Taking Dawn


"We're not clubber dudes. We don't do strip clubs. A lot of the people we grew up with ended up being bad into drugs, and we don't gamble," Taking Dawn frontman Chris Babbitt admits to Noisecreep. "We're the anti-Vegas guys, but we love it because it's our home."

The members of Taking Dawn are proud to call Las Vegas home, but they are pretty adamant about not indulging in all that Sin City has to offer. In fact, the band doesn't like diversions and wants to stay focused on the task at hand: releasing their debut album and touring the world. Still, you can take the band out of Vegas, but you can't take the Vegas out of the band. Many fans have called Taking Dawn's stage show wild or over the top. Babbitt swears that's just their style and not the glitz of Las Vegas Boulevard. Basically, it all just comes naturally.

"The showmanship, that aspect, it didn't come from Vegas because we're not ostentatious, we're not gaudy," Babbitt says thoughtfully. "We don't like the whole glam scene and the million people with a million tattoos and million piercings and trendy-ass clothes. Living here, you see through all that. I'm sure most people in big cities would say that. You see through the bullshit you're not interested in, and you just be yourself."

The band's debut, 'Time to Burn,' is set for release on Jan. 26. The album is filled with a mix of modern metal touches, fist-pumping anthems and giant '80s-inspired choruses. "Everybody's come back to big choruses," continues Babbitt. "Even the '90s grunge bands. I like big harmonies like Foreigner or Styx as much as I like Bon Jovi or Metallica, who [also have] huge choruses."

Pointing to his ability as a songwriter, Babbitt created an album full of tunes that sound different but work together as a whole. While it's not easy to create continuity in that fashion, Taking Dawn used one key element to tie it all together.

Babbitt finished, "I think in the end it comes down to the big harmonies. We like big guitar harmonies and we like vocal harmonies. If you do that in every song, there's some continuity. All the songs sound like their own. But they belong on the same record, and I like that."

Taking Dawn will play their hometown of Las Vegas next month during a tour with Theory of a Deadman.

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