Now Available! ‘What It Takes’

Listen at https://orcd.co/lpd-whatittakes

This is a lyric about the demands a city makes on you. Especially the city I’ve grown up in – Los Angeles, CA. Anyone that lives here is constantly fed this message that your success depends on whether or not you’re willing to push your commitments to the absolute extremes. And that all might be true for all I know. But by the time we reach the chorus this song becomes a kind of resistance to that idea. Recognizing that, sure, maybe sacrifices need to be made. But where is the line for when that sacrifice is too big? I think as a new father this idea has been knocking around in my head for a while now. But it’s not a song about parenthood. It’s a song for anyone that wrestling with ideas of dreams, grace and boundaries.

The words all kinda wrote themselves when I sat down with Lee’s original music for this piece – Lou’s Theme. I’ve always loved this track, as I’ve always loved every note of Lee’s music. He creates such a rich emotional soundscape that the themes and mood of the lyrics felt kind of inevitable somehow. In the best way. I couldn’t be more proud of the tune, but also excited about those of us in the Dawes universe continuing to find new ways to all make music and get it out into the world.

Wylie’s Next Chapter

So I have some really tough news.

After these two runs in March and April, my main man Wylie Gelber is going to be leaving the Dawes lineup.

Some of you may have noticed him building basses, guitars and pedal boards for the band through the years. Well this kind of handiwork of his goes way beyond the music realm and he has become something of a designer/contractor/builder all rolled into one. He’s kind of a genius at all of it (no surprise there) and he’s realized he needs to commit to this path more fully. He still loves us and is going to be cheering us on from the sidelines. And we completely understand and support this big shift in his life despite the Wylie shaped hole in our hearts that no one is ever going to be able to fill.

We’ve been playing music together since he was 15 and I was 18 and Griff was 13. I don’t know what being a musician is without him. He has set the bar for what great bass playing sounds like to me. It’s gonna be hard and tears have been shed but change always leads to some kind of newfound strength and Dawes isn’t going anywhere, I promise.

I admire the hell out of Wylie for making these realizations about himself. But oh will he be missed. There will be a time when he won’t be on the stage with us but he will ALWAYS be a member of this brotherhood and one of my best friends I could have ever asked for. I love you so much, Wylie.

To our sweet fans – we look forward to celebrating Wylie’s last ride with you all on these next two runs. See you out there.

  • TG

The Live Album is Here

HAPPY RELEASE DAY

You can finally listen to our live album anywhere you stream music! Find it in our Misadventures of Doomscroller Deluxe Edition.

It was a marathon to get through all this material and committing to completely live takes all in one night in the studio. But it lent the performances a sense of urgency bordering on desperation.

These live recordings feel like how these songs were meant to live. I hope you enjoy!

Stream it now at https://found.ee/Dawes_MisadventuresDeluxe

Get Dawes Sheet Music

First Dawes song as sheet music. “Little Bit Of Everything” Let us know if you learn it so we can hear you.

Grab sheet music here: https://found.ee/q5JCdH

Watch: Jimmy Kimmel Live

Thanks again to Jimmy Kimmel Live for having us and giving me an excuse to keep writing this song. Hope you all enjoyed it.

New Song: Interest of Time

Today is the 10th anniversary of Sandy Hook. This song, ‘The Interest of Time’, is about the impossible thought process a parent goes through some version of in the aftermath of such an unthinkable atrocity. I wrote this and sang this before either of my sons were born but I don’t think I’m gonna sing it again. 

It’s a sad song. It would be strange to say I hope you enjoy it. But I hope you find some kind of meaning in it for you. A small effort to bring the humanity back to a desensitizingly regular piece of the news cycle.
-TG

Listen at https://found.ee/dawes_interestoftime

Dawes is donating all of their proceeds from this song to the Brady Campaign / Team ENOUGH, and we want to thank our record label, Rounder Records, for their donation to Brady Campaign / Team ENOUGH.

Watch! Livestream in November

Dawes + Bahamas – Broadcasting from the Englert Theatre in Iowa City on November 15

“I thought I was going into this thing with a future nemesis. But I came out of it with a true friend. Between his good looks, his great tunes and his high regard for self care I was prepared to watch my jealousy take over. But he’s too inspiring of a presence, too kind of a soul, too open hearted and collaborative as a musician.

This tour, and the way we did it, will be a very fond memory in the Dawes history books. To everyone that made it out, thank you. I’m so thrilled that we captured some audio and video to share a little of what this tour was all about. Please enjoy Dawhamas.” – TG

Sign up to watch RIGHT HERE.

2023 Tour Dates Are Here!

Happy to be announcing the Misadventures of Doomscroller headlining tour. We’re back to the Evening With format. 2 sets. Just us. Long nights. Full hearts. Buy tickets. Come early. We’ll all have to break out the catalogue master lists and bingo cards as we try to get to every song we’ve got. On Sale Friday!

3/2/23 Iron City – Birmingham, AL
3/3/23 The Eastern – Atlanta, GA
3/4/23 Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, TN
3/5/23 Headliners – Louisville, KY
3/7/23 Bluebird Nightclub – Bloomington, IN
3/8/23 Taft Theatre – Cincinnati, OH
3/10/23 Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
3/11/23 XL Live – Harrisburg, PA
3/12/23 Warner Theatre – Washington, DC
3/14/23 Ridgefield Playhouse – Ridgefield, CT
3/16/23 The Fillmore – Philadelphia, PA
3/17/23 Roadrunner – Boston, MA
3/18/23 Beacon Theatre – New York, NY
4/6/23 The Factory – Dallas, TX
4/7/23 The Heights Theater – Houston, TX
4/8/23 ACL at Moody Theater – Austin, TX
4/11/23 JJ’s Live – Fayetteville, AR
4/12/23 The Pageant – St. Louis, MO
4/14/23 Majestic Theatre – Madison, WI
4/15/23 Palace Theatre – St Paul, MN
4/16/23 Liberty Hall – Lawrence, KS
4/18/23 WAVE – Wichita, KS
4/19/23 Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO
4/20/23 The CommonWealth Room – Salt Lake City, UT
4/22/23 Neptune Theatre – Seattle, WA
4/23/23 Revolution Hall – Portland, OR
4/26/23 The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
4/27/23 Belly Up – Solana Beach, CA
4/28/23 Belly Up – Solana Beach, CA
5/5/23 The Theatre at Ace Hotel – Los Angeles, CA

New Studio Album Available Now

Our new album ‘Misadventures of Doomscroller’ is here! Listen Now!

About Someone Else’s Cafe / Doomscroller Tries to Relax – Every time a take was completed felt like a major accomplishment. It being 10 minutes really raised the stakes. Didn’t wanna be the guy to mess up in minute 7 or 8 with everyone playing flawlessly up to that point. This whole album, and this song especially, felt a little beyond our comfort zone and I’m really proud of what that’s done to the music. I like to think that you can hear the eye contact, that you can hear us thinking on their feet. It’s already become a top 5er to play live. Happy to finally have it out in the world.

Track 2 – Comes In Waves – I had this riff and one of the verses for a while. Griffin, Wylie and Mike Viola came over to my backyard (this was peak covid) to just play music together for one of the first times since lockdown. I started sharing the song and Griffin and Mike started singing their background parts you hear on the choruses on the record immediately. It inspired me to finish writing it.

The lyric is about the arbitrary demands I make on myself. I want to perceive me or my life a certain way but I make no exceptions for an off day or a misstep. Whether it’s a win or a loss, it’s all transient, and only when I can live in some version of that awareness (which is itself transient) am I able to bat away any fears or anxieties or the consequences of an over indulged ego.

Track 3 – Everything Is Permanent is a song (about how everything about us is tracked, documented, recorded, filed, mined, bought, sold, etc. etc. on some level) that is wrapped around a molten core of a breakdown/freakout/majorminorinterweave that is probably the moment I’m most proud of on the whole record. After showing you the blood and guts, we gently sew the song back together again and end with what could be the tagline for all of social media and the screen-life-culture that we subscribe to these days to varying degrees: “Did you really need to cry? Or be seen crying?” – TG

Track 4 – The words to Ghost In The Machine are about the early days of a band. Playing small clubs and going on small tours. As hard as it is in the moment, it’s hard not to look back at those times through rose colored glasses. It’s all a lot more romantic now. And it’s also what built our foundational faith in what we do.

It’s the first time we’ve ever had a song with this kind of feel. We got Jonathan Wilson to play a second drum kit for the live take. Griffin and he switch off taking those drum breaks at the end. The solos were live on the floor and there’s no BGVs so other than extra percussion, a rhythm guitar, and an extra keyboard part, it’s all one live take.

Feels like it’s gonna be a mainstay in the live show for a long time to come.

Misadventures of Doomscroller, produced by Jonathan Wilson. Grab your own vinyl copy now!

Setting TV Records This Saturday

We got a Guinness Book performance coming out this Saturday for CBS Saturday Sessions. It’s the longest song that’s ever appeared in a TV performance. Really grateful that they let us perform our song in all its glory.

September Tour with Bahamas

What started as a fascination with his fitness videos and a deep love of his latest album, Sad Hunk, has turned into us joining forces this fall for a bunch of co-headline shows with the masterful Bahamas. But it’s not your typical co-headline bill. At these shows Dawes (we) will be members of Bahamas and Bahamas (Afie) will be in Dawes. Just a steady flow of each other’s songs all night long. No opener.

