Simon Dawes Preview
Simon Dawes
Metro, Chicago
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Anyone who pays attention to baseball knows you can’t believe the age of a Dominican ballplayer. A few years ago a kid named Danny Almonte dominated the Little League World Series, firing 70 m.p.h. fastballs down the throats of helpless 12-year-olds. It was later discovered young Danny was actually 14 and, his Bronx squad’s wins were wiped clean. It isn’t just kids, though; Dominican big leaguers have also been busted for faulty documentation that says they’re five years younger than they truly are.
Simon Dawes don’t come from the Dominican Republic, more like Los Angeles, but we think somebody should check their birth certificates. Their press material says most members — guitarist Blake Mills, singer/guitarist Taylor Goldsmith, drummer Stuart Johnson, and bassist Wiley Gelber — are barely 21 (Gelber is only 18!), but their first full-length, Carnivore (Record Collection), hints at a band much older and wiser than a bunch of kids just old enough to buy booze. Carnivore‘s 12 tracks are sophisticated modern indie rock that draw plenty on yesterday’s icons, most notably The Beatles and Kinks. The swirling guitar and knack for primal melodies makes Dawes’ debut full-length thoroughly interesting, even though by record’s end it sounds like they ran out of ideas. Chalk it up to kids’ short attention spans.
Simon Dawes open for Horse The Band; Chad Vangaalen also plays.
— Trevor Fisher
Click here to download Simon Dawes “The Awful Things.”
Click here for streaming samples of Men Women & Children.
Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly
