Conversations with Evan Courtland of “Same Dude”

Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Courtland.

Hi Evan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We started in 2019 and had our first show scheduled for March of 2020. We ended up not playing that show, we all know what happened after that. So let’s just say we had a lot of time to practice. Justin Moore and I (Evan Courtland) have been jamming together since we met in about 2017. Once everything opened back up after the pandemic we tried to get a show ASAP.

Since then we have been trying to play fun shows with our friends and generally just have fun with our music. We hate when people take themselves too seriously when being in a band. It’s all just making noises. Nobody’s changing the world with their music nowadays.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We have had many struggles as a band. The first one was trying to start a band right before a pandemic that shut everything down. Then trying to find a drummer for a while. We have had about 4 drummers since the start of our band. Now we have our friend Joe Bruno banging them skins for us and it’s been great!

Other than the usual “band stuff”. We have struggled with life just as much. Through losing many loved ones, to our own mental health, and even just trying to pay rent. It is hard to pick yourself up sometimes to get out to make something creative. This is where we both draw a lot of inspiration for our lyrical content.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We have all worked many different jobs cause being a musician in this day and age doesn’t pay the bills often. Our drummer Joe is an electrician. Our bassist Mattie is a bartender. I myself have worked as a fabricator, landscaping, and many other jobs.

Now I have landed myself at our local dive bar /venue (vultures) bartending and starting to put together shows for some of the local bands around town! It’s been a great fit for trying to be involved in the local scene.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Well, I know me and Justin Moore (our other frontman) grew up skateboarding and that was our main passion for our teenage years! We all skate in the band still. Justin is a sponsored skateboarder who flows for a company called Blood Wizard Skateboards and his local skate shop in Texas (Magnolia). He rips harder than most people in general!

Growing up in this scene was really great for us for developing our music taste through skate videos, and having a great community that makes it out to our shows! It’s a very bonding thing that even if you don’t know a skateboarder and you tell them you skate, you are basically friends right out the gate!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://samedude.bandcamp.com/album/same-dude
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/same_dude_band?igsh=MWY1YnphZTc5ZzhidQ==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091315606828&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@samedudeband551?si=9GpW401CW2Mjwj-j

Image Credits
Pete Peterson and Mike Searle