BIG GIGANTIC - Grinding, Growth & Gratitude: The Strategy For Long Term Success

Book a free coaching call here: https://www.nikcherwink.com/apply

In this episode, Big Gigantic’s Dominic Lalli shares how he went from broke jazz gigs in New York to headlining festivals around the world. We talk about building Big Gigantic from the ground up, the mindset behind 15+ years of success, and how to stay creative, relevant, and inspired in an industry that’s always changing.

Whether you’re a DJ, producer, or artist chasing long-term growth, this conversation is packed with lessons on teamwork, consistency, and trusting the process.

🎧 Listen now and learn how to build a music career that actually lasts.

Follow Big Gigantic here:
https://www.instagram.com/biggigantic

Following Nik Cherwink here:
https://www.instagram.com/nikcherwink

Episode Transcript

Dominic (00:00):
I'm just a grinder.

(00:01):
I'm grinding, and you know, Ilove that.
How can I be better?
How can I make something better?
How can I be more creative?
How can I tweak my process keepdeveloping our sound just
wanting that to be able to keep,um, to keep relevant and keep it
going, you know, and how can wedo it?

Nik Cherwink (00:29):
What's up everybody?
Welcome to the Headliner Mindsetpodcast.
Today's guest is a true legendin the bass music scene.
They've been one of the biggestacts to merge electronic music
with live instruments and havebeen touring nonstop since
dropping their first album in2009.
In this episode we talk aboutwhat it takes to have a long
career and stay relevant as anartist.
As trends continue to change, wetalk about the mindset and the

(00:50):
determination that's reallyrequired to make it.
In the music industry, we talkabout how to get through
creative blocks and reallymaster your workflow and much,
much more.
This is big, gigantic.
All right, Dominic, welcome tothe show, man.
Happy to have you here.

Dominic (01:07):
Thanks, Nick.
Appreciate it.
Thanks for having me.

Nik Cherwink (01:09):
and we're missing, we're missing another half here,

Dominic (01:12):
Right?

Nik Cherwink (01:12):
Who

Dominic (01:13):
Jeremy Salkin.
Yep.
And he is, uh, the drummer andkind of the, you know, does a
lot of our business and, and,uh, other things, uh, you know,
lot, just all the other kind ofstuff as

Nik Cherwink (01:25):
Yeah.

Dominic (01:26):
yeah.

Nik Cherwink (01:27):
And what's your favorite thing about Jeremy?
Let's shout him out real quick.

Dominic (01:31):
My favorite thing about Jeremy is that, um, well, you
know, Jeremy is just a greatperson.
He's a great guy, great person.
He just has such a uniqueskillset and is just a very, I
would say, like thorough whichin, you know, in a, in a
business, working with someonein a business together, it's
great to have somebody like thatwho, can just check all the

(01:54):
boxes and go through and thinkof things that you haven't
thought about and, and justreally like, kind of dig into
some of the nitty gritty stuff,I think in a business aspect.
That's been such a blessing tohave him.
But also just one of the bestguys out there and that's just
super solid and super fun tohave a friend.
Um, like that, you know, in thegame.

Nik Cherwink (02:13):
Hell yeah.
Well, shout out Jeremy.
Sorry he can't be with us today,but,

Dominic (02:17):
Yeah.

Nik Cherwink (02:17):
uh, I love that you bring that up.
You know, when we're thinkingabout, I don't know, just being
in a duo, collaborating withother people, especially when
you're gonna actually start aproject with somebody.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They should be a good hang.
You should get along.
Obviously the, the creativeenergy should be there, but that
you bring up another good pointof like, yeah.
Are they, are they gonna be likea good business partner?
You know, ultimately, likeyou're stepping into like, we're

(02:40):
literally starting a businesstogether.
So that's another, uh, uh, youknow, some other things to be
kind of paying attention to islike, yeah, is this person gonna
be good to really get intobusiness with?

Dominic (02:49):
Definitely, and, and just to clarify like our roles
and stuff like that.
So it's always sort of beenlike, I do all the music, so I
make all the music, uh, youknow, get everything ready for
our shows.
And then, you know, he kind ofcomes in when it's time to do
the live show, you know, interms of like playing drums.
And then just do, he really ishis, like, probably one of his

(03:10):
main things is just really, uh,doing the business side of
things.
And it was, as we were comingup, he was more prevalent in
that role because we didn'thave.
You know, things that we nowhave, because we're a bigger
organization, you need like abusiness manager and different
things.
But he was doing a lot of thosethings for us as we were first
coming up and didn't liketechnically need all that stuff,

Nik Cherwink (03:34):
Yeah.

Dominic (03:34):
but needed someone to handle it.
So we've always, between ourmanager and the three of us have
always sort of had, um,especially on the come up, just
a unique.
Role.
Our manager who manages a bunchof bands now, but we were the
first band he ever managed andhe was just booking, you know,
he was just booking, uh, venuesaround Colorado and stuff like
that.
So

Nik Cherwink (03:53):
Yeah,

Dominic (03:53):
all of us were coming up together and like had no idea
what we were doing, but

Nik Cherwink (03:57):
totally.

Dominic (03:58):
great success back in the day.
So,

Nik Cherwink (04:00):
Yeah, I love that.
It's so cool to hear that I, Ijust recently had a conversation
with this, uh, this duo calledRiot and um, you know, we were
talking about just the differentroles, like when you're working,
there's so many artists.
And producers that are justworking by themselves, right?
And it's like, it's me and alaptop.
I'm doing everything, and thenI'm doing all the business.

(04:20):
I'm doing all the stuff.
And then,

Dominic (04:22):
Right.

Nik Cherwink (04:22):
know, when you step into a, a duo or a trio or
more, I'm finding, you know, thetrend with successful artists is
that people oftentimes have kindof like their zone of genius and
they're really splitting up thework, right?
Um, so they were talking about,you know, how they have their
different strengths and how itcompliments each other, and
that's what's really led totheir success.

(04:43):
And it's funny, I do coaching,life coaching slash business
coaching, working specificallywith artists.
And I had a conversation withsomebody this weekend where
they're a trio

Dominic (04:52):
Mm-hmm.

Nik Cherwink (04:53):
The other downside of it is like, if you're not
really in alignment, is it'skind of like everybody's kind of
trying to do everything and thenit's like they're all pulling in
sort of in different directions.
And so we had this really greatconversation.
It was like, all right, let'sget really clear.
What are your roles?
You're gonna handle this, you'regonna handle this.
Let's create some systems.
Let's get some clarity.
'cause they were kind of runningin circles.

(05:14):
I'm like, you guys technicallyshould be going three times as
fast as everybody.
If there's three of you,

Dominic (05:19):
right.

Nik Cherwink (05:19):
but you're not.
So what's going on here?
Right?

Dominic (05:22):
is that?
Right?

Nik Cherwink (05:22):
Yeah.
Yeah you just mentioned a wordthat jumped out at me, which
was, uh, being an organizationand I, I'm curious about at this
stage, at this level in yourcareer, uh, what does the
organization look like?
Like what's the whole, the wholeteam at this point?
You know, what are all thedifferent kind of players of
what it takes to have, anorganization as you say?

(05:45):
Yeah.

Dominic (05:46):
Right.
I mean, no doubt.
'cause it's, it's, um, you know,it, it started out as just the
three of us, me, Jeremy, and ourmanager Ben.
So now, um, we, so kind of Iguess from the top down, uh,
we've added a second managerbecause, um, and we just added
that this year because we had,uh, you know, Ben has, um.

