wonderpieces

Dawes + Farmer Dave, Mother Hips Family Hipnic, Big Sur, May 2010 ~ photo by Neal Casal

Inspiration is a weird thing. Gotta take it where you can get it. I’m inspired by the music of the young Los Angeles-based folk rock band, Dawes. After seeing them perform in so many neat spots in California since I first saw them in Big Sur in May 2010, my cup of affinity for their music runneth over. Each time I saw them, I was reminded that creativity, art, heart, heartbreak & love are all alive and well, sewn expressively, delicately & precisely throughout the songs of Taylor Goldsmith (guitar, vocals), performed by the Dawes fellas – Griffin Goldsmith (remarkably on drums & vocals), Wylie Gelber (dependably on bass), & Alex Casnoff (harmoniously on vocals & keys).

My first opportunity to see Dawes perform after being tipped off by my friend with smart music taste (you know who you are!) was the same night favorite friends, Big Light were making their debut performance at the Fillmore, opening for Steve Kimock. I knew I would need to miss Dawes’ set at the Great American Music Hall (GAMH) during the annual Mother Hips 2009 Christmas shows. At the very least, I was inside the GAMH during Dawes soundcheck that night. And maybe it was the empty room, maybe it was the twinkly-holiday vibe, maybe it was just my mood, but my attention became extremely alert & kinetic the minute I heard Dawes start singing. The soundcheck alone had a very not-easily-forgettable sizzle of magic to it. Intriguing…

Despite having heard Dawes’ music before, I hadn’t listened front to back to their LP, North Hills until I was on a plane to Nashville. Unfortunately (of the most extreme kind), I was traveling to the funeral of a sweet, funny, & kind friend. Jeez, what a massively sad trip. On that flight, the North Hills songs both comforted and confronted me. They were matching the barrage of emotions I was experiencing. WTF. I was pretty overwhelmed. North Hills proceeded to become the soundtrack to my very vulnerable time of grief. There’s a quality to it that was allowing me to process deep, dark emotions somehow. Equally noticeable are the anthems & rocking songs, but I was much more tuned into the sad stuff, because… well, I was sad.

Wylie Gelber, Dawes, Hipnic, Big Sur, May 2010 ~ photo by Andrew Quist

By the time it was in my flow to see Dawes perform a set, it was under the auspices of the Los Padres National Forest in Big Sur, during another memorable event held by The Mother Hips, presented by (((folkYEAH!))). The Hipnic event gathered so many of my faves all in one spot: The Mother Hips, Neal Casal, Nicki Bluhm, Farmer Dave, Jackie Greene, & handfuls of other California artists, Dawes included. A flurry of overly exceptional California artists! I saw Dawes play four separate times during those two days of music during the Hipnic weekend. The cherry on top of arriving back to San Francisco from Big Sur was that KFOG hosted Dawes for an Emerging Artist performance at Yoshi’s. Brilliant!

After slightly countless more times seeing Dawes perform in Calfornia since then, I thought it was finally time to spill some words here about how genuinely excited I am for this band & their music & us, as Dawes fans. It can’t be too soon for their next studio efforts to be released, but we’ll need to wait til early/mid 2011. In the meantime, go see them live on tour this fall:

OCTOBER
22 – Houston, TX – Fitzgaralds *
23 – Dallas, TX – Sons of Hermann Hall *
24 – Little Rock, AR – Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack*
26 – St. Louis, MO – Gargoyle at Washington University *
27 – Louisville, KY – Headliners *
28 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge &
29 – Birmingham, AL – Bottletree &
30 – Atlanta, GA – Smith’s Olde Bar &
31 – Charleston, SC – The Pour House &

NOVEMBER
02 – Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theatre &
03 – Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel &
04 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts &
05 – New York, NY – Webster Hall &
06 – Boston, MA – Royale &
08 – Toronto, ONT – Horseshoe Tavern &
09 – Detroit, MI – Magic Stick &
10 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall &
11 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue (w/ Peter Wolf Crier and The Moondoggies)
12 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre #
13 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall #
14 – Ames, IA – Maintenance Shop at Iowa State University #
15 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive #
16 – Salt Lake City, UT – State Room #
18 – Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern (w/ Magic Mountain and The Romany Rye)
19 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge (w/ Magic Mountain and The Romany Rye)
20 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent #