Ryan Benton is the primary composer in the band Sunshine Dreamers. The band’s latest album is Stand Still.
“In high school and early college, I was in bands that were like jam bands that got in a room and started playing instruments. Whatever came out, you loosely organized and it was a song. It was a very specific moment, I remember going to this roller skating rink. I saw And Academy, Paper Airplanes and Solagget. It was, like, ‘Whoa! These bands write real songs and real music and I want to go home and figure out how to do that!’
That night was, when I think of epiphanies… it was all these friends switching instruments, having fun. It sounds weird, I know, but every show before was always really angst-y. It was just a really big night.”