ACL Fest Artist Q&A: Dallas Wax
The 2026 Austin City Limits Music Festival is taking place on October 2-4 and October 9-11 at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2002, ACL Fest is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. 360°Sound is covering the fest as credentialed media, and we’ll be bringing you exclusive interviews with artists as part of our ACL Fest Artist Q&A series.
First up is Dallas Wax, an indie rock band based in New York City. We sat down with Ryan Dallas Wax, lead singer and guitarist of Dallas Wax. On their debut studio album, Metanoia, the five-piece showcases a classic rock sound, mixing psychedelic rock, blues, punk, and folk. Dallas Wax will perform a 45-minute set at the Snapchat stage at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9.
Editor’s Note: This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. Scroll to the bottom to view the full video on our YouTube channel @360degreesound.
360°Sound: Please start by giving our readers a brief introduction to Dallas Wax.
Ryan Dallas Wax: We’ve been a band for almost three years. I pulled together the musicians I knew who had similar influences. I knew I wanted to start a classic rock band that was big on playing live. Everyone in the band played a bunch of live music in other projects before this, and so it just clicked. We got the ball rolling, playing a ton of shows here in New York City, and we’ve just been going at it ever since. The stuff we play is very blues-rock and psychedelic rock-influenced. It very much has a ‘60s and ‘70s rock foundation.
Your debut album, Metanoia, has a mix of psych rock, blues, soul, and folk. I imagine the band is drawing on a lot of influences.
Yeah. Some of our favorite bands are bands that do that kind of stuff. Led Zeppelin, for example, is one of the greatest hard rock bands ever, but they’re also one of the best folk bands ever. They have beautiful folk moments. We want to be a band that touches a lot of different genres.
What was your reaction when you heard you’d be playing ACL Fest?
Our agent called us, and she was freaking out. She’s like, “You guys got ACL!” I was in a coffee shop, so I was trying to play it cool. I’m talking to her on the phone, and I’m like, “Shut up, shut up, no way, no way.” I’m freaking out.
We’ve been working really hard in the rehearsal space, in the studio, and out on the road. Our team’s been working really hard for us as well, so it’s good to see that hard work pay off. We’re stoked for the opportunity.
What can ACL Fest attendees expect from a Dallas Wax show?
We’re gonna be having fun. That’s regardless of whether we’re playing in front of two people in Milwaukee or a couple thousand at ACL. We’re always gonna go out there and be ourselves. We have a good time playing music with each other. We’re gonna be goofing around and joking around, and we’re definitely gonna be loud.
“Girl Like Me” was the first single from Metanoia. What was the inspiration for that song?
At the time I was listening to a ton of Oasis and drawing from ‘90s Britpop. I had this mixolydian-sounding riff that felt like it would sound good over Noel [Gallagher of Oasis] playing a bunch of power chords. I was like, let’s try that.
Lyrically, the song is a reflection on dating in a big city, especially New York. When you’re young and in your 20s and there’s social media, it can get really overwhelming and frustrating. I think a lot of my peers share that same feeling. We talk about the complications of dating now and trying to find someone who’s on the same page as you in terms of having your goals in life align. It’s hard to find someone who matches up. Also, when there’s such a big dating pool, people feel one way or another about committing.
I was like, I wish I could just find a girl on the same page as me, a girl like me. That was the inspiration for the title, and everything filled out from there once we had the instrumental.
Geese, another rock band from New York City, is one of the headliners at ACL. They’ve blown up over the last year. As someone in their 20s and on the scene in NYC, do you feel like there’s still a strong appetite for rock music?
Absolutely. There’s always been an appetite for it here in New York, specifically in Brooklyn and downtown over the last couple of decades. There are tons of amazing rock bands. I could list 20 off the top of my head that deserve as much attention as a band like Geese. And I love Geese – that’s no knock on Geese. That’s a nod to how amazing the scene is here.
I think rock music is gonna be huge – in a much bigger way than these micro scenes in cities like New York, Nashville, Austin, and Portland. I think people are gonna start turning to rock music because it’s real in a world where it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not anymore. It’s real, and it’s human.
There’s a generation that has grown up with endless access to music. You can listen to Led Zeppelin’s whole discography in a day instead of digging through CDs or vinyl records or scrolling through iTunes. It’s real, and it’s raw, and people are gonna seek that out. I think people are gonna be influenced by old rock music because they have easy access to it. They’re gonna find it. I think we’re happening at the right time.
Festivalgoers will have a lot of bands to choose from at ACL. Why should they check out Dallas Wax?
They should check out Dallas Wax because we don’t use AI art. We support other artists. It’s going to be loud, and it’s going to be fun.
Take a listen to the full interview with Ryan on our YouTube channel, @360degreesound:
