Last Dinosaurs & Daise @ Slims in San Francisco, CA Shot by Matthew Hoang

At Slims on April 27th, 2019

​Last Dinosaurs

    Like so many acts before them in their position, when it came time for the daunting task of beginning to write their third album, Brisbane, Australia quartet Last Dinosaurs were at a crossroads.
The huge success of their previous two efforts, 2012’s In A Million Years (Top 10 Australian ARIA Chart), and 2015’s Wellness had established them as stalwarts of the international indie rock scene and “arguably Australia’s greatest indie-pop export” – The Music. Selling out shows across Australia as well as huge headlining tours and festival plays across the UK and Europe, Southeast Asia and South Africa, Last Dinosaurs also supported international acts such as Foals, Two Door Cinema Club, Bloc Party and Foster the People and made appearances at festivals, including Splendour In The Grass, Laneway, Falls Festival and Field Day to name a few...
But where to go to next? The answer: start from scratch.
So they packed what was essentially a mini studio (one mic, one interface, speakers, a computer and a few instruments) and travelled to the isolated town of Arita, Japan. The band’s principal songwriters, Sean and Lachlan Caskey, are of Japanese heritage, so in some ways this was a pilgrimage to find their roots, and yet once there, it dawned on them quickly that the place itself was completely foreign.
Their resulting mind-set from that isolation and their humble, DIY recording set up lead the band to strip back their production to the bare-essentials, and let the natural beauty of their song writing rise to the surface.
Soon, inspiration began to flood in from everywhere. Sean delved into his personal life and began exploring the emotions and life moments he and the band had experienced in the whirlwind few years since they broke onto the scene with their debut record more than half a decade earlier.
Meanwhile, Lachlan Caskey, who had previously focused solely on his incredible guitar playing, began to find his own song writing voice, and would eventually pen half the album’s tracks.
This Caskey/Caskey combination became that elusive third album titled Yumeno Garden, released in fall 2018, an exercise in the duo rediscovering their roots, as well as pushing themselves into whole new realms.
The first single, “Dominos” opened the door for the return of big guitar riffs, a major element of their early sound that was largely missing on Wellness. The song’s lyrics were penned after a difficult year for Sean that felt full of anxiety and misadventures, the words a reflection on the concerning lack of control he felt over that time, which he compared to the paralysing effects of vertigo.
Second single, “Eleven”, has already been earmarked as a future classic of the band, thanks to the irresistibility of the swirling guitars, boom-boom-bap drumming, and Sean’s dynamic vocal performance recalling Discovery-era Daft Punk one moment, before diving to his lower register and delivering a vintage Julian Casablancas (The Strokes). It’s subtly emotional, slightly jagged, and slathered in a beautifully distorted sheen.
Both “Dominos” and “Eleven” gained high rotation playlisting on world renowned radio station Triple J and lead to a sold out national single tour in Australia.
December 2018 found the release of the third single, “Bass God”. Sean explains, “The song is lyrically about looking within for direction and guidance instead of to a higher power, but it originated by a strange day dream I had about the bass god, a tall, long haired, colourful faced-painted bass rock god playing all the epic bass lines that united everyone in a euphoric trance.”
Last Dinosaurs finished off a huge 2018 playing Shakafest, Beach Life Festival and New Years’ Eve On The Hill. 2019 is set to be even bigger - kick started with a show at the Australian Open in January, then onto their sold out Yumeno Garden album tour in March, which has sold into multiple rooms due to huge demand. From there the world is their oyster, with Last Dinosaurs set to make their U.S. debut on an already sold out fun of dates, including two nights in San Francisco, three nights in Los Angeles, four nights in New York City and three nights in Chicago - an incredible feat, for the first time in a new market.

YUMENO GARDEN
“A raw, minimalistic sound.” – Beat
“Last Dinosaurs are establishing a direct line to their audience... they’re having much more
fun as a band now, unified in their vision for this record and for the future.” – Pedestrian “The Brisbane indie-pop group dive straight into the six-string haven for 'Eleven', and mine a
particularly rich indie rock vein.” – triple j ““Arguably Australia's greatest indie-pop export.” – The Music “The band are one of the best in the biz.” – Pilerats

For additional information on Last Dinosaurs, please contact The Syndicate:
PR – Brendan Bourke – brendan@thesyn.com • Brittany O’Connell – Brittany.oconnell@thesyn.com
Radio – Jerry Rubino – rubino@thesyn.com 
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​IG: @lastdinosaurs
Twitter: @lastdinosaurs
facebook.com/lastdinosaurs
lastdinosaurs.com

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​Daise

.... Some more from us about Daise...
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Matthew Hoang is a Bay Area based photographer. Matthew enjoys shooting live music by local and established acts.
IG: @matts.hues
matthewhoang.com