We were lucky to catch up with The Diz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi The Diz, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

We are currently working on our first full length album hoping to release it this year. Each song on the album is a document of our personal experiences and what its been like growing as musicians and adults together. Songs like Dazed and Confused quickly came from toxic relationships we seemed to be dealing with concurrently, but morphed into a song about self worth and confidence. Bad Decisions shares many (allegedly) true experiences of living a little bit unsustainably wild, and making lasting memories and friends along the way. Blue bonnet is our own version of coming to terms with change in life, and that beautiful experiences become beautiful memories. These things may be temporary but they can have lasting impact and we can try and appreciate them in the future as well. Each song is both a way to express ourselves sonically and creatively, but also is a heartfelt message from our lives that we feel is a shareable and relatable experience.

The Diz, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

“…a dazzling array of classic rock and punk influenced guitar-forward original indie”
-The Triton

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The Diz is a group defined by joy. The band, composed mostly of UCSD students, quickly took hold of the university’s music scene, branching out further into the vibrant San Diego music culture. Seeing the Diz in action is like being hit with a wave of the musicians’ own passion and enjoyment.

Whether it’s the overwhelming large-scale Epstein Amphitheater or the more intimate venue of a show above Black’s Beach, their music radiates an excited energy that’s hard to top.

Drawing from a wide range of musical genres, the Diz’s work feels like an amalgamation of the music they’ve listened to lovingly over the years. Elise Burcham’s intense punky drums, the funk-rock of the dynamic guitar-bass duo Ian Frankel and William Bennett come together with lead vocalist, guitarist, and bassist Skylar Feick’s bluesy, undefinable vocals and rock instrumentals to make for an experience that’s hard to forget.

The Diz is currently working on an album with singles set to release throughout 2023.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Our primary goal is to have fun. We are four best friends that love to make music together and see how far we can push our muisc. We want to create songs that we are proud of, and love, and believe represents who we are both as musicians and as people.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Besides music we all stay very busy. Sky is a cognitive neuroscience 4th year at UCSD, Elise is a 3rd year at UCSD studying the integration of technology in the music industry, Ian is a 5th year PhD student studying mechanical engineering at UCSD, and Will is a landscape architect at a studio in Solana Beach. Despite all of the work we see outside of music we find time to write, practice, and perform as much as many bands without the time commitments of a demanding work/school life. This was put to the test in 2023 when we applied for the NPR Tiny Desk competition. The first time we were all available to play/record was the day before the contest was due. We met up around 9 pm, played and recorded until about 3 a.m on a weeknight, and then found the time in the next day to mix the recording, and upload. It wasn’t something that we had to do, but the whole night everyone was only smiles and happy because it was something we all collectively wanted to push for and accomplish.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thedizband.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedizband/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089294689198
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDiz-et9qz
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedizband

Image Credits
Henry Liu