Former Bay Area rockers Dig The Kid head over to Balconi Coffee Company in West L.A.’s Japantown to discuss their recent lineup changes, balancing between two alpha personalities, and the differences between the L.A. and Bay Area music scenes.

Dig The Kid is comprised of:

Cory Todd – vocals and guitar

Lisa Mongelli – vocals and drums

So you guys were just signed by Ten & Eight Management, congrats!

Cory Todd: Thank you!

How’s it like working with a management company apart from doing stuff independently?

Cory: It’s all around better, I don’t think you can really do everything yourself. If you really want to take yourself seriously in anything, a manager is really important. They are able to open doors for you that you wouldn’t normally open doors for on your own.

Lisa Mongelli: Which I think was what our biggest issue was. We were so green, and our management team in the beginning was also very green, we didn’t know how to get to that next step. We had great contacts, played with some great bands, met other and different managers, but everybody is so focused on themselves. Getting a new manager who knows the business and knows what they’re doing is so much easier. It makes life so much easier for us, and we’re really appreciative. We’re more appreciative probably than any band in the history of the world.

Cory: It depends on your type of managers also. Some artists need a full service manager. You’re literally like, “All we want to do is create music. We don’t want to deal with anything else.” In our band, we do a lot of manager work, booking, talking, promotion and stuff like that. But having a manager there on the side keeps things a little organized. Creatives. We’re children. *laughs*

Lisa: We’re a lot more organized. You don’t have to deal with money anymore, you don’t have to deal with merch, you don’t have to deal with when you’re getting a show. His name Nicholas Mishko and he takes care of all of that. All that stress comes off of us, and we can actually focus on songwriting instead of all the business.

Cory: Also, when things go wrong you have someone to blame it on. Scapegoats are good to have. *laughs*

I guess it’s always good to blame someone except yourself. *laughs*

Lisa: *laughs* Story of our lives.

And you guys are sponsored by a couple of different brands like Gibson, and Greenbar Distillery, and Spirit, which is really awesome. Like, I want to be sponsored by a freakin’ airline! How did these opportunities come about?

Lisa: It all starts with friends. We don’t make connections because want something from somebody, a lot times they’ll see our band play and say “Oh my god, this is great!” and we become friends. They’ll go, “Look, I’ve got this company and we need this band,” so we end up doing things together. That’s kind of what it is in a nutshell. It’s friends before anything though. You develop a really cool business relationship. And a lot of times, with these friends money is not exchanged, it’s products. We can let you have this song or use this for your promo because it’s also promotional use for us if you give us what you have. It happened with Palmia Beer and Greenbar Distillery. From the first meeting, we instantly became a family. We decided to start small, and now it’s growing into this pretty large family occasion. We host parties for our studio, we pour Greenbar and Palmia to promote them, and they use our music to promote us. So it’s kind of a cool bond.

Cool! So it’s like a family of brands pretty much?

Cory: Yes, exactly!

And what other types of brands do you hope to affiliate yourselves with, hopefully in the near future.

Cory: Shoes. Clothes.

Lisa: Because Cory and I can wear the same shoes, we both need matching brands. We need a shoe sponsor for sure.

Cory: When you think about the bands and you think about sponsorship, at first you wanted to get the cool stuff. And now it’s more of like ‘What are the things we really need?’

Practicality.

Cory: Spirit Airlines for instance, is ridiculously practical for a band that has to travel. You have to do radio interviews, expand, and drop your pin on different cities across the country to really get known. Now you can do this without having to spend tons of money on gas to drive across the country. You can fly where you need to go, pop in for the day, and have meetings too. Which is why liquor sponsorships make a lot of sense for bands as well, because we are going to have after-parties and have people around. It’s very easy, they always want to have their company featured in an environment where people will enjoy it. So it tends to be a lot of fun when you go out to see an artist and then you’re visiting them afterwards in their greenroom. The next thing that I would love to have is a hotel chain or something where we can stay. Having that is really nice. The most important thing is you can promote whatever is sponsoring you. We go out our way sometimes to promote the different kinds of sponsorships and brands that we work with.

Lisa: Yeah we haven’t had a case of Palmia in 6 months, but we’re still together!

Cory: They’re great guys!

