Life & Work with Jacob Dadisman of Mesa

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Dadisman.

Hi Jacob, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Born to a Vietnam immigrant and California native, my sister and I spent our childhood in Anaheim piano recital halls and church choirs, with our parents fostering Catholic roots, educational discipline, and our musical inclinations. Our mother would let us use her laptop to explore creative software like garageband and photoshop while our father encouraged us through film and literature. As we got older, my sister began exploring more visual creativity while I dug deeper into music. Despite my best efforts to be a good pre-med student, my time at University of Arizona felt unfulfilled without performing and writing music. As I neared graduation, I pivoted my efforts to poetry, songwriting and musicianship, and once I completed my undergraduate degree, thanks to the support of my family, I spent the next several years in Tucson attempting to plant myself in the rock band scene. After numerous failed attempts, I found my way up north, where I met some of my closest friends, who have joined me to form the band “Waking Paige”, and we have been growing our roots in Mesa since December 2023.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’m grateful to have been born with parents who gave everything they had to make sure I had a full and privileged life with as many opportunities as possible, but facing real life without that support was where the challenges began. When I graduated U of A in 2016, I was on my own for the first time without training wheels, and I had just left the church, so I had lost two pillars of support I had relied on heavily for most of my life. But, as the years came and went, I learned how to integrate myself into new communities and finding opportunities therein. Between odd jobs to make ends meet, I found a connection to get me my first audio gig. Soon after, as I was learning my worth in event work, I took a friend’s one-off gig, which led me to my current day job, a high school theatre tech teacher and event specialist.
Of course, my greatest enemy was myself and my need to prove myself an island. I struggled finding and committing to consistent work, maintaining housing, and fostering healthy relationships. This pride led to two eye-opening weeks in a behavioral health institution. It wasn’t until the summer of 2022, when I left my life in Tucson for a new start Phoenix, where I found the humility to lean on friends. My escape from Tucson did not fix my life and make everything better; in the summer of 2023, the apartment I was living in became infested with rats, leaving me without housing. But both new and old friends stepped in to help me back on my feet, and I’m now in a very stable place thanks to them.
Today, I give back to those friends as much as I can, letting them know they can lean on me when in need. I practice keeping my eyes open to the surrounding beauty and humble myself to accept the compassion of those close to me, while offering the same compassion to others.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
While my day job consists of teaching theatre tech and engineering audio for corporate events, I take the most pride in my work as the frontman of my current rock band, Waking Paige, which begun in downtown Mesa at Jarrod’s Coffee, Tea, and Gallery. I have never been in a musical outfit with such positive, talented, and hardworking individuals than this one, and we are currently recording some new music with local legend, Zack Rippy, at Sound Signal Audio. Of course, Waking Paige is not the only rock band in Mesa working hard to make it to a big stage, but I take pride in who we are off the stage. All of us have faced struggles in life and our lyrics offer safety to those with similar experiences. In daily life, we strive to offer that same safety to others. It starts with each other, staying in touch and checking in on one another outside of shows and rehearsals, and then it branches out to close friends and family, then strangers. If my time as a behavioral health case manager and teacher has taught me anything, it’s summed up in this lyric from our song, “Peter”: who deserves what is all irrelevant.
Everyone deserves love and care and compassion, no matter where they are in life, where they came from, or where they are going. We want to be people who listen and offer love and support to everyone because we know what it feels like to need an ear to listen to, a stern voice to help us reevaluate our life, or simply someone to sit in the discomfort with for a little. On stage, we mix our gut wrenching lyrics with comedic banter and audio snippets of pop culture that shaped us as a way to balance the emotional weight of our music and bring in relatability. Our performance is a full body and mind experience, completely vulnerable, and I hope this dichotomy of goofy and poignant allows the audience a safe space and helps them understand the importance of vulnerability for the sake of growth. After we perform, we make it a point to talk to as many people as we can, not for fans or to sell ourselves, but to make everyone feel welcome and loved, because who knows: a simple hello might be all someone needs that night to get through.

Apart from Waking Paige and my day job, I take pride in volunteering time when I can. As examples, I had the privilege of assisting on sound at the Chupacabra Stage during the 2024 Mesa Music Festival, and I helped run sound for a budding, all-inclusive venue in Tucson called The Coop.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
There are so many who helped me along the journey, and I will not be able to name them all here, but these are the most recent. Rosy Mack (of Your Cosmic BFF) and Alex Mack (of Alex Mack Music and Mack Artists LLC), and their relatives, have been a second family to me in Phoenix. Rosy’s Ignite Collaborative Dance show led me to my current job in Phoenix, and Alex Mack’s statewide music career led me to greater heights in the live audio engineering world. Sue, Rosy’s mother, offered her home to me when I was without housing, and she will always be my favorite roommate of summer 2021. Erika Peinado (artisan crafter and owner of MaxMustMake) helped me find housing after most of my belongings, and health, suffered an apartment rat infestation. Her friend Ashley Drake, housed me and made me feel more at home than anyone else. Michael Bauman, who I’ve known since high school, has not only been a talented musician who can play any instrument in any style I would ask, but also another friend who was willing to take me in during my time without housing. Adjacent to Michael is one of my best friends and a fellow musician, Adam Ruhl, who is the front-person of rock band “Wedding Singer” in Portland. They have always been supportive in my music and life. Sean McCann, the fourth musical wheel between Michael, Adam, and myself, has been a great friend since we first started making music together, and he currently performs with several bands (Wild Love, Ouro, Dani Stacy [from The Voice]) and is an acclaimed Nashville producer.
Paige Pappas photographed my first show in Phoenix at once-prominent community gathering spot, “El Charro Hipster”, and she encouraged me to continue performing at places such as Jarrod’s Coffee Tea and Gallery. Paige has continued offering her photography skills, as well as her community organizing prowess. Jeff Loder, who I met through Paige, is a founding member of Waking Paige, and he was the first producer I knew in Phoenix who encouraged me in both health and musical journeys, and he continues to be an honest friend who gives his all. Eric Lambert, Tom Lytle, and Ben Vanderput have been encouraging friends and coworkers, providing knowledge, wisdom, and assistance during my ups and downs the last few years. Last but not least, the loving community of Jarrod’s Coffee Tea and Gallery, particularly Jay and Jarrod Martinez, Dylan Seeman, and the wonderful Sofya Pangburn (with whom I have a personal relationship).

Pricing:

• The most important price is the price of tickets to Waking Paige shows! Currently our merchandise is only available at our shows, but soon we will have an online store connected to our Instagram where everyone can listen to our music and buy locally made trinkets, stickers, and apparel.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/WakingPaige
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wakingpaige
• X: https://x.com/WakingPaige

Image Credits
Jeff Loder Paige Pappas Ben Vanderput Mark Boelter