DREAM Presents: COLD SHOWERS & NIGHT SCHOOL

COLD SHOWERS

Cold Showers, a band formed in Highland Park, California in 2010, fuses the brash power of their shoegaze pedigree with the smokey compulsions of post-punk / no-wave ancestors. Cold Showers would fit in well amongst their idols on the Factory or early Rough Trade back catalog, but blend in perfectly amongst the unique foliage of the Dais Records roster. Cold Showers sophomore album out sees the band step up to the plate with more pop sensibility under their belt with the tracks of their new album, Matter of Choice. This is the pervasive pop mode against which Cold Showers cast themselves, but haven’t fully relinquished themselves from their signature piston-precision rhythms and anthem laden synthesizer illuminations that came about within the band’s formation.

After the band released singles on Mexican Summer and Art Fag, Cold Showers signed with Dais Records. In the late summer of 2012, Dais had released the band band’s debut album, Love and Regret, to a storm of industry praise and critical acclaim. After a few successful tours with bands such as The Soft Moon & Veronica Falls, Cold Showers members decided to take some time off to start crafting new songs in a more pop-oriented direction. These songs started to take demonstrational form in a handful of singles and live cassette releases on Dais until the band decided to hunker down in the studio to formalize the songs found on their new album, Matter of Choice, available August 28th, 2015.

NIGHT SCHOOL

"Because I had nothing better to do." When a coincidental event turns into a landmark moment, sometimes you have to acknowledge its random significance. This seems to be the case for northern California three piece Night School. Already accomplished singer Alexandra Morte (Whirr, Camera Shy) was at work on some new material, but was having trouble finding a drummer. Enter Baylie Arin, the pair integrate song ideas, and plot their first EP. That EP took six hours to record. The songs were bounced back-and-forth between Morte and Arin, who contributed various alternative synth, post-punk, and shoegaze elements. Recorded, mixed, and mastered at Atomic Garden in Palo Alto by Jack Shirley, that six hour session produced Heart Beat; four tracks of pure bliss rock inspired by the sad love songs of 1960’s girl groups like The Shirelles, The Crystals, and The Shangri-las. After the recording of Heart Beat, Sarah Trevena, a friend of Arin's, was asked to join Night School as lead guitarist. Night School’s spontaneous debut fuses garage-rock sounds with the intimacy and soul of the previously mentioned artists. It is as if by total coincidence that Night School was even formed and these songs were written. I’m glad they didn’t have anything better to do.