Dawn Trader (Album Launch)… Stealth… Nottingham… 13:05:11…
A long time ago in a Universe far away… Well maybe I’ve used that opening line before but in this case it really seems appropriate. Back in ancient times at the very beginning of the nineteen eighties NWOBHM was king, now I know I bang on about the new wave of British heavy metal ad nauseam but it did open the door for a plethora of hard rock bands up and down the country. Nottingham’s Dawn Trader was one such band, during their six or seven year tenure they manage to rack up around sixty songs but failed to commercially release anything substantial, so when in the mid eighties their star faded into the west never more to shine they seemed destined to be remembered for their live shows only. But wait a minute! Over a quarter of a century later not only have Dawn Trader reformed they’ve recorded (at last) their debut album and are launching this magnum opus on Friday the 13th at Stealth (part of the rock city complex) in their home city of Nottingham.
Yours truly rocks up to the gig at the appointed hour only to find band manager Ashley Mortimer fretting about the gust list, apparently if everyone who said they were attending turned up the venue capacity would be exceeded. Before Dawn Trader take to the stage there’s time to catch up with old and new friends alike as the buzz of excitement grows. There’s also time to purchase the new twelve track album, entitled Castle which is being sold tonight along with two t-shirts for the measly sum if twenty English pounds.
Dawn Trader in true rock star style, take to the stage about half an hour late and after their interminably long intro tape burst into the opening track of the album, turn down quickly following this with track two, homebreaker both of which wow the packed venue. The guys on the PA are giving the band an awesome sound as Trader real off one great song after another, roller, bad loser, flash in the sky, take it, no reason, whiskey and coke, angel and lights out nights out all coming from their ‘new album’, whole lotta trouble and lonely nights being the only two songs in the set not to appear on Castle. The current line-up of Dawn Trader consists of Mick Preston (lead vocals) Wayne Vizard (lead guitar) Pete Limb (drums) Ric Evans (bass) and Steve Humphries (lead guitar and confectionary) on stage they all seem to be having an immense amount of fun as does the hot and perspiring audience, it’s Steve’s birthday and having been presented with a chocolate cake proceeds to smear it all over front man Mick Preston who until now looked resplendent in his trademark red strides. All good things etc and with old and new fans all having a ball with plenty of dancing at the front it’s time for the last song of the evening, the titular castle a song of around ten minutes long and a fine send off to what as been a great album launch night. Next stop for Dawn Trader is the Lincoln show ground and a support slot with the mighty Status Quo, Steve assures us that he and Rossi will sort out the birthday cake… A euphemism perhaps?
Let’s hope that Dawn Trader don’t take as long to bring out their next album… GD.
Castle (CD Review)…
When you get as long in the tooth as me and you’ve listened to pretty much every album worth listening to you tend to envy the young who have yet to discover classic albums such as Rainbow Rising, Wheels of Steel, Disraeli Gears or Sgt. Pepper for example. Oh how I would love to be able to erase my memory of Holy Diver so I could listen to it for the first time all over again. Well Dawn Trader’s album Castle gives you a bit of that, like discovering Rainbow wrote Long Live rock n’ Roll part II and hid it away for three decades, Castle could easily have been unearthed by the time team. Track one is Turn Down, a bouncy fun song indicative of the hard rock genre of the early eighties, it’s only message is to tell us what we already know, play it loud mother f@kers! Track two is Homebreaker not only all one word but a rip roaring track with catchy riffs shifting around all over the place, I would have made this song track one as it’s a much better than Turn Down. Take it is track three full of nifty lead breaks and it possesses one of the best riffs on the album. No Reason is up next a solid number if a little plodding. Track five is the ‘classic’ Roller a crowd pleaser when played live, Roller ticks all the boxes of what a rock song should be like. The whole of Castle it has to be said is very well produced and is quite unique in that all the songs are twenty five years old or more but are coming to us in the twenty first century as fresh as the Colgate ring of confidence. Running for your Life opens up with what sound remarkably like an early Iron Maiden riff, the song is ‘heavier’ than most of the album and is typically 1980’s NWOBHM. Track seven is Bad Loser a sing along number which begs for crowd participation when played live. Angel another favourite of the live shows is next, a galloping drum beat accompanies this heavier song. Whiskey and Coke is track nine, a rock n’ roll romp one for all the drinkers to chant along to. The tenth song of the album is Lights out Nights out another gem with some cool harmonies in the middle. Flash in the Sky is the penultimate track of the CD and of all the songs on the album this is probably the best one to practice your air guitar to. And so to the finale’ and the title track, Castle is a song of epic proportions weighing in at around ten minutes Castle stops and starts a bit before building up to a crescendo which nicely cues in the final explosion! A fitting end to what is a classic album from Dawn Trader and I highly recommend you go and buy it or down load it or what ever else you do these days… Visit Dawn Trader’s web site http://www.dawntrader.net/ for further information… GD