Lisa: We don’t do it for the beer though. We do it because they’re great guys, and they’ve really tried to help us in many ways as possible. It’s not ever for the product because if you can build your team, every little bit counts to get your band out there. Building this monstrosity of a team will help out both of the brands.

Cory: Sometimes it’s scary to just shoot for these giant brands, but a lot of the time it’s these smaller brands that kind of work out better. The start-ups.

Lisa: They give you more attention.

Cory: Because they’re also going to grow and if you can grow with them, where they go they’ll bring you with them. We always partnered with brands on the same level where we were and over the years we’ve watched them grow up, as they’ve watched us grow up.

Awesome! And what kind of advice would you have for other local bands that are trying to get some sponsorship? You mentioned that trying to reach the bigger brands is a little more difficult and there’s not enough attention. If they wanted to go for those smaller brands, what would you suggest?

Lisa: If they’re independent and don’t have management, start super small. Start with a beer company that just came out or something that just launched. If you have really good music, offer to go play at their brewery  or work space and be like, “Hey, is there any way that instead of paying us for this, we use you as a sponsor?” You have to know how to talk to people  and you have to know how to make friends first. If you want it that bad, you want to make friends first, but don’t ask for a sponsorship. Find a way and a common ground that you guys can both benefit from. 

Cory: Also, sometimes bands are going to play at smaller festivals. You’re going to play at little popup events, and there’s going to be someone there who’s pouring a select liquor. That person is going to be a rep, who will be connected to the larger company, and is ultimately going to get you in with them. If they like you, then talk to them after the show or have drinks with them before the show. Try their product. If it’s something you really like and something that works for you, pass on communication and ask to keep in touch. Never go in thinking, “What am I get out of this?” Go in thinking, “What can I do for you?”

Lisa: That goes for a lot more than sponsorship for a band.

So start off with the personal and relationship building, rather than going straight for business?

Cory: Absolutely!

Makes sense.

Cory: When you get to the top, people always want to do business with their friends.

Lisa: There’s a trust that’s built.

So tell us about your single, “What If It All Turns To Gold?” How was it born?

Lisa: Last year, we had some really great times, and also some really low times. Every band goes through that. But our lowest low almost caused us to disband. We had a lot of unfortunate things happen all in a row. We took some time off, unwillingly, but it just kind of happened that way. It just kind of fizzled out a little bit. I was somewhere on tour and I called Cory, who was somewhere in New York at 7 o’clock in the morning. I was like, “This is not working for me, I don’t want to be a drummer for somebody else.” I’m used to leading a project and being a part of something. I realized that he and I had such good chemistry when we play and write together. We already know where each other is going to go without thinking about it. So I kind of cried to him for a little bit, and he was like, “Ok, let’s come back and see let’s what we can do. Let’s see what we can work on.” From there we just started being more positive, and we promised each other that we were not going to stress about it. We were just going to take it one day at a time, and focus on building a relationship. All of sudden, we got Greenbar, and they helped us with getting on a radio station in San Francisco called KFOG. All of these things helped us, little by little. We started coming back to the scene.

Cory: I went into the studio by myself, it was quiet, all the lights turned down low, and I just started playing.  “What If It All Turns To Gold?” kept being this thing that I kept singing in the chorus, and it wrote itself very, very, quickly. It’s about that entrepreneurial spirit that artists, musicians, and people who want to do something against the grain, against the norm, tend to have. You’re going to be pushed up against the wall. You choose the path, and ultimately you make the decision to close doors in your life. In a way, we are always closing doors. We’re closing doors from office jobs. We’re closing doors by jumping into a relationship and starting a family. That’s not something you can do in this type of life of traveling, touring, playing in bands. This song is that moment when you’re alone by yourself, and you’re questioning whether what you did was the best decision. You’re accepting the truth for what it is, but ultimately there’s this voice that’s in the back of your head that is always screaming. It never lets you sleep. It is simply what if what you’re doing, what you decided to do, that decision you made in your life, what if it all turns to gold? It’s a bit melancholy of an idea, but it also has a really positive annotation. It’s that thing that keeps you going. I think that musically and lyrically, it’s taking you down that path and telling that story. It’s a really personal song once you start getting into the second verse. The lyrics are about how you wait all day for a phone call from some person that you met the night before. You doll yourself up to go out to events. Then you go home and you have no food, you’re penniless. It’s a giant charade, and you’re sitting there. Those are the thoughts that go through your head when you’re doing that. When coming to L.A.

