Dad Hats is Tyler Coleman, Joe Halberstadt, Nathan Sorg and Craig Turner from Nashville, Tennessee. Dad Hats flirts with the 90s, makes out with indie rock, and is married to catchy hooks. Dad Hats sets themselves apart in the Nashville music scene with nonstop, high energy live shows.

In October 2018, Dad Hats released their first full length record, The Second Longest Driveway in Indiana, which combines equal parts earworm rock riffs and storytelling.

In this interview spotlight, I chat with Joe of Dad Hats about their latest project, motivations, challenges, music consumption preferences and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

We’re all Nashville transplants. Two of us grew up together in Indiana, and made our way to Nashville a couple of years apart. One hails from the great city of Toledo, and the other is from somewhere neat in Pennsylvania – let’s call it Lancaster.

We make a blend of jams that has some pop punk, 90s alternative, and just riffin rock mixed in. We just try to write whatever will be fun to play and listen to – without any genre defining limitations.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

We all grew up playing music. All of of us toured at one level or another, we all put out several records with different bands, and we all felt the void of not having a band as we grew in our new non-music careers. We kind of all fell together through different networks, and decided to jam for fun to blow off steam. Then.. suddenly, we’re writing song after song, and decide – HEY – let’s cut a record and see what happens. All-in-all, this is passion project, we’re not trying to be the next big thing by any means. We want to put out some records, play some shows , and have fun with people that will like what we’re creating.

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

This is our first real release. We recorded an EP in the bedroom we practice in just so we could hear what we sounded like, but this is our first full length.

We all drove up to Indiana for a 3 day weekend and tracked the whole thing in those three days. On a farm. In the middle of a cornfield. At the end of the second longest driveway in Indiana (Google Maps can confirm). We didn’t feel rushed to complete it that quickly, we just said, if we can do the whole thing without stressing, let’s knock it out! And damnit, that’s just what we did!

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

There are so many great bands, making so much great music, posting to so many streaming services. It’s hard to wave your hands in the air and say “HEY LISTEN TO MY BAND WE’RE COOL YOU MAY LIKE US!” when so many others are doing it. So we just try to be patient and see what happens. Technology makes it way easy to get your tunes recorded and get them out in the world — but it has definitely caused the over saturation — but ya know, adapt or die, that’s just the way it goes!

What was the last song you listened to?

I’ve been listening to the new Pinegrove album NONSTOP! The whole thing, cover to cover, is very well put together. It’s a great fall record – put it on!

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

For collecting – vinyl all day. A few of us have pretty solid collections. It’s just cool to have the whole package, and to know how much thought and care went into creating it.

But let’s be real – for convenience, Spotify is the jam. I discover so much new music every week because of it.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

I’m a Spotify guy. I tried Apple Music, but I was already so used to Spotify, and now that they have Podcasts too.. it’s hard to leave. I think I’m just loyal because they were the first to really do it right, and they’ve continued to make improvements.

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

We’ve got a website that has EVERYTHING on it – dadhatstn.com
Or we announce everything on the GRAM, @dadhatstn.

Rumor has it that maybe we’re already cooking up the next release, let’s see what happens!

Anything else before we sign off?

If you’re in Nashville, come see our shows! We heard we look like we have fun. There are so many great bands here, it’s sometimes tough to get regular gigs, but we’re working on booking a handful, and maybe hitting some regional spots as well :)))))