I grew up listening to a lot of different types of music, including Motown, hip-hop, and I’m not even ashamed to admit some of that Lilith Fair type stuff, but I’ve always remained most faithful to true rock music. This was largely my parents’ doing, as these genres were what they were listening to when I was a kid. They turned me onto Springsteen, The Band, Dylan, Neil Young, and the like. Then I grew up a little and started listening to my own music. New names starting showing up in my ever-growing collection, names that I have since turned my parents onto. It’s always fun when a band comes along that’s blending both the old sounds of my folks’ generation that I grew up on with the new stuff I love, to develop a truly unique sound.
A friend recently invited me to go check out this band called Dawes with him at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey. I generally don’t venture to small, intimate shows of bands I’ve never heard of, but I decided to go anyway. Before I left I poked around on their myspace, listened to a few tracks, read some show reviews, and they sounded pretty good. I arrived at Maxwell’s genuinely excited to see these guys play.
The LA quartet released their first album, North Hills, just over a year ago, and it seems that they’ve been picking up steam ever since. Their sound is definitely rooted in the past but has some clear signs of being influenced by newer acts. It’s kind of like if Neil Young and Jackson Browne had a baby that became best friends with Conor Oberst, Jim James, and Wilco. Or as they say in the video below, “We do the new school old school, you feel me?”
Their set at Maxwell’s was intimate but heavy. They certainly play rock music, but it has soul. What struck us the most was that these guys are alarmingly good for having only released one record and being so young. Like, scary good. Their instrumentals were tight and well constructed, their harmonies were passionate, and because of this, they totally won the crowd over. It’s been some time since I’ve seen a band live I’ve never heard of before but after seeing them instantly purchasing their record, but that’s pretty much what just happened.
Check North Hills out here and their Daytrotter session here.
