Hailing from Southern California, the rock band Dayseeker is composed of members Rory Rodriguez (vocals), Gino Sgambelluri (guitar), Ramone Valerio (bass), and Zac Mayfield (drums.) The group focuses on metalcore music, and was created in 2012. Ever since their creation, the band has creeped its way into the mainstream rock scene, gaining streams and followers from all around the world.
Their latest released album from November of 2022 is Dark Sun, dedicated to the feelings of grief that Rory suffered after the passing of his father. The album is a beautiful representation of the flood of emotions one goes through after losing someone. It clearly resonated with fans, obtaining over 80 million streams.
The band announced their acoustic album Replica, which arrived digitally on April 19 and physically on June 14 via Spinefarm. The album features stripped down, acoustic versions of fan favorite songs off of their previous albums. The song “Burial Plot” on the new record will feature Caleb Shomo of Beartooth. The collection also includes an Evanescence cover and appearances from Holding Absence’s Lucas Woodland and indie artist Amber DeLaRosa.
Dayseeker will return to the road for a new headline trek this fall and it’s big deal for both the band and fans. They will play the biggest venues of their career so far. Get tickets here.
We talked with Rory, the lead vocalist of Dayseeker while on ShipRocked. We talked about his love for cooking, his favorite Warped Tour memories, and his band’s hot sauce brand, Burial Sauce.
What’s your perfect day in Orange County?
I have a three-year old daughter, so just taking her to do something. Maybe taking her to Disneyland. Probably taking her for ice cream. Then just making dinner at home. I’m super into cooking at home.
What’s your favorite thing to cook?
I’ve signed up for this service called Blue Apron. They just send you awesome food to cook. I feel like I’ve gotten a really good handle on how to cook steak super well. I feel like my life at home is very chill and mellow compared to when we go out and tour and stuff. I honestly just like hanging out with my daughter and just cooking.
Do you have any favorite beaches?
I lived by Hermosa and Redondo Beach for a while, and those both had really good restaurants and just really fun areas to hang out in. So, I guess I’d say the South Bay, those beaches are great.
I just went to Vegas last week. I visited the Punk Rock Museum. Highly recommend it. They had all this Warped Tour stuff and it made me wonder, what’s your favorite Warped Tour memory?
We actually got to play the last cross-country Warped Tour. I don’t know if I can say that whole tour because It was definitely one of the hardest tours we’ve ever done. We were just at a point where financially, we couldn’t really afford to be in a bus or a bandwagon. So, we did the tour in a passenger van with a trailer.
We played the main stage and everything. We felt like we got some nice street cred though. You’d get to this field at like seven in the morning and then you were just outside in like 90 or 100-degree weather. We got really close with a couple of the guys in Wage War during that time. We would go to their bandwagons and be like ‘You guys want to hang out?’
We also volunteered to do catering services a lot to help serve the artists just because it felt like it was something to do. But most of the time they had some AC going, so we found little hacks. That whole tour was just a blast. I mean, I’ve been going there since I was 14 or 15.
It’s funny, I remember seeing My Chemical Romance play on the small, Smartpunk stage. It folds out of a trunk and there’s like a hundred people there to see them. They were committed, in their suits with makeup. I remember being 15, being like, ‘Damn, they’re really cool.’ It’s just wild to see what happened. How many bands I saw when I was younger. They’re just legendary bands now, 20 years later.
You have a newer song, “Dreamstate”, can you tell me more about it?
It’s been out for a while, but we decided to do a video for it pretty recently and try a push towards active rock with it. “Dreamstate” was just kind of about these really vivid dreams I was having about my father after he passed where it felt like there were actual points where we were communicating. I don’t know if we actually were, but it was just kind of this really cool, beautiful thing that was happening.
When I would wake up it would be really disorienting, accepting that my Dad had passed and he’s gone or is it all in my head. Was that a real thing that happened there? Unfortunately, our drummer Zac, his Mom actually passed away from cancer about a year after my Dad did. He told me a very similar situation where he had a dream where they walked through a field together or something.
I’ve had other dreams of my dad where they feel a little nonsensical. But then I’ve had other ones where I just wake up and it feels differently. So anyway, I tried to write this song on this topic and how it was making me feel.
Are you working on releasing new music and what can fans expect?
We have committed to a full acoustic album that’s coming out in a couple of months, actually. The first song comes out in a couple of weeks and has Caleb Shomo on it from Beartooth. It’s just a bunch of redone songs from our last two albums.
We just toured with them in July in Australia and I was like, ‘I feel like you guys got even better since July, like I just saw you six months ago.’ Great guy, great band. But he’s on the record and it’s just a full album of acoustic songs.
There’s an Evanescence cover on there, “My Immortal.” I think it’ll drop in April at some point. And then we’re working on new, new music because we’re planning to headline the US in September or October, and we’d like to have something new out by then.
