Another Day Dawns Talks Motionless in White Shows, Hitting The Road Again, and More

What better way to break a multi-month hiatus from touring than opening for one of the top metalcore groups in the world? This was the exciting reality of heavy rock band Another Day Dawns, who, on May 9 and 10, joined Motionless in White for two sold out shows at Archer Music Hall, a newly-opened venue in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Hailing from nearby Lehighton, PA, Another Day Dawns is comprised of Dakota McGeehan (vocals), Tyler Ritter (guitar), Nick McGeehan (drums) and Josh Mercado (bass), who began playing classic rock covers as teenagers before transitioning to original songs. Over the span of about 40 minutes, Another Day Dawns performed 10 tracks from the 2020 EP Stranger and 2023 album Finding Peace Through All The Noise, as well as debuted a brand new song.

In the days leading up to the shows, there were naturally some nerves. Would these crowds of Motionless in White enjoy their energetic, albeit less-heavy tunes? Would they be a little rusty after not performing live since 2024? Luckily, those fears were for naught. Old and new fans alike matched their energy at both shows, making it the perfect segue into Another Day Dawns‘ upcoming tour with Dead Posey and OVTLIER.

Before they hit the road this month, PopHorror caught up with Ritter, who is thrilled to be performing for the masses once again. He discusses how Another Day Dawns came to be part of the lineup for those special Allentown gigs, the evolution of ADD from a teen cover band to an established group touring with the likes of Breaking Benjamin and Memphis May Fire, updates on new music and more.

PopHorror: To start, I’d love to talk about the two Allentown shows with Motionless in White. I was at the Saturday one! You guys were great and the crowd seemed to really be into the set. How did you come to be part of the lineup? It seemed like it came about a bit last minute.

Tyler Ritter: Yes, it was very last minute. We knew a little more in advance, but they didn’t announce the support until a week before. So we were really worried like, “Are we sure we’re on this? This is last minute, they didn’t post it yet.” But we were super excited to hear about that. We’ve been friends with so many people from their crew and members over the years. We work a lot with their sound guy Logan [Beaver]. He used to do sound for us a lot, we used to go record with him. Songwriter Tom Hane — he’s worked with Chris [Cerulli] on a ton of Motionless tracks — we worked with him for our last album. And then Steve Sopchak, who we record with in Syracuse, also writes with Chris and does his vocals.

We’ve always known so many people close to them. And we did know Chris from a number of years ago, but he is an extremely busy guy, so we hadn’t really talked to him in a while. It was really nice to chat with all of them because we always thought in the back of our heads, “We know all of them, a show has got to happen at some point,” and then it finally did. The new venue is amazing too. Allentown was really our stomping grounds growing up, so being able to do it there was awesome. They’ve only had a handful of shows there so far.

PopHorror: What was it like performing to two back-to-back sold out crowds?

Tyler Ritter: It was amazing because we had taken off from touring for a long time. There’s a lot of stuff that’s been happening on the back end. But having been so long off the stage, we’re just getting back to shows. We’re about to do a club and theater run. We really thought this year was going to be grinding out some smaller tours, getting back on our feet, and then they came through with that and it was pretty amazing. And like I said, we’ve worked with their sound guy Logan and he ended up just doing sound for all the bands all night, so that was nice. We always trust him to have our sound dialed in because that’s always a big worry in front of crowds that size, of course.

I’m also kind of the Warped Tour kid of the band, so I came from that scene of music. I don’t know if you ever went to Croc Rock years ago, back when metal shows were 10-12 bands and 10 more local bands. Croc Rock always had those good tours and Motionless always played there a lot. So it was really cool being back in that area in front of that kind of scene. I recognized a lot of people from back in the Croc Rock days. With our kind of versatility, because I really wouldn’t call us a “metal” band, we were a little worried about how we were gonna fit with Motionless and what kind of set they were gonna play. But we do have the songs and riffs and stuff that people can throw down and crowd surf to. They did and I’m glad that happened. It was fun.

PopHorror: Is it nerve-wracking at all to perform for a crowd who, the bulk of them might not know your music? Or is it exciting to introduce them to it and almost win them over?

