Meet Sam Sherwood | Vocalist and Songwriter for Dawn Fades

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sam Sherwood and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sam, what role has risk played in your life or career?
My whole young life I played the drums. I knew a little piano but never picked up a guitar or tried to write a song. In my early 30s I had some health issues that made playing the drums extremely uncomfortable. Around the same time I found myself increasingly dissatisfied with playing other people’s music. After a messy band break-up I picked up a guitar and started teaching myself to play. It was slow going but eventually a got a few songs together and demoed (badly). I vividly remember pushing “post” on craigslist with my first ad looking for members for Dawn Fades. The terror and excitement realizing that someone outside my house would hear my songs for the first time was intense! I had no faith in my abilities as a song-writer, I just knew I had to to try something different. And then people actually responded and showed up. I’m here trying to teach these folks how to play my songs and I can barely play them myself! Fast forward 6 years and I feel like the whole thing is just a series of risks. I have to trust that if it feels right then I’m on the right path.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I started Dawn Fades with the idea that I wanted to start a heavy band that defied easy categorization. If you know our influences you can pick this or that out of the soup but taken as a whole it’s it’s own thing. Non-traditional song structures and strongly contrasting beauty and ferocity. This band was born out of my struggles with chronic pain that ultimately pushed me away from playing drums and into learning guitar. Thankfully the chronic pain is mostly gone these days but the band remains.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love taking people into the mountains when they visit. Up the 2 is my favorite. So much beautiful nature so close to the city. Switzer Falls is a great easy hiking trail to take folks to.

There’s a cool new club in Hollywood called Knucklehead Hollywood. They have heavy and alternative music most nights.
It’s a bit of a drive outside the city but one of our favorite places to play is a club called Transplants in Palmdale.

Little Tokyo is a favorite. Shin Sen Gumi makes the best ramen in the world and it’s always a trip to walk around down there. If you’re lucky you’ll catch Arthur Nakane doing his one-man-band.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This one goes out to my family, our fans, our label Metal Assault Records (and Andrew Bansal), Dan Dismal and Alvin Aleman for booking us and too many others to count but you know who are.

Website: dawnfadesband.com

Instagram: @dawnfadesband

Twitter: @dawnfadesband

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DawnFadesBand/

Other: https://dawnfades.bandcamp.com/releases

Image Credits
SlimShootsBands YoYoArnold