Natives of the New Dawn

Drinking from the same water and breathing the same Detroit Rock City air as the White Stripes, Eminem and Kid Rock -- not to mention predecessors such as Mitch Ryder, Bob Seger, George Clinton and the entirety of the Motown roster -- NATIVES OF THE NEW DAWN are in the business of making music fun again. The sextet's songs groove with genuinely funky exuberance, bite with rock 'n roll crunch and soar with Stevie Wonder-like melodicism. It's a bona fide joyride that still maintains the craft and credibility of sterling musicianship.

NATIVES were formed in June 2003 in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale from the ashes of a rap trio that included MC Vince Mann and Gary “DJ Goo” Hoenicke. The bearded, genial Mann envisioned a live hip-hop project ala the Roots or Arrested Development, something that was positive, conscious and had a pop sound to it. It's evolved to where it is now; a dynamic package of sounds and influences driven by the tightly pocketed rhythm section of bassist Ryan Coomer and drummer Tom Wachter, the fierce guitar work of Joe Fikany, and the soulful singing of Tony Nouhan.

Since the new dawn, things have stayed bright for NATIVES. In March of 2004 they were 1 of 10 groups to showcase for ex-Epic and Arista executive Peter Ganbarg's new Pure Tone Records label, after which Ganbarg called the group the “next biggest thing to come out of Detroit since Kid Rock.” The following month NATIVES were also named Best Pop Band at the New York International Music and Film Festival, and received three nominations at the 2004 Detroit Music Awards, including Outstanding Live Performance, Outstanding Rock Artist/Group, and Outstanding Rock/Pop Instrumentalist for guitarist Fikany. Following the success of 2004 the Natives continued along their trail of success in 2005 by finishing 2nd out of nearly 10,000 bands that competed worldwide in 2005’s Emergenza International Music Festival, as well as a second consecutive summer on the Van’s Warped Tour.

In 2006, the New Dawn showed no signs of slowing down. They were nominated for 10 Detroit Music Awards, performed a third consecutive summer on the Van’s Warped Tour, were selected as 1 of 14 of “the best unsigned bands in the U.S.”, were featured on the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands 10 Compilation CD, and were chosen as 1 of 4 winning bands out of the nearly 13,000 to be showcased on Ernie Ball’s Battle of the Bands Wrap-Up showcase at West Hollywood’s, Key Club.

What does 2007 hold? Wait and see....