First and foremost, are you guys time travelers from the past, or just the offspring of Jim Morrison?

 

Actually we were all at Woodstock in 69’ and found this crazy big box that we all went inside and next thing we knew we found a newspaper and it was the year 2010. So we decided to stick around and play music in this millennium.

 

Well thank God. How long have you guys been playing together?

 

We started jamming together around 3 years ago with a bunch of different people, but then the four of us started to form the band about a year later.

 

What or who do you consider to be your biggest influence?

 

All of us have our different influences but their all in the same field. We dig on pretty much the same bands and tunes, stuff like The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd ya know? And the influences of those dudes we just said, people like, Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin Wolf, Albert King, Link Wray, this can go on for days haha.

 

How did you come up with the name blue dream?

 

My sister had a dream one night that the sky was blue and we thought that was cool. Haha Nah but actually our weed dealer is the man who coined the term Blue Dream for the strain he originally started growing. He’s the grooviest dude out there and has hooked us up for a long time if you know what I mean and it was only right we named the band after him.

 

Favorite song of yours & why?

 

I don’t know if I can narrow it down to my favorite song, that’d be to hard but my favorite album is definitely the Band of Gypsys only album.  That album is just pure magic. Jimi Hendrix, Billy Cox, and Buddy Miles had such a crazy vibe going that unfortunately only lasted one album but their record holds a heavy psychedelic bluesy funky sound and in my opinion Hendrix’s greatest guitar playing. And it’s all from a live show they did at the Fillmore East in New York City nothing from a studio.

 

How frequently do you guys play out?

 

We used to play every weekend or two times a week when we were first starting, but as the shows started to get bigger we started to space out our shows a little more so we could try and fill bigger and bigger venues. So now we try and do a Chicago show every month or two and play more shows out of the city to keep the volume of shows the same.

 

Biggest challenge(s) you have come across since your formation?

 

Pretty much all we have problems with is being underage. Although it’s not a problem all the time it’s gotten us before. We ended up getting kicked out and banned from a couple bars on the north side, good times though haha. But for the most part the club owners don’t really care about us being underage, we just end up running into someone every now and then that’s not havin it and won’t let us play or hang out in the venue.  

 

What do you appreciate most about your fans, other than the fact that they spend money to see you?

 

That they always bring the good vibes and are crazy good at supporting us, it’s beautiful. Everyone always comes to the shows bringing a ton of energy that we feel from the stage. Also it always feels like everyone’s in the same mindset that this world needs to change. And us coming together for the shows is like getting this power of a bunch of people that all want peace and love in this world, we’re all like one big family, no more hate or war that these politicians are feeding off of.

 

Most awkward moment on stage?

 

Let me think about that one for a second, a lot of funny shit has happened. Maybe the best one might be when our amps fell over during a show. Jimmy goes crazy on the stage and definitely moves around the most out of all of us and jumps up on shit like amps, drums, speakers, or anything haha. One night when we were playing here in Chicago, probably like one of our first shows, Jimmy jumped up on the guitar amps and they all came tumbling down. But the best part was that he managed to not fall and keep his balance to keep the song goin without a stutter haha.

 

Favorite moment on stage?

 

Another hard question to answer cuz we can never choose just one haha. But, if we have to, probably when the curtains opened at our record release show. It was so surreal because we’ve been working our asses off writing, practicing, and recording so we could put a good debut together and after 2 years of being a band we finally had a CD ready to go. So literally all of us made it our life to make that show the best it could be, because it was a huge stepping stone for us due to how we never had any recorded music and just worked through word of mouth and the live show. Were all psyched to see what happens now with the CD out.

 

Can you give us a little bit of back story on how the band was formed?

 

We formed kind of in pieces and in a scattered amount of time. We were all going to the same high school and were hooked up in the music scene and the lets go behind the one stop shop before and after school joint scene. But I started playing with a couple of other bands throughout high school with the dudes Ryan Flynn and Tim Curley. Then in my senior year I ended up jamming with Danny and Cook along with their band The Stids, with Kyle Paulin and Nick Blake. Then Jimmy started to come and jam. So we all started jamming as much as we could and then got to a point where we wanted to start playing shows and try get out there as a band. So we got our first show at a place called the Music Lounge in Humboldt Park, and it was Me, Danny, Cook, and Jimmy but we played under the name The Stids. Everything was still kind of up in the air with who was going to be in the band but after a couple more shows we decided to have the band be the four of us and play under the name Blue Dream.

 

Other than the band, what else do you guys do?

 

Music is life so it’s pretty much all we do haha. When we’re not practicing we’re playin a show and when we’re not playin a show we’re practicing. So add some writing, smoking, partying, and hitting up record shops into that mix and you got a good grasp on what we do. With the exception of having to go work and hop from job to job when were broke. But that’s why we’re startin the peaceful revolution III so we don’t have to do that shit for “the man” no more.

 

Any side projects you’d like to get a shout out to?

 

All of us are doing everything we can for Blue Dream right now so the time for side projects is not right I guess, but we got a lot of friends in the city that are doin some good things. Psychedelia is coming back with a blast with dudes like Killer Moon, Zoo, The 151s, The Boxers, Mount Salem, Zaramela, Secret Colours, Twin Peaks, and some new cats Marmaletta.

 

Have you gigged around the country yet? If so, favorite city?

 

We haven’t been around the country yet but we’ve been to a lot of places around the Midwest. Every city’s got its own cool flavor and vibe to it but we went to Cleveland last year for the Cleveland Music Festival and it was crazy. The city kind of felt like a ghost town but the area we were at was filled with a ton of groovy ass people that we’ll never forget, almost like a musical island. And the tiny motel we stayed at was surrounded with nothing but strip clubs and a lonely taco stand that ended up being the center point for a massive party that pretty much left the entire motel destroyed.

 

What can we expect to see from Blue Dream in the future?

 

To just keep on keepin on, we are writing new tunes everyday getting ready for the next adventure into the studio. But we are going to keep promoting the CD we just released with another big Chicago show, set up a tour, get some airplay on the radio, and see where it goes from there. All you can ever do is keep doin what you love and stay happy that’s all that matters so come along and join us.

 

Blue Dream dropped their first Self Titled EP on July 13th, support them on their website by clicking here!