Day We Ran Is About To Be Your New Favorite Band

Through a misty, grey haze in Hellman Hollow, Day We Ran took to the Panhandle stage for a serene, yet emotionally charged set on the final day of Outside Lands. Opening with “Carolina,” the crowd quickly warmed up to the band’s easygoing presence and soft-rock sound. Day We Ran found an immediate and natural connection with their audience, who let the band’s wistful vocals and spiraling instrumentals pull them into a riptide of piercing guitar riffs and expansive drums.

An audience member dressed in a flowing dress swayed gently through the crowd as Day We Ran introduced tracks “Piha Lounging” and “Foaming,” both of which call back to the band’s deep-rooted connection with nature. “Piha Lounging” sees the brothers reminisce about their favorite surf beach at home in New Zealand, while adding a romantic and nostalgic touch: “Show me whеre you wanna go/There’s bays along all this coast/Lеt’s find a little spot for you and me.” Their longing vocals, combined with charged and whirring instrumentals transported the audience into a world of oceanic serenity.

“Piha Lounging” garnered another round of excitement from the crowd during the band’s more intimate and moody set at Duboce Triangle later that day. The Bay Area fog, now thick and generating a cool and eery breeze, “Piha Lounging” cast a golden glow over the forested valley, as if we were relaxing on the coast soaking in the warm sunlight.

Their most recent release, 6-song EP Naked At Your Door, finds the band reminiscing about past relationships and the intense emotions that accompany love, longing, and desire. The project is grounded with familiar, yet fleeting instrumentals, and sensitive lyrics. “Used To” is a track that explores the evolution of a relationship alongside summery and nostalgic instrumentals: “So tell me babe/Do you still go out smoking/You said you'd quit at the time/I guess we're all quitting something/I just can't tonight.” The title track is tender and incredibly vulnerable. Stripped-back instrumentals allow the aching lead vocals to shine: “And the auburn leaves are falling/And this train has left the station/I can see in your eyes that it's different now/Then before, before, before.”

Day We Ran don’t just allow you to immerse yourself in their music, but their tracks fully transport you, giving listeners a glimpse into unexplored worlds. Their melodies are soft, yet sharp, creating a beautiful friction that challenges and excites. Their songs often reflect the beauty of an ever-changing and flowing nature, and how this evolution inspires the human desire to dream and live life to the fullest.

After their sets at Outside Lands, Day We Ran spoke with Off The Record Press about traveling and making music as brothers.

I saw both of your sets today, you guys were awesome! How are you all feeling after both of your sets here at Outside Lands?

MICHAEL: I’m feeling stoked! It’s so amazing to be here and see the crowds and be around the trees!

MATTHEW: We’ve seen live videos of this festival before so it’s a dream to play it! It's exactly how we thought the weather would be here in the Bay Area. It has this Twilight vibe!

Oh for sure! It's very Bay Area.

DANIEL: Doing both the stages was really cool too because they have such different landscapes. The atmospheres and crowds brought different vibes to each performance!

You guys have been touring North America in celebration of your debut EP, Naked At Your Door, released in July. You were just in San Diego and you are going to be performing in LA in a few days. Can you share what your experience touring and traveling has been like?

MICHAEL: It has been amazing to go all the way across the whole nation. Obviously it has been really hot!

DANIEL: Denver, Salt Lake City… I think it was like 120 degrees or something at some point! It was crazy. And then coming up here… it's a different world! It has been super cool just going through the landscapes and seeing the whole country. We love America. It has been great!

You are also touring the UK, Ireland, and Europe later this year. What are you looking forward to the most for those tours?

MATTHEW: It's the second time we're doing the tour, so it will be nice to go back to the fans. I think most of it is sold out, so we're just really excited!

DANIEL: It will be cool to play again, and the UK crowds are really up for it all the time so we’re excited for that!

MICHAEL: We’re excited for Europe too! There are some places we've never been to before so it's going to be really cool to see people from around the world.

Next year you are opening for Niall Horan on his Dinner Party tour, congratulations! You have opened for Sam Fender and The Kooks in the past. Can you share what you have learned from opening for those artists? What are you looking forward to with Niall?

DANIEL: You learn a lot by playing in those bigger venues and it's inspiring to see where we can go and what we can work towards visually, sonically, and in terms of stage presence. Growing up, we were playing small stages, so being in those arenas and playing to those crowds has been amazing!

MICHAEL: From a craft perspective, it has been amazing to see how great songs resonate. The Kooks are just timeless. And same as Sam Fender. He has so many great songs. Niall has great songs as well! One Direction was popular while we were growing up and they made it cool for boys to sing and get involved with music. That was good inspiration for us to sing, so it's really cool for that to come full circle. Niall is true to himself and that's cool to know that we can do that too!

You guys are brothers! How long have you been playing music together? Has music always been a part of your lives?

MATTHEW: We've always been singing! Mom and dad made us sing in front of our family growing up. We started the band about six years ago, but we have always been into music.

DANIEL: We all love music and individually we're writing songs and listening to music that we like. It's cool coming together and just going for it as brothers and as a band!

You have a lot of songs about Australia and New Zealand. Can you share more about how your environment has shaped your music and your art?

DANIEL: We grew up barefoot by the beach on the coast. It's who we are! As much as we're influenced by New Zealand and Australian music, I think we listen to a lot of everything.

MICHAEL: Something that is interesting about living in Australia and New Zealand is that they're all islands, and they're made up of travelers and people who dream big and want to explore the world. That's a huge theme in our music! We want to explore nature and travel the world and be in new communities and around different cultures. That feeling is what's in our music. And that's what we want to keep doing.

You shared why you named the band Day We Ran. Is that part of it? Going out and chasing your dreams?!

DANIEL: Yeah, exactly. Right now we're self-managed so it has been really nice to choose our own direction of where we want to be. We started the band wanting to make music that we love and that's all that matters. If us three love it then we just want to release it!

Since you are traveling and touring so much, how do you stay grounded and connected to yourselves?

MICHAEL: Great question! It's a very important thing. We like to be quite clean. It's nice to be clean and be together. We make sure to nurture our own relationships all together but also take time for ourselves when we need quiet time to be alone.

DANIEL: Simple things like bare feet on grass, lots of hydration, electrolytes and stuff, and then doing stuff outside of music and having fun! Tour is fun but it can also feel like a lot of the same so it's nice to break it up.

MATTHEW: A huge one is even coming out to the coast! We had a swim the other day and it was so cleansing and just reset our whole bodies.

Have you gone out surfing while you've been out in California?

DANIEL: We haven't yet but we're super keen to! I think someone offered us some boards for San Francisco tomorrow so we should go. We're spending some time in LA as well so maybe we can go to Malibu or something like that!

Photos courtesy of Anton Hullett.