The California-based quartet Dawes released its debut album, North Hills, in 2009 and the band has been on a whirlwind ride ever since. In addition touring in support of the album, the group has appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and found its song “When My Time Comes” featured in the season two finale episode of the HBO series Hung. On Friday, October 29, Dawes will perform at Bottletree Café with Vetiver and Peter Wolf Crier. Recently, we caught up with Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith as he and his band mates were traveling from Los Angeles to Houston to begin a five-week run of shows on its current tour.
BW: Taylor, thanks for your time today. If you will, talk about the response North Hills has received and what your life has been like since the album’s release.
TG: We had no idea what to expect and it’s been a really cool year. It’s hard to wrap your head around it because you’ll go to one city and there’ll be a lot of love and then you’ll go to another city where they’ve never heard of you. It can be misleading in both cases. It’s been cool to look out and see people singing along to the songs. To have the music affect people and see them enjoy it really is beyond our expectations.
BW: How long did it take to write the material for North Hills?
TG: It was all written in a one-and-a-half to two-year period. We actually just finished recording our second Dawes album – we’ve just got to finish mixing it and get it mastered and it’ll come out sometime in 2011.
BW: How do feel about the instant-access of iTunes, Youtube, Myspace and other modern outlets versus the over-saturation of music and artists in this era?
TG: The over-saturation thing is a real thing. Touring is the only way bands make money. Now that records aren’t being sold as much, bands are touring way more, so in any city you’re going to have exponentially more shows each week from touring bands than what it would have been several years ago. It’s so easy to record at this point and you can get your music out there even if you don’t have the money to book studio time. Despite the over-saturation of it, I think it’s really good for music because I think everything should be available to people.
BW: Unlike most artists, you get to be in a band with your brother, Griffin. If you will, talk about the experience of doing this with him.
TG: It’s a fun and exciting thing that I’m grateful to do, but I also feel like people don’t realize how difficult it is to be so far away from your friends and family. To be able to have my brother on every tour is a real wonderful aspect and a real bonus and it makes it a lot easier.
Tickets to the 9 p.m. 18+ show are $12 - $14 day of the show – and can be purchased at www.thebottletree.com or by calling (205) 533-6288.
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