The Test Dream - Sound In The Signals Interview

I recently had the opportunity to interview The Test Dream. We discussed how they formed the band, their latest release ‘Forge and Refine’, live performances, artwork, the current state of metalcore, and more. Check it out below.

First, thanks for the interview.

Thank you so much for having us!!

Can you tell me about how you started the band for those who may be unfamiliar with it? How did you become interested in music?

The Test Dream started off of a pipe dream that our guitarist Brandon and I (Chris) had for several years. When we were young kids getting into the hardcore scene there were a ton of great metalcore bands that existed within the hardcore scene that were always unapologetic and steadfast about the music they created, and this is something that has always personally resonated with us. 

Myself, Brandon, and Eric (drums) have played in bands together before. Brandon and JC (guitar) have also played in bands together, and Dillan (bass) has been in other bands within our close friend circle. Brandon started writing a ton of different riffs and ideas and began to record these on garage band, eventually those garage band demos made it to our group chat and really the rest all fell into place. I think I can speak for everyone that we all truly became interested in playing live music through discovering punk and hardcore. 

You recently released your new two song ‘Forge and Refine’. Can you tell me about the writing and recording process?

We wrote these songs as a band over the course of a few months just at practice and then via Discord. We're really big on utilizing the internet to make shit go smoother. Eric plays drums in another band Extinguish and Extinguish has always recorded with Charles Toshio at The Panda Studios in Fremont, CA. They've always spoke highly of the process there so it felt like a no brainer to go and lay these two new tracks down. The recording process was smooth as butter and I attribute a majority of that to how helpful and intelligent Toshio is. We knocked these two songs out in a weekend in December '23.

I really like ‘Where Lilies Breathe’. How long did you work on that song? What were some of the lyrical and musical inspirations and/or influences?

Yo thank you! That means a lot. I was listening to Cries of The Past by UnderOATH one day and the song 'Giving Up Hurts The Most' hit me harder than it had the thousand times before I had listened to it. Although I’m biased, Eric is a fucking incredible drummer and I knew if we came together to try and write a song with emphasis on a drum solo type part at the beginning of the track he would nail it, and we are super happy with how it turned out. 

Eric essentially wrote the entire song structure on drums, sent the track to Brandon and he put the riffs down over it, the rest of the odds and ends just fell into place very naturally. Lyrically, the song is heavily influenced by the writings of Miyamoto Musashi and one of the greatest metalcore bands of all time Remembering Never (MEAN PETE REST IN PEACE). 

Have you been playing these new songs live? If so, which one has been your favorite to play so far? 

We just got done with a short 4 day run with our friends in Earth Exit and Pearl Clutcher, we played these songs every night and the reaction was unreal. Anytime you play new songs and kids are dancing hard it is just the best feeling. We play the songs in succession during the setlist so they've been equally as enjoyable to play. 

Zadak Brooks from Centralya created the artwork and I think it looks awesome. Who came up with the concept for it and why did you decide to work with him?

Zadak has done so much awesome artwork so when it was time for us to reach out to someone to do work for us, he was one of the first people that came to mind. We really love the artwork he did for Razel Got Her Wings and felt confident that if we gave him a few general pointers and references he would be able to come up with something unique and thematically in line with our band. He did an amazing job.

Metalcore is having a nice moment right now. Lots of great bands have been getting some buzz. What are your current thoughts about the scene?

I feel incredibly grateful to be in this style of band at this current point in the scene. The attendance at shows now is in line with how it was when I first started going to shows in the mid 2000s and it feels kind of surreal to be honest. I hope that the new generation of kids continue to come and find something that makes them cling to this subculture for life. 

It helps a ton when there are so many amazing bands playing this kind of music, probably too many to even list but Balmora, A Mourning Star, Killing Me Softly, Since My Beloved, Azshara, Adrienne, Place of Refuge, Memento, Razel Got Her Wings, Foreign Hands, xNOMADx, Spear of Cassius, Vein, and probably a ton more that I'm forgetting. These are all CRAZY good bands. 

Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?

Once again, thank you so much for asking us to do this. Listen to Extinguish, Defective Chain, Condition 1, NHI, Field of Flames, Eightfold Path, Earth Exit, Pearl Clutcher, Doomsday, Mescaline Maniacs, Indrid Cold, No Right. Order pizza from Pizza Supreme Being. Shout out to all the bands from the 916…SACTO STYLE.

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