It had been a year since I’d last encountered the Dreamboats, but when we met, we got to spend the afternoon catching up in a recently remodeled and renovated Classic California Mission Style Home. Walking into the recessed living room with vaulted ceilings and caliente colored walls, I caught myself expecting Dean Martin to saunter around the corner, cigarette and martini in hand. The boys played putt-putt poolside in the balmy sun while drinking Jones soda; the backdrop of our shoot leafy, hot pink bougainvillea and effortlessly lush palm
fronds silhouetted against the San Bernadino mountains to the west.
Over the course of the past year the Dreamboats have been incredibly busy recording and releasing their first EP, Vocal Warm up, performing a live in-studio set for the Global TV Morning show, having their song 'Run Away' nominated for Song of the Year at the 2018 Mississauga Music Awards, winning a MARTY Award for Best Emerging Music Group in their hometown of Mississauga, Ontario, and making a music video--all in between touring and performing across both Canada as well as the United States.
Spending 3 1/2 hours with the Dreamboats (which is the average length of one of their very lively performances, by the way), was like stepping out onto the set of Beach Blanket Bingo--except instead of Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello and Harvey Lembeck on a motorcycle, it’s four adorable boys in matching Tommy Bahamas shirts.
Hanging with Chris, Bryan, Matt, and Johnny was such a positive, uplifting vibe compared to the alienating and divisive environment we, as Americans, are experiencing on a daily basis. A sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic self-described nationalist, who excludes all except for old, rich, crusty, right-wing white men is our President and the epitome of a swamp White House. Escalating tensions, anger, violence, and resentment are boiling over our country in one spectacular shit-show cauldron overflow. I don’t think one person in this country can honestly say they haven’t felt...tense...over the course of the past two years. But I digress....
The Dreamboats were my gleeful Mississiguan oasis in the desert of Palm, and I took refuge in their good humor, politeness, and genuine warmth. Their talent is remarkable, as is their drive and infectious good energy. The album is bouncy and jaunty in a rockabilly type of way that communicates fun and what appears to be effortless expertise with their instruments. ...But since these wholesome Canadian boys were in the corrosive and erosive U.S. of A.... at our second location there was some minor trespassing and a narrow escape from highway patrol involved as we strove to get the perfect shot with the wind-turbines-as-fans in the background. Yep. I’m punny.
Check out the Dreamboats at (www.thedreamboatsband.com) and their EP, Vocal Warm Up, available across all digital platforms now!