Denver music fans know that Edison brings in the entertainment. The indie folk-rock band was one of the favorites at the recent Divide Music Festival that took place July 22-24, 2016 outside Winter Park, CO. Lead singer, Sarah Slaton swoons listeners with her down to earth voice while Dustin Morris and Maxwell Hughes get everyone's foot a stomping. Edison sat down to chat about life on the road and the release of their debut LP Familiar Spirit due out Sep 16, 2016.
AXS: What were some memorable experiences from the Divide Music Festival?
Dustin Morris: I got to play music I love with people I love looking at the mountains! It was an incredibly beautiful day at the office.
Max Hughes: Being able to cut loose on Saturday and fully appreciate the festival. The staff was a big part in making our stay enjoyable.
Sarah Slaton: I'll never forget being on top of the huge hill overlooking main stage and the mountains while Kid Cudi played. Dustin tossing his drum off the stage at the end of the set was pretty memorable too.
AXS: What brought Edison together?
DM: A fortunate chain of events brought Edison together. What keeps Edison together is a shared, passionate drive to connect to our audience and true music lovers everywhere.
SS: Dustin and I became a duo after I opened up for his old project on tour and Max joined the band after he was the solo co-headliner on a tour to South by Southwest. We formed on the road after realizing just how well we got along and enjoyed playing on each other’s stuff.
MH: We found each other through friendship and music was a bi-product.
AXS: Sounds like you've got an amazing tour set up for the season. What is life like on the road for you guys?
MH: We sacrificed so much to make this band work and now find our most comfortable selves are on the road. We're sort of road warriors at this point. We listen to a lot of podcasts on the road but we still spend a lot of time swapping stories and connecting with each other.
DM: Life of the road is non-stop, exhausting, exciting and fulfilling all in a day. We are fortunate enough to see the country and experience small town/big city culture in ways that many don't. I like to read, exercise, meditate and share stories with my band mates.
SS: There's a lot of driving so podcasts and good playlists are key. One of the best parts is going back to cities you've been touring through for a while and seeing all the friends that were strangers when we first started doing this. I love that sense of community and familiarity when you're in a new city each night.
AXS: What you all miss the most about Denver while you're on tour?
DM: I miss riding my bike around Denver. Oh, and craft beer!
MH: Friends, family, food, music, mountains...Denver offers a lot that we haven't really been able to find in other places.
SS: Friends, snowboarding, Graham Cracker Porter, City O' City and all the live music.
AXS: What can you share about your new album Familiar Spirit coming out in September? Any fun stories that your fans would love to hear about?
MH: Familiar Spirit was inspired from various parts of the country. Since we are on the road so much, we have to make time for songwriting where we can. The album is a reflection of those places. From the Chesapeake Bay waters, to the Arizona desert, to the Colorado mountains, each song reflects the environments in which we wrote them in.
DM: Familiar Spirit is something we are all very proud of. Listening to our past works, there is always things you would change if you could. I honestly haven't found anything with this album I'd do differently. We worked 13-18 hours a day on this. We got the chance to experiment and overplay with endless support from our producer and engineers.
SS: The majority of songs on the record were created while on the road after everyone left their lives to tour full time. That's reflected lyrically from a traveler’s celebratory anthem “Open Road,” to the things that are also so hard leave behind “Tie Me Down.” Writing the album all across the country created a wide variety of sounds in each track.
AXS: Do any of you have a social cause close to your heart?
SS: We've partnered with Headcount.org to promote voter registration and participation in democracy. Being an active participant in the political process is very important to me. Locally we support and hope people will become involved with Youth on Record and Love, Hope, Strength.
DM: Flourishing school band programs for kids is closest to my heart. Music has and continues to change my life. I want future kids to have the same experience.