(06:09):
Had a lot of success as amanager and, um, he manages a
band called Goose.
He manages a lot of jam bandsand

Nik Cherwink (06:17):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (06:17):
And so he's, uh, this band Goose is like doing
stadiums MSG and stuff likethat.
So he's become real, super busymanaging them along with all his

Nik Cherwink (06:25):
Yeah.

Dominic (06:25):
acts.
And so we had a super solid dayto day with us for a long time
and she.
You know, just ended up doingsome, um, you know, moving on in
her life and doing, you know,having, having a family and
different things like that.
So we needed a new day to day,come last year.
And so it was kind of like wewere looking for that.
And at the same time, the ideaof having a second manager came

(06:48):
up.
And so, we had, uh, this guywho's been super great.
He's with Red Light Management.
His name's Brandon Ginsburg.

Nik Cherwink (06:56):
Mm.
Yeah.

Dominic (06:57):
been wonderful having him on the team.
You know, it's nice to have,'cause uh, Ben, our manager, is
a little more of a, hismanagement company's a little
more grassroots, whereas RedLight is obviously, you know, a

Nik Cherwink (07:07):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Talk.
Talk about an organization.
That's one of the most Yeah.
Power powerhouse managementcompanies in the industry right
there.
Yeah.

Dominic (07:16):
So, um, so we've had both of them and it's been
really great.
It's been super great.
So we got, we have that, we haveour booking agent, uh, Jason
Cooperman, and then we have, um.
Let's see.
We have a business manager, wehave, uh, a

Nik Cherwink (07:33):
And.

Dominic (07:33):
team who does our taxes then like crew on the ground.
We have like a a tour managerwho's sort of like tour managers
remotely.
And then we bring people,another tour manager out on the
road.
You know, we have, uh, front ofhouse.
Guy who does our sound, uh,stage, you know, monitor guy who
does our sound in our in ears.

Nik Cherwink (07:52):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (07:53):
we have a stage manager who deals with all the, getting
all that, know, all the thingsthat we need for the stage,
whether it's video, audio, allthat stuff.
We have two people on ourlighting team.
And I think that might be it,but you know,

Nik Cherwink (08:08):
Yeah.
Big, big crew though.
Yeah.

Dominic (08:10):
when we go on a tour bus, you know, we fill up 12
bunks in a tour bus.
12 of us can go around and doand do that.
So, you know, it's, it's stackedfor

Nik Cherwink (08:19):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's super cool.
And it's, it's taken a while toget there'cause you guys have
been in the game for a minute.
How long, how long ago was itthat you started this project?

Dominic (08:29):
so, it was like basically kicked off in like, I
would say

Nik Cherwink (08:35):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (08:37):
So, you know, it's been a long time.
Just a little backstory on allof it because it's interesting
the way it all came togethertoo, because, you know, 2009 was
a totally different time.

Nik Cherwink (08:46):
Yeah,

Dominic (08:46):
know, everything was totally fucking different back
then

Nik Cherwink (08:50):
totally.

Dominic (08:50):
different ways.
Um, but, uh, you know, I waslike in a different band, like
in a funk band.
in Colorado, like doing, doingjam band stuff with the

Nik Cherwink (09:00):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (09:01):
I'm a

Nik Cherwink (09:01):
Yeah.

Dominic (09:02):
player.
Got my master's degree,saxophone doing jazz.
A lot of stuff, jazz stuffaround Denver.
So anyways, playing with thisfunk band, touring with this
funk band.
And, met a guy who was likesuper on the, like, J Dilla,
like making beats MPC thing.
And

Nik Cherwink (09:21):
Yeah.

Dominic (09:21):
I was like, this guy's sick.
he was like, I was practicing mysaxophone eight hours a day, you
know, trying to become a bettersaxophonist.
He was like making beats eighthours a day.
And I was like, this is cool.
'cause this is a guy who's likein my world, but like, not in my
world.
And I loved, um, I'm a big likesongwriter guy, like love
writing songs and always have,even when I'm doing jazz stuff

(09:43):
and everything.
So, met this guy linked up and Iwas like, this is cool.
Like I can make.
Songs like on my own.
Like,

Nik Cherwink (09:51):
Yeah.

Dominic (09:51):
any, I don't need a band.
You know, I was writing songs onthe piano, manuscript paper,
taking it to a band.
What does it sound like?
Okay, let me make somerevisions.
I didn't like the way this cameacross, blah, blah, blah.

Nik Cherwink (10:02):
Yeah.

Dominic (10:02):
I'm like, okay, I can do this all in house.
So I got a computer, startedmaking beats, kind of more in
the hip Hop J Dilla world, withsome electronic twist to it.
And, um, and I had some likelocal gigs here in Denver where
it was like a guy who wasplaying drums, a bass player,
and me, and I'd play like keysand we would all make beats and
then we would just like bringour beats to our weekly gig.

(10:25):
And there'd be like a line downthe, out, out the door of like
local singers and rappers whowould just come and rap and sing
over all of our beats.
And we

Nik Cherwink (10:34):
Oh, sick.

Dominic (10:35):
yeah, I was just making beats for that.

Nik Cherwink (10:37):
That's fun.

Dominic (10:37):
In fact some of those beats were, some of the first,
you know, our very first albumfired up, you know, many, many
years ago.
Just all instrumental beats,

Nik Cherwink (10:45):
Yeah.

Dominic (10:46):
like a handful of those were those beats that I had made
for those singers and rapperswho, you know, and we were doing
the thing.
So anyways, you know, that wasall going on At the same time,
I'm still playing with this funkband and I'm playing this funk
band, and kids were like comingup to me like, Hey, like you
should start your own project.
Just like start something like,

Nik Cherwink (11:04):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (11:06):
I had no music.
So anyways, Jeremy's my roommateand we start this thing and it's
just all really like buzz wordof mouth, like going out,
telling people that we're gonnastart this thing.

Nik Cherwink (11:17):
Yeah.

Dominic (11:18):
we're playing gigs for probably half a year, maybe even
more.
No music out.
We're like selling out 250 caprooms, going on tour with bands,

Nik Cherwink (11:29):
Wow.

Dominic (11:30):
hiring us.
No music,

Nik Cherwink (11:32):
Hmm.

Dominic (11:32):
like word of mouth stuff.

Nik Cherwink (11:34):
Yeah.
What was it then?
What was like.
The sort of secret sauce thatyou guys had that was having,
there was obviously some, somebuzz about you.
Like, what was it?

Dominic (11:42):
I don't know, because it was like, kind of like
MySpace was kind of like in themix.
Then a little bit of Facebookwhere, you know, um, I think it
was just.
You know, I was out playing withanother band, so I was out
playing, you know, so I had thatsort of like, you know, and I
was kind of like the lead guy inthe band, although I was just

(12:03):
playing saxophone.
That's it.
But,

Nik Cherwink (12:04):
Yeah.

Dominic (12:05):
you know, but Colorado had a.
You know, Colorado was big inthe like two, you know, touring
and jam bands and that stuff waslike kind of hitting, I

Nik Cherwink (12:14):
Yeah,

Dominic (12:15):
uh, bands like STS nine, uh, pretty Lights was
starting to come up around thattime.

Nik Cherwink (12:20):
yeah.

Dominic (12:21):
all that stuff was starting to buzz and there was
people just looking forsomething new and fresh, I
think.
It started with a house party,you know what I mean?
And, and I think it kind of, youknow, Colorado was a place where
people traveled to and had a lotof friends who had friends of
friends in Colorado.
So like Word was sort ofspreading about it

Nik Cherwink (12:38):
Yeah.

