{"id":4056,"date":"2023-06-21T13:14:04","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T17:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/?p=4056"},"modified":"2023-06-21T13:14:06","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T17:14:06","slug":"andrew-dost-more-than-fun-from-frankfort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/andrew-dost-more-than-fun-from-frankfort\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Dost: More than fun. from Frankfort"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Questions & Answers with community faces<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Paul Dost (40) grew up downstate in Cass City. When he was three years old, the Dost family moved to Benzie County in 1986, and his parents, Mark (67) and Cheryl (67), became beloved teachers at Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools for more than 30 years. (Editor\u2019s Note\/Full Disclosure: <\/strong>They may both be on the list of favorite teachers of The Betsie Current<\/em>\u2019s co-owner and designer, Jordan Bates.)

In 2001, Dost graduated as valedictorian from Frankfort High School; he then graduated from Central Michigan University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism in 2005. However, music had always been a big part of Dost\u2019s life; he began playing piano at eight years old and progressed from there to trumpet in the 5th grade, then guitar when he turned 13.

While at CMU, Dost began his professional music career as a member of Anathallo, a band that had formed in 2000 and which Dost joined in 2002. Anathallo released the \u201cFloating World\u201d album in 2006 and continued to tour, write, and record, until Dost and the band parted ways around 2007.

In 2005, Dost had written a quirky musical about the life of Christopher Columbus, and after leaving Anathallo, he began working on a solo album called \u201cColumbus\u201d that was based on his musical, and the album was released in 2009.

Meanwhile, in 2008, Nate Ruess (former frontman of The Format) asked Dost to start a new band\u2014stylized as \u201cfun.\u201d but which will not be written that way henceforth, just for clarity of grammar\u2014with Jack Antonoff (of Steel Train before Fun and Bleachers after). The three men knew each other because their former bands had toured together previously. Their first album, \u201cAim and Ignite,\u201d was released in 2009 to moderate commercial success.\u00a0

In 2012, however, things changed majorly. Fun\u2019s second album, \u201cSome Nights,\u201d peaked at #3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and featured the band\u2019s first #1 hit single, \u201cWe Are Young,\u201d which topped charts for six straight weeks, as well as \u201cSome Nights\u201d and \u201cCarry On,\u201d popular songs which reached the Top 20. In 2013, Fun won two Grammy awards: Best New Artist and Song of the Year for \u201cWe Are Young.\u201d\u00a0

During the Fun years, Dost had all kinds of amazing opportunities, such as performing on Saturday Night Live<\/em> and on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon<\/em>; with bands like Queen and the Beach Boys; at Coachella and at the White House on July 4, because the daughters of President Barack Obama (D) were reportedly big fans\u2014and of course, Dost\u2019s parents were able to join him there.

Despite all of their successes, Fun announced in 2015 that they were \u201cnot splitting up\u201d but were taking time off to pursue other projects individually. For Dost\u2014a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, and composer\u2014that has meant composing the soundtrack for the 2015 dark comedy film The D Train<\/em> and many other documentaries, television series, podcasts, and video games.\u00a0

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dost left Los Angeles\u2014where he had been living on and off, after a stint in New York\u2014and returned to Northern Michigan, following in the footsteps of his teacher parents: in 2021, Dost became an instructor of singer-songwriting at Interlochen Arts Academy.\u00a0

Most recently, he formed a new band, Metal Bubble Trio, which is not a trio at all; the cheekily-named group rotates, based on whoever is around and can play\u2014they have had as many as 12 members onstage, and as few as four, but have yet to perform as an actual trio.

Continuing with our interview series on impactful Benzie County characters, The Betsie Current<\/em> caught up with Dost as he was finishing up the 2023 school year and preparing for summer shows.

