20-year-old indie pop sweetheart and frontman of Dayglow, Sloan Struble, sat down with ORANGE during Austin City Limits to talk about his transition from the University of Texas at Austin, his debut album Fuzzybrain and what lies ahead.

Story by Gabrielle Sanchez

G: Who are you excited to see at ACL this weekend?

S: “Stoked about Tame Impala. I’m excited to see The Cure, and Thom Yorke is today as well which I kind of forgot about, James Blake, the list goes on. It’s a really good lineup this year.”

G: Where did you get the name Dayglow from?

S: “Dayglow is the name of a song by an artist called Brazos. I was just really into it at the time when I was coming up with the name for project and I didn’t want it to be something super meta and deep and so I just named it Dayglow. The song is D-a-y space G-l-o so I sprinkled a little bit of my own taste in there.”

G: How are you feeling about performing at ACL?

S: “Just stoked, so excited. It’s been a dream to play here for quite some time. This is my fourth time at the festival, and it’s pretty awesome being here playing. I’ve walked around and imagined ‘If only I could play’ so it’s cool.”

G: This is your first semester not at UT, how has that been for you?

S: “It’s been really different than what I expected. My living situation, I’m still living with a bunch of students because the time of signing the contract I was still going to be a student I thought. So, I’m still living with a bunch of friends near campus which is strange because I’m busy doing other stuff, but it’s been fun. It’s been really nice having other things in my life other than Dayglow and music because it gets busy.”

G: What does your week to week look now since signing?

S: I mean, it really just depends on the week, it’s been a lot of preparing for tour which is happening next week. We’re gonna be gone for a while. I write, I’ve recording a lot of new stuff. I have meetings over the phone a lot because my managers are based in Nashville.”

G: What did the time building up to when you left UT look like and what was the moment that you decided to not go back?

S: “Everything started to take off on the internet right after the beginning of the second semester, so at first I was like ‘Aw this is cool!’ and then I was like, ‘Wait a second, it’s actually really happening and I have to decide what to do with this.’ So I just got really overwhelmed and had to decide what am I gonna pick, school or music? And obviously music is what I love, so I just went with music and my parents have been really supportive about it. It’s really been a dream.”

G: What did your mom say when you told her you weren’t going back to school?

S: “Both of my parents really saw it coming like, it’s kind of been an unspoken thing. I love to make music and it was my bedroom at home that I recorded Fuzzybrain, so they knew I was always working on it and they heard it from their room. They’ve been there through the whole process so I think they just knew it’s what I love to do. I remember something my dad said. We met at Magnolia Cafe, we got breakfast, and my dad was like, ‘You know son, you probably shouldn’t be in school anymore.’ I was like ‘You’re right,’ like it was like ‘Yes! I’m on board.’ They’ve been super supportive about it and I couldn’t be more thankful for the parents that I have. They’re gonna be here tomorrow, my whole family is.”

G: You started music at around age ten, how did that progress to now where you have a band and get to make music?

S: “It’s been pretty awesome seeing the band just fall into place. The guy who plays bass right now, his name’s Reece, he has just been a friend of mine since high school. He moved to Austin this year because I was like, ‘You wanna play in the band?’ The other guys I just met through random interactions and it’s just been really cool seeing the band fall into place. It’s just been so cool to see all it work out, I just feel so blessed and excited all the time that this can be happening.”

G: What do you like to do when you’re not making music?

S: “You know, I’m still figuring that out. I don’t know what I like to do. I love to hike, I climb a little bit, I skateboard here and there so I’m just trying to figure out how to not make music but I’m pretty obsessed. I don’t think about or do much else. Maybe next year I’ll have a different answer.”

G: What is your favorite lyric from Fuzzybrain?

S: “In ‘Fair Game’ it says, ‘I don’t trust like that.’ That’s an Eric Andre reference, the one where he’s the car salesman. He walks in as a car salesman and is on a guy’s shoulders so he’s super tall and he’s like, ‘I’m looking for Cedric,’ then he’s like ‘I need a car,’ and he’s like ‘I don’t trust like that!’ That’s what that lyric’s from.

G: What’s your favorite song to perform like right now?

S: “‘Nicknames’, the newest song, has been fun. People have reacted to it better than I thought they would. I added a cowbell solo at the end which is fun to play, but yeah I would probably say ‘Nicknames’ has been a surprise.”

G: The music video for “Nicknames” just came out and it’s very DIY and fun, how did you decide that you wanted to go in that direction?

S: “I had the idea when driving back to Austin. The whole concept of the song is embodying someone that you’re not, kind of being a poser. So I thought, ‘What am I not?’ And at least to the public eye that’s an athlete, so I’ll just do a bunch of sports in the music video. I thought it would be fun and my friend Jackson shot the whole thing and we threw it together. It’s all around the UT campus and it was really fun to make.”

G: Who are your musical inspirations?

S: “I draw inspiration from a lot of different artists. One of my favorite song writers is James Taylor, just classic Americana music. I listen to a bunch of that most of the time. But for modern artists I’m really into the band Sure Sure.”

G: How have you been preparing for tour with COIN and whatever is to follow?

S: “COIN is gonna be awesome because I recently became friends with Chase, the frontman and it’s been awesome getting to know them and now we’re doing a tour. After those we’re doing some headline shows around the U.S. and then we’ll just have to see after that. But, I think it’s gonna be a busy year.”

G: What do you want audiences to get from your show and your music?

S: “Obviously, I want people to feel good. Like there’s some shows that you go to and you just feel heavy after going. I think there’s a time and place for that, but I think right now it’s a cool thing for artists to just provide a good feeling to people. I want my shows to be really fun and danceable. I want people to make friends at my shows, that’s kind of like my dream if people walk away with a new friend.”

G: Since you’ve lived in Austin for a minute as a student, where’s your favorite place to get coffee from?

S: “I’m drawing a blank. Last year I went to Cafe Medici a lot off Guad near campus because I lived right over there. Why am I forgetting the name of the other one? Oh, Lucky Lab! Lucky Lab is really fun. They have a new one at Ruckus 2.0, so underrated. It’s so nice and never full, so I’ve gone there a couple of times.”

G: What’s the one song you’ve been listening to lately?

S: “Electric Light Orchestra, they’re the people that did ‘Mr. Blue Sky’ and I never really got into them until recently and they have this song called “Turned to Stone” that’s so good. I’ve been listening to a lot of them in general, like their greatest hits album, but that song is my favorite.”

G: What are the things that you miss, if anything, about being at UT?

S: “It’s honestly really fun still living with students because I don’t think I’m apart from it. I don’t feel like I’m distant from all the UT stuff, like all my friends just left for Texas-OU and it’s fun, I’m a Longhorn. My dad went to UT so it’s been a thing that feels like a part of me. I definitely don’t miss homework or anything, but I’m still a Longhorn I think. I don’t know how people feel about that since I dropped out, but I love Austin and I love UT, I think it’s the best.”

While ACL is over for the year, Dayglow will be playing at Emo’s Austin next week, Oct. 24, with COIN. As of right now, tickets are still available.