Dominic (12:39):
you know, had some lucky breaks and some, some,

Nik Cherwink (12:41):
Yeah.

Dominic (12:42):
so it's, at one point I was like, okay, well we need to
put some music out because we'vebeen, we gotta do something
here,

Nik Cherwink (12:48):
Yeah, that's, I get it.
That's, that's, that's cool.
Like kinda like the demand andthe excitement and the buzz was
there before you were even like,like really intentionally, like
pushing yourselves and marketingyourselves.
Right.
That's, that's really cool.
What, what would you say wasthe, the North Star at that
time?
What was pulling you, what wasdriving you?

Dominic (13:06):
Just the, the want to see where this thing could go,
you know what I mean?

Nik Cherwink (13:13):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (13:13):
can this go?
This is really exciting, andagain.
haven't even like startedscratching the surface of this
thing.
I just like started dabbling init and we've had all this
success.
So like what would it be like ifI fully immersed myself in it?
Right?
So then I like quit the funkband and then I like quit my job

(13:34):
because I was like, okay, nowit's like, you know, I was like,
slanging coffee.
I was

Nik Cherwink (13:39):
Yeah.

Dominic (13:40):
jazz gigs.
I was like doing whatever Icould do to make some money.
'cause I was definitely in thebroke jazz musician guy,

Nik Cherwink (13:46):
Yeah.

Dominic (13:47):
era of my life, you know, looking for gigs and all
that.
And I was like, well at thispoint everything that I put in
here to this new project isgonna like, I'm gonna see
results like tenfold.
You know?
And then by three, four yearslater, I mean, it was like, you
know, we were, we were like.
you know, we were like the hotthing

Nik Cherwink (14:09):
Y Yeah, it, it sounds like you had a lot of
faith and confidence though, inthat like you

Dominic (14:16):
well,

Nik Cherwink (14:16):
are.

Dominic (14:17):
I didn't know.
I didn't know, but I said, youknow what, I'm gonna like, I'm
just gonna do it.
You know,

Nik Cherwink (14:23):
Yeah.

Dominic (14:23):
gonna try it out, you

Nik Cherwink (14:24):
You, you were willing to take that risk and
put everything into it.

Dominic (14:29):
Yeah, there's a certain point where I had to jump ship,
you know, and that was sort of alittle like scary part then.
But then, you know, gigs came inand, you know, we ended up
getting a booking agent and

Nik Cherwink (14:39):
Yeah.

Dominic (14:40):
shifted where it was like, okay, I didn't have to
worry for like too long.
But,

Nik Cherwink (14:44):
Yeah.

Dominic (14:45):
a guy, like when I was in New York, I mean, I almost, I
moved to Colorado because.
I was so in debt and like sobroke that I had to do something
because it was like it wasgetting bad, you know, where it
was like,

Nik Cherwink (14:57):
Hmm.

Dominic (14:58):
I can't, can't there, you know, this is not good.
You

Nik Cherwink (15:01):
Living in new living in New York?

Dominic (15:03):
living in New York trying to play jazz gigs and my
credit card bills were gettingup.
I

Nik Cherwink (15:07):
Yeah.

Dominic (15:08):
out, you know, I wasn't, I can't go ask my
parents for money

Nik Cherwink (15:11):
Hmm.

Dominic (15:11):
any money to give me.
So it

Nik Cherwink (15:13):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Dominic (15:14):
you know, I don't, I don't know what, but

Nik Cherwink (15:15):
Mm.

Dominic (15:16):
get outta here.
So I

Nik Cherwink (15:17):
Yeah.

Dominic (15:18):
you know, started this other band.
And got, um, got outta New Yorkand into Colorado and,

Nik Cherwink (15:23):
Mm.

Dominic (15:24):
of had some help there.
Get

Nik Cherwink (15:25):
Yeah.

Dominic (15:26):
feet.

Nik Cherwink (15:26):
That was always your vision though, it sounds
like, was just to, to be afull-time musician.
Like you said, you went and yougot your master's degree.
You were doing the jazz circuit,but there obviously was
something inside of you that waslike, that know, this is what I
want to do.

Dominic (15:42):
Definitely, definitely.
And I, I got the master's degreefor several reasons because I
wanted to go to Manhattan Schoolof Music.
'cause that was like a goal ofmine at the time.
Um, so it was cool to, you know,do that and, and accomplish that
goal.
But I also was like, okay, worstcase I can teach, you know, I
can

Nik Cherwink (16:00):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (16:00):
with my master's degree

Nik Cherwink (16:02):
Yeah.

Dominic (16:02):
I'll, I'll be straight, you

Nik Cherwink (16:04):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Dominic (16:06):
another thing in my pocket.

Nik Cherwink (16:08):
Yeah.
Um, I, I, I, and I, I just lovehearing.
Your story and you know, thatjust that drive and that
determination to, you know,pursue the hero's journey,
right.
To take a path in life that'snot the, you know, the
stereotypical safe route.
Um,, I imagine that there, theremust have been some times where

(16:30):
you really like, probably likereconsidered and, you know,
weren't sure if you wanted tokeep going, right.

Dominic (16:36):
Yeah, no doubt.
No doubt.
I

Nik Cherwink (16:38):
What, what kept you going in those moments?

Dominic (16:41):
Uh, you know, just faith, you know, just like.
Uh, I just have this, you know,I've been not, you know, I,
I've, I've had a very, very goodlife, you know, the, you know,
especially with big giganticand, and the way things have,
have panned out for me and, youknow, just, I've had a, a, a
great upbringing and stuff likethat too.

(17:02):
I don't know, I've just alwayshad this, um.
Determination, you know,something that, just like a fire
that even when I got knockeddown, it like made me like
double double up on it, you

Nik Cherwink (17:15):
Mm.

Dominic (17:15):
And maybe it was from, uh, you know, a lot of, a lot of
sports in high school, a lot ofgreat coaches

Nik Cherwink (17:21):
Mm-hmm.
my butt and stuff like that.
And I think that

Dominic (17:23):
that

Nik Cherwink (17:24):
probably developed some sort of like initial, just
like base for me Yeah.

Dominic (17:28):
to push through, keep going.
Work harder.
You know, you get knocked down,you get up again, you just, you
go harder, you know, that kindof a thing.

Nik Cherwink (17:36):
totally.

Dominic (17:37):
you know, when you become an adult, it gets, it's a
little bit different.
It can get a little scarier whenyou're sort of like really in
debt and really broke and stufflike that, and you don't have
anywhere to turn to.

Nik Cherwink (17:47):
Yeah.

Dominic (17:47):
mean, things got super dicey there for a little while.

Nik Cherwink (17:50):
Yeah.

Dominic (17:50):
it was a little tricky.
Um, but just.
You know, I was like, literallylike praying, like, I was like,
do anything I can do to, youknow, help get, help me get th
through this,

Nik Cherwink (18:03):
Yeah.

Dominic (18:04):
you know, whatever.
Like, just get me to the nextstep and

Nik Cherwink (18:08):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (18:08):
work harder and I'll like do, you know,

Nik Cherwink (18:11):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (18:12):
a couple moments where things just turned the right way
for me, you know.

