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CULTURE Wars – an offbeat name for a band that is always on beat. Yet it was chosen to signify unity within diversity.
“We all come from very different backgrounds and walks of life and upbringings. Despite us all having very different lives and views,” said Alex Dugan, the vocalist.
Thus, the brothers in music – Dugan, guitarist Caleb Contretas, guitarist-keyboardist Josh Stirm, bassist Dillon Randolph and
drummer David Grayson – have been creating music for nearly a decade.
With a discography you would enjoy during a long drive on the highway, Culture Wars is reminiscent of a dying ethos – garage-band mentality born purely from passion and brotherhood.
The American five-piece recently sat down with theSun to reflect on its journey and what it means to make music.
Musical influences
Finding a sound as a band can be tricky. Not for the members of Culture Wars, who thrive in their differences, such as their musical influences.
Dugan said: “The cool thing about this band is, if you asked all five of us what our influences would be, I don’t think a single one of us would give the same answer.
“There’s not really one particular influence. I can say, growing up, I was always into the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones and that kind of stuff.”
He then added U2 and Oasis were his influences once he got older but later said, the band intends to just exist in music
“For us, it’s just continuing to go down the path of creating as a band and letting it just exist, as opposed to aiming for something.
“Music-making in a band can be tricky because everyone has very different creative directions, different opinions.”
Making music and songwriting
However, differing opinions within a team can overwhelm creative direction. Dugan echoed this sentiment, agreeing it is hard to
ensure everyone’s voice is heard.
So when asked how the band navigates this delicate dilemma, he shared: “It takes patience to be able to do that. That’s been a continuing learning process for everybody, to be better bandmates to each other.
“Contretas, our guitar player, is also the producer. He drives that ship. He and I, for the most part, drive the creative stuff as well, but more recently, it’s been more of a band effort.”
He shared there are tracks, such as Typical Ways, where only he (Dugan) and Randolph worked on them.
“It comes in a lot of ways, but Contretas typically leads the change,” he said, adding the melody is the first thing they work on “99% of the time”.
That said, the band’s approach to songwriting is mostly biographical.
“If it’s not completely biographical, it’s something I’m observing. A song like It Hurts or something like that is me observing
somebody else. It’s still biographical, but it’s something I’m experiencing, watching.”
Standing out and staying authentic
Making music while staying tricky thing to navigate, but not for Culture Wars, which found a rhythm that works for the band.
“Our focus is on writing the song first and making sure that the song is good with just a vocal and a guitar, or a vocal and a piano, just two parts.
“That enables us to write better songs, but also allows the band to be itself, and for the sound of the band to be itself, and each person to just contribute their thing. We’re not necessarily trying to make a song sound like this or that – we’re allowing it to be itself.”
Dugan quipped it is important to push each other to bring the best out of everyone.
“That’s super important, but the other part of that is continuing to challenge ourselves and continuing to try different things, and to generate songs in a different way, and keep challenging ourselves and not getting complacent is very crucial.”
Album and tour
Giving theSun an exclusive sneak peek behind the process of producing its debut album (out now), Dugan shared: “That was really the band all together writing that one. I think it was just very simple.
“Contretas had a lot of the parts for the music worked out, and for me, I just had to sing what was there. Even in the chorus, I’m pretty much just singing the guitar part, I’m not singing anything new.
“So even in a song like that, I would say I kind of, in a way, took a backseat, if that makes sense, and let the band just be itself.”
Dugan explained the debut album is really just a continuation of the band’s music that was released before the record.
“The songs that haven’t been released yet are, funny enough, maybe the best songs on the album, which was not intentional. It’s just we went back, and we rerecorded and re-wrote some of the music. But as a whole, you’re going to hear a big, loud rock band and we’re just very excited.”
On the band’s plans in 2026, Dugan explained there is going to be a world tour and “it’s going to be a big year”.
He urged Malaysian fans to look out for the Culture Wars’s show in Kuala Lumpur.
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