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History:
Crashing at Dawn is a rock band from Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, which formed in 2006. The band is proud to welcome it newest member, Tyla Ward on lead vocals! The band is comprised of Franz Hoff (lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Karl Cannon (rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals) and Shawn Josephson (drums, backing vocals). Brad Arnold of The Street sits in on bass and backing vocals.
In late 2004, Karl Cannon's Salt Lake-based studio band Dammeron Summer ended, when his co-founder and brother DNC Stevens moved to Minnesota. Karl formed Rockfield afterward, and released a handful of original songs as an EP titled "Come to My Refuge." The sporadic availability of the Rockfield musicians made the project short lived, but a music survey revealed Karl's songs had commercial potential. Pressing on, Karl placed ads in December, 2005, seeking a lead guitarist and songwriting collaborator. Franz Hoff, one of several guitarists who responded to the ad, was both. Franz had moved to Salt Lake City from Massachusetts earlier that year to open a coffee shop and form a band. Franz had written and recorded several rock songs during multi-year stints in Los Angeles, Denver, and Massachusetts. He had played in several bands in those cities, with names such as Synergy and Mystic Garden. The feedback Franz had received while playing in those groups let him know some of his songs had commercial potential.
The two songwriters arranged to meet in January, 2006, to exchange song ideas, and play their demos for each other. The very last track on Franz's demo disc, an acoustic version of "You're Away," caught Karl's ear and he asked to hear it again. They decided to record "You're Away" and a brit-pop influenced song Karl wrote, "If She Had A Boy." The pair forged a songwriting partnership out of their shared goal to write and record rock songs centered around female rock vocals, for a mainstream audience. Each is busy with his day profession, Franz working at his coffee shop, Karl a working lawyer and partner at a busy patent law firm. Undaunted by their time constraints, they decided to co-found a band and auditioned numerous singers. In April, 2006, they began working with teen college freshman Nicole "Nicki" Winterton on lead vocals. The trio recorded several original songs, each written by either Karl or Franz. Then they co-wrote a sixth song, "Take Hold," from a song sketch Franz submitted. Nicki agreed to work with the band until October, 2007, when she would need to devote her full time to other goals outside of music.
Crashing at Dawn was born in August, 2006, and represents joy, love and fun. The band used sit-in musicians on bass and drums for their early gigs, including Todd Farris on bass, Tate Jorgenson on drums, and Brad Arnold of The Street on bass and backing vocals. The band enjoyed the friendship, encyclopedic knowledge of rock music history, and bass playing skills of Roger Knox, who played with the band for 9-10 months in 2007 and also contributed songwriting, vocals and a sharp wit. In late 2006, hard-hitting drummer Shawn Josephson joined the band on drums and the incredibly talented Tyla Ward joined early 2008 on lead vocals.
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