Nik Cherwink (18:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, I love that you bring uphaving that sports background
because it, it took me a whileto realize this, and I feel like
I just kind of ended up beinglike a life coach for DJs, and
I'm like, how, how did I gethere?
Like, how this was not part ofthe plan,

Dominic (18:31):
right.

Nik Cherwink (18:31):
know, but like, but my background really was.
I wanted to be an artist.
I was an artist for a very longtime.
And then when I, basically,after high school, I kind of, I
didn't have really, you know,the support and the guidance and
know, like, you know, where doyou go, how do you navigate
that?
And, um, I ended up, sports wasthe thing though, that was
really working for me and becamea collegiate all American, rugby

(18:53):
player.
And yeah, I went super far, wentsuper far with rugby, but I
still had this passion formusic.
And I ended up working in themusic business and, and then I
found myself.
Ultimately like coaching theseartists.
And that's what I realized wasbasically, in the world of
sports, we have coaches, right?
We have that discipline, thatmindset getting trained to get

(19:14):
knocked down and get back up.
And the lessons that you learnthat, that plants in your mind
and,

Dominic (19:18):
Yeah.

Nik Cherwink (19:19):
in the world of.
Being an artist, we don't reallyhave that.
It's kind of like, Hey, goodluck.
Figure it out, man.
You know, and, and so

Dominic (19:27):
That

Nik Cherwink (19:27):
that's where I.

Dominic (19:28):
health,

Nik Cherwink (19:28):
Yeah, so I kind of realized, I'm like, wait a
minute.
Like, yeah, I have such this,this background of sports
psychology and lessons that I'velearned on the rugby field.
And um, you know, if you're,you're probably familiar with,
uh, Icahn Collective MusicProduction School.
That was kind of where I got tolike, bring all of those
together of like coaching, youknow, these young and up and
coming artists.
So, but I think just like, youknow, that mindset piece, that's

(19:51):
why this podcast is theheadliner mindset of like, you
gotta have the mindset of like,yo, you're gonna get knocked
down a hundred.
Fucking times.
And are you willing to ke keepgetting back up?
Are you willing to be in debt?
You know, are you willing tolike, you know, take those risks
and like, bet on yourself?
And it's fucking hard.
It's fucking hard.
It's hard, especially whenyou're by yourself and you don't
have support.

(20:11):
And it's just, you know,especially maybe if it's just
you and your laptop by yourselfin your room, you know?
So,

Dominic (20:16):
Yeah.

Nik Cherwink (20:17):
um, yeah.
Cool to see that, you know, someof those, lessons were
implanted.
Hey, if you're one of thoseartists that have been trying to
figure it out all on your own,if you've been spinning your
wheels, putting out music, butnot really seeing your project
grow, or maybe things arealready taken off for you, but
now you're dealing with thepressures of the industry and
you're just trying to keep yourhead screwed on straight, we
should talk.

(20:37):
I've coached hundreds of artistsat this point, from people that
are just starting out tofull-time touring DJs, helping
them dial in their mindset,their brand, and their strategy
to not only create epic results,but to also learn how to love
the process and not get superstressed out along the way.
So if that sounds like you clickthe link in the show notes to
book a free call and let's seeif coaching's a good fit.

(20:57):
Now back to the show.
But now here you are howevermany years later, right?
You guys have put out eight ornine albums, right?
You guess just put out your newalbum.
Recently, you guys have had a,an incredibly, you know,
successful long career in themusic industry.

Dominic (21:14):
Mm-hmm.

Nik Cherwink (21:14):
What would you say is the secret to having a long
career in the music industry?

Dominic (21:19):
right.
Yeah.
Boy, I mean, that's such a greatquestion.
And you know, that's gonna vary.
Um, you know, I don't thinkthere's, I don't think there's
any one, um, you know, or

Nik Cherwink (21:31):
Yeah.

Dominic (21:32):
10

Nik Cherwink (21:33):
Yeah.

Dominic (21:34):
Bullet points.
You know, it's just a, it's justlike a willingness to adapt,
right.
To continue on, you know, tokeep grinding.
'cause I'm like, you know, a lotof people ask me like, you know,
or they haven't seen me in along time.
Like, what have you been, whathave you been up to?
And I'm like, my answer a lot oftimes is like the same thing
I've been up to.
For all these years, you know, Imean, granted, I have a family

(21:56):
and stuff now, but I'm just agrinder.
I'm grinding, And you know, Ilove that.

Nik Cherwink (22:01):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (22:02):
but it's like how can I be better?
How can I make something better?
How can I be more creative?
How can I tweak my process to bemore efficient, you know?
me look and see what's going onin the world.
How can I adapt?
You know, even our sound, youknow, sometimes I get flack for
it.
Like, oh, like, I loved you whenyou were in 2000, you know, 12.

(22:24):
And

Nik Cherwink (22:24):
Yeah.

Dominic (22:25):
dude, I mean, I'm not gonna just keep 2012 in myself
all

Nik Cherwink (22:30):
Yeah.

Dominic (22:30):
you know,

Nik Cherwink (22:31):
Yeah.

Dominic (22:31):
12, 12 more years.
You know, I'm gonna grow, I'mgonna adapt, I'm gonna, you
know, keep developing our soundand, just wanting that to be
able to keep, um, to keeprelevant and keep it going, you
know, and how can we do it?
But I think that's one of our,um, successes is that, you know,
we've been able to still berelevant even after all these

(22:56):
years, you know, and, and Ithink, know, every.
Every band has a trajectory, youknow, and the come up, and
obviously we had just a hugecome up and it was super sweet
and we got all the, uh, youknow, all those like really
awesome moments, um, you know,that are still, that still live
fresh in my mind.
And, and it was such a fun time.

(23:17):
And now, you know, it's just sodifferent because you're just
not that anymore and never willbe.
You know,

Nik Cherwink (23:22):
Mm-hmm.
um.
You know, it's just wavesMm-hmm.

Dominic (23:27):
we just wave, you know, we go in these waves and, and a
lot of it is determined by whatI'm, what I'm doing or what
we're doing.
You know, how are we gonna becreative?
How are we gonna make somethingnew?
And I really felt like a real, Ifelt like us and the team, you
know, just did a really good jobwith this latest release and
just like.
Sticking to our sound, you know,being ourselves, but like

(23:50):
putting out something that'srelevant.
Putting out music with a lot ofupcoming artists and really just
keeping ourself in thatconversation.
Still, you know, even

Nik Cherwink (24:00):
Yeah.

Dominic (24:01):
years, and even when, you know, people say like, oh,
like you guys are legends andthis, and, and that's cool, but
like, still being able to like,be in the game and be, you know,
I, we still have ourselves interms of our live show,
reinventing ourselves in termsof doing some shows with, uh,
grammatic now.

Nik Cherwink (24:18):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (24:18):
got this like big grammatic thing to like do
something different.
You know, we've done stuff with,um, I'm sure, you know,
nightmare Tyler, um,

Nik Cherwink (24:26):
boy.
Hell yeah.

Dominic (24:27):
or

Nik Cherwink (24:27):
Yep, yep, yep.

Dominic (24:28):
know,

Nik Cherwink (24:29):
For sure.

Dominic (24:29):
did, did stuff with him in the past.
Um, doing stuff with Grammaticnow, you know, at the same time
doing, some back to backs withlevity, you know,

Nik Cherwink (24:37):
Yeah,

Dominic (24:38):
on their big time come up right now, which is awesome
for, to see them,

Nik Cherwink (24:42):
totally.