Tyler Ritter: It’s definitely more exciting and fulfilling when you see that you do win them over. And they seemed pretty into it both nights, so that felt pretty good. One thing we always do, when it’s bigger crowds and new faces, we leave a lot of time in between. We have transition tracks that play for a while with the intention of talking over them. I’ll step up to the mic and say something and, in front of all these people, it’s all this adrenaline coming out of the song. We get a little clammed up and nervous. But other than that, performance-wise, playing in front of a crowd that big or a club still feels the same to me from that standpoint. I do always kind of feel in my own world. I try to connect with the crowd and pay attention and look up more. But I also don’t wear my glasses on stage, so I cannot see shit because I cannot do contacts. So I think it helps in that aspect because I’m always sort of in my own world, no matter how big the crowd is. I’ve always wanted to do contacts on stage because I’m sure it would help, but I’m way too big of a baby about putting stuff in my eyes.

PopHorror: You mentioned that Allentown used to be your stomping grounds. Can you talk a bit about the history of Another Day Dawns? How did the band start and how has it evolved over the years?

Tyler Ritter: Nick, Dakota and I have been jamming and playing together since 2012. Ten to 15 years ago, when we were in high school, we didn’t really know any other musicians. We started as just learning covers and we’d play at bars, and it just kind of turned into a thing. We didn’t even necessarily intend to form a band when we first started getting together. Through our teenage years, we were a cover band and it was sort of something that felt like it came naturally to us and from our childhood. And then when we grew up, we started writing our own songs and really getting into our own scenes of music. We really wanted to make something out of that, but it is really hard to transition from being a full bar cover band to wanting to completely do your own thing, especially the style of music we were going for. It felt like a bit of a hard turn from all the covers we were doing. We played active rock, whatever you’d hear on the radio at the time.

But once we did that and started doing original-only shows, we were like, “Okay, we need a name a little more serious than ADD.” That was just kind of jokey because I have ADHD, I think Dakota does too. It was just a jokey thing that fit our personalities. And so we made a whole list of all the things that fit the acronym we could think of for ADD. Another Day Dawns just sounded the best to all of us. We all read through the list on our own and came to the conclusion of that.

We were grinding out the rest of the local scene. We had been trying to tap into the touring market and were kind of successful. We hopped onto a lot of cool tours at first, but it was never official. No one ever posted about us, we’d get on at the last second for select dates, and that was most of the touring we did before COVID hit. Then coming out of COVID just felt like the hard launch of us as a touring act. We were fortunate enough to come out of that with great tours. We went out with Atreyu for the first tour post-pandemic, we had Louder Than Life, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, all that stuff.

We’ve always wanted to release a full album, but everyone knows how much money that costs in today’s market, so it took a while to get signed. It really felt like everything led up to that. And so in 2023, we released that album and we had great tours that I still don’t even know how we got. We got on tour with Breaking Benjamin and Bush to start off that year, and then we went out with Memphis May Fire and Catch Your Breath later that year. It felt like everything was going perfectly. We kind of have to acknowledge that, since 2024, we haven’t done much touring. We’re unfortunately not able to talk about what’s preventing us from that. But now at this point, we had those Motionless shows, we have a tour coming up with Dead Posey and OVTLIER. They all seem great, it’s gonna be fun and we’re pretty much back at it now.

Hopefully album No. 2, or at least singles, will be on the way soon. We can’t give a date or anything for that [yet]. We have so many songs ready, I will say that. And we even premiered a live one at the Motionless shows. We have plenty more ready. So if you do want to hear new songs, we’ll play them on this upcoming tour!

PopHorror: What was the new song that you performed in Allentown?

Tyler Ritter: The running title for it right now is “Parasite,” but it’s not really official. We probably should’ve made the name official before premiering it live. [laughs]

PopHorror: These new songs that you have ready, do they have a similar vibe to those heard on the last album? Or has the sound evolved at all?

Tyler Ritter: Our plan is hopefully gonna be a single at a time when we do get to releasing music, because it is quite different, I would say. The way we want to approach it right now is sort of easing into that, start with a single that sounds most like our previous sound from that album. And that was also how we landed on choosing to play that song live. We were like, “This one fits the best with the set we’re gonna play.” So we want to ease into it. We have been diving into more of, me putting my guitar down and trying to write something that just sounds cool. A lot of the bands we’ve been getting into are blending stuff so well and adding technical elements. I’ve been really into Bilmuri and the Callous Daoboys recently.

