Dear Daria

What do a goth kid, an indie rocker, a vinyl addict, and a Beatlemaniac have in common? Apparently, a lot of Wayne’s World jokes.

When DC pop-rock mainstay and Beatles fanatic, Maryjo Mattea, assembled a solo band after the demise of her last project, she had no idea the motley assortment would become her ideal band. The quartet coalesced as the indie pop-rock band, Dear Daria—yes, as in the 1990s MTV animated series, Daria—and now emerges with its infectiously catchy debut, Can I Be Frank?

“We love how cynical, snarky, and smart the character Daria was; her spirit resonates with us,” vocalist, keyboardist, and guitarist Maryjo says. “There’s a sincerity, a sweetness, and a silliness in 1980s and 1990s pop culture that we tap into as songwriters,” bassist Eamonn Donnelly details. Adds guitarist Josh Hunter: “We strive for a balance with being nostalgic, but also saying something genuine with our songs.”

Dear Daria writes storyteller songs about angst, love, mental health and depression, and a longing for the world to be the kind of safe and accepting place we all wished we lived in. The band’s spirit is informed by a post-modern mosaic of cultural references including Daria, John Hughes movies, Wayne’s World (and even Wayne’s World 2), The Pixies, The Beatles, and a wide array of other movies, bands, and TV shows. Musically, Dear Daria is a brightly-colored swirl of power pop, indie rock, alt-rock, and pop punk. The DC four-piece has been favorably compared to Paramore, Rilo Kiley, and The Donnas.

The members of the band have been playing together as a unit since 2018 when they first assembled as Maryjo’s solo band. Josh played with Maryjo in another local band called Color Palette. Eamonn was in the Chicago-based band, The Kickback, and met Maryjo when he was on tour and his band played with her grunge duo, Two Dragons and a Cheetah. Drummer Dan ABH was added to the lineup in 2022.

“When my last band broke up, it was like ‘what do I do now?’ I decided to find a band to play my music under my own name, but with this particular group it started to feel like it wasn’t just me and some hired guns,” she recalls. Josh says: “Ideas flowed freely, writing new songs went fast, and it felt like this group of people instantly had its own personality. It was a breath of fresh air.”

The last Maryjo Mattea band show was in January 2020, and the four-piece band had hoped to play its first show as Dear Daria in February or March. Yet, like everyone worldwide, they were sidelined due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dear Daria never had the chance to properly announce itself with a live debut. Disappointed but undaunted, the four-piece band continued writing and recording songs remotely while its members were stuck inside their respective homes. In June of 2021, Dear Daria released its first single, “Best Life,” and in February 2022 followed that up with “John Hughes.” Their third single, “Delaware,” was released in April 2022.

Dear Daria’s exuberant debut, Can I Be Frank, perfectly balances humor with authenticity. The album title is a nod to a scene in Wayne’s World 2. Josh remembers: “When the record came into focus, I was like ‘we have to call it ‘Can I Be Frank?’ That title speaks to the no-frills honesty that epitomizes the songs on the album.” Eamonn agrees, and says: “It sums up so many things about the themes and nostalgia on the record. We have fun and joke around, but the whole reason we make music is to connect with people on an emotional level. The title says, ‘Can I be real with you? Do you get this? Can I share it with you?’”

Dear Daria’s debut single, and the album’s anthemic opening track, “Best Life,” bursts with sugar-rush pop-punk hooks, rubbery melodic bass, and pounding drums. The song is a celebration of friendship, and its lyrics boast sweet sentimentality with lines such as: I don’t have the answers to life’s big questions/But when we’re together it all comes clear.
On “John Hughes,” Dear Daria plays with 1980s new wave sophistication, leaving ample space for well-focused melodic statements as they conjure up memories of the breezy romance of the filmmaker’s classic movies; when the pent-up romance bursts, the couple finally comes together and floats away in a balmy gust of teenage love.

The song “Delaware” represents a special place in the band’s collective heart, as it’s one of the first songs that made Dear Daria feel like a real band. The song places a Wayne’s World reference into a Beatlesque song of love and longing, and sprinkles in some 1990s heart-on-your-sleeve sincerity. Dear Daria shares some scathing social media commentary on the gritty pop-punk tune, “Dopamachine,” which blends seething verses with syrupy choruses. “That song is about the dark underbelly of social media where a tool of seemingly honest connection is used to gather information about people and manipulate them so that big corporations can sell us something,” Maryjo says.

Nineties nostalgia is upon us, and Dear Daria are the perfect purveyors of tuneful heart-on-sleeve alt-rock. With an assured artistic identity, a debut album filled with sharp hooks, and the pandemic lifting, nothing can stop Dear Daria now. “I can’t believe we’ve never played out as Dear Daria. I can’t wait to get out there,” Josh enthuses. “We’ve persevered through so many obstacles and challenges, and we can now breathe a sigh of relief and build some momentum,” Maryjo says.