PunkRockTheory writes, ‘The Dreaded Laramie are now ready to show you their whole world; from audacious melodies to unvarnished vulnerability, from artful craft to unbridled energy.’ With their new release, ‘Princess Feedback,’ the band has discovered a bigger sound. Describing that sound as a bouncy version of The Muffs is meant as a high compliment. While this comparison may not fully capture the essence of either band, if you seek outspoken, catchy, hook-laden, and honest Power Pop, The Dreaded Laramie is the perfect choice for you.

---

You can find ‘Where’s My Crystal Ball?’ showcased on the Best Power Pop of 2024 Spotify Playlist.

---

Singer/guitarist M.C. Cunningham introduces the new album.

Could you share the journey of bringing this record to life? How did all the pieces come together to create the final product?

The road to “Princess Feedback” has been long and winding. Some of the songs on the album were written as early as 2016, and the beginning steps of the album itself began in 2021, before our last EP was even released. It was important to me that we do things well, not quickly…but it would’ve been nice if it had happened a little more quickly. We connected with our producer Dave in 2021, demoed and refined songs over the course of 2022, and recorded in the spring of 2023. There was a lot of prep that went into this project!

How would you describe the evolution of your sound in this new album compared to your previous works? Were there intentional shifts in style or themes?

I think this album shows a lot of growth from the previous releases. Musically, it is much tighter (and faster!), which I think is a result of us playing together a lot more often. Lyrically, it is a much more honest album. In past releases, my lyrics have been pretty cryptic (if not entirely opaque), but the lyrics on this album are much more straightforward displays of emotion, often frustration and heartbreak. That shift is intentional—with the amount of time, effort, and resources that went into this project, it felt important to me that the songwriting and voice come from an authentic place.

As an artist, the act of baring your emotions to the world is profound. Does this vulnerability come naturally to you, or is it a constant journey of finding comfort?

It does not come naturally. It doesn’t come naturally to me in songwriting, in interpersonal relationships, or even in my own intrapersonal reflection/journaling/whatever. There isn’t comfort in it, and I also wouldn’t say that I’m seeking to find comfort in it or trying to get more comfortable with it. And I think that’s fine. I’m also not sure that it’s the act of baring emotions to the world that’s profound—like, when someone gets angry at a barista and slaps them in the face, that’s a kind of baring-your-emotions-to-the-world, but I wouldn’t call that a profound act. I think it’s more self-understanding (of emotion and other things) that is the profound or interesting thing. It’s easy to act unreflectively in a way that betrays some kind of emotion; it’s difficult and profound to look inward and see what is really there, whether you like it or not. To me, that project is more philosophical than artistic. It’s essentially Socrates’s life project. I’m not sure if that’s truly natural to anyone, but it does seem worthwhile.

Lyrics often carry profound meaning. Are there particular lines you hope listeners will always remember from your songs? If so, what’s the significance?

I’m not sure this lyric is particularly profound, but I have found it helpful! In “Breakup Songs,” the last line of the song goes, “healing isn’t train tracks / it’s a trapeze.” What I’m getting at here is a pretty basic idea that’s easy to forget and relieving to keep in mind: healing is a nonlinear process. When you feel like you’re doing well and things are looking up, you can get knocked back down, and that doesn’t mean you’ve failed. This is true for grieving of all kinds—grieving relationships, deaths, failures…you name it. It isn’t a process that moves in a straight line. It is a pendulum that swings back and forth.

Albums often involve collaboration with various musicians and producers. Could you shed light on how these collaborations contributed to shaping the album’s identity?

It’s difficult to overstate the impact Dave Schiffman (our producer) had on this album. He produced, mixed, and engineered the album, and he had a pretty substantial role in pre-production stuff too (particularly song selection). In our initial talks with Dave back in 2021, he told us that the goal of this album should be to find our sonic footprint, or the thing that makes our recorded music really ours. Everything we did with Dave contributed to finding that unique footprint. In that sense, our collaboration with Dave was key to finding not only the album’s identity but a new sense of the band’s identity.

Imagine you could collaborate with three co-writers of your choice for new songs. Who would you select, and what qualities or dynamics draw you to them?

What a fun question! Okay, I would pick:

1) Matt Thiessen, whose songwriting has had (and continues to have) a huge impact on me. I think his lyrics are brilliant, and his range is incredible. He does both the driving punk thing and the slow/sad/folk-y thing super well.

2) Rivers Cuomo. Dude knows how to write a melody, and his creativity is prolific and steadfast in a way that is so admirable to me. I’ve taken a few pages out of his songwriting strategy book, and they’ve served me well. I think writing with him would be a blast. and…

3) Justin Hawkins. He gets guitarmony, power pop, half-mocking-half-adoring big guitar music, and taking the bit to an unrecognizably high level. I often find myself limited by people going “okay that’s maybe a little too over the top,” and I love that with Justin Hawkins “over-the-top” is the goal. I think trying to write something absolutely ridiculous with him would be a blast.