We’re definitely trying stuff out of our comfort zone. We’ve always had a traditional way of, I’ll write all my stuff on guitar, any melodies I have, I’ll just put it down on guitar to give Dakota. We’ve all kind of stuck to our craft for songwriting. But now we’re all trying to put down our instruments and craft a song, all of us taking it on from all angles. That’s brought out using a lot more tracks. I would say a lot of it is heavier too. Dakota hasn’t been too much of a screamer, but that’s something we’ve been experimenting with using a lot more. The most we’ll do is, he’ll scream for a pre-chorus or a bridge. Now we’re looking at, “What if we only sang for the chorus for this song?”

So yeah, it’s just been getting out of our comfort zone. The way we used to approach it was, we all would hone our craft and bring our own uniqueness to the table, and then see how it meshes and how we can make it work. But now we’re all trying to collaborate on all ends. Nick will have some more input about melodies or guitar parts and I’ll throw out more beat suggestions for him. It’s coming together a lot more different than we thought on a lot of tracks. It’s still, I don’t want to say it’s in the early process because we have a folder full of shit. But a lot of the songs still have a lot of room for growth, and I’m sure once you take something to a studio, a lot of the time, you do end up changing it a lot. But as of right now, it’s heavier.

PopHorror: You’ll have the next “Slaughterhouse” on there!

Tyler Ritter: We’re all metalheads too! In the van on our way to shows, Knocked Loose or Paleface Swiss has been hyping us up lately. We’ve always wanted to do stuff like that, but I have always loved Dakota’s style. I’ll write a really heavy riff and be like, “Try to put a melody over this, fucker!,” and he will and it’ll sound really cool. I’m like, “Oh, damn, you can sing over these really heavy riffs and come up with something neat.” He does do a good job at that and that’s always been his own style, but like I said, we are going to be doing a lot more screaming and heavy shit in the future.

PopHorror: Out of your current songs, for any fans who may just be discovering you, is there one that you really hope they listen to? One that truly defines what Another Day Dawns is all about?

Tyler Ritter: I think “Luminous Bloom.” I’d also say “Look At You” because it’s one of my favorites and I feel like it has always been looked over more than most of the other songs. But “Luminous Bloom” definitely. Honestly, if you go to our Spotify, just skip “Taste of Heaven.” Nothing against that song, but it’s got bluesy shit in it and it’s just so different from what we do now. We’ve wanted a song to dethrone that from the No. 1 spot so it’s not everyone’s first impression of us. Again, nothing against the song. I love playing it live, it’s a really fun one to play live. But I would say any song besides that. If you go to our Spotify, just skip the top one and go from there.

PopHorror: After playing shows like the two Motionless ones, I’m sure you pick up quite a few new fans. What’s it like having them reach out on social media and letting you know they enjoyed the set?

Tyler Ritter: We definitely engage in social media from our page and a bit from our personal pages. That night was definitely big. After having been out of season for several months at this point, we all kind of had moments of getting in our own head like, “Oh, God, is this where the momentum dies?” To get that and have a good mix of fans we know coming out and then all the new fans giving us love, it was perfect. It really got us back into the right headspace.

PopHorror: You mentioned that you have a few more smaller shows coming up. Can you speak to that a bit more?

Tyler Ritter: We are now with a new agency, Continental. This is the first tour we’ve gotten with them and we’re really excited. OVTLIER, we had messaged for a while, we had always tried to hook up a show with them. They’re close enough to us, they’re up in New York. They all seem like really cool guys and we’ve been in contact with them. Dakota and their singer have been talking, getting hyped for this tour. Dead Posey seems like a really great man. This is their first tour, but they’re really cool too. So check both of those bands out! It’s definitely going to be fun, a lot of markets we’ve been to and a lot of new places. We start the tour in Denver, I don’t think we’ve ever done Colorado. So a little more over west. The markets we haven’t made it to, I’m excited to pick up new fans there. And then we go back more east and north, where we do have good numbers. Wisconsin is actually one of our highest-streaming places. It’s just so happened, every tour we’ve been on has a Green Bay date and we did two festivals there. So there are little random spots along the east that we do really well in, and it’s a good mix of those markets and newer markets for us. We’re definitely excited. The routing’s a little brutal, we’ve got one day off on the whole thing. Back to the grind.

