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Dreamscape: Loyola juniors create band during quarantine

On July 5, 2020, juniors Matthew McHugh, Justin Park and Zach Driscoll came together to form the alternative rock band Dreamscape.

They have been making and playing music together for over a year but officially created their band in July. However, quarantine prevented the band from practicing together and forced them to cancel many of their gigs lined up for the summer. While they were pessimistic about the situation at first, quarantine actually allowed them to focus on writing music and evolving the band’s sound to make it what it is today. Once stay-at-home orders were relaxed, they were finally able to practice the music they had been writing because they could be in the same place to collaborate.

McHugh said, “During quarantine, we all had started the writing process of multiple songs. Finally, with stay at home orders relaxing, we were able to jam and work toward finishing our debut album.”

Although they considered themselves a band, they had not yet picked a name until they reunited in late July. After two weeks of indecision, they chose the name “Dreamscape” by looking at a picture from Alice in Wonderland in McHugh’s garage.

When explaining the origin of the name, Park said, “When trying to think of a name for the band, we were all sitting around in Matthew’s garage and we saw this picture of Wonderland from Alice in Wonderland in Matthew’s garage. We realized how Alice’s adventures in Wonderland was her dreaming to be able to escape her boring reality. We then thought of names that would embody an escape from the monotonous lifestyle within quarantine; thus, the name Dreamscape.”

Dreamscape takes influence from its favorite bands like Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and Fleetwood Mac. This wide array of sound is very present within the songs they have created. For instance, the band has teased songs with a heavy metal sound and others with a distinct yacht rock sound.

Driscoll said, “Initially, we all just would go over to one of our houses and jam to music from our favorite classic rock artists. Once we got comfortable with that, we started to transform that classic rock sound into something unique. Eventually, we developed and wrote our own songs with their unique sound to them.”

Currently, Dreamscape shares its music only on their Instagram profile but are working to have their music available on all streaming platforms soon. Once the quarantine is lifted, they are also planning to perform many of the gigs that were originally canceled.

Park said, “The band has been working really hard on composing, recording and performing our music for our debut EP coming soon. We are excited to see what the future has in store for Dreamscape.”

Follow and listen to Dreamscape on their Instagram: @dreamscapeofficial_.

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