Dawes - Nothing Is Wrong

[dmait]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-et-dawes-20110708,0,6200685.story

 

Dawes plays it old school

The group's music evokes the best of the classic canyon rock era of the 1960s and '70s. The band members even have a place in Laurel Canyon.

 

By Scott Timberg, Special to the Los Angeles Times

July 8, 2011

It's a hot, bone-dry, blue-skied day in the hills above Los Angeles — the kind of crystalline morning one might expect to see Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and the Byrds' Gene Clark relaxing on a redwood deck strumming acoustic guitars.

 

But the guys from canyon-rock band Dawes — acolytes of this very era — sitting on a tree-shaded porch beside the house they share, are not wearing western shirts. The air is scented with eucalyptus, but they are not smoking weed. Inside their home, the bookshelves hold stacks of the Believer, not yellowed copies of Mojo.

 

"Laurel Canyon has the mystique," says Taylor Goldsmith, 25, the group's singer and guitarist. "But it's just not the same place. Now it's traffic and … rich people. There's no real possibility for any artistic community there."

 

Goldsmith's attitude is startling, because his band's two albums — "Nothing Is Wrong" came out in June — are as open-hearted and earthy as the classic canyon rock of the '60s and '70s. The new album's opening number, "Time Spent in Los Angeles," has the yearning — as well as the three-part harmonies — that evoke the period directly.

 

But Dawes sort of wandered into their sound when they recorded their first LP.

 

"People say, 'Oh, you have this real California thing,'" Goldsmith says as his little brother Griffin, 20, the band's drummer, stares mutely through large sunglasses. "But I wasn't even aware of it. I wasn't hip to Jackson Browne; I wasn't hip to Warren Zevon. It wasn't, 'OK, guys, let's show them we're from California.'"

 

The spirit of those old records may just work through osmosis, he says. "It's nice to believe there's a quality of the place that permeates the music." This summer the band is touring the East Coast and jumping across the sea for a few London gigs before heading to the Santa Monica Pier for a free homecoming show on Sept. 1.

 

Dawes grew out of unlikely soil: The Goldsmith boys are the sons of musician Lenny Goldsmith, who served in the '70s as singer for Bay Area funksters Tower of Power. Dad told them to stay away from Dylan, the Grateful Dead and other music he saw as lazy and not virtuosic enough, and pushed the lads toward Otis Redding. (Goldsmith senior is now a Malibu-area Realtor.)

 

But Taylor and Griff eventually drifted to the mellow tradition of their native land — after several detours. When Beachwood Sparks released the singles that helped sparked the canyon revival around 1998, Goldsmith was 12 and too interested in Green Day and Weezer to notice.

 

"I feel a little late to the party," he says, "with a lot of the artists who mean the most to me."

 

After high school Taylor formed the power-pop band Simon Dawes, that put out a hook-rich album, "Carnivore," in 2006. Griff remembers his older brother being away on tour most of the time. "There wasn't much for me to do," he recalls, "but sit in the garage and play along with [John] Bonham and Levon [Helm]."

 

Around this time, producer Jonathan Wilson was holding mostly acoustic jams at his Laurel Canyon home, drawing musicians including Conor Oberst, Elvis Costello and members of Wilco. Dawes showed up one night, playing a Blind Faith tune; Wilson was impressed by their chemistry and what he calls their groove.

 

"But when they came back with songs, and we talked about making a record, that's when I was the most excited by it," Wilson says. "Everyone can be a fan of the right stuff, but if you don't have the perspective or the tunes, you might as well be a covers band."

 

Dawes' debut, "North Hills," named for the San Fernando Valley town where the Goldsmith boys grew up, came out in 2009 and introduced the band's rustic sound. At first, the group distributed the record on tour while opening for bands like Langhorne Slim, Delta Spirit and Deer Tick. (Taylor has since recorded with "folk rock supergroup" Middle Brother, which includes members of the latter two bands.)

 

Lending the band's complex relationship to Laurel Canyon a literal analogue, Wilson's home studio — in which they made "North Hills" — was dismantled and rebuilt in Echo Park, where the group recorded "Nothing Is Wrong." (Dawes also includes Wylie Gelber on bass and Tay Strathairn on keyboards.)