The Betsie Current:<\/strong> What made you want to pursue music as a career? What do you enjoy about this line of work?\u00a0

Andrew Dost:<\/strong> I haven\u2019t really ever thought about doing anything else. When I was around 10 years old, my parents got a Beatles cassette tape\u2014the red 1962-66 compilation\u2014and I couldn\u2019t stop listening to it and thinking about it, which turned into writing songs, playing guitar, and so on. A career in music never really felt like a decision I made at any point, more like something that took on its own sort of gravitational pull in my life. I enjoy a lot of components of it, even when it\u2019s frustrating. I like connecting with people; moments of shared inspiration. I like being able to travel. I like coming home. I like when one of my friends writes something that inspires me. The whole process still seems to live of its own accord, and evolve constantly; the processes of songwriting and recording are never the same twice.\u00a0

Current:<\/strong> Beyond your own fame, you have performed with some world-famous artists. Can you share some of your top performance experiences?\u00a0

Dost:<\/strong> I\u2019ve had a really nice and surreal run of connecting with people I admire. We played as Queen with the surviving members. I got to sing with the Beach Boys. I have been pretty lucky to play with artists that I admire, and also friends doing cool things. I just love to collaborate and share music with people. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about for me. Making new friends, making music with old friends.

Current:<\/strong> What made you want to teach music? How does the life of a music teacher differ and\/or go hand-in-hand with the life of a music creator\/performer?

Dost:<\/strong> I\u2019ve always admired teachers. My parents were both teachers, and I was fortunate to have a lot of teachers growing up who had a huge impact on me. It feels a bit like things coming full circle; ideally, I can pay some of that impact and inspiration forward. The process seems to really go along with being an artist\u2014teaching requires a lot of creativity and thoughtfulness. It\u2019s planning, but also improvisation; adapting from day to day, depending on what the students need and what is or isn\u2019t connecting.\u00a0

Current:<\/strong> What does a typical day of work look like for you?\u00a0

Dost:<\/strong> It really varies, which is part of what I\u2019m enjoying a lot at this exact moment in life. Maybe it\u2019s getting up, putting on a button-up shirt, helping students work on their songs, preparing for a concert, or teaching in some other capacity. Maybe it\u2019s staying home in sweatpants, hunching over my computer, trying to get the timing of a piece of music exactly right for a commercial or film project. If there\u2019s a show coming up for my new band, Metal Bubble Trio, then we\u2019ll rehearse and fine-tune some details of how we want the show to unfold. In general, I feel very fortunate to get to chase a kind of curiosity that always has driven me: \u201cWhat would it sound like if I record the construction across the street? Could I get that front-end-loader noise to sound like a bass drum? Would it ruin the entire song if I reverse every drum hit? Let\u2019s try it.\u201d If there\u2019s a show that day, I just try to be well-rested and well-hydrated, because I know I\u2019ll be on my feet a lot, and talking to people, having to make some eye contact, which requires a lot of energy for me!\u00a0

Current:<\/strong> How have you witnessed the music world itself change since you started playing? How did that further change when the COVID-19 pandemic hit Northern Michigan in March 2020? How have things \u201cgone back to normal,\u201d and what kinds of things do you expect will be a \u201cnew normal\u201d in the music industry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Andrew
Photo courtesy of Andrew Dost.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dost:<\/strong> Since I started making a career of music, nearly every component of it has changed. Nobody\u2014or very few people, anyway\u2014buys music anymore. Myself included; I have to be completely obsessed with an artist to buy the vinyl pressing of their release. No more CDs. So that has impacted my experience as a listener, but also as a creator. How do you pay the bills if nobody buys your music? You tour, and hopefully build enough of a following that people can support you through live performance. But then, of course, in the face of COVID-19, that shifted, as well. No more shows. So some people pivoted to a livestreaming situation, but that wasn\u2019t ever something that interested me, either as a fan or performer. I\u2019m not sure why. Fortunately for me, though, this time re-awakened some kind of dormant creativity in me, and I started writing songs again, which I hadn\u2019t really done in a way that satisfied me since the last Fun album. So I sunk more deeply into writing and recording, and fortunately now that people are going to shows, I have an album ready for release and a lot of talented people to help me bring it to life in a live setting. As far as a \u201cnew normal,\u201d I think people will always want to see things performed live, whether it\u2019s comedy, music, sports, whatever. It connects us in so many powerful ways. How things changed for me personally in the post-pandemic world: I was living in Los Angeles before the pandemic. But Michigan is just home. When I think about living other places, I\u2019ve lived in New York, in L.A., where I was when the pandemic hit. When I\u2019m not in Michigan, I think about it\u2014my family, my friends, the land, the water. I feel the pull. I loved living in L.A., but for some reason, there is a gravitational force that makes me want to be here. Anyone who lives in Northern Michigan understands that it has this magic that makes it impossible to describe. Sometimes, it\u2019s just a bite of squash that came out of your neighbor\u2019s garden. It always just feels like home in a very deep and resonant way.

