Daily Bread Keeps the Journey Alive with ‘Vanishing Point’

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**As Daily Bread put forth his latest full-length album, Vanishing Point, we caught up with the beloved bass artist to get the inside scoop on the highly anticipated release.**

Sonic pilot Rhett Whatley has been transporting listeners beyond their default worlds with his imaginative tracks for over a decade as Daily Bread. Ready to add another album to his growing discography, Daily Bread emerges with a fresh exploration of sound in the form of Vanishing Point.

After jumping into music production in 2014, the talented beatmaker began melding his affinity for vintage vinyl with bass and hip-hop elements for the perfect amalgamation of sound. Respected by peers and fans alike for his distinctive voice, Daily Bread has captured the perfect balance of old and new while delivering soundscapes that are undeniably his own.

Over the years, his nostalgia-fueled sound design has evolved, and with it, he’s amassed quite the loyal fanbase. Known as “Breadheads,” the fandom is often seen sporting bread-centric attire or sneaking an entire loaf of white bread into a venue. Ready to feed the masses, Daily Bread returns with another full-length effort that’s sure to turn heads.

His first large-scale release since Invisible Cinema in 2023, Vanishing Point arrives with 13 meticulously mastered tracks for your listening pleasure. Ahead of the monumental release, Daily Bread stopped by to chat about the album creation process, the upcoming Vanishing Point Tour, and how his fans play a role in the ongoing success of his project. Keep reading for the full interview!

**Stream Daily Bread – Vanishing Point on Spotify:**

Hey Daily Bread, thanks for chatting with us today. Vanishing Point is your latest studio album, which you’ve described on Instagram as being about “the chase.” Can you elaborate on the album’s story and what the idea means to you?

It’s really a big allusion to movement. It refers to being on the move, chasing the horizon, never really arriving at your destination but kind of leading to another. Essentially, it’s really about appreciating the journey.

When mapping out an album, how do you decide which songs are destined to be singles and which are meant to be experienced by listeners as part of the full project?

A lot of times when it comes to singles, I try to choose ones with really rich stories. Or a lot of times, if I have collaborators on the album, I’ll earmark those for singles and stuff like the last one. But yeah, usually it’s what feels good.

Your latest single, “A Long Time,” sees you team up with Late Night Radio once again. As the album’s third single, what makes this collaboration special?

It’s a special one because we made it a long time ago, and it fits within the tracklist as the final track. So Vanishing Point is about the chase, getting to the destination. “A Long Time” represents getting there and then the whole thing starting over again.

It’s one of the ones that we’ve played live for the last two years or so and gotten some really great feedback on. So that was a big part of it too; just having good feedback from fans and being in a spot creatively to give them what they were asking for in a fun way.

Looking at Vanishing Point as a whole, what makes this album feel like a natural progression of your sound?

The album’s got a lot of different, newer production techniques. I have a phaser that I use a lot for drum breaks and stuff. The arrangements are richer. I feel the album itself is more dynamic. It’s got some very nice low sea-level valleys, and then it goes all the way up to some pretty tall mountains in terms of intensity, so it contrasts really well. It’s also got a lot of fun common denominators in subject matter, which fall into that “vanishing point” theme.

Photo Credit: @mybrainiswarm

How do your Atlanta roots trickle into your production on this album, as well as influences as an artist?

Yeah, Atlanta is a really cool place because there’s not a whole lot of musical walls here. I mean, obviously it’s known for hip-hop, but it’s also the intersection of where there’s a lot of great soul music, a lot of great gospel music, trap, and electronic is also really popular here, too.

So with the album, it’s hard to say. I mean, obviously, it’s electronic. But as far as subgenres go, it’s really hard to say. It’s got a little bit of everything. This is probably the first album that inspired me to explore UKG. It’s got some UK garage drum patterns in some of the tracks, which I’ve flirted around with for the first time on this album. So it’s really diverse. It’s diverse in the same way that Atlanta is.

Is there a track off the album you feel particularly fond of?

Yeah, there are a few. But the one I’ve been listening to and enjoying the most is a song called “Working The Plan” that features my friend and one of my favorite emcees, Jonah Cruzz.

What makes that track stand out for you personally?

The arrangement and the recording process. We recorded it in two sessions. Jonah lent vocals to the concept I had, which was really just staying consistent, setting a plan, and then executing. So it’s really about working hard and getting through, but it’s also very rich structurally.

It has some double-time sections and things like that, and it’s dynamic as far as Jonah’s velocity. It’s really fun. We’ve got some ad-lib lines in the back that are shouty and intense, and then up front in the mix, Jonah’s lending his voice like he usually does. It’s fun, it’s dynamic, and it’s a little different than really any other track I’ve made, I’d say.

The Vanishing Point Tour kicks off in November in Spokane with a stacked support lineup. What can fans expect as you curate each evening’s festivities?

Yeah, fans can expect a journey. It’ll be a really fun show. We’ll be debuting a lot of Vanishing Point music and also peppering in some of the classic tracks and some of the fun mixtape stuff.

For the tour, we’re really trying to do the best we can to bring Vanishing Point to life through fresh visuals and fresh tunes. And yeah, just a great list of support too. Vincent Antone‘s a favorite. I’ve been listening to Steller a lot for a while now; she caught my ear a couple of years back. I’m really excited to play with some of these artists that I really haven’t been able to play with before.

Photo Courtesy of Daily Bread

For those who may not know, you’ve been playing sets billed under Daily Bread, as well as Cloud Conductor. What sets a Cloud Conductor set apart from your typical Daily Bread performances?

That’s a great question. Cloud Conductor is an alias of mine. One of my favorite things to do is dig for records in a record store; a lot of my music comes from the crates. I love looping things and finding different sounds that have been used way down deep in the crates. And I also love weather. I love digging for subject matter about weather. So a big part of my music has to do with rain and clouds, pressure differentials, and things like that.

A Cloud Conductor set often features a big block of that music, but we also try to bring the intensity down a little bit and make it more of a beat-driven set, which is really fun. If I get booked for a Cloud Conductor set, I’ll play a little earlier in the day, or usually the sun will be setting. It’s a more introspective vibe than a full-blown Daily Bread set, which usually incorporates a little bit more intensity.

Your fandom is known for bringing loaves of bread to your live shows. Where did this hilarious trend start, and how do you think your fanbase has contributed to shaping your identity as an artist?

As for the bread trend, I really couldn’t tell you. I don’t know when exactly that started. I’d say I probably noticed people bringing in bread or throwing it around three or four years ago, but it’s always been something that has happened organically.

In the 12 years that I’ve been lucky enough to do shows and stuff, I’ve always tried to keep an open line for critique from my fan base, because I look at the project as symbiotic with my fans. I really wouldn’t be able to do what I do on this level without them showing up. And I feel like they wouldn’t have the enthusiasm they do if I didn’t show up, so I try to meet them in the middle.

I’m not an artist who necessarily thinks that my decisions are black and white, or that I’ve made the best creative decision, because I love hearing what my fans think of the new music. I love hearing what they think about the collaborators. And so I think that over time, just from having that relationship with them, it’s made it grow and made the community tighter. It’s given them things that they can expect, that they know that they’ll get without being thrown curveballs or anything.

If I had to guess, the thing I would say has gotten it to this point is just consistency, creating for fans who are showing up, and also just making music that I genuinely love, too. As long as it’s hitting those two marks, I try to push it forward.

Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to add?

I guess I would like to add that I’m excited about what we’ve got going on. It feels like a really fun time to be a Daily Bread fan. I’m excited for everything we’ve got going on. I’m very optimistic just about the new record and the way it’s come out.

One of the things I like to do: I tend not to listen to my music after it comes out as much. But after I’ve made something and gotten it mastered, those six weeks or two or three months before it all kind of comes out is when I sit with it and listen to it as if I were almost a fan. I would listen to it when I’m walking and get really into it. That’s the little phase I’m in right now with that body of work, and it feels good. I’m really proud of it. I guess at this stage, that’s the best feeling I could feel, and I think that just translates into excitement. Thank you for giving me a space to articulate that.