On The Verge

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Detroit, Mich.
Uncle John’s Kids
www.daleearnhardtjrjr.com

To answer the most popular question that people ask them: yes, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is named after a prominent NASCAR racer, and yes, the real Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a fan of the band. (The Grateful Dead is less obvious influence on the chillwave-roots act). “The first show I went to was a Grateful Dead show,” says band multi-instrumentalist Joshua Epstein, whose Deadhead parents exposed him to Jerry Garcia’s music at a young age. “We used to sing four-part harmonies as a family to ‘Uncle John’s Band.’ At a point, I resented it because it was my parents’ music but then I realized, ‘Hey, this is pretty good.’” After spending a number of years working on his own projects in Detroit, Epstein reached out to fellow area musician Daniel Zott to compliment him on his solo album. Zott and Epstein agreed to record together and knocked out five songs in a few days. Their folk-oriented, electro-colored pop songs and humorously honest lyrics quickly attracted national attention. The duo returned to their basement studio to cut their full-length debut, It’s a Corporate World, which they released earlier this year. At first, the duo envisioned Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. as a side project, but then, a friend gave Epstein some blunt advice: “I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I like this more than your other band.”