Today we’d like to introduce you to Daisy Forester.
Hi Daisy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Music has always been a part of my life. I started singing before I could speak. I wrote my first songs by making my mom transcribe my lyrics and melody, and I began learning my ABCs by learning which musical notes each letter corresponded to. I grew up seeing live music in the Twin Cities, and when I got my first guitar at 13, I started playing my songs at the coffee shops, restaurants, and local venues I’d frequented my whole life. The DIY Twin Cities music scene has always been central and formative for me, and one of my driving objectives as a musician has always been to be a part of and contribute to the community of artists and creatives that make Minneapolis so vibrant. My other goal as a musician was to make people dance, and when my bandmates and I created Dial Tone in the fall of last year, I saw both of these dreams actualized; we were welcomed into and supported by the music community, and have gotten people on their feet at every show we’ve played. I started as a middle schooler playing “Romeo and Juliet” by the Dire Straits for my friends and family squished into Butter Bakery and Cafe, and last month, we played a packed Fine Line (again, filled with friends and family). Undeniably, so much has changed since I started as a musician, but there have been many constants throughout my music career for which I am incredibly grateful.
It wasn’t obstacle-free, but the journey has been fairly smooth so far.
Though I’m appreciative and privileged for the community I’ve found and the support I’ve gotten throughout my music career, being a young female musician in the Twin Cities has been eternally frustrating and exhausting. As a teenager managing a solo career, I had to navigate predatory radio hosts, dismissive and exploitative sound engineers, and daily derogatory interactions with patrons. I’ve been overtly sexualized (even as a minor), had people I should be able to trust attempt to groom me or take songwriting/music credit from me, and constantly had to validate my position as a female musician to others in the scene. I love the Twin Cities music scene, but it’s been disheartening and exhausting to replace those rose-tinted glasses and come to terms with the blatant misogyny that runs unchecked within the music community. I persist as a musician because I have hope that musicians like me have the power to hold other musicians, venue managers, sound engineers, radio hosts, and all others engaged with music-making in the Twin Cities accountable and create safer and more accessible, inclusive spaces for youth, women, non-binary and trans artists. I persist because I believe we can make the beautiful and vibrant music scene that can and should thrive in the Twin Cities.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might need to be more familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a musician based in Minneapolis, and I work as a soloist and as the lead vocalist, lyricist, and bassist for the band Dial Tone. My music career has been DIY, meaning there has yet to be industry engagement in the success my band has achieved. With Dial Tone, being an independent, DIY band means we write all our songs, are responsible for booking/managing all live performances, create and vend all our merch, self-manage our social media presence, self-record and self-produce all our released music, etc. We greatly emphasize appreciating and giving credit to Minneapolis’s independently-run DIY music scene. Our debut self-titled album sonically traces the evolution of underground music in Minneapolis from the 80s to today. I’m proud of the thematic and aural versatility we’ve been able to create as a band, and our music is a truly authentic manifestation of our experiences and growth as musicians, both independently and within the Twin Cities music scene. I’m also incredibly grateful that we were able to self-record, -produce, and -release the entirety of our debut album with the help of our patrons, our friends in the scene, and the resources and networks within the Twin Cities that exist to support independent, DIY musicians like us. We intentionally create spaces for and amplify other femme-fronted musicians and groups in the Twin Cities. We created fully femme-fronted lineups for our single release and album release shows at the Chop Shop in October and the Cedar Cultural Center in November.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Please share something that might surprise us.
I am honestly surprised myself when I remember that I am not only a musician but also a student; my bandmates, Cole Pivec and Henning Hanson, and I are all third-year Honors students at the University of Minnesota and have maintained a high performance in college while managing and growing Dial Tone this past year. We are all classically trained musicians, and Henning and I initially engaged in music and performance as concert pianists and cellists, respectively. None of us are studying music at college, but we take the same intentional and rigorous approach to our music as we do to our studies; we came up with the concept for our debut album shortly after writing our first songs and have stuck with that vision throughout our growth and processes as a band while remaining intentional about organically and intentionally creating our music. I’m also constantly surprised that everything we’ve achieved as a band this past year has been the sole direct result of our actions and the support of the communities and networks we’ve formed/become a part of. I’m humbled and grateful for our support and success as an independent and self-directed band. I’m empowered and excited by what we’ve achieved thus far and what we’ll be able to do in the future.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dialtoneofficial/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dialtonempls/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DialToneofficial
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/dial-tone-296211527
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ZUAKzkxoUko8TwyKQ6X3O?si=wJ97_Q5tQBGx_3qW4z5veA
Image Credits
Nick Greseth, Meg Bunkenburg, Randy Xiao, Emma Gillespie, Aaron Ray
