Inside Treaty Oak Revival’s Breakout Era: Bassist Dakota Hernandez on the Gig, the Gear, and the Road

In mid-2025, Treaty Oak Revival was hitting its stride when the band faced a major problem.

They had two self-released, RIAA gold-certified albums. They had over 1 billion global streams and had performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live and at the Grand Ole Opry. However, the toll of constant touring wore bassist Andrew Carey thin, and he stepped back from the band.

It was in this pivotal moment that Dakota Hernandez stepped up to the challenge.

The Texas-native, who spent years cutting his teeth on the regional “red dirt” circuit, seems to be the perfect fit for the band. Treaty Oak Revival is a “rock band with a country accent,” says vocalist Sam Canty, and Hernandez grew up a metalhead surrounded by country music. As such, he’s equally adept at driving bass riffs as he is at locking into a root-fifth groove.

Though the band’s recent third studio album, West Texas Degenerate, was completed before his arrival, Hernandez has quickly made his presence felt onstage. His electric energy and monstrous tone help to push the band’s energy over the top. And if you assume he’s rocking a P-bass, guess again.

We caught up with him to get into his musical roots, his unconventional bass setup, and what fans can expect as Treaty Oak Revival charges into its next chapter.

West Texas Degenerate is streaming now on Apple Music, Amazon Music, and other platforms. Treaty Oak Revival will be on tour for much of the year starting in February. Get their fill itinerary on their website.

What’s your musical background, and how did you get into music?

I grew up watching my grandpa play. He was self-taught and just played by ear. So I picked it up as a kid, just watching him play. I started playing guitar when I was really young. He played bass in the church I went to growing up, so I watched him do that. I eventually got into the bass. When I was about 21, I started playing in the Texas country scene, just bouncing around a bunch of different bands. I was a fill-in musician for quite a few years, and it kept me on my toes.

Was that the more traditional side or the more modern side of the country scene?

More traditional style. You know, that two-step bouncy music. “Red Dirt” is what we call it around here. It’s like a Texas blend of country with a little bit of Southern rock influence. It’s got high-gain guitars and stuff like that. The bass lines are still a traditional root-fifth kind of thing.

What was the path that got you into Treaty Oak Revival?

The first band I was actually in was a band out of Fort Worth. I met the drummer, Cody Holloway, in that band, who now drums for Treaty Oak. So the first band I was ever in professionally, so to speak, was with him. We toured together for a couple years and just stayed friends.

During that time, I had actually met Sam and all of them in Odessa, practicing in the shop, and then stayed friends with them. A few years later, Cody ended up coming on as the drummer. That was kind of my pathway. And later on, he got me plugged in.

Aside from your grandfather, who were your other influences growing up?

I really liked Cliff Burton of Metallica, and I’d watch old YouTube videos of him. Mr. Big and Billy Sheehan were a huge influence.

For the Texas scene, Cross Canadian Ragweed and Jeremy Plato. He’s a monster of a bass player. I actually got the chance to meet him, quite a few years ago. He influenced my style a lot in playing because when I was filling in for a bunch of different bands, a lot of the songs we would play would be Cross Canadian Ragweed songs. He’s a really nice, just down-to-earth guy. He has a bunch of different basses, six strings, and all sorts of things.

Are you a bass geek, or are you just like a straight-ahead old school?

I love all different styles: 80s hair metal, rock, pop, funk, metal, just everything and anything. I love it all, man, just all music in general.

What was the onboarding process like for Treaty Oak? Did you audition and everything like that?

It was actually pretty crazy. I came on as the drum tech back in May of ’25, this past year. Then I started guitar teching as well. So I was drum teching and guitar teching. Then the previous bass player, Andrew Carey, wound up leaving. They just talked to me and asked if I would like to try it out, so I did.

My first show was June 26th at the Salt Shed in Chicago, and it sold out. That was really awesome. I’ll never forget that. I’d never played in front of that many people, but I guess I did a good job because I’m still here.

