Dawn Patrol is taking the Isla Vista band scene by storm with the talent of Miles, Caden, Joe, and James. Music is at the heart of IV, and I wanted to get into the inspirations and aspirations of Dawn Patrol. So, I decided to take a stab at writing for Rolling Stone and sat down with the band to talk music.
Their origin story is as “UCSB” as it gets; the majority of them met in the cramped dorms of Anacapa, with Caden and Miles roommates and James just a few doors down.
“James and I were really able to bond with our shared love for guitar, which is what initially sparked our idea to start a band,” Miles says of Dawn Patrol’s beginnings. They would go out and see local bands like Duende (which they raved about) and wanted to see themselves up on the stage. Near the end of their freshman year, the idea of starting a band really started to come to life, and they were easily able to get Caden on board playing the bass guitar.
However, one of the obstacles they encountered was finding a consistent drummer, which is in high demand in the IV music scene. Luckily, after almost a year of searching, they were stoked to find Joe in the parking garage playing with another band (go check out Juice Force). In spring of 2023, they were ready to kick it into high gear. They all shared, “We started playing way too many shows because we were eager to make up for lost time.”
But it paid off. They have really flourished in IV, and they expressed how they owe a large part of it to the band community. I truly believe that the band scene that we have here is something so special and unique to IV. Dawn Patrol feels the same. They said, “It’s gotta be one of the few places in the world where you have such a large amount of bands playing so frequently, and the fact that concerts are a big element of the party culture is awesome.”
They also expressed gratitude towards the mentorship of some of IV’s older bands, who let them join in on their shows while Dawn Patrol was starting out. Moreover, being in Dawn Patrol has given the band members the opportunity to become more involved at UCSB and in the community by performing at Storke Shows on campus, for the local UCSB radio station (KCSB), and for Greek Life and IV community events.
Miles described their sound as “indie rock with a touch of blues rock and an occasional hint of jazz.” The beauty of it is how they are constantly playing around with new ideas and drawing from many influences.
In terms of their favorite covers to play and where they draw inspiration from, they said they try to constantly swap in new covers, ranging anywhere from Mac DeMarco, to The Eagles, to Jimi Hendrix, and everything in between. They come from a wide variety of musical selections so their cover selections, along with their overall sound, reflect these differences.
The band name itself comes from a surfer term, meaning early alarms, a quick breakfast, and then paddling out right when the sun is coming up (dawn), often the most beautiful and calm time to surf in the day. While Caden is a big surfer boy from San Diego and came up with the name, all the boys in the band love to surf when they have extra time between classes and band practice… even if it’s sometimes impossible to wake up Miles for a true Dawn Patrol session!
I was also interested in diving into their song-writing process. I discovered that a majority of the music and lyrics are written by Miles. With his creative mindset and long background in music, he spearheads a lot of the singles. However, some of the songs are also helped along by James and Caden. A few of these songwriting sessions (including the one for “Better Than This”) consisted of walking out to the benches overlooking Devs and sitting there until a song was completely finished, which sounds like an incredible vibe!
The first step of the process starts out with a little riff, chord progression, or idea on the guitar. The next step is getting a grasp of a general idea for the meaning of the song. This ranges from very specific anecdotes from their personal lives, to dealing with anxiety, to random lyrics about nothing in particular. The final step is getting the lyrics down which takes anywhere from 10 minutes to over a year. (The band members shamelessly admitted that they are still procrastinating on some of the songs they started writing their freshman year.)
So, what’s next for Dawn Patrol?
They currently have three songs on streaming services. “Caught in a Lie” was their debut, and definitely made my top songs last year. More recently, they’ve also released “Headed to the Sun,” and on February 16th, they released “Better Than This.” They are planning on releasing another single titled, “That’s Alright,” very soon. Miles shared the exciting news that “the end goal is to record a few more songs that we’ve been working on, and then combine all of those with the already released ones into an album.”
Finally, Dawn Patrol really emphasized how much they appreciate and want to give a huge shout-out to their friends who have supported them from the beginning. “They have come to so many of our shows which makes it fun even if no one else is there. They also listen to our songs and push us to get the new ones released whenever we’re slacking. We 100% could not do it without them.”
Be sure to check out Dawn Patrol next time you’re in IV!