 

The instrumentation on "Nothing Is Wrong" remains old-school: Sampling and electronics don't much interest them. (Taylor plays a modified Telecaster — the first mass-production solid-body guitar — as well as a battered but beautiful 1964 Gibson J-45 acoustic.)

 

"We were always raised to play our instruments well," says Taylor, "and to play them for their natural sounds." The album was recorded on analog equipment — including Jackson Browne's old Studer tape machine — and largely without editing or overdubs. Dawes, in fact, performed as Browne's backing band Wednesday night at the Satellite in Silver Lake as a warm up to a string of dates they'll perform together in Spain.

 

Taylor compares the process to writing on a typewriter rather than a word processor, where your mistakes become more or less permanent. "It forces you to be on your game," he says. "The way records used to be made."

 

Their heroes remain older artists. The group, which has played at the "Big Pink" house in Woodstock where the Band recorded its first album, recently appeared on U.S. and British television appearances with Robbie Robertson. It shows the group coming full circle, since Robertson's ragged and glorious old group was one of Dawes' original inspirations.

 

"They're the most romantic band ever," Taylor says of Dylan's old backup group. "It's like an egoless experience — the songwriter doesn't sing, the singers don't sing behind the instruments you normally sing behind. You feel like you know all five guys. There's no solo, or the whole band solos. That's what being in a band is all about."

[parisisstale]

Counting the days til Middle Brother followed by M Ward backed by Dawes at Newport......21!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cryptique]

I've heard "Time Spent in Los Angeles" on a local radio station every so often, but last night they played "Coming Back To A Man."

 

Glad to hear them getting any airplay at all.

[jabboy15]

here's a review/essay i wrote on their new record, would love if you guys gave it a look:

 

http://thepretender.tumblr.com/post/6663609328/that-special-kind-of-sadness-dawes-nothing-is-wrong

[todd]

Dawes is on tour a lot.

 

http://dawestheband.com/

 

 

Blitzen Trapper and Dawes are teaming up for a co-headlining tour of North America this fall. Smoke Fairies will also be along for the ride on the first half of the tour, and Belle Brigade will take over for the second.

Additionally, the two acts are offering a free tour sampler, which you can stream and download below the tour dates.

 

October

7 – Petaluma, Calif. @ Mystic Theater +

8 – Santa Barbara, Calif. @ SOHO +

9 – San Diego, Calif. @ Belly Up +

10 – Pheonix, Ariz. @ Crescent Ballroom +

11 – Tucson, Ariz. @ Santa Fe Sol Live +

15 – Baton Rouge, La. @ Marship Theater +

18 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Variety Playhouse +

19 – Nashville, Tenn. @ Mercy Lounge +

20 – Louisville, Ky. @ Headliner’s +

21 – Asheville, N.C. @ Orange Peel +

22 – Carborro, N.C. @ Cat’s Cradle +

24 – Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat

26 – New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall +

27 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Theater of Living Arts ^

28 – Boston, Mass. @ Royale ^

30 – Toronto, Ontario @ Opera House ^

November

1 – Cleveland, Ohio @ Beachland Ballroom ^

2 – Grand Rapids, Mich. @ Calvin College ^

3 – Chicago, Ill. @ The Metro ^

4 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ First Avenue

5 – Milwaukee, Wis. @ Turner Hall ^

7 – Boulder, Colo. @ Fox Theater ^

10 – Vancouver, British Columbia @ Rickshaw Theater ^

11 – Seattle, Wash. @ The Neptune ^

13 – Eugene, Ore. @ McDonald Theater ^

15 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Fillmore ^

 

+ with Smoke Fairies

^ with Belle Brigade

[Moss]

Dawes is on tour a lot.

 

http://dawestheband.com/

 

Thanks for that, I will be at the Boulder show for sure. Very cool. I thought they were going to be tied up with Jackson Browne for awhile.

[cryptique]

No S.E. Michigan date. Hardly surprising, given how many people showed up to their last one, but still...

[welch79]

Check out North Hills as well (which I still prefer at this point).

you're spot on. good stuff. saw these fellers live last night. there were several empty seats...even on row g at a smal venue (where we were). that should not be the case...hugely talented.

