Interview: Dupree
DUPREE, an American Christian Pop/Rock band led by Dylan Dupree (son) and Lauren Dupree (mom), just released their latest single 'Your Way'. Louder Than The Music caught up with the duo again to find out about their new music, including a fascinating insight into the way they craft a song. Dylan also tells us about an exciting new instrumental project he's been working on!
It's been a few months since we last caught up with you guys, how have you been and how has this global pandemic affected the way you approach music?
We’re happy to be back talking with you again! We’re doing great, keeping the faith and making lots of music! Helping others get through this pandemic with our songs keeps us upbeat and optimistic. Music is therapy and it’s a great distraction when things get crazy.
We want our songs to bring joy and a sliver to hope to your day. We are grateful that God gave us this gift of music to share, and we can’t wait to go out and bring our music to people who want to feel that joy and positive energy at our shows.
You've just released a new single called 'Your Way', tell us about that song and the inspiration behind it?
Our songs often come from our own life experiences, and “Your Way” came about when we were unsure of the specific path God wanted for us. We threw up our hands and said “God, if we’re doing this our way, please show us what you want... show us Your Way,” because it’s ALWAYS much better in hindsight isn’t it?
Sometimes when you have goals and things aren’t going the way you planned - maybe a door closes and you’re disappointed - you find out the hard way that you are not in control. Just surrender and offer it up. Then, God will suddenly open another door that is even better than you imagined and you stand in awe of His perfect timing and wisdom. Never give up on the Lord and what he will do in your life! He will make your dreams a reality!
Tell us a bit about your songwriting process, and how you go from initial idea to fully recorded song?
Our songwriting process is definitely not the norm! - but then again we’re used to doing things outside the norm lol. Often, Lauren will suddenly get a song idea (almost always she is around water for some reason haha) and writes the lyrics or sings something into voice notes. Then, we sit down together and Dylan comes up with catchy melodies, and we finish fine tuning lyrics/melodies together.
The unique thing is that we often write into the DAW (digital audio workstation) - in a software program called Logic. We’ll maybe lay a guitar riff, or start with some drums or a bass line... depending on our inspiration that day. Things start to build and flow, then we normally have a song fully produced within a few days.
Sometimes we are even surprised at how easily the process flows, but we know each other so well and we’re brutally honest with each other without getting offended if we don’t like something. It really becomes a great strength in our process. We know that there is no way we could do this without God’s hand in it, and we want to use our gifts to give back and build His kingdom.
You also have a new project called 'Reflections' coming soon, what can you tell us about that?
Yes! I am thrilled to announce that I will be releasing a guitar instrumental track in October! It only took 14 years of playing haha. The track itself was written about going through my day. I like to call it “a day in the life of Dylan” lol. One interesting point about this writing process is that it came in parts. The open chord voicings I wrote for the intro had already been written a couple months before. I would always play it right before I put the guitar down after each practice. It just made me feel really good and left me feeling like I had a successful practice session. I wanted to share this feeling with the world.
So this is a completely instrumental track? What's the thinking behind that?
A couple of things - I was thinking that my guitar solos in my songs are just a little taste of my playing. I needed something to inspire the guitarists who listen to our music just like some of my guitar influences did for me.
Also, I want “Reflections” to encourage people to connect with God emotionally without using lyrics. The title is the purpose of the song - to “reflect” on ourselves and our relationship with the Lord. Music speaks louder than words sometimes. Instrumentals can mirror our emotions in a different way, and are subject to each person’s own interpretation of what the song means to them.
I’ve been more inspired by instrumental music than music with words sometimes because it gives us all a different perspective. The fact that I’m putting it on our Christian album reflects my intention to represent/connect with the Christian community and with those who may hear this song and want to dig deeper into our Christian message through our music.
We want to use our music to build God’s kingdom through evangelization. It’s our calling and that’s very clear to us. Our unique mom/son band makes us think it’s God telling us He’s going to do something with us that nobody else is doing. That’s our mojo anyway and He knows that so well haha. That’s what makes us relatable and authentic to our fans.
There's some great rock influences in the track, it sounds quite Guns N' Roses, what influenced your sound on this one?
I’m glad you picked up on the Slash in me haha. I definitely did a lot of listening to Guns N’ Roses growing up so I’d say that it is my kind of music! Some of the guitarists that shaped my own style were Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Jimi Hendrix. These guitarists plus a few others have made me into the guitarist I am today and had a great influence on this track.
How do you hope people will use this track?
I hope that people will use this track to reflect upon their day and use the nature of the arrangement and the emotion I put into it to grow in their faith and basically use it as therapy to give them confidence and send them through their day knowing that someone else, in this case me, is experiencing similar trials and struggles every day.
As for the guitarists, I would love to hear others record it and put their own spin on it. I would love to inspire players around the world at all ages. If I could be the reason for just one kid asking their parents for a guitar, and they change the world for the better, then all of these years of perfecting my craft was worth it. And, of course, I hope this song brings those who may be struggling with their faith, or have no faith, to come to know Jesus.
Is this a one-off track, or are you planning further instrumental music?
I hope this is the first of many! I’d love to release an instrumental record or EP because it would be fun to play them live at a show and do a short set in the middle of the show - similar to how some artists do acoustic sets. I’ll do rock guitar sets instead.
What does the rest of the year hold for Dupree?
We’re really excited to be wrapping up our album! We plan on getting out there to play some live shows as soon as we can! We can’t wait to get out there and meet so many great people and evangelize with all this music that God has handed us. All glory to God!!!