But I’m loving it, man. It’s the greatest camp I’ve ever been a part of. It’s like one big family, too. The crew and the band aren’t really separate. We do everything together. On the road, we’ll all get one big Airbnb and just hang out during the week on our off days.

I think that’s what makes or breaks a group. I always think that the hardest part of success is just keeping a band together.

Yeah, I feel the same way, and that’s why I say this is a It’s the greatest camp I’ve ever been able to be a part of, just because of the way they operate. That’s what makes this run so tight and it just keeps us together.

The new album just came out, but those tracks were recorded by Andrew. Is Treaty Oak Revival the kind of band that is constantly working on music?

Yeah, we’re constantly talking about new ideas and songs. Even when we’re off at home, we’ll send each other ideas, little melodic ideas and stuff, and then lyrics. Sam’s really, really good about lyric writing. A couple of days ago, he sent four new ones he had worked on. We’ve got quite a bit of new stuff coming, and hopefully this year, maybe we’ll get a single out or something.

I’m excited to throw my own little style on a song in the future. But that’s another thing: Andrew’s playing is really fun to play. For a lot of the songs, it’s not just the root and fifth, so to speak. It’s fast-paced and just fun to play, like that old… like we were talking, the old Cliff Burton style. There’s a lot of runs and stuff that I’m able to do and just have freedom, which is another point. With our live playing, we just run a click, and that’s it. We don’t run tracks or cues, so we’re not stuck to a time code or anything. We have a lot of freedom in the way that we’re able to shape the songs live.

Do you guys do that a lot? Are you extending sections, or are you playing little licks off of each other?

On the intros and stuff like that, we have the freedom of coming into the songs. A lot of the time, it’ll be me and Cody, the drummer, we’ll just go off and start the intro of the song and just jam for a second, let everyone catch their breath, and then boom, we’ll go into the song. It’s really fun.

When I was listening to the album, it sounds like there are so many different influences. How would you describe the Treaty Oak sound?

Like you said, it’s a ton of different influences. Everyone comes from a different walk of life and their musical influences, so to speak. Cody’s a huge metalhead, so if you listen from the first album, No Vacancy, to Have a Nice Day, you can definitely tell the difference and growth in the drumming.

It reflects in our live playing, too, because a lot of the No Vacancy songs are more traditional with the root-fifth country lines. When we play those songs live, we actually play them a lot differently than they’re recorded, energy-wise, in the drumming, especially, and the bass is turned up, as well.

But yeah, there’s just a bunch of different influences. Like Cody is metal. I would say I’m a blend of country, rock, and metal. And then Sam, he’s traditional country. [Rhythm guitarist Lance Vanley], he likes a lot of poppy stuff and Midwest emo, I would say.

I think that’s the part of the sound that sets it apart so much. It’s like some sort of pop-punk thing or like some little coding inside the music.

Yeah, and then [lead guitarist Jeremiah Vanley] is a huge Eddie Van Halen fan, so some of the songs you can hear that influence with tapping and even some sweep picking.

Do you have a favorite song to play off of West Texas Degenerate?

It’s hard to choose. “Port A” is a really good one, and then “Withdrawals” is a fun one. “Dosin” is a fun bassline to play.

Ok, we have to get geeky and talk gear. You have a click when you’re playing live, so I guess you’re doing in-ears, right? Do you take an amp on stage, or do you just go direct for everything?

Yes, we do in-ears. We’re a completely quiet stage. We don’t have any amps, which makes it easy on the setup and everything. I’ve been using Line Six for years the Helix platforms and the HX stuff. Previously, I was using a Helix Floor on the stage, but they just sent me the Helix Stadium XL and I love it. The capabilities of that thing are insane. It’s an incredible unit. I use the Ampeg SVT-4 Pro sim on there with the Regal Bass DI Overdrive. I use that, some compressor, and a little bit of phaser on a couple of the songs.

Is your drive an always-on kind of thing?

Yeah, for sure. It’s always on. I actually run stereo live so that my left channel is all of that Ampeg dirty signal, and then the right channel is clean with no effects or anything on the Helix.

But then on my bass is an Ernie Ball Music Man DarkRay five-string. It’s got the Darkglass effects built into it with an overdrive and a fuzz. I have the overdrive on at all times on that, as well. It has a blend knob, so on some songs I’ll tone it back a little, and on others I’ll have it fully cranked, maxed out on the bass. It just depends on the song, really.

I use Jim Dunlop strings. I’m a huge fan of their bass strings. And then they also make our custom picks, so I use their one millimeter.

When you feel like you really want to ramp things up, do you hit it from the bass or from the pedal?

From the bass, for sure. I did have the unit on the stage, but actually, we just switched it to a rack mount so it lives in the rack over there. When I need phaser for a song, they’ll just put it out front for me. Ryan Sneed, our front-of-house guy, is a monster sound guy. If you need anything, he can just put it out front right away. So, that’s really nice. It makes my life a lot easier when I don’t have to really sit there and worry about changing effects or anything. When I do want more drive or anything, like I said, I would just do that on the actual bass itself with the blend knob or the gain knob on there.

I love the DarkRay for that. It makes it easy, and the sound that I can get from that Darkglass Electronics in there, the preamp and everything, it’s amazing. I love it.

It’s an awesome bass, but not exactly traditional for country. How did you get into it?

I came from playing a P-bass and I’m a huge P-bass fan. I have a Fender Precision, but it’s a Fender Precision Deluxe Special Active Series four-string. I was playing a fill-in gig a few years ago and the sound guy had one. He said, “You want to play my bass? It’s a DarkRay.” I had never heard of them. He went to his house and got it. I played it for that show, and I just fell in love with it. I was able to finally get one once I joined Treaty Oak. So that’s been my bass on the road ever since. It’s very versatile. It’s comfortable to play, and they’re super lightweight, too. It’s lighter than my four-string P-bass, and it’s a five-string.

That makes a big difference when you’re working as much as you guys are, you know. And jumping around on stage as much as you.

For sure, yeah. It’s a very energetic live show for sure. A lot of moving around. I sweat a ton on stage. We keep a couple towels back there by the talk backs because I get a lot of sweat coming down into my eyes and stuff.

What else are you looking forward to this year? You all are going to be hitting the road pretty hard.

I’m really looking to get out there and just play the new album for everyone this year. This tour is based off of West Texas Degenerate. We’re playing amphitheaters and arenas exclusively, so I’m just really, really looking forward to the year, man. I think it’s gonna be a huge year for us. We have a lot of growth that is happening as a band.

We’re super blessed. I’m really looking forward to playing Red Rocks. That’s been a bucket list venue for me since forever. I’ve just watched videos of other bands playing there since I was young. We’re playing a lot of cool venues this year, and that’s and I’m excited to just get out. Last year, we did Australia. I love to travel. That’s the main part I love about this job. I get to see places that I’ve never seen before. I never left the state of Texas until I was 20, so I was really just confined to here and everything else to me was alien. Being able to tour, I get to see all these different walks of life and different people, so it’s awesome.

What is the best meal you’ve had on the road since you joined the band?

We get a lot of catering stuff at most of the places we go. I think it was the Carolinas, we had some really good, really good fried chicken. And then we call them corn nuggets here, but they’re the corn fritters, I guess out east. Had a bunch of those, those were really good. And all the desserts, man, I’m a huge sweets fan. I gotta watch out on the road because all the desserts that they leave out, especially cheesecake, my gosh. If it’s cheesecake, I’ll have like three or four pieces of that stuff, Yeah.

I’ll leave that part in so that all the fans bring you cheesecake to all the shows.

Yeah, man. yeah. If they bring cheesecake, they can come backstage. That’s their in for the back.