[Vacant Horizon]

finally been listening to nothing is wrong a lot. it's a very mid-temp record. LA and Fire Away are so good. the rest are so slow. i'm sure they'll grow on me :-)

[Shug]

I guess I'm the lone disenter in this thread, but saw Dawes last night and I was not into it. I liked the song Western Skyline a lot, but one song ain't enough to make a good show for me. Its weird for me to feel this way, because I'm usually all about passionate emotional expression in music, but I feel Dawes over-emote, like they are trying too hard or like it seems forced to me. Of course I have no way of knowing what they are feeling, but to my ears, the music doesn't feel as monumental as their contorted facial expressions would suggest, especially the drummer, what is up with that dude? It was seriously distracting to me the freakish facial expressions he was making. Maybe its just because they are young and inexperienced. They obviously have talent, but IMO, its not yet shaped into powerful music. Well, at least I checked 'em out and I don't have to worry anymore that I'm missing out on something I'd really like. Not every band is gonna thrill ya, and different folks like different things.

 

Blitzen Trapper came on after them and their experience showed. They had a more powerful sound to me, they played like a tight ensemble, but it didn't really look like it was so forced or so much effort. The thought occurred to me that they sounda little bit like a junior Wilco, not too bad.

[sonicshoulder]

I must say having seen Dawes live 4 times in their short careers that drummers hideous faces haven't changed a bit. So it may be genuine. I know Taylor hams it up a little but I really think he belives each lyric he's singing. I'm also pretty sure the drummer and keys player get pretty fucked up which could help with any false intensity. Im a pretty big fan. I think they went a little to Jackson Brown-ish on the second album but North Hills for me was just about perfect.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

I guess I'm the lone disenter in this thread, but saw Dawes last night and I was not into it. I liked the song Western Skyline a lot, but one song ain't enough to make a good show for me. Its weird for me to feel this way, because I'm usually all about passionate emotional expression in music, but I feel Dawes over-emote, like they are trying too hard or like it seems forced to me. Of course I have no way of knowing what they are feeling, but to my ears, the music doesn't feel as monumental as their contorted facial expressions would suggest, especially the drummer, what is up with that dude? It was seriously distracting to me the freakish facial expressions he was making. Maybe its just because they are young and inexperienced. They obviously have talent, but IMO, its not yet shaped into powerful music. Well, at least I checked 'em out and I don't have to worry anymore that I'm missing out on something I'd really like. Not every band is gonna thrill ya, and different folks like different things.

 

Blitzen Trapper came on after them and their experience showed. They had a more powerful sound to me, they played like a tight ensemble, but it didn't really look like it was so forced or so much effort. The thought occurred to me that they sounda little bit like a junior Wilco, not too bad.

Interesting take. Everything doesn't appeal to everybody. (But for me, I don't get put off by appearnces. I notice the way bands look and the way they emote, but I guess that part of the equation doesn't hit me like it hits you.)

[Vacant Horizon]

I guess I'm the lone disenter in this thread, but saw Dawes last night and I was not into it. I liked the song Western Skyline a lot, but one song ain't enough to make a good show for me. Its weird for me to feel this way, because I'm usually all about passionate emotional expression in music, but I feel Dawes over-emote, like they are trying too hard or like it seems forced to me. Of course I have no way of knowing what they are feeling, but to my ears, the music doesn't feel as monumental as their contorted facial expressions would suggest, especially the drummer, what is up with that dude? It was seriously distracting to me the freakish facial expressions he was making. Maybe its just because they are young and inexperienced. They obviously have talent, but IMO, its not yet shaped into powerful music. Well, at least I checked 'em out and I don't have to worry anymore that I'm missing out on something I'd really like. Not every band is gonna thrill ya, and different folks like different things.

 

Blitzen Trapper came on after them and their experience showed. They had a more powerful sound to me, they played like a tight ensemble, but it didn't really look like it was so forced or so much effort. The thought occurred to me that they sounda little bit like a junior Wilco, not too bad.

 

they are definitely trying to play music beyond their years. they're the most listenable new band of the last 10 years for me, but i'm not blown away.

[welch79]

taylor goldsmith (lead singer) and the drummer are brothers. maybe that explains the emotive gestures. i agree that they seem sincere.

[rareair]

i saw dawes open for m. ward last month. they sounded great. they definitely are young but they have improved their live performance substantially i saw them at bonnaroo in 2010.

 

playing with blitzen trapper in Nashville on october 19.