I Only Want The Best of You

There was a moment about halfway through my time talking to Dovi that I realized something important: this was not a “normal” band interview.

It happened when Evan started explaining the rundown of meetings. “I was skating by the library downtown and I just ran into Rusty and his friends and was like, ‘Oh, this dude seems cool’. Then, I ended up having to leave to go to [Aislinn’s] birthday party.” “At Peter Piper”, Aislinn adds - an important distinction. “But he and I kept in contact”, Evan continues. “We started hanging out and then he ended up moving into my apartment. And we were trying to start something but we weren’t really motivated. I knew Rusty played guitar and that he played bass on his solo songs. So I asked him and he was down. And his friend Josh played drums and also skates and so it all worked. So we just started practicing and writing songs.”

“We just made a group chat and started practicing”, Aislinn says. She looks to Evan in earnest. “Did we even hang out? Or did we just practice?” “I don’t think we hung out”, he says, “We just practiced and were like ‘Oh, this is cool’.” They were called Blush back then.

“Yeah, we all met the same day trying to do the band”, Rusty says. “We weren’t just like friends before… I met Aislinn the day we did practice.” “And Josh”, Aislinn says. Rusty nods. “Then Josh moved to California”, Aislinn says. More nods. Aaron is their drummer now… The list of “And then”’s goes on and on.

An unspoken set of guidelines has guided music journalists, critics, and documentarians in each of their attempts to deify the artists they gaze upon. Not unlike superheroes, there needs to be an effective backstory, a clear point of inception, a key meeting or relationship that guided maturation into artistic fertility.

Dovi are a fantastic young group with near endless potential. They make great dream pop, and as they grow, they will (on their own accord) work towards darker, hazier territory. But what really makes Dovi so cool is the fact that they don’t give a shit about the aforementioned guidelines. Happenstance is as much a key player in Dovi’s story as intention. Even here around the table on the patio at ThirdSpace, they are putting the story together piece by piece. There is no grand narrative or decades long friendship taking creative and emotional control. It’s simply a group of people with an active desire to make beautiful music together with other like minded individuals.

Some hard Dovi facts. Evan moved out here from Illinois with $200 to his name. Aislinn is Arizona through and through, born in Tucson, now in downtown. The two met at American Apparel, where Aislinn worked. Evan bought his first guitar two years ago. It was a $75 First Act. Evan met Rusty skating. Joining up with drummer Josh, the four got together to practice and birthed Blush. The band name changed but the songs didn’t. For most of the group, Dovi is their first band. They recorded their debut EP earlier this year.

Everyone drove separately. For some reason, this strikes me as funny, maybe because I’ve rarely gotten the chance to interview a whole band at once. But also because of the way the group comes together. One by one, more players join the table. Max arrives. He is the future keyboard player. He’s not even in the band yet, but he’s come to our hang out, earlier even still than the few more members who trail in after him. Aislinn laughs. “That’s one thing about being in a band. Everyone’s late.”

The band are coming back from a weekend in Tucson where they played 191 Toole as part of the third annual Chick Magnet Art Poetry & Music Fest, a “sacred showcase of the feminine with a phenomenal womxn-led lineup of artists, poets, musicians, and more”. Dovi was one of a select few artists chosen from outside Tucson. It was also the band’s first time playing outside the Phoenix metropolitan area. “We were supposed to sleep there but we ended up staying up all night.” They drove back later than expected, beat, but in high spirits. Evan is stoked they played the same venue as Mac Miller (RIP). Rusty is stoked they played the same venue as Lil B.

“It’s really cool because we don’t have music out but people keep asking us to play shows”, Aislinn says, “We’ve only booked ourselves like two times.” One time was when they played outside on a truck with a Sublime reggae cover band - talk about an eclectic bill. “So doing the tour and booking our own shows”, she continues, “That was a new thing”.

The band has booked their first out of state tour ever over the first week of October. The band will tour southern California and Las Vegas, starting with an EP release party at Lunchbox on Thursday 10/4, with Polson and Boriko. Aaron will play drums for both Dovi and Boriko. He’s not worried about it.

“Max, are you going on tour?” Aislinn asks him, legitimately, in this moment. Max is a bedroom producer on his own. He hasn’t played a live show with the band yet because he took the only date he had to work on beats for a local rapper he likes. “I still need to get those days off”, he says, “but I kinda just got back”. It’s a maybe.

