Mike dawson and the smoking kills

On November 12, , I had 2 tickets to see Shooter Jennings at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. My guest bailed on me, so I put it out on social media that I had an extra ticket. &#;Just be cool and buy me a beer. I&#;ll be the guy out front who looks like me.&#; That&#;s the night I met Tyler Kershaw. Serendipity would follow. It turned out that Tyler’s a drummer and I was looking for a band. Before the show began, Ted Russell Kamp, the bass player for the show&#;s headliner, was walking the floor, as is his pre show ritual. I noticed him in the crowd and beckoned him to join us for a minute. After introductions, Ted asked, &#;So, are you guys in a band?&#; I looked at Tyler and said, &#;Well… Are we?&#; The rest, as they say, is&#;

Thank you for buying this record. We hope you have as much fun listening to it as we did recording it. The songs notched in the grooves of this record represent the joy and pain, triumph and struggle, hope and tears of the past few years in our lives. Five years of rehearsal. Four years of gigs. Three years of recording. One solid representation of life in Southern California. Side One represents destruction. Side Two mirrors redemption. Both sides offer an insightful glimpse into life in post-millennial Los Angeles and the obstacles we overcome in our journey to the top. As the legends say, it&#;s a long way there, so kick back and enjoy the music. But don&#;t forget the struggle. We hope that when you finish listening to this record, you&#;ll go out to see a band play live. Hopefully it&#;s our band. Either way, please pay the cover charge. Sign the mailing list. Sing along to the songs. Buy a shirt. Dance your ass off. Make some new friends. The only reason we make records is so we can perform them live for an audience. Studio time is cool, but there is nothing in the world that beats the energy of eager fans who want to feel this with you. So please support local music wherever you are. Without you, live music dies. But because of y

Years ago, when terrestrial radio still ruled our listening lives, a gruff voice would hit the airwaves of KTYD every night from 7 p.m. until midnight, introducing rounds of rock ’n’ roll as Santa Barbarans rolled the streets or sucked down beers on porches. That was the hauntingly distinctive voice of Mike Dawson, who left our city 15 years ago to work as a technical producer — later adding engineer and announcer to his title — for Adam Carolla’s syndicated morning show, where he’s been ever since. 

Dawson never stopped playing music himself, and he just released The Last Honky Tonk Hero, a raucous and raw — though slickly produced — album with his band The Smokin Kills. Dawson’s voice pairs to the gritty rock music like rolled cigarettes with lukewarm bottles of Coors Banquet, and they’re sure to put on a wild show at SOhO on September  

Dawson fills us in about his life and music below.

When did you start playing music?  I was gifted my grandfather&#;s guitar when I was 15 years old. I still have it and play it often. I took three lessons in the Bay Area where I grew up, learned five chords, and started writing and performing songs. I think I had a pretty good grasp on music lyrically, and I figured if Tom Petty could make a living on five chords, why couldn&#;t I?  

My grandfather &#;Papa&#; loved Waylon Jennings. I&#;d listen to him play and always wanted to be like him. He died when I was in 3rd grade, so learning to play on his guitar was the closest I was able to get to him.

Remind us of your legendary Santa Barbara history.  I graduated from UCSB in with the dream of becoming a radio jock. So I kept my job as manager at Italia Pizzeria in Goleta and, every Monday morning, I knocked on the door of all the radio stations in town with my résumé in hand. Eventually I met Peter Bie, who was the program director for K-Lite. He hired me on the spot as the bo