Current:<\/strong> What do you think is different about the music that you are creating from what is already out there?

Dost:<\/strong> I don\u2019t really know how to answer this. I think every artist likes to think their work is different and original, but all I can really say is that I don\u2019t really release music unless it has some resonance for me as a person. I think everybody is like that; it just maybe takes me longer to tap into those places or to realize what I\u2019m actually even feeling.

Current:<\/strong> What role do you think music, musicians, and songwriting play in the world? Why is this so important to you?

Dost:<\/strong> This is something I\u2019ve always sort of struggled with. Is music important? What gives me the right to think I\u2019m worth listening to? It\u2019s not like I\u2019m providing fresh water for people, performing life-saving surgery, that sort of thing. But then I look at my own life and how music\u2014and art, as a whole\u2014has impacted it. Not just in terms of the career I\u2019ve built, but how full my life has been because of others\u2019 art. It has taught me how to feel. How to be more compassionate. How to understand my own heart a little bit better. To be kinder and more empathetic. That\u2019s the kind of artist I strive to be, and I think the more tender, open, and kind we can be, the better the world is. Art can help us to do that.

Current:<\/strong> How have you seen your work grow and change? How do you hope that it will continue to grow? What is next?

Dost:<\/strong> If I look back on songs I was writing even five years ago, visual art I was making, ideas I was having, etc., they\u2019re completely different from the space I\u2019m in now. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s growth necessarily, as there\u2019s some sort of handmade, sloppy charm to everything that anybody does at every level, for the most part. Even when I\u2019d classify some of my work as \u2018embarrassingly bad,\u2019 it still represents some kind of path through those phases that every artist needs to walk. I\u2019m really proud of the album I just finished; it ended up being a sort of modern Bossa Nova\/tropicalia\/indie rock fusion. I like the overall sound, I like the songs, and most importantly, I liked the process. That\u2019s important to me\u2014to enjoy the pursuit of something I like, even if the finished product confuses me a little. In fact, that\u2019s something I pursue: confusion, surprise, and excitement, when those things lead to something unexpected. So, up next for me is releasing this album, called \u201cCucumber,\u201d playing it live, and then returning to the studio to write and record the next album, which so far, I\u2019m envisioning as more jazz-minded meeting with some fits of metal. I have to make the name of the band make some sense! I\u2019m also still composing for films and commercials.

Current:<\/strong> What can you tell us about your work with film and soundtracks, or other projects of note?

Dost:<\/strong> Last winter, I finished the score for By My Side<\/em>, a film about therapy dogs for veterans. It highlights a program that pairs vets suffering from PTSD with dogs that help them. It\u2019s about the healing power of therapy dog companions, and how transformative they are for the whole family. The family dynamics shift when a dog enters the picture; veterans open up and reconnect with their friends and families. One of my students at Interlochen has a therapy dog. I\u2019m a dog owner, too. My relationship with my dog has been transformative, healing for me. We\u2019ve had each other for about eight years. She\u2019s more than just a companion to go on hikes with. The longer we spend time together, the deeper and richer the connection between us becomes.

Current:<\/strong> What kinds of things do you do for fun, when you are not working? What other things are you involved with? How did you get involved with them, and why are you passionate about these causes? \u00a0

Dost:<\/strong> I love to kayak, I love hiking with my dog, I love spending time with my family. I love to play basketball, and watch it\u2014as I\u2019m typing this, it\u2019s the conference finals in the NBA, and it\u2019s been a very fun playoffs so far. I love to make food, to make recipes. I love to eat. I love to experiment with stuff, combine flavors that appeal to me. I didn\u2019t realize how much I loved to cook until about a year ago. I\u2019m thinking constantly about the next meal. We\u2019re also so lucky in Michigan; the ground here wants us to survive. We have ramps in the springtime; ferns and mushrooms. I love foraging. The Earth seems to want to nurture us here. As far as causes, I helped to found a nonprofit in 2013 that provides support for LGBTQ+ youth called The Ally Coalition that I\u2019m really proud of. Essentially, we partner with organizations in need of funding to help them build out their programs and resources. I also try to support animal rescues however I can, particularly Rebel Dogs Detroit and A Rejoyceful Animal Rescue.\u00a0

Current:<\/strong> How have you seen Benzie County\/Northern Michigan change since you grew up here? What are your hopes for the area in the future?