Dominic (24:42):
had, you know, I've known John forever'cause I've
known, Louis the child, guys

Nik Cherwink (24:47):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (24:48):
You know, how can we keep ourselves, you know, in the
game and relevant and all that

Nik Cherwink (24:51):
Yeah.

Dominic (24:52):
Um, and.

Nik Cherwink (24:53):
I, I, as I was kind of going through your
catalog, that was something I, Idefinitely noticed is there's,
uh, especially on the new album,I mean, there's so much
collaboration happening,

Dominic (25:02):
Right?

Nik Cherwink (25:02):
Which it seems like that's a big part of the
process of.
S you know, staying inspired,keeping things fresh is not
being like, oh, I'm gonna justisolate myself in my room and
like figure it all out on myown.
But how can we tap into othercreative minds and other styles
and, you know, it seems likethat's been a big part of your
process.

Dominic (25:22):
Yeah, I love that.
Um, I love it in a lot of waysbecause, um, I love it.
Yeah.
In terms of like, um, you know,the relevancy and like keeping
it fresh and stuff like that.
But also, my like, next thing inmy mind that I want to do is
like, do a big gigantic, likebeat tape, like mix tape type of
thing that is just all like mystuff

Nik Cherwink (25:41):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (25:42):
know, to do for fun.
So sort of like what a la whatwe used to do.

Nik Cherwink (25:46):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (25:46):
but at the same time, I love collaborating with people
because it just, I feel like itlifts the whole thing up.
know, and it could be here, butit like, or it lifts it up in a
way that, um, you know, things,you don't think of different
techniques.
You're always, you know, assomeone who loves to learn, like
I love getting into the studiowith other people because.

(26:09):
Everyone always has a differentway to approach something and

Nik Cherwink (26:13):
Yeah.

Dominic (26:14):
we still want, like, we're still going for this
sound, but they're gonna go likethis whole other way around,
around to get it like than Iwould.

Nik Cherwink (26:21):
Hmm.

Dominic (26:22):
like that's such a cool different way to do it, or I
didn't even think about that.

Nik Cherwink (26:26):
Yeah.

Dominic (26:26):
bring a whole different sound to the table.
Like, what is that?
And how did you do that?
And it's just, I love thatlearning process, which goes
back to the fundamental stuffthat we talked about

Nik Cherwink (26:36):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (26:37):
sports and all that stuff, and just having that
learning, mentality with,

Nik Cherwink (26:41):
Yeah.
And I, I love that you mentionedthat earlier, just about that
constant desire just to getbetter and to grow and to, and
to keep developing.
I think that that is, I, I, Ithink there's oftentimes two
different types of producerswhere it's like, one is, I'm
trying to.
Find my sound almost as if it'slike the destination, right?

(27:02):
As opposed to being in theendless process of expansion and
creative exploration, which, uh,you know, that's, that's
something that I've heard aswell.
I, I used to host, weekly q andas with artists when I worked at
Icon and that was something Ioftentimes heard the guests
talking about.
'cause I'd love to ask like, youknow.
At this level, it's like, you'realready, you're a great artist,

(27:24):
you know, like you already knowa lot, right?
And so how do, how do you keeplearning at that level?
And, and that was reallyoftentimes the most common
answer is like, just get in thestudio with someone else and see
how they're doing it.
Um, yeah.

Dominic (27:36):
way to find your sound really is through, uh, being on

Nik Cherwink (27:40):
I.

Dominic (27:40):
the path of, a learner, you know, learn, you know, how
do I find my sound by workingand, and trying to learn every
day.
And then those, that just onething lifts up the other, and
then eventually you're justlike.
You know, then your taste comesand you sprinkle that in, and
then it's like, then it startsto become very clear about what

(28:01):
your sound is.
I, I feel like when we made ourBrighter Future album in 2016,
you know, obviously many yearsago, I feel like on my journey
to that is where I was reallylike, okay, this is what I want.
Because I love, I love thehorns, I love the live
instruments.
I love all these.
that are like, what are me?

(28:21):
You know,

Nik Cherwink (28:22):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (28:22):
the get, you know, I've been writing for orchestras and
big, big bands and all thisstuff all the time.
So when we take all these soundsand like, bring them into this
electronic thing and.
And start to build stuff aroundthat.
And that's, you know, that's,yeah.
That was the way of just like,how can I put this together in a
way that I see fit?
And that was, you know, probablyour, by far, our, our most

(28:44):
successful release to date, you

Nik Cherwink (28:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's so cool.
I'm curious about the creativeprocess for this album, if And
how, maybe it was differentcompared to your creative
process for previous albums.

Dominic (28:58):
Yeah.
Interesting.
Um, I don't feel like it wasthat much different really.
Sort of really kind of takingthat same thing like how can I
get all these elements of, um,of.
The live band stuff, theorchestra stuff, the live
instrument stuff, and mix itinto the, into like a current

(29:21):
state of what, um, electronicmusic or bass music is.
would say I went a little bitmore like, let's like a little
more into the bass.
Mm.
Leaned a little more into thebass music heavy stuff on this
release, although.
I do like to not just pinpointour sound in one thing, you

(29:43):
know, that's why we have like,like Sweet of sacrifice and like
rain.
Were a couple songs, you know,just di I love house music

Nik Cherwink (29:49):
Yeah.

Dominic (29:49):
I think it fits so well with the sax and the horns and
stuff too, so.
Still, um, a wide range of musicin the electronic or dance
realm.

Nik Cherwink (30:00):
Yeah.

Dominic (30:00):
not just the bass music, but definitely leaned a
little bit more on some of theheavier bass stuff, this album.
'cause I, I just, you know, I'mlike.
Think about our gigs, you know,too, like, where are we playing?
Who's in front of us?
like, even in past albums, I'mlike making edits, for some of
these songs so that we can playthem live.

(30:21):
So they're a little more likefor fitting, For some of these
more dance festivals and, andthings like that.
So I think I leaned a little bitmore into let's make this.
Already ready to go,

Nik Cherwink (30:33):
Yeah.

Dominic (30:33):
of a thing, you know?

Nik Cherwink (30:35):
Super cool.
Um, and yeah, man, so many, somany great.
Yeah.
Guest artists and collaboratorson, on this album.
Um, so many, you know, artiststhat I'm, I'm a fan of, I'm
curious about how those get setup, right?
Are these just like homies andyou just shoot them a text in a
DM like, yo, let's, let's vibeon some shit.
Or is it, is there like abackend publisher, putting

(30:56):
people in rooms, you know, likewhat does that kinda look like
on, on the collaborative side?

Dominic (31:00):
for the most part, it's like friends

Nik Cherwink (31:03):
Yeah.

Dominic (31:04):
people who I'm inspired by who I'm like, Hey, you know,
know of each other and then I DMthem,

Nik Cherwink (31:10):
Yeah,

Dominic (31:11):
and say, Hey, like, we should work on something.
Or I see'em out.
at, you know, their Coloradopeople like Blank

Nik Cherwink (31:17):
yeah,

Dominic (31:18):
guy.

Nik Cherwink (31:19):
yeah.
Yeah.

Dominic (31:19):
is a Colorado guy.
And so I see them out like, weshould work on something, you
know, and then we pass somestuff back and forth, that kind
of thing.
Um, prob cause I've known for along time, so, and it just.
He's like, oh, he's like, youknow, he shows his talent every
time.
'cause he's just got like barsfor days and ideas for days and

(31:40):
it, and you know, you've seenhim since kind of when Griz kind
of took his hiatus and then hestarted jumping in with all
these other artists.
You see his like talent beingable to work with more hip hop
stuff, more bass music stuff.
So I've known him for a longtime.
Me and Grant and him have done.
think three or four songs priorto even this album where it was

(32:00):
like just two, two songs on thisal on this album with him,
because he's just like, it's sogood.
So I'm

Nik Cherwink (32:08):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.