What are your must pack items for the road?
TUMS and Alka-Seltzer because I have hot girl stomach problems. I have really bad acid reflux. I have to be really careful about what I eat, especially on tour. It’s really bad for the voice. I always bring something good for my stomach. Melatonin sleep gummies. Super important. My AirPods. I’m a person who can get overstimulated kind of easily, so I have the AirPods where they suck the sound out of the room. Sometimes on tour it’s just nice to throw them in, listen to music, and feel a little more in my own world for a second if I need it. Deodorant, Cologne, all the essentials.
You’ve got a US and Europe tour coming up in the spring. Any cities you’re looking forward to visiting?
In Europe, UK, we’re supporting Pierce The Veil and I think it starts in the Netherlands by Amsterdam. We did a Europe tour like eight years ago. I think I had this whole perception that Amsterdam was, like, dirty Las Vegas in Europe. I thought it’d be really barren. I went and it was probably my favorite spot in all of Europe. Aesthetically, It was a beautiful city. I’m very excited to go back there.
The UK has a really special place in my heart. I don’t know why. I just really love playing there. I love their music. The fans are different there. I’m not gonna say they appreciate it more, but it just feels like they really love rock music.
When we headline the States, there’s a hometown show in San Diego, but we did this whole contest for the San Diego show. We’re flying a fan out, and my tattoo artist who just won Ink Master is going to tattoo one of our fans for free. We did this charity raffle for cancer research and somebody’s going to win in a couple of weeks and we’re gonna fly them out.
I’m excited for that show, just because it’ll be cool to meet whoever won. We’ve already raised like 10 grand. My tattoo artist and I talked and said if it goes well and the fans like it, we might do it again maybe in a year and see what happens.
Do you have a favorite tattoo?
This whole piece on my arm. My artist’s name is Bobby Johnson. He goes by Glendale Bully on social media. He was in San Diego but now he’s in Salt Lake City.
I had a horrible tattoo here. It was like a house with roots growing out of it. You can kind of see a little bit of it. I had some laser sessions done to remove it, and then, he was down to do a cover up for me and just ended up being a really cool guy. I kind of let him have free reign with whatever he wanted to do.
I liked that he does really good feminine faces with floral accents. We did this kind of Reaper vibe holding the stems of the flowers. He’s great. It’s easily my favorite tattoo, but very painful.
It’s funny that you just told me you have such bad acid reflux and you have this hot sauce, Burial Sauce.
Yeah, I love hot, I love spicy. Now I prepare, you know, I eat a few TUMS right before I’m going to have coffee or something spicy or acidic. I have TUMS beforehand and I’m usually fine.
The Burial Sauce is fantastic. It’s so cliche to say, ’It’s our sauce. It’s so good.’ But I really do think it’s a great sauce. There’s actually another band that played ShipRocked called Afterlife. They have their own hot sauce and I was like, ‘That’s so cool.’ I’ve seen a few bands do it, but they were the most recent one.
They had a really cool box and packaging and we have the same front of house, a person who does our sound, Sarah. She gave us the connection for the guy who made their sauce. He sent me like three different options of stuff he’s made and he had me try them. He sent me a few prototypes back and forth and I got to have a lot of input.
It’s a really great amount of spice and heat, but the flavor is awesome. We have a box in our trailer we would go through. I think we did a tour for like six weeks, and I think we went through 11 or 12 bottles just because every time you sit and eat, you’re like, ‘Yeah, I’ll have some.’
You’ve collaborated with a lot of bands over the past few years. For example, Devil Wears Prada and Beartooth. Any dream collabs?
I don’t know. There’s this other band, Spiritbox who has the same music producer as us, Dan Braunstein in LA. We both kind of had a moment in our careers, right around the same time where they just weren’t very popular and neither were we. We had a little moment with our album called Sleep Talk, and then they put out this song called “Holy Roller” shortly after.
Then they got really popular and I know them personally and I just think Courtney is a really sweet person, and I love her voice, so someday it would be very cool to collab with them. Noah from Bad Omens would be cool. A Sleep Token collab would be cool. I like pop features, too. There’s this artist named Sasha Sloan. I’m a big fan of hers. Demi Lovato I feel like, dips her feet into the rock world sometimes.
Any favorite ShipRocked moments? Have you guys been on before?
No, it’s our first time. Beartooth’s set was probably my favorite. It was just very surreal, like, ‘Oh, shit. The boat’s moving.’ I think the boat was still when they started but then my bassist Ramone said ‘We’re moving.’ The sun was coming down at the right moment and it just felt like a great way to set it off. I walked away feeling inspired after seeing it. I met a few guys from Breaking Benjamin last night, too, and I’ve always been a fan of theirs. They’re great guys.