Dave Smalley (Dag Nasty, etc) fronting Don't Sleep -- stream a new track

January 30, 2018

Melodic hardcore trailblazer Dave Smalley has fronted DYS, Dag Nasty, ALL, Down By Law and other bands over the years, and he’s currently fronting the band Don’t Sleep, where he’s joined by Garrett Rothman (bass), Tom McGrath (guitar), Jim Bedorf (drums), and Tony Bavaria (guitar). Don’t Sleep regularly perform songs from Smalley’s previous bands, including Dag Nasty’s classic Can I Say which they’ve played in its entirety, and their original material hearkens right back to Smalley’s Can I Say era too. Don’t Sleep aren’t reinventing the wheel, but since Smalley himself helped invent this very wheel over three decades ago, it’s a real treat to hear that he can still bang out good songs like this.

They recently put out a vinyl-only release of their new 7″ Bring The Light on Reaper Records (order yours from the Revelation Records webstore), and all three of its songs are true rippers that any fan of melodic hardcore should instantly dig. The title track features co-writing and bass playing from Chris Bavaria of Praise, a newer band who take a lot of influence from Dag Nasty, so it should be no surprise that his touch works so naturally with Smalley. (Don’t Sleep also rep Praise on the artwork for the 7″; see above.) Bring The Light will be out digitally next week (2/6), and ahead of its release, we’re premiering the b-side “Bloody But Unbroken.” You can listen to that and the title track (via Punk News) below.