Dominic (32:09):
there's like more, there's even more like there's
more shit in the works too.
So,

Nik Cherwink (32:13):
Yeah.
That's awesome.
You kind of strike me as someonethat like doesn't get creatively
blocked.
Do you ever get like stuck onstuff and are like, you know
what I mean?
Like.
Okay.
I wanna,'cause I'm like, I'mlike you.
I'm like, you got a master'sdegree in music.
You know, like, you, likeyou're, you're just obviously
listening to the music, it'slike, holy shit.
And you're putting out albumswhere it's like, bam.

(32:35):
There's just like quantity ofmusic coming out all the time.
So like, I'm curious, like, youknow, was there any, maybe, you
know.
Song or song that didn't make iton the album, that was like
challenging and, and frustratingand like, what do you do when
you hit those creative blocks?
And ultimately, yeah, the, theinevitable moments of like, you
know, kind of being stuck as anartist.

Dominic (32:56):
A lot of times what I do, especially, like
harmonically when chords andstuff like that and how to,
like, how do I make this songdifferent?
Like kind of stepping back alittle bit, these songs come
together in all different ways.
Like sometimes I'll get a vocal,you

Nik Cherwink (33:09):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (33:10):
I'll get like a demo and I'm like, I love the vocal,

Nik Cherwink (33:12):
Yeah.

Dominic (33:13):
but I like wanna make it something totally different,

Nik Cherwink (33:15):
Yeah.

Dominic (33:16):
So.
It.
Say I'm at a certain point withsomething and I'm like, it's
cool, but it's like, not it, youknow, or it's too much like
this, or it's this, or whatever.
A lot of times that's when mymusic school stuff will kick in
and I'll be like, okay, we're inthis key.
There's only, there's like 12different ways you could cut

(33:36):
this right now.

Nik Cherwink (33:37):
Yeah.

Dominic (33:38):
You know, and I'll just explore all those

Nik Cherwink (33:40):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (33:40):
we can, let's try this.
What does that sound like?
Mm, no, I'll do it.
So I'll go, I'll like exploreall the like, mathematical
possibilities

Nik Cherwink (33:48):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Dominic (33:48):
actually be.

Nik Cherwink (33:49):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (33:50):
um, you know, because with, with that.
You know, you could have oneline, and with all those
mathematical possibilities, youwill create all these different,
emotional things underneath,like say what the melody or the
lyrics and everything are.
So, you know, the lyrics couldbe X, y, z with the melody.
And it could be like thisreally.

(34:10):
Um.
A profound kind of a thing.
Like, okay, like this big thing.
Or it could be like, oh, nowthis is kind of, this is more
sad,

Nik Cherwink (34:19):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (34:20):
is now, this is actually more happy.
And you can, you can do all thatjust with changing the landscape
underneath of what you alreadyhave there.
So I'll explore all those thingsand be like, okay, is this, are
we, is it this, is this that, doI like this?
You know?
And then at that point you haveto just make a choice, right?

Nik Cherwink (34:35):
Yeah.

Dominic (34:36):
You know, one of the things I learned from, working
with Skrillex way back in theday, he's very good at just, he
just makes choices.
You know, he was like, I bounceeverything to audio so that the
choice is made and then I canmove on.
And that's how he's writing, youknow?

Nik Cherwink (34:50):
Mm.
Yeah.
Just keep moving forward.

Dominic (34:53):
yeah,

Nik Cherwink (34:53):
Yeah.

Dominic (34:53):
move forward.
And then, you know, sometimesthings happen where you move,
you know, maybe I move forwardwith that and

Nik Cherwink (35:00):
Yeah.

Dominic (35:00):
that ends up not being.
A song I ever use, you know,

Nik Cherwink (35:04):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (35:05):
but then keeping at it every day and I'm building
something, right?
Even though maybe I'm notputting these songs out, but I'm
just like building a thingbecause I'm building within
myself and

Nik Cherwink (35:17):
Yeah.

Dominic (35:17):
knowledge and all this stuff.
And then all of a sudden, twoweeks later, three weeks later,
all of the things that I've beenbuilding up.
Over that two, three weeks comeslike, and I'm like, ah, here it
is.
And

Nik Cherwink (35:29):
Mm.
Yeah.

Dominic (35:30):
that becomes something that's, that happens really
quickly.

Nik Cherwink (35:34):
Yeah.

Dominic (35:34):
a great, it's perfect.
It's great.
And then I make a song in like

Nik Cherwink (35:37):
Mm.

Dominic (35:38):
days, you know,

Nik Cherwink (35:39):
Yeah.
I love that.
I love that.
It's like what I'm hearing herereally is that consistency of
continuing to show up and makingmusic every day.
And I was just having thisconversation with, with, with my
coaching group where it's.
Somebody was, yeah, they werejust, they, they were feeling a
bit stuck and I was just like,you know, like, you don't have
to finish every idea, right?

(36:00):
It's like not all of those needto be completed and put out, and
sometimes it's worth it to justkeep playing and exploring until
you have that moment.
It's like, Ooh, that one, like,that's the fuck that's got the
juice.
That's the one right therethat's going on the album.
That's the one we're gonna putout, but to, to just be in the,
in the doll every day or in theinstrument every day.

(36:21):
Is so, so clutch.
Yeah.

Dominic (36:23):
because if, I mean, if you can imagine the pressure of,
okay, I have two weeks to finishthis song.
I need to write something like.
Now in the next eight hours andthe pressure and like what your
mind's going through versus justriding a little bit every day,
part of the process, you're justin it, and then it just, things

(36:44):
come naturally versus, trying toput, you know, pressure on it
and things like that, thatthat's why.

Nik Cherwink (36:51):
Yeah.

Dominic (36:51):
and all

Nik Cherwink (36:52):
Yeah.

Dominic (36:52):
important and just showing up even if it's for, and
you see guys talk about this allthe time, James Hype.
I've been talking about this,uh, this last year.
Almost everybody, you know, I,I, for some, I don't know why
I've been seeing this lately, orif there's, I'm seeing a lot of
like gratitude moments on socialmedia right now.

Nik Cherwink (37:09):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (37:10):
People posting, you know, they get some people their
first Lollapalooza maybe.
Um, you know, just having somegreat festival moments and
really sitting back and going,you know, 10 years ago or five
years ago, I had a dream and Ijust stuck with it and I stayed
in it every day and look what'shappening, you know?
It's so great to see that justthat it's, it's, it's, it's a

(37:33):
staple for people who aresuccessful.
They're not just like.
They didn't just like wake upand had a, you know, it's like
they grind, they work at itevery day, and when their moment
comes, they're prepared.
They get to enjoy it and it'slike a super sweet thing.
And it's just, it's fun to see Ilove seeing that.