PopHorror: What’s tour life like? Fun, tiring or a bit of both?

Tyler Ritter: It really is a bit of everything. It’s pretty euphoric, touring with us. The routing on this, we’re going to be more drained. A lot of the tours we’ve done were four days a week. Now this is every day on, which I’m ready for. We all are. Like I said, it’s been months since we’ve played, so we certainly don’t mind playing every day now that we’re back. We’re not doing a crew or anything for this, so it’s going to be a bit more of a grind, I’m sure. But we have a healthy balance of giving each other space. I think we bicker a normal amount for a touring band trapped in a van together all day. [laughs] No, we definitely have fun together. We’re a little awkward starting tours, getting a feel for everybody. Some tours we’ve done, the vibe is kind of like, no one talks and we match that energy and it’s a little bit of an awkward tour. And sometimes, it’s a big, happy family and every day feels like a party. That’s looking like what this tour is going to be.

PopHorror: Are there any long-term goals for the band that you hope to achieve in the future?

Tyler Ritter: Yeah, definitely. My goal for a long time, Avenged Sevenfold is really the band that got me into guitar, so they were always my No. 1 bucket list band to play with. And then one year, we finally did at Louder Than Life. However, they have a media tent at all of the DWP festivals and we tried to book as many interviews as we could, and they have an open bar back there. Usually, before interviews, I take the edge off. We had so many interviews and I’m used to, “Okay, one drink before an interview.” So that open bar kind of got to me and I sort of missed Avenged Sevenfold’s set to go take care of myself. Playing with them again and actually getting to see them would be great. Other than that, any festival in Europe, those crowds seem like they’re just a different breed. Actually, this is one I was just talking about, did you see any of the photos from System of a Down in Brazil?

PopHorror: No!

Tyler Ritter: The whole crowd, they all started their own fires, all throughout it. You should look up the photos when this is done. It’s insane! The whole crowd was just on fire. So Brazil is definitely on my list now.

PopHorror: We definitely couldn’t attempt that in America!

Tyler Ritter: Oh, no, no, no.

PopHorror: You said you’re a Warped Tour kid. Are you going to any of the Warped Tour dates this year?

Tyler Ritter: No, we are gonna be on the road for most of them. There’s a venue in Scranton, they have a whole Road to Warped Tour festival and we got offered to play that, but it’s while we’re on tour. So we almost at least had that, but no. Hopefully the festivals go well enough that it can be a tour again. If that happens, I’m definitely going.

PopHorror: Hopefully! I have to ask, since we’re PopHorror, are you a fan of horror? If so, what’s your favorite film or franchise?

Tyler Ritter: I was a little scared you were going to quiz me on horror stuff! I do love horror, but I don’t think I’d do well with horror trivia. Evil Dead is almost like a comfort movie for me. That one’s pretty cool. A lot of the other guys are really into horror too. Our music video for “Forget Me Not” was very Silence of the Lambs-inspired. Horror is kind of in a really cool state right now. We’ve had movies like Midsommar, Hereditary, I need to go see Sinners.

PopHorror: I heard it’s really good! There’s also been stronger ties between the rock scene and horror. I love how bands like Ice Nine Kills and Magnolia Park are using it to inspire their music.

Tyler Ritter: There definitely are. I’m excited to see what else Ice Nine Kills does. Are they gonna do a Horrorwood 3?

PopHorror: They should! More movies have come out since the last one.

Tyler Ritter: They could honestly keep doing that with how deep into the horror world they are. I’d really like to see them make their own horror movie concept and put that into album form.

PopHorror: Is there anything additional that you want the fans to know?

Tyler Ritter: That’s really the current state of the band. We’re getting back at it, we’ve been off for a while. It almost feels like launching a rebrand the way things are going. Right now, we’re just focused on this tour. We’re going to be playing a new track, maybe some other new tracks throughout the tour. Writing is where we’re always at, so there’s always new stuff to share. Hopefully we will have news of music soon. Until then, the only place to see it is live.

Thanks for speaking with us, Tyler! Keep up with Another Day Dawns on all social media and streaming platforms.