LA indie roots rockers Dawes is made up of brothers Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith (lead vocals/guitar and drums, respectively), Wylie Gelber (bass), and Tay Strathairn (guitar). Influenced by the gentle, acoustic-based musical trappings and rich vocal harmony of the Laurel Canyon sound (Crosby, Stills & Nash, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell), as well as by the shambling, romanticized Americana of The Band, Dawes have, with their recent fourth album, All Your Favorite Bands, managed to transcend their well-documented Southern California influences to establish their own sound and themes.
“And may all your favorite bands stay together,” sings Taylor Goldsmith on the title track to All Your Favorite Bands, released on their own HUB Records, harking back to a time when that very special rock group helped define who you were, expressing the joy and passion the four piece put into the release.
“Your favorite band can identify you, express how you see yourself,” explains Goldsmith, who co-wrote the song with Jonny Fritz and is the sole author of the album’s other eight tracks. “They enable you to articulate your feelings through the way they play their instruments and the lyrics.”
The sound on the album tracks range from the glass half full optimism of the first single, “Things Happen” and the minor-chord tension of “I Can’t Think About It Now” (featuring background vocals from Gillian Welch and the McCrary Sisters) to the soulful gospel of “Waiting for Your Call,” the rocking tongue-in-cheek lyrics of “Right On Time” and the epic, Dylan-esque set piece, “Now That It’s Too Late, Maria.”
Produced by David Rawlings (Dave Rawlings Machine, Gillian Welch, Robyn Hitchcock, Old Crow Medicine Show, Willie Watson) at Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville, Dawes recorded these new songs after they had already been road-tested in front of live audiences in intimate venues from Sonoma to Santa Barbara, with Rawlings in tow.
All Your Favorite Bands is the kind of album that could well make Dawes your favorite band.
Special guests for this show are Waitakere locals, The Bads. Since Brett Adams and Dianne Swann returned to New Zealand from a successful extended stint in the UK, the duo have released three albums as The Bads, (Earth From Space, So Alive, and Travel Light – which reached #3 on The NZ Music Album Charts). The song and the album So Alive were nominated for the best country song and album in the NZ County Music Awards 2010. The Bads have toured the country extensively; 2014 saw them opening WOMAD with Tim Finn and touring with Australian legendary songwriter Don Walker. They have also opened for Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Tim Finn, Joan Armatrading, The Jayhawks and Rodrigo y Gabriela and Rodriguez.
