Dawn in the City
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Dawn in the City

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | INDIE

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | INDIE
Band R&B Funk

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"DITC in Valley for gigs and wedding event"

Published: April 21, 2010 4:00 PM
Updated: April 21, 2010 5:09 PM

Like many young couples in love, Andrea Dawn Coulston and Bernal Ibarra have decided to tie the knot right here in the Bow Valley.

The couple’s spring wedding, though, will feature something of a twist. When it comes to the whole issue of wedding gifts, the pair, along with Mike Glessing and Steve Mardling, will turn things around and offer Valley listeners three days of Dawn In The City funk/rock/soul at Banff’s Rose & Crown (April 22-24).

“Then we’re going to have a nice, small ceremony by the river in Canmore,” said Ibarra. “The nice thing will be that we don’t have to perform at our own wedding.”

The couple met at a show in Edmonton a few years ago, while each was playing in a different band. “We started talking, and there was some chemistry there, and I knew I had to keep this girl in my life,” said Ibarra. “We’re very much in love and the perfect way to tie the knot will be to get married in the mountains.

“It’s going to be a monumental weekend.” The pair will also expand their family by picking up a puppy on their way home to Edmonton.

Ibarra (vocals, guitar, keys) fronts DIC, while Coulston (drums), Glessing (guitar) and Mardling (bass) round out the four-piece.

At the Rose & Crown gigs, the band will have advance copies of the debut album Groove In Every Stitch, an eight track work which will officially be released in May in Edmonton.

Groove, said Ibarra, “Is quite diverse, a really dynamic record. There’s retro ‘70s sound, rock ’n’ roll, funk, R&B, some classic hard rock guitar and a touch of ska and blues.”

Tracks were recorded last summer in Vancouver and Nanaimo and mixed since that time in preparation for release.

“It’s taken a little bit long to cook this album,” he said, “but it’ll be tasty when it’s done. We’re all happy with it and don’t regret it took a little longer than we wanted. In the end, it’ll be with us our whole lives.”

DIC songs range from a funny ode to a Honda Civic (“Honda Civic”) to the very funky “Grey Hoodie” and the soulful “Look Out Below”.

Mardling’s bass input is a welcome addition, said Ibarra. He was playing in a heavy metal band called Looking East, one which Ibarra and Coulston sometimes sit in on to help out.

“But the time came when we needed him to come over to our side.”

DIC is a high-energy band that, “likes to have a good time and we like to get people involved. It really is about us providing an experience for an audience.”

DIC will add to a compilation CD of Edmonton bands which is being promoted internationally by a California company.

The whole gigs in Banff, wedding in Canmore, puppy adoption on the way home, “is just the way we roll,” said Ibarra. “Sometimes we’ll drive to a town we haven’t been to before, just to see a show.

“They’re all experiences for us to grab; the essence of our travelling, nomadic spirit. We just need to travel and see things and places we haven’t before. That’s the inspiration of Dawn In The City, which is the combination of all our experiences.

“Supporting other bands is almost as important as your own. Eventually,

paths cross because everybody’s connected. You have to take advantage of those

connections.”

- Dave Witfield -Rocky Mountain Outlook


"Dawn breaking in Bow Valley"

Published: September 23, 2009 9:00 PM

You’ll have to excuse the members of Dawn In The City for perhaps being a little wide-eyed when they play the Bow Valley this weekend.

After all, the five-piece Edmonton funk/soul/rock band just got its act together in 2006 and, with an inaugural album about ready for release, they’re still getting used to the idea of being out there in the music world.

Dawn In The City is frontman Bernal Ibarra (vocals, guitar, keys), Mike Glessing (vocals, guitar), Craig Guthrie (bass), Andrea Dawn (drums). They play the Canmore Hotel, Sept. 26 and Banff’s Rose & Crown, Sept. 27.

Last week, Ibarra was back in Edmonton after returning from the band’s first road into B.C. – and he was still stoked about it.

“It was our first tour and it was a pretty neat experience. It was the first time were really out there doing it on the road and really living as musicians on the road. It was a good experience to go to different venues with different audiences.”

DITC was formed in 2006, as the brainchild of Iberra and Dawn. Shortly after, Guthrie and Glessing were added and the band began playing gigs in the Edmonton area.

They pretty much stuck to the Edmonton scene, offering up reggae and ska tunes as a starting point and to get some gigs booked.

