Answered by Nick: I feel like I really grew up listening to what I can only really describe as sort of 90's alternative and pop rock. Growing up neither my family nor my friends at the time were ever that into music. So what new music I got was what I heard on the radio. I grew to really love bands like Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, Goo Goo Dolls and Counting Crows.
When I was about a sophomore in high school I really got into the whole pop-punk scene with bands like Fenix TX, New Found Glory, Midtown, Blink 182, Rx Bandits and Eve 6. I had always loved music but these were the bands that really made me want to be in a band and actually play music. Although of these bands may not have directly affected the sound of The Dreamer and the Sleeper I would feel silly not including them in this answer because they inspired me to want to both listen to and make music of my own.
I would say the songs I write stem more from the previous artists I listed. (Third Eye Blind, Counting Crows, etc.) What I loved about these bands in particular was their ability to write absolutely beautiful slower songs and have them blend perfectly on an album with their huge radio hits. If you want examples of these types of songs see Third Eye Blind - Darkness, Matchbox Twenty - The Difference, or The Verve Pipe - The Freshmen. Yeah, Third Eye Blind's Jumper was on the radio 20 times an hour but it was these slower, down tempo songs that always really hooked me. I don't think it is as apparent on AitE, but if you look back at the songs that I wrote for Fireworks and Overture I think it is pretty apparent that I was inadvertently trying to mimic these types of songs. Some examples are songs like Kid Icarus, Villains, and Oh, Adrienne. With these songs I was really trying to take that sound that Easton and I had somehow come up with and turn into these sort of, hugh pop ballads. I'm not sure if this is how they come off or not. So I would say that these bands have most affected my personal writing style and, even if it is inadvertently, affect the types of songs I strive to write.
