Louisville, KY’s Dash|Ten are unlike any other band on the Vans Warped Tour this summer. Serving as both active duty soldiers and musicians, Steve Ebert, Pete Greenberg and Corrin Campbell are able to showcase their talent and passion through the Army Musical Outreach program. Get to know the band and listen to their song, “What You Wanted” below before they embark on Warped Tour this summer!
Interview by Shannon Shumaker
Can you tell us a little bit about Dash|Ten for any readers who may not be familiar?
We’re a power trio from Louisville, KY. Our music is organic rock, with distorted guitars, heady drum parts, and a female lead vocalist.
You guys are very involved in the Army Musical Outreach program – how did that come about? Why is it important to you?
It’s the weirdest and coolest thing ever. Basically, we get to play our music across the country while being active duty Soldiers. It has given us a really cool platform to do what we love, but not have to worry about a lot of the financial stuff. Our touring costs are covered, and the Army gives our CD and other merch items for free to fans. It’s almost like we’re working as a non-profit band to just talk about our experiences in the Army.
How do you feel your experience in the US Army has affected you as a musician and vice versa? Do the two go hand in hand?
The worlds are a lot more similar than people may think. Bands have to work their tails off to make it, and get out above all the noise. The Army has definitely helped us develop a work ethic to keep up with the hustle that is the music industry now. Secondly, it has exposed all three of us to music that we didn’t listen to or play before. Musicians in the Army have to be able to play everything from marching band stuff to salsa, jazz to pop and rock, so musicianship and flexibility on your instrument is really important. It also taught us a lot about drinking a TON of water, which everybody knows is essential to surviving Warped Tour!
How do you hope to touch or affect people with your message?
Our biggest goal is really to connect with people through the music. Yes, we’re Soldiers, but it doesn’t change who we are, and the Army hasn’t asked us to change the music or “package” what we play. The organization has really embraced our songs, allowed us to be individuals, and tell our story like any other band does. We, arguably, have more freedom than some bands with record label deals. We really just want people to see past the uniforms they’re used to seeing on the news, that we’re just three kids making music and doing what we love. Our songs are about real-life struggles, dreams, relationships, and we hope fans escape in the music as much as we do!
What would you like someone who is seeing you live for the first time to walk away feeling or thinking?
“That was kick-ass!” Haha Our album is recorded in a way to sound a lot like how it would live. We wanted it to sound like you walked into a garage and heard us playing, REAL. We don’t use pitch correction on our vocals, our drums aren’t sampled, and everything was laid down in just a few takes. Hopefully our live show will sound a LOT like the album because of all that.
Dash|Ten is getting ready to embark on the Vans Warped Tour this summer! What are you most excited about?
We’re all excited to meet new fans out there. Warped Tour is a great place to connect with people discovering new music and since our band is pretty new, it’s a great place to be. We also like discovering new music as much as the guy going to Warped Tour, so we’ll spend a lot of any spare time we have listening to Warped Family bands. We met Less Than Jake at the Warped Tour live kick-off party this year because both of our bands played, and they’re the funniest dudes, so we’re looking forward to hanging with them some more!
Are there any bands on Warped that you’re excited to be able to watch every day?
There’s SUCH a cool line-up this year. Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, a ton of throw-back Warped roots bands. Plus, the dates Good Charlotte is going to be out there are going to be crazy awesome. Our biggest friends will probably end up being the bands on the Full Sail stage, our stage, because you get to watch each other play almost every single day. We’re particularly excited to see Mother Feather and seeing what they sound like live.
Is there anything you learned on Warped Tour last year that will help make this summer even better?
Um, WATER! SUNSCREEN! Corrin got some massive, blistering sunburn last year. It was not pretty. Also, SLEEP. It’s so tempting to go out and party with everybody before bus call, but you definitely pay for it the next day. It’s cool to have some fun when the sun goes down, but if bus call isn’t until 3 am that doesn’t mean you have to stay up until then.
Can fans expect to hear some new songs on tour this summer?
YES! In additional to the full-length album we’re debuting May 21, we’re also releasing a “bonus” single as an exclusive on the Warped Tour website and social channels on June 5. We expect to be playing that raucous all summer long.
On top of Warped Tour, do you have any other big plans for 2016?
We are already putting together plans for a Fall Tour for mid-September to mid-November, and then we head back into the studio to make some music. We’re hoping to have that wrapped so we can release another album in late Spring/early Summer next year.
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
We’d love for people to hit us up as they discover our music. It’s all streamable on our website (dashtenmusic.com) or on our Soundcloud (soundcloud.com/dashtenmusic). We love chatting with fans online (especially Twitter and Instagram), and we follow back a lot of people who hit us up about the music, and our handle on pretty much anything is @DashTenMusic – so find us!
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