Lisa: You come with your fingers crossed, hoping that somebody that you met that night can somehow take you to the next level. Or even just to become friends with or expand your circle. That’s one step closer. Unfortunately a lot times, people just like to talk a lot. They say they wanna help you, “Oh yeah, I got a record label for this…” or whatever. 95% of people like to talk, about 5% actually deliver.

It’s kind of the LA way.

Lisa: It’s the music way.

Cory: It’s totally a universal thing. We talk to friends of ours who are actors, friends of ours who are comedians, and they go through the exact same thing. People who are starting small little businesses, like Palmia they’ve been through it too.

Definitely. So, Dig The Kid started off as a three piece until late 2016. How has it been going transitioning from a trio to a duo?

Lisa: At first it was really hard. I through hundreds and hundreds of Craigslist musicians and a bunch of other sites looking for a bass player. Everyone from L.A., of course, wanted to be paid for practice, didn’t want to put the time in, or they had like five bands. It was very discouraging. We had a few friends step in for us, and we’re very appreciative of that, but it just kind of wasn’t the right fit. That is, until we found Andre. We basically hire him to do all the shows with us, but he’s still willing to come to practice and learn all the songs and be a part of the band. In reality, it is just us two, and we’ve had to learn how to deal with each other because Ian was always our buffer. Cory and I are alphas in different way,s and Ian was definitely the beta. *laughs* We would bitch to him, and he’d be like “No, no…”

The middle man.

Lisa: Yeah, I feel like we’re working better than we ever have. And I think it’s because we’re forced to deal with each other. *points to Cory*He’s forcing me to have creative ideas. I’m forced to tell him what I’m working on. So I think we’ve become better partners because of it. But it took a while.

Cory: I think one of the biggest hurdles to get over is that you have to accept when  a member leaves. With Ian, he wasn’t just our bassist, he was literally our brother. He was family. And he left for the best reasons possible. We’re all still really close and really friendly. He’s happy where he is in his life. But when it comes down to the music and performing, when you lose somebody like that, it makes it really, really difficult. You get so accustomed to, ‘this is what he plays’ and ‘this is what he’s like on stage’ and ‘these are the jokes that you tell between each other.’ You have to sort of come to an acceptance that change is gonna happen, and there’s nothing wrong with that. In some ways, you find things that you didn’t even know you could now have available to you. Andre who plays with us, he’s incredible on keys! It’s a whole other soundscape that we now get to utilize within our band. But sticking as a two piece has been the smartest route for us at this point in time. It just makes sense. We’ve got the history together, and right now it’s nice to not have another voice that has to be brought up in the conversation. It’s real easy with just two people to make decisions and work really fast. We have had a lot of stuff that’s been coming our way the past couple of months.

And Lisa, you mentioned that you had been playing with other bands and stuff like that and kind of realized, “This is not what I want to do, I want to be with Cory.” How did you come to that realization that you’ve realized your chemistry with your band?

Cory: I knew it the whole time though. *laughs*

Lisa: I didn’t do shit! *laughs*

“She’ll come back, soon enough!”

Lisa: I don’t know how to really answer that. I just somehow realized that playing with others wasn’t a fit for me. I just felt that inside and out. It’s hard to be a leader of something, and then to be a follower of something else. It’s not in my blood, I’ve never been like that. There’s things that I see flying with others, and then I’m like, “Well, maybe we should try this.” I’ll try to help probably a little too much and I realize I have to keep that in my own band because that’s their business. It’s all about the camaraderie and how well you can rely on somebody to help you in any way, whether it’s on stage or off stage. No matter how much Cory and I can irritate each other, which is not a lot, I mean, we irritate each other all the time, we still don’t fight. So after we got over that period, I think it just became more clear. I just kind of realized that I am grateful to actually have this. But we all know that it’s a lesson from life. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

And lineup changes always happen in the music industry. Shoot, it happens with big, well-named bands! How has the re-branding process been for you guys now that you’re re-branding as a duo now?

Cory: It was easy, I think it was really fun because now you’re slowly dealing with it. The photos are great because we’ve been starting to push this whole opposites attract thing, which has been the basis of the entire re-branding. You can literally put the two of next to us next to each other, take one look, and realize that we’re, you’re know, different. We have a whole different approach.