Dost:<\/strong> It has, of course, changed in so many ways. It felt so sleepy and remote when I was growing up, and now it feels like it\u2019s a part of a larger conversation in the country. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because of the internet, or what, but it feels more connected or modern or something. But fortunately, this place still has a character\u2014in terms of the land and the people\u2014that feels like home, no matter what. Once I pass through the gateway into Frankfort, it still feels like coming home. Stormcloud wasn\u2019t there when I was growing up, for example, but it still feels like a natural extension of the area.\u00a0

Current:<\/strong> What are the biggest challenges and rewards of living\/working in Northern Michigan? What is the best or most rewarding part of your job?

Dost:<\/strong> It sometimes feels tricky to remain connected to certain parts of my life\u2014the film industry, in particular. It\u2019s so much easier to live in Los Angeles, meet somebody who\u2019s working on something, and get looped into it. But increasingly, people are making incredible work right here, and it\u2019s fun to see that part of the area blossom. It\u2019s really fun to connect and collaborate with people I\u2019ve known for years, or people who have just come to the area because of how special it is.

Current:<\/strong> What could Northern Michigan\/Benzie County do to attract more talented people to this area? What else does Northern Michigan\/Benzie County need?

Dost:<\/strong> I think rather than attracting more people to the area, I\u2019ve just been delighted seeing the creativity that\u2019s always been here get more recognition. The art and ceramics program at Frankfort High School is outstanding; I\u2019ve been so impressed by what [art teacher] Kristine Harvey has built there. Levi Britton is back in the area and is an incredible songwriter and performer. Andrew Lutes and Jack Senff write some of the most heartfelt songs I\u2019ve ever heard. Same for Joshua Davis, Blake Elliott, and Courtney Kaiser-Sandler, who I\u2019ve been fortunate to teach with at Interlochen over the past two years. People are making films, albums, stunning visual art\u2014Amanda Acker and Dana Falconberry [of Roll Model, which The Betsie Current<\/em> profiled a few years back] to name a couple\u2014I could go on and on.\u00a0

Current:<\/strong> What are your favorite local events and activities? Any favorite dining, recreation, hiking spots?

Dost:<\/strong> I still go to A&W every time I go to Frankfort and get a coney dog.\u00a0

Current: <\/strong>What does your perfect summer day look like in Benzie County? How would you spend it?

Dost:<\/strong> I\u2019d start with a nutty crescent or cherry fritter from Crescent Bakery. Then I\u2019d eat a coney dog and hike Baldy. Then I\u2019d get a Judy sub from East Short Market, see Jazz Night at The Garden Theater\u2014which we\u2019re playing June 29\u2014and watch the sun set at Frankfort beach. I realize a lot of this includes the food, but that\u2019s just generally how I think!

Follow @AndrewDost on Instagram<\/a> and check out @MetalBubbleTrio on Instagram<\/a> to learn more about Dost\u2019s new band, Metal Bubble Trio. Catch them at Jazz Night at The Garden Theater on Thursday, June 29; tickets available at GardenTheater.org\/live-at-the-garden-2<\/a> online. Also catch them at Leelanau Uncaged in September.\u00a0

Learn more about The Ally Coalition\u2014which provides support for grassroots nonprofit organizations dedicated to bettering the lives of LGBTQ+ youth\u2014at TheAllyCoalition.org<\/a> online, @AllyCoalition on Instagram<\/a>, and \u201cThe Ally Coalition\u201d on Facebook.<\/a>

A portion of this article came from a previous Q&A in the Glen Arbor Sun<\/strong><\/a>, a Leelanau County-based semi-sister publication to The Betsie Current<\/strong>.<\/em>

Featured Photo Caption:<\/strong>\u00a0Andrew Dost (right) and Jarad \u201cSasquatch\u201d Selner. Photo courtesy Gail Klingelsmith.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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