Monarch Artist Feature: Nick Dittmeier

By Kelsey Knott • Photos By Matt Johnson 

“In a lot of ways, The Monarch is a space I’ve waited to exist for the entire time I’ve been playing music–to walk around the Highlands and have a place to go and play music and see my friends coming in and out, getting ready for tour or practicing.”

When it was still Bearno’s, Nick Dittmeier gigged within the Monarch walls. He was one of the first to hear Mark Roberts’ vision. “We tour a lot and I know how cutthroat and difficult live music is–I’m glad he didn’t listen to me.” With fewer and fewer third spaces as industries grow more corporate and consolidated, Dittmeier recognizes the value of places where spending money isn’t expected. “You can make a case that there’s less and less opportunities for artists, especially as they’re starting, so to have a place where it’s not purely transactional is really important.”

Musical instruments stole their way into young Dittmeier’s life. His grandmother, a music teacher whose piano now resides at his home, brought him a guitar from her classroom over summer break between sixth and seventh grade. “All I did with my free time was try to master it. I wanted to be in a band. As I got better, I stole my dad’s nicer guitar.” In high school, Dittmeier assembled his first band after seeing peers playing shows at The BRYCC House, an all ages non-profit space at the time. “I saw people handing out flyers and doing shows and thought, I can get some people together and figure that out. I wanted to write songs and got comfortable with that dynamic as we evolved.” Today, Nick Dittmeier & The Sawdusters regularly tour their three-piece progressive roots rock band all over the country and even internationally.

Dittmeier is always writing, letting the demoing process match songs to current projects. “I don’t sit down and write a batch of songs, but through demoing can eliminate stuff that doesn’t work. On this album, there were songs written in 2019 and 2024, and songs that didn’t make the cut for various reasons. I don’t feel like I’ve ever written a song that is for the moment, that has to come out right now.” When writing, Dittmeier strives to turn over each stone, pushing past any laziness to develop his songs beyond catchiness. “I was trying to always find something that wasn’t your first instinct as a thought or lyric, but also push the boundary. Doing something different but not completely unrelatable is a challenge that a lot of people that make music have–not making a long improvisational song, but also not making something that feels like a million people have heard before.” Making each word count and not cutting corners or over explaining to the audience is a central goal to his work, evidenced in his prior albums Midwest Heart/Southern Blues, All Damn Day, and Heavy Denim. 

Placing analog media back at the forefront is the focus for Nick Dittmeier& The Sawdusters latest project, Apparition. “For the record, we’re really focusing on records and physical albums. We’ve got a few different variants of those albums, like one that’s exclusively for record stores limited to around 100 copies. There’s one for Band Camp, which is a notoriously good service for artists that started to push back against iTunes and other streaming services that were cutting the quality of what digital media would be.” Dittmeier whittled down many songs to make the physical product of Apparition the best it can be. “I would hope that the authenticity and unconventionalness that we represent as a whole comes through on this release.”

Come to Apparition’s release on May 8th at Zanzabar before they tour, and definitely make time to grab your physical copy of the record, through Sofa Burn or in person!