Lisa: Yeah, we’re almost more serious in our adulthood trying to actually write songs. *aughs* Let me just say that in the beginning, when we had Ian, it was fun. We went from “Yay we’re a band! Fuck we’re really great!” to “Holy shit, we’re gonna moving!” to “Oh shit, it’s not going to work the way we wanted it to…” to “Oh my god, we lost Ian! OK let’s get serious.” We went through a bunch of ups and downs. It was a lot of trauma for me and Cory both. So instead of writing all of the fun shit, like, ‘Let’s have a great time and party,’ we’re also enjoying writing about more serious things that every band, or every person that’s listening can relate to.

Cory: Also, when you’re dealing with two polar opposites, you’re dealing with a white and you’re dealing with a black. In between there’s a grey, and the grey area is the truth, in everything. 

Lisa: We should add that in our bio, that would be really good.

*laughs* I know Ian was a really hard member to replace because he’s like family, and he was working with you guys for a long time.

Lisa: He’s still family. He still gets a third of the damned royalties, damn him! *laughs* And he’s not even doing anything, except having a really cute baby.

He’s not even here and he’s still taking your money. Like a gold digger. *all laugh*

Lisa: “What If Is All Turns To Gold Digger?” *all laugh*

The alternate version! Part 2! What kind of qualities did you decide to look for when you were trying to add a third member back in? What kind of qualities musically and personality wise?

Lisa: Andre is our permanent third member at least for the time being. He plays keys and bass, he plays at the Monday jam, the Sunset Jam, the guy is everywhere. He goes to Vegas two weeks out of the month, he’s a professional musician. He’s got a great attitude, he’s very bubbly, there’s some times where I’m like “Stop being so positive!” *laughs* He’s great, honestly, he’s exactly what we needed. So I think we found our third.

Cory: The funny thing is that it’s always only two members when you look at it as a picture, I mean, when you look at the marketing. But Dig The Kid has never just been three members. We have violins we’ll incorporate. We’ll incorporate horns. We’ll incorporate other guest musicians.

Lisa: Robby Krieger on guitar.

Cory: And you know, drums! It’s only what you see on paper or what you may see in a music video that says that we’re only two people.

Lisa: Or our intimate sets.

Cory: It’s just easier that way. But as a band, I don’t know even know how big, Dig The Kid could get. I think the thing is that everybody who gets to play with us has always gets to be a member of Dig The Kid for that show. And that is something that we set out from the get-go. Dig The Kid, right now anyway, is ultimately me and Lisa, you’re going to see us on stage, in promos, in videos, all that stuff. But wverybody who comes to the show is a member of Dig The Kid because it really isn’t a show unless you’re one of us. And, you make the show better, it’s true. That’s going in the bio too!

Lisa: Oh god, no it’s not! Get out of here with your matcha tea latte you bougie, L.A. guy!

*laughs* So, you guys originated from the Bay Area. What would you say are some differences in terms of maybe booking and performing from the Bay Area to L.A.?

Lisa: There’s way more opportunity in L.A. There is less opportunity in the Bay Area, but we get more love in the Bay Area because they’re not as pretentious and everybody loves to go to shows. People aren’t afraid to have a good time. Whereas in L.A., people are too cool to be like, “Fuck yeah! These guys are awesome!”

Cory: Another thing that I kind of find interesting is that Los Angeles is made up of a lot of people trying to make it. Most of Los Angeles is independent, and people understand how important it is, and the work that goes into putting that together. San Francisco, Bay Area, Oakland, that is an area of people who aren’t necessarily in the music industry, but they like to go out to a show. They work an office job, so for them, they’re going to go see the thing that they know and not necessarily taking the time to try something new. Here, everyone wants to know what the new thing is, because as soon as there’s something new, you then become old. So there’s this, “We gotta know what’s happening,” kind of vibe. It’s just a different type of life.

Lisa: Especially the way that the music industry has been changing with all this streaming.

Do you think that it’s a lot of pressure in L.A. with always having to be that shiny new thing?

Lisa: It’s all single based. New single, new single, new single. When are you dropping this? We can’t book you without an EP.

Cory: You guys need to go into the studio and write another song. We need another song, tomorrow.

Long list of demands!

Cory: Yeah, that’s not just L.A. though. That’s just having social media and having everyone connected to the web.

