I caught Neon Dawn in December at The Winchester supporting The Cramatics and was impressed by the confident performance of their heavy Blues-tinged Rock.
The “Homegrown” EP dropped earlier this month and owes a heavy debt to their transatlantic influences. The title track employs the storytelling style of Kings of Leon’s Caleb Followill mixed with the widescreen sound the American Rockers grew into when they annoyingly somehow got “Sex on Fire” in 2008. Except this song is not annoying and doesn’t need to be put out. “Alamo” then comes in and proves to be a song that could have wound up on one of the first two Kings of Leon albums.
If I’ve already frustrated you by talking about the aforementioned band more than once, you really have to listen to hear what I mean and understand that this is far from a criticism. This is a very enjoyable EP with great songs and a swaggering execution. Pop it on in the car and you’ll feel like James Dean driving down the desert highway. Instead of sex, they decide to set the “World on Fire” in the 3rd track where they frankly could’ve gone for a better drum take. They get back to old school Rock ‘n’ Roll on “Neon Sign”, mating Chuck Berry to Elvis Presley and The Who. And I’m pressing repeat on the EP, again and again. After all, I’m James Dean right? And I’m driving down the desert highway, with the top down!
Neon Dawn are
Ricky Barton – Lead Vocals & Guitar
Tommy Calvert – Lead Guitar & Backing vocals
Zoot Hill-Valler – Drums
Jimmy Meddah – Bass
Links
https://www.facebook.com/Neondawnband
https://soundcloud.com/neondawn
Words By Tom Whitman.