Come get weird with us. Tickets at https://dawestheband.com/tour/

Free Concert Film Stream

Gonna announce our record and release a song this Friday. But we’re also gonna stream us playing our entire new record from East West studios and it’ll only be available from 9:30am PST Friday through Sunday at https://found.ee/DawesConcertFilm. Spread the word!

Swapping Songs with Conor Oberst

From the Bullpen # 10

As far as I’m concerned, between Bright Eyes and his solo records, Conor Oberst is one of the greatest songwriters that has played the game. I remember hearing Fevers and Mirrors when I was 16 and feeling my sense of song permanently rewired. So it was a big deal for me when went on tour with Conor as the opening act as well as his band. To celebrate our worlds coming together we decided to cover one of each other’s tunes and release it as a limited 7 inch. We tried our best to make Easy/Lucky/Free sound like a Dawes song and Conor did the same thing to Million Dollar Bill. Happy to bring these recordings back to life.

CLICK HERE to Listen

Art by Ian Bush

Nothing Is Wrong Deluxe Vinyl (Limited Edition )

‘Nothing Is Wrong (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)’ out now on LP & digital!
Featuring…
-2 creamy white LP’s in a deluxe die-cut jacket w/ front window and gold foil
-Bonus 7” with B-sides “Strangers Getting Stranger” and “Rest Easy”
-New and enhanced album art
-Custom inner-sleeves with new liner notes by Taylor
-Includes digital download with 4 ‘NIW’ session B-sides
Listen & Order Your Copy at https://found.ee/Dawes10thNothingIsWrong

Sound checks, curb sides, hotel rooms, and especially the back row of the van…that’s where all these songs got worked through and finalized. Our only clear objective was filling the holes in the live set. More than half of that first record is either very slow or very soft. Meanwhile we were becoming a rock and roll band that wanted to play loud. We wanted the songs to be bigger, faster, louder. So that’s how I tried to write. I remember putting together the outro to Fire Away and dreaming about what it would sound like on a stage. Those were the moments we were looking for. Finally, after road testing each song ad nauseam (except Little Bit of Everything – that one was written the day before it was recorded) we took them back to our trusted producer Jonathan Wilson and spent a brisk month getting them all down to tape.

The songs themselves were coming straight out of my life at the time. No one was safe. If I shared a particularly lively conversation with someone or even a more intimate encounter, it was all immediately fair game. My parameters for discretion were not quite established yet. It took me a second too long to realize how voyeuristic being a writer could be. I still needed to figure out how to add a layer or two to an emotion, how to express myself without putting all my cards on the table at every opportunity. But maybe that’s what being 25 is all about. All the rest would come later. I’m just glad it’s all there for us to reach back into on any given night. Each record has been a turning point and something of a growth spurt, but maybe none as pivotal as Nothing Is Wrong was for us. That was the moment where we could see ourselves turning from hopeful upstarts into lifers. Glad it’s still worth talking about 10 years later.

Covering The Waterboys ‘Fisherman’s Blues’

From the Bullpen #8 (Click Here to Listen)

I remember hearing The Waterboys for the first time. It was embarrassingly recent. I had the radio on, which is rare these days, and on came The Whole of the Moon. I fell in love in a way that’s harder and harder to do as I get older. It was that very special adolescent feeling of coming across something that speaks to you and for you. I immediately did a deep dive. Studied the records, even read Mike Scott’s autobiography and finally ended up playing this song in a rehearsal one day. It started with Griff’s drum part. Then I started playing the changes and everyone fell in and we’ve played it the same way ever since. This must have been sometime in 2015. Duane Betts was in the line up helping us bring this one to life each night. It’s the only cover we’ve done that felt like it was ours. Covers can sometimes just feel approximations or hat tips, which are great. This felt like we created something that belonged to us. Obviously indebted to the Waterboys masterful version. But it felt like we found something that could sit well next to any of our songs on a setlist. It often still does. Happy to be sharing the recording with you.

As happened when it was first released back in 2016, all proceeds will go to Nothing But Nets; the world’s largest grassroots campaign fighting to end malaria, a preventable disease which claims the life of a child every two minutes. Nothing But Nets brings together UN partners, advocates, celebrity champions, donors, and organizations to raise awareness, funds, and voices to protect vulnerable families from malaria. Learn more at nothingbutnets.net

Listen at https://found.ee/DawesFishermansBlues

Phil Lesh & Friends in Nashville

When we met Phil Lesh at a show we were all on, I figured that was as good as it could ever get. Turns out I was wrong. We are beyond honored to be playing these shows along with Nicki Bluhm & Grahame Lesh….

GRAB TICKETS HERE Without love in the dream it’ll never come true