One more show needs booking before they leave. “One of the bands we are touring with wanted us to play in a bowling alley”, Aislinn says. The group laughs, discussing the logistics. “It would make for cool pictures.” Evan says. “And you would really get to test the shoegaze”, Max says, “to see if it overpowers the bowling”. Venues can make everything difficult. “It sucks because they can drink because they are 21 but I can’t”, Aislinn says. Aaron shrugs. “Not if we go to Tijuana!” Evan lights up. “I wanna play Mexico! Dovi International!”

The conversation goes round and round. There are moments where I back off entirely from questions. I’d rather just hear Dovi work. Aislinn notes that their work schedules have all changed recently, and practice sessions are getting further between. This moment of relative calm on a Sunday night feels like an honest and unexpected opportunity for the group to simply grow together, make plans, get excited for what’s next. It’s an infectious feeling, and makes me want to go buy my own First Act.

“Fun fact: the EP was recorded on my First Act”, Evan says, “I just upgraded my axe though.” “He went from a $75 guitar to a $1,200 guitar” Aislinn laughs. “My new amp comes tomorrow, too” he says. “We should practice so you can hear my beast rig.”

If there’s any flaw in the EP, it’s that it’s sweetness ends all too quickly. Evan’s guitar sounds lush despite the price point. The recording is crisp and inviting. Aislinn’s work as a frontwoman is effortlessly commanding. The bliss inherent in the record’s title is as attainable as it is desirable.

“Those songs [on the EP] are from when we first started playing”, Aislinn explains. “Because this is all of our first band. We’re all super new”, Aislinn says.

“Why did ‘Sweet’ get cut from the record?” I ask. “Sweet” is an early Dovi demo whose lyrics gave the EP Desirable Bliss its name. But the “title track” of sorts was absent from the final product. “That was a me thing”, Aislinn says. “I was curious about that too”, Rusty laughs. Aaron didn’t even know that’s where the title came from. Max is cool with its absence. “I hate my old songs now”, he says, “I’m so sick of playing them”. “That was a song from before we were even all a band, I think”, Rusty says. There’s an unintentional 80s-esque nature of it - refusing to put the single on the record, like the Smiths and New Order. “But I just don’t think I like it”, Aislinn says. Things change. Time passes. No love lost.

Dovi has been through a handful of rotations. Teaching new members new parts has taken practice time over writing new material. Up until the release of the EP, the lack of recorded material made this difficult. “With our old keyboard player Dan”, Evan explains. “We would send them voicemails of us practicing”.

But leading up to the tour, the band has been working on new material beyond the EP. Where the EP serves as a starting point for booking and proving their tangible existence to naysayers, what’s next for Dovi is a much fuller world.

After October, Dovi will chill out on shows. They want to write new material, save up money for merch and new gear, figure out a process for a full album. Aislinn talks about Craigslisting a new iPhone. Rusty can relate. “You remember that time where I was just hanging out at Jobot all the time trying to order a phone? It’s so hard when you don’t have a phone, because it’s like, how do you order a fucking phone?” Everybody cracks up.

“Mostly, we’re trying to catch up on real life shit. Paying bills.” “Everyone’s living on their own”, Evan says. They all live in different parts of the city. Aaron and Evan are in Tempe. Rusty and Aislinn are downtown. Max is in Peoria. Evan works downtown. Aislinn works in Mesa. Time and space are hard to find, but they make it happen. There’s a willingness to make the miles. Evan didn’t even have a car for a year after moving here from IL. Aaron doesn’t have one so they practice at his house. Dovi doesn’t really get the impediments that other bands let get in their way.

The band reminisce about times not that long ago. When Rusty and Evan had an apartment on 5th street and Aislinn lived right down the street. Proximity made things easier, sure. But there’s plans at some point to get a house together to make it a real family affair. Evan says he doesn’t need much. He explains that he did a year and a half living in living rooms. “It’s nice”, he says, “Because everyone’s always hanging out in your room!”. This is uninhibited optimism at work.

“Now that we are getting new gear and stuff”, Aislinn says, “We can really start to, you know…” The sentence goes unfinished. No one at the table chimes in to finish it for her. Topics move on to Slayer, hip-hop production handles for Max to work under, and endless Arizona bands that Dovi loves. But the sentiment is felt. The possibilities are endless. Our conversation has come midstream in a journey for Dovi. And where they end up at the end of the water is only limited by willingness and imagination. Bliss.