Nik Cherwink (37:55):
Hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's so cool, man.
And, and that, that gratitudepiece is so important as well.
It's like we gotta enjoy thejourney and be grateful for it.
It can be so easy to get caughtup in looking at what's next,
right?
What's the, what's, what's thenext goal, the next thing to
achieve?
And it's like, all right, wellalso, let's look behind you and,
and give gratitude for how farwe've come, be present with

(38:17):
what's in front of us right nowas well.
I see so many of the artiststhat I talk to and, and, and
that I work with often, uh, thatare dealing with, you know, the
stress and the pressure of justtrying to make it, you know,
chasing the dream.
Oftentimes feeling like maybethey're running out of time or

(38:38):
there's just, you know, back tolike when you're.
Putting that pressure onyourself in the studio and like,
I've gotta finish this in, intwo weeks.
And, you know, that can createsome, some mental blocks.
And just ultimately, ultimately,you know, stress and pressure,
which makes it hard to operate,makes it hard to create.
Um, I imagine that the stressand pressure doesn't.

(38:59):
Go away necessarily though, asyou get bigger and as you know,
you become successful and youhit these goals.
So I'm curious, at this stage inyour career, like what's some of
the stress and pressure that youdeal with as a, you know, huge
headlining artist?

Dominic (39:15):
A lot of it is just like trying not to be hard on
yourself.
Like you have to realize whereyou're at.
You know what I mean?
And what and what's happening.
You know, you're not.
You're not this anymore.
you just have to go ease, beeasier on yourself and really,
stay in the moment and keepworking at it every day.
And just again, having, beingthe learning process be the

(39:37):
focal point and the, and thegrowing, you know, the internal
growing and stuff like that, bethe focal point.
Because if you're trying to, howdo I stay?
You know, how do I, everyone'sone-upping each other.
So

Nik Cherwink (39:49):
Yeah.
Yeah,

Dominic (39:51):
that's where the, the um, not real.
It's not real pressure, youknow, it's like a

Nik Cherwink (39:58):
yeah.

Dominic (39:58):
you

Nik Cherwink (39:59):
Yeah.

Dominic (39:59):
do I, um, stay focused?
Um, you know, that that's thechallenge.
Just staying in the moment andstaying focused and just.
Keeping all those principlesthat got you to where you were,
where you are now, and juststicking to those because yeah,
again, with social media andjust, and, and just everything,
you know,

Nik Cherwink (40:19):
Yeah.

Dominic (40:20):
the fact that it's been 15 years and you know, you're
not, you know, it's not gonna bethe same as it was 12 years ago.
It's

Nik Cherwink (40:28):
Yeah,

Dominic (40:29):
there's no way, like physically in the world it could
like be that way.
Trying to go easy on yourself,but also trying to, keep
growing, keep learning and doingthings you haven't done before.
You know, um, uh, just how, howcan I, you know, or take this to
the next level, but, you know,within my, within myself, you

Nik Cherwink (40:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Back to that.
Just learning and growing,right?
'cause it's so easy.
Whether if like you're on thecome up and you're looking into
the future of this is where Iwant to be, or this is where
other artists are.
Or even then now you're 15, 20years into your career and
you're looking back and you'relike, oh damn.
That was like that moment thatof success that we had back
then.
You know, how do we get thatagain?

(41:12):
Right?
So it's like it really is.
It reminds me of the book, thePower of Now,

Dominic (41:16):
Hmm.

Nik Cherwink (41:17):
such like.

Dominic (41:18):
that.

Nik Cherwink (41:18):
Required, required reading for, for every artist
out there, I think.
'cause it's just all about howour brain, basically all of our
thoughts either exist in thepast or the future and it's also
the root of all of our problems,right?
Any of the pressure or theanxiety or depression or
whatever it is, it's just ourbrain pulling us out of being

(41:39):
present, which is like, yo, lifeis happening now.
Not tomorrow.
It's like this is the moment toenjoy it.
This is the moment to begrateful, to have fun to, to,
you know.
And so it's almost like, yeah,90% of our challenges and our
problems are, the brain just notbeing present?
And um, yeah, really, reallygreat book.
The power of Now go check itout.

(42:00):
Uh, you know, I might.
Good buddy Derek from Slanderhas like, he just like said that
he's like that to the book.
That con contributed so greatlyto his success and he listens to
it on audio all the time still,which is that constant reminder
of like, hey, like there's,there's nothing to fear.

Dominic (42:19):
Yep,

Nik Cherwink (42:20):
enjoy the ride, be creative.
Let's have some fun along theway.
But, you know, easier said thandone.
I look at it as like.
The brain is like a, it's likea, it's like a puppy that we
have to train, you know?
And if we're not training it,then it's just going to run
around and tear the house up.
So, easier said than done.

Dominic (42:37):
No doubt.
No doubt.

Nik Cherwink (42:38):
Yeah.
Um, so you guys are going ontour now, right?
You guys have, or I think you,you guys just played, uh, right.

Dominic (42:47):
Cho, which was really great, which was like, you know,
it's like another one of thosemoments that like brings you
back to, you know, it's justlike, man, what a great
festival.
Had a killer set.
You know, the response from thefans have been, has been like,
too good.
You know, so

Nik Cherwink (43:05):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (43:06):
one of those where it brings you back to like, those
killer awesome moments,

Nik Cherwink (43:10):
Yeah.

Dominic (43:11):
where it's just like, you know, so satisfying that,
you know, all the hard work thatyou put in and stuff like that

Nik Cherwink (43:17):
Yeah.

Dominic (43:18):
translated the

Nik Cherwink (43:19):
Hmm.

Dominic (43:20):
So.

Nik Cherwink (43:20):
Yeah, some, something I've talked to a lot
of touring artists about iskinda like the come down, you
know, I imagine being inShambala, you're like, I don't
know, 20,000 people or somethinggoing crazy, you know, jumping
up and down and I, I, I'm, I'mso curious for them to do some
studies on like theneurochemical process of like.

(43:42):
What must happen in your brainwhen you're getting that much,
you know, just dopamine andserotonin release.
Um, I've heard one of the bigchallenges for artists is
oftentimes kind of, you know,after that, you know, whether
maybe you're back in your hotelby yourself or, you know, you're
just on a flight back home thenext day.
One have, have you experiencedthat?
And two, like how do you handlekind of navigating that, um,

(44:05):
that rollercoaster?

Dominic (44:07):
You know, honestly, I haven't, I haven't experienced
anything negative from it that,let's, let's put it that way.
I mean, it's always very, like,satisfying to

Nik Cherwink (44:17):
Mm.

Dominic (44:18):
Um.

Nik Cherwink (44:18):
Cool.

Dominic (44:19):
You know, I come home, I have a wife, I have a kid, I
come home, I'm like, let's go.
I

Nik Cherwink (44:25):
Hell yeah.
Yeah.

Dominic (44:26):
It feels good to get some time in.
I will tell you though, thetrippiest thing, and this is it
the, is it the first time or theonly time that's ever happened?
I can, I can't think.
Maybe it happened like at onepoint a long, long time ago, but
the really fucked up thing forme that happened recently was
Bonnaroo.
So.
You know, Bonnaroo, the firstday the Bonnaroo, this summer,

Nik Cherwink (44:49):
Oh yeah.

Dominic (44:50):
and then the rest of the whole festival got canceled.

Nik Cherwink (44:52):
Yeah.
It got like flooded orsomething.

Dominic (44:55):
flooded

Nik Cherwink (44:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Dominic (44:56):
us, you know, and we, at this point, we usually get to
do like one big festival play a

Nik Cherwink (45:02):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (45:02):
and that was, there was people at that festival, you
know

Nik Cherwink (45:06):
Yeah.

Dominic (45:07):
a big play for us.
And not only.
A big play for us.
It was all part of our wholealbum release plan, because we

Nik Cherwink (45:14):
Mm.

