to put it all together.

So in the past, I had made journey records where each song is totally different from the previous song, and you never know what’s going to come next. But that can be tough. If you’re looking for a record with like a consistent vibe, the feedback I’d gotten was that the records felt all over the place. And so, with the tracklisting for Glory Daze IV-VI, I tried going more by genre and vibe, so that you could put on a record for 30-35 minutes as a consistent vibe throughout.

So Glory Daze IV was the anthemic festival Rock Records inspired by a growing up on alternative rock radio in the ’00s when I was a kid. And then (Glory Daze) V, the first side’s more like bedroom R&B, more experimental stuff. And then the second side of (Glory Daze) V is more psychedelic rock, a little more Pink Floyd inspired. And then Glory Daze VI, which will probably come out next fall, will be a little more Americana, a little more singer-songwriter. That’s basically the journey. It pretty much started the beginning of 2020, and now it’s all coming out. So I’m excited.

We at OFM are an LGBTQ publication, but there’s no requirement that everyone we feature has to be part of the community. But we do like to ask: is there anything about this new song or your project in general that you think would resonate with the queer community?

That’s a great question. I don’t identify as queer, but I consider myself an ally, and (I) also (grew) up in San Francisco, which is such a rich culture with LGBTQ communities. It’s scary when the government’s taking away rights from people who are outside of the white, Christian, heteronormative community. I think that’s just a scary time for anyone; just the thought of having less freedom than you did before is scary.

So I think that’s definitely in the song, those fears and anxieties. And, it’s something that I noticed, too; I’ve noticed this in just other conversations with straight white men, where they’re talking about politics like it’s all the same, whether it’s (Democrat or Republican). And I believe we should have more than a two-party system, but it’s also a very short-sighted, very privileged view from white men who (are) not threatened either way by who’s in power. But there’s a lot of people who are deeply threatened by who’s in charge. And to just be standoffish about it is really not being considerate of people who actually can lose rights to marry who they want or to feel safe at school or anything like that.

So what’s next for King dream?

We’re putting out this record, and then we have some big record release shows in the Bay Area in January, and then we’re going to Europe next spring for our second Europe tour. So we’re doing Germany and Czech Republic, Austria. And we’re hoping to make it out to Colorado. I love Colorado, and I haven’t gotten the band out there yet. But we’d love to come play, do like a week in Colorado. So keep a lookout.

Glory Daze, Vol IV is available for purchase through Big Cartel. No word yet on the pre-orders for Vol. V, so follow King Dream on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with future updates.

Photo courtesy of King Dream