Jackson Phillips aka Day Wave makes sun-soaked guitar pop with dreamy vocals. But, as we found out during his live session for MBE, his first instrument was the drums! His parents bought him a kit at age 9 and he didn’t actually learn guitar until a few years ago.
He told me after the session that he knew he wanted to start a guitar band, but he didn’t really know what he wanted it to sound like. At the time he was listening to to a lot of Joy Division and became obsessed with the song “Ceremony”. The idea of single note guitar lines really appealed to him and informed everything that Day Wave has become.
He covered the song during their set for MBE, a fantastic ending to a great session.
RR
(Day Wave photos c/o Jessica Hanley)