Their first show was at On The Rocks in Edmonton in 2006. They then moved on to play the Sidetrack Café and other venues, including pubs, clubs, institutions, acreages and underground music halls.

Since then, they’ve added to their musical arsenal, said Ibarra. “We’ve gone more funky, groovy, rock ‘n’ roll. We’re trying to create rock that blends classic with funk and soul, something like Sly and the Family Stone.”

Throwing together many genres hasn’t been a problem for the band, as their backgrounds are plenty diverse.

Glessing, said Ibarra, is about heavy guitar rock of the AC/DC and Metallica vein, while he himself is more a bluesy, Jimi Hendrix sort. Guthrie has a background in jazz, “but is into everything” and Dawn, the baby of the group, is a lover of heavy metal, but with musical tastes ranging from Tegan and Sara to Death Cab for Cutie.

“But when we bring it together,” said Ibarra, “it’s cohesive. The music in common was this homage to classic, funky rock ‘n’ roll.”

DITC’s sound ranges from a solid guitar up front in the mournful, rock-y “Footprints” to the solid reggae rhythm of “Honda Civic” (how many songs relate to a Civic?), to the funky keys and soul-charged lyrics of “Grey Hoodie”.

Having been working on the band’s sound, they’ve also been in the studio to work on an album they hope to release early in 2010.

With the working title Groove In Every Stitch, the eight-track indie production, “was also an awesome first experience,” said Ibarra.

“Just getting the tracks recorded was cool. When you’re live, it’s one thing, but in the studio, to lay down tracks, you have more time to think about what you’re trying to say. It can be deeper, more intricate.

“But live, we’re energetic, we want to get people dancing. We try to create an experience that we enjoy and do something you love and people can see that and enjoy it. It’s what we call the Dawn In The City experience.

“People want to go out and forget about what stressed them out and what pissed them off.”

Along with recording and touring, another high came in March when DITC opened for the eight-piece Juno-nominated God Made Me Funky at gigs in Edmonton and Calgary in March. GMMF collected a whole range of Nufunktonions when they played Banff and Canmore in the same month.

GMMF’s promoter called both DITC and Souljah Fyah (also from Edmonton, who appeared at this year’s Canmore Folk Music Festival).

“They needed an eclectic band to open,” said Ibarra. “I could see how they work hard at every live show and we took a cue from that.”

Now going on three and a half years together, Ibarra says time has flown. “It was supposed to be a side project for me and it seems like only yesterday we were jamming in a basement, sounding atrocious with nothing but drywall around.

“I wanted to do something with blues and funk in it and I think it’s been amazing to be touring and recording. It’s like the audience has a magnifying glass on you and they know if it’s not working.

“So we just want to get out there, meet new people, play new venues and spread the Dawn In The City experience.”

- Dave Whitfield - Rocky Mountain Outlook


Discography

2007 -Dawn in the City 4 song Ep
Honda Civic
Quiet Ships
Footprints
Kitty

2010 -Dawn in the City -Groove In Every Stitch Album
Bic Lighter
Look Out Below
Foorptints
Honda Civic
Grey Hoodie
Sugarstack
The Path
Get Up N' Jam

2011 -Dawn in the City -Radio edit/mix
Honda Civic

Photos

Bio

Dawn in the City is a hard-working, hard-playing Funk Rock band from Edmonton, Alberta, CA. Since 2006 they have been generating heat with superb workouts of their R & B and classic-rock influenced material. Lead guitarist, vocalist and keyboard player Bernal Ibarra delivers a triple threat of smoking talent. Backed by an ace combination of slick musicians, their remarkable performances take audiences on a trip through vintage Soul, Funk, R&B and Rock, all with a modern twist. Dawn in the City has released their debut album Groove In Every Stitch, which was recorded in Nanaimo and Vancouver with producer Todd Dunsmore of Kings Without. Songs and CD's available on CD Baby and ITunes

They play an eclectic mix of up-tempo, funky, soulful originals and cover all the great dancing tunes that are sure to get a crowd up and moving.

Their album is raw! A real experience if you are into the vintage rock and roll, soul sound. Bernal exposes his mind for he world to hear. Dawn in the City's front man Bernal Ibarra is a dynamic performer whose style is infused with diverse musical tastes, mixing classic soul vocals, driving R&B organ, brazen funk rhythms and fiery rock and roll guitar. 5 years later, they are still hard at it, refining their skills and inspirations to define the Dawn In The City sound, present and future