Sixty years after the birth of rock, and somehow the music has become very much a thinking man's game. Where once young people picked up guitars and turned up the volume for lack of anything better to do with all the excess energy they had, most every band seems to have a plan very carefully mapped out when they start now; they chart a course with a beginning, a middle (wherein the unspoken hope is that perhaps they'll eventually be called pop cultural icons) and a glorious, fantastically climactic ending at which the band will attain a legendary status and live in the minds and hearts of music fans forever.
These sorts of plans sound fantastic on paper, but they remove some of the excitement when they're put into practice – and they thereby run the risk of getting stale or boring if everyone already knows where things are headed and all they can do is wait for the new “what next.” Happily though, not every band is interested in shifting to the new hopelessly professional paradigm and are willing to to just let themselves grow – a time-honored tradition to which Dawes singer Taylor Goldsmith says his band happily subscribes. “The best rock ‘n’ roll is never preconceived,” says Goldsmith frankly and confidently. “It’s almost a country mentality: ‘This is what we do. We write songs.’ That’s how it is for Dawes.”
Such a “no bullshit” approach certainly served the band well for the making of the band's debut, North Hills, as well as the album cycle that followed it. During that cycle, the group's fantastic stage presence earned them some glowing coverage in both Spin and Rolling Stone as well as the respect of Robbie Robertson; whom the band backed for some of the singer's appearances to promote his new album, How To Become Clairvoyant which included a performance on The Late Show with David Letterman. Now though, with that sort of excited talk still on people's lips, the band is set to release Nothing Is Wrong on June 7, 2011. That announcement would be excitement enough for some fans but, just to make sure the fires are stoked and the reception will be warm, Dawes has already begun a tour which will stop at The Opera House in Toronto on May 28, 2011 armed with a set tailor-made to give those fans lucky enough to land a ticket a sneak preview of the album, before they head back south of the border.
So what can people expect from the new album and, by extension, the shows that happen before its release day? “Our attitude is always, what can we do to take it to the next place?” Goldsmith says. “To share our music with more people, make better music, and be happier people through our music.”
That about says it all – doesn't it?
Artist:
www.dawestheband.com/
www.myspace.com/dawestheband
www.facebook.com/Dawestheband
www.twitter.com/#!/dawestheband
Download:
Dawes – "If I Wanted Someone" – Nothing Is Wrong
Tour:
For a listing of Dawes' upcoming tour dates, click here .
Album:
Nothing Is Wrong comes out on June 7, 2011 via ATO Records. Pre-order it here on Amazon .