As new-ish locals, you’ve come to support numerous local acts. Who are some of your favorites that you’ve gotten the chance to work with, apart from Andre who I know you guys love.

Lisa: With Attaloss, for instance, we used to play a few songs together before switching over between bands. We’ll take Danny from Attaloss and he’ll sing Jim Morrison‘s parts for Robby Krieger when we play with him. Cory will play the tambourine. It’s great! We also use Danny for lead guitar when we need him. Chris, who’s also from Attaloss, has worked with us in the past too. He played bass when Ian stepped out. We collaborate with Robby. Now we’re doing our recording at Mike Dumas’ studio at Horse Latitude, who is Robby’s partner. He brings in all kinds of musicians, like the horn section from Supertramp, Bret Bollinger from Pepper, I feel like we’re always collaborating. 

Cory: One of the new artists that we played with a little while ago is MADUS. They’re great!

Lisa: Oh yeah!

Cory: They’ve got great music! They’re up and coming and a really fun band to play with, good energy. I think that’s something that we’ve always tried to make sure that we’re doing when we put shows together. We’ll invite different artists with us to make a good night, but it doesn’t mean that every single artist has to sound exactly the same. Sometimes it’s nice to have a rapper involved, or a DJ, a folk singer, or even a heavier punk band. We’ve played with one band called The Shams and they were fun! They were a fun Irish drinking band! But they were great for your last band because when you get off stage that’s what you want to do! It’s all about creating a fun night. Because when all of your bands are a little bit different but giving the same energy, nobody is competing with each other. Nobody can go, “Oh, I liked this band better than that band,” or “They played that better than that.” With a punk show for example, everybody plays the same music so one band is obviously gonna be better than another one. There’s no compare and contrast when we do it, just weaving a night together.

And how important do you think it is to give support to your local acts? As a local act yourself?

Cory: You will not survive. We open up our studio to local acts and artists who want to come have jam nights at our space. That’s our way of making sure you keep communication open, because as a band you only know so much about your city, the venues, the promoters…

Lisa: And you never know when you go to see other local bands who you might be able to collaborate with, even if they’re smaller. The problem with L.A. is that everybody always wants to play with this gigantic headliner, because they think it’s a chance of a lifetime. But half the time the headliners don’t give a shit, because every city they have a new band. Unless, they have a rapport, like us with Robby Kreiger, or something like that. But if you don’t support them, you can’t expect other people to support you. So every chance we can, if we meet a new band, we’ll try to go see them as much as possible.

Cory: Also, if you’re not willing to share and work together with the other artists, you’re really shooting yourself in the foot.

Lisa: Broaden your connections.

Cory: I always think about what happened in the early 90s and Seattle’s music scene, because that was a perfect example of amazing artists that all worked together. They just took everything over, but they did all together. People are afraid to do that because I think we live in an environment that breeds, “Keep your secrets close to you. Don’t share them, because somebody is going to take them.” I think that needs to stop, and people need to be a little more open about sharing, and being friendly with each other.

Lisa: Amen. Praise the heavens!

I feel like it’s a natural competitiveness in the local music scene.

Cory: Right! But it’s not a competition unless you make it one, and you shouldn’t have to. We’re not competing, we’re all trying to make music better.

Lisa: That’s actually a really good point that you make there. The biggest problem, especially in L.A., is that it’s hard not to be envious of another band’s success. You’re like, “Fuck, why can’t we be there? Why aren’t we opening up for this? You know, our music is perfect for that!” We’re humble, but we’ve asked ourselves that a lot. You need to be proud of your work and not be jealous of somebody else’s success. But instead, you can totally piggyback off of it because you never know when you can help each other out. 

Absolutely, I love when local acts support each other. Now a fun question. If you could choose three artists to go on your own personal world tour with, who would they be and what would you name the tour?

Cory: *turns to Lisa* Do you want to do two different tours?

Lisa: Sure!

Cory: Alright.Do yours!

Lisa: I’d love to say Robert Plant, of course, because he’s my ultimate hero, and John Bonham would have to be there. We’d have to raise them from the dead for that to happen. *laughs*

I mean, you can have holograms! *laughs*

Lisa: And I would tour with Led Zeppelin in a heartbeat! If I could go back in time, that would the ultimate!

Cory: They would be the headliner.

Lisa: Oh my god, it would be amazing! Also Mötley Crüe, because they’re insane. I would just love to witness one of their parties back in the day. That would be amazing! I don’t really know for the third one, like a serious one. Those are like my two dream ones. I don’t know, I would probably want to do something more our genre. *turns to Cory* You go, because I need more time to think.

Cory: I don’t know who would headline, but I know that I would want Manchester Orchestra. I’d want The Hives. Then there’s that elusive third. Who’s that third that has to be there? Pete Townshend! Or no, or maybe Tom Petty. But no, I don’t think he would fit. I think he would compete. So I’ll take Pete Townshend. I want the biggest guitar. The biggest guitar tone I ever heard in my life was Pete Townsend. And we’d play, somewhere in there.

Lisa: *to Cory* What’s my guy that I always wanted to play at the Grammys with? Do you know who I’m talking about? My guy! From the 80s and 90s!

Cory: That’s a pretty broad spectrum. *laughs*

Lisa: I always say it! Fuck, I can’t remember his name! Goddammit!

Cory: Meatloaf? *laughs*

Everyone wants to play with Meatloaf. Meatloaf and Smash Mouth. *laughs*

Lisa: No, no, I can’t even think of a song right now because I’m so on the like on the spot. Hold on, let me see.

Cory: *to Lisa* What would the name of your tour be? Mine’s The Wall of Sound Tour.

That’s pretty epic!

Cory: It has to be!

Lisa: Free Car Wash!

Cory: Free Car Wash? *laughs* Or Free Beer? The Free Beer Tour! Maybe we can call it the Free Tibet Tour, I don’t know. Or we should call it The Free Cha Cha Pop Tour.

Lisa: Steve Winwood! It’s Steve Winwood.

Cory: Oh Steve Winwood! Steve Winwood would be awesome! 

Lisa: Yes we will! That’s one of our goals, we play the Grammy’s and all of a sudden Steve Winwood walks out. I’d also love to roll cigars with Jay-Z and Notorious B.I.G.

Cory: *laughs* Yes!

Lisa: I just want to do one rap. One rap! *laughs* 

*laughs* And to get into some of your guys’ band stuff, who are your personal influences in regards to your music? Especially now that you’re a duo? Or Trio? Duo-ish?

Lisa: We loved Band of Skulls, they were a great trio. They never got the recognition that they deserved either, but their albums are amazing. Himalayan was actually really good, and bands like that would be cool to be on tour with them, because we’re kind of similar.

Cory: They’re also actually a really great band to look at when talking about a trio because there’s a soundscape that they’re able to have. Another band I look up to at as a trio is Nico Vega. What they did and what they were able to achieve, their soundscape was massive! Sometimes you as an artist and go, “These bands sound amazing,” but they have six members! So that’s the reason why they sound that way. You can pull that off on the record.

Because they’ve got double the amount of members. *laughs*

Lisa: Jack White pulled it off with The White Stripes if you think about it. Two people. It was not popular, but he blew us out of the water. And then everybody started being two or three pieces.

Cory: Yeah! And he did a lot for bringing back musicianship on a record of just listening to somebody play raw. You’re less production. If you’re listening to rock in the 90s, everything had production, that was the sound. It’s great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s kind of nice to have this rawness.

Lisa: Our influences come from all over though. We have classic rock. When I’m in a bad mood I put on punk. I love the blues. I even love country. Seriously, every kind of music has an influence on us, on what we listen to, or what we write. I’ll get in his car *points to Cory*, and there’s hardly ever a time I hate the song playing. I always love the song. We’ll talk about it for twenty minutes.

Cool! And which three artists would you want to collaborate with? And why?

Lisa: For me, playing with Jack White would be super cool, only because he’s got some really crazy tones, and we don’t really mess with those kind of things. It’d be really weird to collaborate with him but I think we’d come up with some really cool sounds together.

Cory: Maybe in this moment in time because it’s fresh in my mind, Manchester Orchestra. And just recently, Lukas Nelson. He’d be really kind of cool to play with. I think his melodies and approach are really nice. He’s fresh, he’s on the scene, and he’s doing some really cool stuff right now.

Lisa: Also, I’d like to do something with EDM, someone taking our song and changing it into a remix. One of our friends works for Troyboi, so we were trying to be in discussions for writing a song for him and having him play it at a giant festival. I think that would be really cool, having a DJ play one of your songs while they do their own thing. It’s pretty rad. A couple of friends did that with “Mission” before and it was pretty cool.

And what words do you think define you as a band? And both of you can say one word if you want, or if you both agree on a word that you feel describes you both.

Lisa: Perseverance. Per-ser-fucking-verance. Dude, when people say they’re ‘the hardest working band ever,’ they’re fucking liars. Because we’re the hardest working band ever. We take on a lot of responsibility, we’re strong willed, and we don’t accept ‘no’ for an answer. I guess that’s a part of perseverance. We’re also very etiquette when it comes to meeting people. We don’t act like a band, we act more like a business. So I’d say we’re very business savvy, as well as responsible.

Cory: I think my word that I always come back with is genuine, only because there’s a genuine honesty to everything we do. Whether it’s the music we put out, us as people, or going off of what Lisa just said, the way we do business.

Lisa: Humble.

Cory: Yeah, the humble aspect of it. There’s something really tactile about it. There’s a boundary that gets put up sometimes through either watching somebody through screen or somebody on this side of the stage, or this side of the crowd, I think we try to blend that as much as we can. With our friends and our family, and just the way that we conduct ourselves. It’s a genuine thing that we’re doing. And I hope that it stays that way as long as we can do it.

Lisa: As long as you can keep your shit together, you’ll be fine. I’m totally fine. *points to Cory* He’s a loose canon sometimes when he drinks, you know what I’m saying? *all laugh* Just kidding, that’s me. Wrong person! *laughs* No, that was Ian, totally. When Ian would get drunk, you could make him do anything you want.

Cory: You could make him do anything, it was the best!.

*laughs* And now you don’t have that third person!

Lisa: I know! And now it’s like, “Hey Cory do this!” and he’s like, “Nah, fuck off!” and I’m like, “Dammit!” *laughs*

Cory: “Hey Lisa, do this!” “I already did!” *all laugh*

And what do you hope your audience takes away from your music?

Cory: I hope that our music inspires people to go home and pick up an instrument, maybe write something of their own. The best artists that we were inspired by made us pick up instruments. That’s what you aspire to do! If anything, I hope that I hear a song and be like, “That sounds just like my song! That’s amazing!”

And last question, apart from the re-release of “On A Mission,” which you already gave us some tidbits on what you would want for a music video, what other big plans do you guys have for the near future.

Lisa: Well, we just signed with new management, Ten & Eight with Mishko. From there, we’ve been playing with Robbie a lot, we got asked to play his June dates with him. Then we’re recording 3 songs in Mike Dumas at their studio. There’s a brand new one that we wrote that we’re not going to release the name yet. And then we’re doing “Bootleg” as well, which is a cover CCR (Creedance Clearwater Revival), that’s going on the City Of Hope Soundtrack. We also have a partnership with these guys in Brazil, it’s kind of like a management company, but not at the same time. We’re one of the first American bands that they’re going to be pushing heavily in Brazil. So we’re gonna go down to there and play some shows with them at some big festivals.

That’d be awesome!

Cory: I think that in the far future, we’ll be focusing on touring the back half of the year. The goal is to be on the road, and then keep that going all throughout next year.

Lisa: We’re going to release our new EP probably very soon. I would say in the next few months. New music!

Yay new music!

Check out Dig The Kid on their Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, and Soundcloud!

About Balconi Coffee Company:

Want to feel like you’re in a coffee making lab while discovering your inner hipster? Balconi Coffee Company has you covered.  Specializing in the vacuum brewing method called ‘siphoning,’ prepare to be entranced by the bubbling brews that these steampunk-esque machines when you step into the shop.  While your siphon coffee takes its time to brew, take in chill yet modern atmosphere, admire the local artwork lining the walls, and lose yourself in the light ethereal music playing in the background.

Now I don’t know about you, but straight black coffee with no cream or sugar is just not my cup of tea (pun intended). So you can imagine my hesitation when the barista advised that siphon coffee be drunk the way that it is brewed (aka you will be damned if sugar or creamer goes anywhere near your cup). Well, it was a good thing I drank it the proper way because I would’ve missed out on a gloriously fresh brew that awakened my tired senses. No, I’m not kidding. Even from getting a chance to get a whiff of the coffeebeans’ aroma before the siphoning started jolted me awake.

Check out more about Balconi Coffee Company on their Website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.