Dominic (45:14):
single, single, single, then it was like we were gonna
play Bonnaroo, and then ouralbum comes out the following
Friday.
So it was like setting the wholething up.
Right.

Nik Cherwink (45:22):
Yeah.

Dominic (45:23):
to fly to Nashville, fly out to site, you know,

Nik Cherwink (45:27):
Yeah.

Dominic (45:28):
I'm sitting in my hotel room like.
Close to like bedtime kind ofthing.
And literally getting texts frommy managers, like, it's
canceled.
Like everything's canceled

Nik Cherwink (45:38):
Oh damn.

Dominic (45:38):
of the weekend.
for me, and I'm sitting in thislike shitty hotel room in the
middle of Tennessee, you know,And I'm like, I've never
experienced something like that.
'cause it was kind of likeshock.
It was like I was shocked atfirst and I was like, whoa, this
is crazy.
And it wasn't like I wasdepressed or anything like that
at

Nik Cherwink (45:58):
Yeah.

Dominic (45:59):
just kinda like, whoa, I can't even believe this is
crazy.

Nik Cherwink (46:02):
Yeah.

Dominic (46:04):
it was like, okay.
Into, then that turned into, Idon't know, probably a couple
weeks at least of like.
Sort of this weird depressionthat I'm not,

Nik Cherwink (46:14):
It.

Dominic (46:14):
not a very depressed guy, but I was like,

Nik Cherwink (46:16):
Yeah.

Dominic (46:16):
like, I was so sad and like this was all part of this
thing that I've been working onsince, you know, I've been
working on this album, likegrinding hard since

Nik Cherwink (46:24):
Yeah.

Dominic (46:25):
October,

Nik Cherwink (46:26):
Damn.
Yeah.

Dominic (46:28):
this was such a crucial part of the whole puzzle.

Nik Cherwink (46:30):
Mm-hmm.

Dominic (46:31):
um, that was something that definitely fucked me up for
a little while.
And once the album came out, Imean, it felt better.
But it was, it was also a, youknow, what, what could it have
been if it all went down kind ofa thing.

Nik Cherwink (46:45):
Yeah.
Yeah, for

Dominic (46:46):
my mind,

Nik Cherwink (46:47):
for sure.

Dominic (46:48):
you know, I

Nik Cherwink (46:49):
Hmm.

Dominic (46:50):
on.
Move

Nik Cherwink (46:50):
Yeah.
Back to that, you know, the kindof lessons of sports, right?
Of like, yo, we're gonna, we'regonna lose some games.
We're gonna get our ass kickedsometimes, and, and to get back
up.
But, but also, you know, to, toactually feel the feelings and
like, rightfully so, like,that's something to be fucking
bummed out about and, and to notnecessarily, you know, as.

(47:13):
Positive as I am, and as much asI'm a, you know, life coach, I
also don't believe in like toxicpositivity.
It's like, yeah, that's, we'reallowed to cry too.
It's like, fuck, man, we can begutted for a little bit.
And, and though it's like atsome point, all right, we got
to, you know, get back in and,and get back after it.
So, I'm sorry that happened,man, that's a, that is a, that's
a bummer.

Dominic (47:34):
It's life,

Nik Cherwink (47:35):
Yeah.

Dominic (47:36):
Like nothing, you know, literally nothing could have
been

Nik Cherwink (47:41):
Yeah.

Dominic (47:41):
about.
So,

Nik Cherwink (47:42):
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah,

Dominic (47:44):
and, and I, it, I guess it also helped knowing that
there was, you know, a hundredother, or what, I don't know,

Nik Cherwink (47:51):
yeah,

Dominic (47:52):
that were really in the same boat, um, you know, missing
out on that.

Nik Cherwink (47:56):
Were you with Jeremy at the time?
Were you guys together?
Did you at least have like

Dominic (48:00):
yeah,

Nik Cherwink (48:01):
to kind of lean on in that moment?
Yeah.

Dominic (48:03):
were, but it was just, it really, it, it, it took a few
days for me to be like, sadabout it.
'cause I was just like totallyshocked

Nik Cherwink (48:11):
Yeah.
Yeah,

Dominic (48:13):
but

Nik Cherwink (48:14):
yeah.
Well, you know, there's, I, I,there's this, like, I kind of
call it like the lostgeneration.
There were a lot of artists thatI knew that in, you know, at the
end of 2019, they were justlike.
Had just gotten their agent,they were just quitting their
job at Starbucks and they werejust, you know, that same moment

(48:34):
of like, I'm going all in, andthen like fucking three months
later, you know, have theirtours canceled and like that
there, there's a handful ofartists that I know, and I know
there's probably some listeningright now that just like got
that gut punch of just, youknow, that dream.
Being, you know, kind of pulledaway from them.
And, and so, um, saw a lot of,uh, yeah, people really, really

(48:54):
struggle with that.
A a lot of people that also justdidn't even try after that.
And, and shout out to all ofthose though, that did keep
going.
'cause a lot of'em then werelike, all right, well let's just
get back in the studio and makemore music.
Uh, but there's a lot too thatwere just like, kind of wrecked
by that and we're like, man,fuck.
You know, they just didn't eventry.
So, yeah, it.

Dominic (49:13):
us too, like in terms of just, we were already 10, you
know, plus years, you know, wewere 10 years in our career,
and, and that could have, thatcould have.
You know, been the nail in thecoffin for us in terms of we
could have just, you know, thisis it,

Nik Cherwink (49:28):
Yeah.
Had a good ride throwing thetowel.
Yeah.

Dominic (49:32):
exactly.
You know, but since then, justpersevering, you know, even
through all of the COVID stuff,doing the, uh, the live streams
and all that kind of stuff,

Nik Cherwink (49:42):
Yeah.

Dominic (49:43):
put out two albums since then.
So, I

Nik Cherwink (49:45):
Yeah.

Dominic (49:46):
you

Nik Cherwink (49:46):
Hell yeah.
Hmm.
Super cool.
Well let, let's, let's wrap itup with this.
There's a lot of rising artists,listening right now.
A lot of artists that are, youknow, wanting to.
Go full time and, and, and quitthat job and have that exciting
moment of, of getting to dothis, you know, a hundred
percent professionally.
There's a lot of artists thatare, they are touring, they are

(50:07):
playing shows, and they're justlooking to, you know, get to
that next level.
They're ready for their firstshambala set or that Red Rock
set, you know, what just generalwords of advice and wisdom would
you have for everybodylistening?

Dominic (50:21):
Yeah, I think just, um, you know, trust the process,
keep it going, work on stuffevery day.
Trust your gut, your taste, youknow, because that's the other
thing that got you to where youare.
Now and, um, and just keep, keepgoing.
You know, keep meeting people,keep working on music, all those
little meetings, and all thework in between.

(50:42):
All kind of link will link upeventually to a point and just
be ready for when your time, youknow, eventually your time will
come and just.
You want to be as ready aspossible for that when that time
comes.
And then you can just get inthere, have confidence, and just
be yourself.
Have fun and enjoy the momentand like watch the whole thing
rise up.

Nik Cherwink (51:02):
Hmm.
Hell yeah, man.
Amazing advice.
Thank you so much for taking thetime to come on and, uh, you
know, sharing your, your storyand all these great words of
wisdom with us.
And, um, yeah, man.
Really excited for this album.
All the upcoming shows.
You guys check the tour dates.
They're gonna be out thererocking out, so go catch them if
you can.

Dominic (51:21):
Thanks Nick.