3 Reasons You Should See The Dream Eaters Live

I may have been a bit late to the party when it came to discovering The Dream Eaters, finding out about them only a year ago, but as soon as I heard them it was love at first listen.

That first listen was to a bizarre synth-pop song titled “Spank Bank” that led me down a rabbit hole of some of the most wonderfully strange music videos on YouTube. They weren’t just strange, however, all of the songs sounded great.

Consisting of Jake Zavracky and Elizabeth LeBaron, with Steve, The Dream Eaters recently played a headlining set at Soho Live, a new venue that’s below an axe throwing place that’s where Santos Party House used to be (for all you LES music venue historians out there … I know I can’t be the only one).

I showed a buddy the band’s video for “Muffins,” and he was all in to join me, and while muffins weren’t on the menu for the night, great tunes, and good vibes were plentiful.

I’d wanted to see The Dream Eaters ever since I first heard them, and their live show exceeded all my expectations.

Here are three reasons you should check them out when they hit a city near you.

They have a sneaky deep, and wildly diverse, catalog of songs 

If you haven’t checked out The Dream Eaters before, their range when it comes songs includes everything from bizarre tunes about muffins, and bleeding in a Walmart, to emotionally deep songs about setting places for dinner for friends who’ve passed away, to socially motivated tunes about bodily autonomy.

Their diversity in tunes is only matched by the depth of their catalog, which is significantly more vast that one might expect.

Going into the show I had a handful of songs I was expecting to hear. Basically, the ones I considered their biggest hits, because in my home they’d been played over and over again.

The Dream Eaters performed some of those songs, but not all of them, and lemme tell ya, when all was said and done I had no idea where they could’ve fit them in.

To me, this proved two things – The Dream Eaters can fill a headliner-length set while still having plenty of songs leftover, and they make great choices when completing a set list, because as a listener you’re going to have a good time regardless of whether or not they get to all of your personal faves.

Their live performance completely flips the script on their music videos 

The Dream Eaters have some very unique music videos. They’re often colorful, always bizarre, and usually feature Jake and Elizabeth with their eyes affixed with deep stares.

For their live performances, the bright colors of the videos become all white outfits (perhaps The Dream Eaters are a cult, and if they are, I’m ready to join), and their deep stares soften considerably, and are joined by big smiles as they allow another side of their personalities to shine.

Why flip the script in this way? Because music videos, and live shows are two totally different ways of having their music enjoyed.

The videos are each a piece of art, and the band’s personas for those videos are an aspect of that art. On stage, they embrace a more good time vibe, because people are right in front of them, wanting to enjoy themselves.

All that said, there is one constant that runs throughout everything for The Dream Eaters, and that’s Steve’s sweet dance moves.

They’re a damned good band 

The weird stuff, the deep stuff, the socially motived stuff, the going in a completely different direction than the music videos when performing live – none of this works unless a band is damned good, and The Dream Eaters are a damned good band.

If you’ve seen their videos, and assume there’s a gimmick involved, their real gimmick is being great musicians, and you can really hear it all come together when they’re on stage.

If you happen to be in the NYC area when they’re performing you get a bonus of experiencing the band with some superfans in the crowd who know practically every lyric, and have a joy that is as unmatched at Steve’s aforementioned dance moves.

For more of The Dream Eaters, check them out on Bandcamp, and YouTube.