Left to Right: Sam Sherwood, Nate Hertweck, Mike Wright, Markus Erren Pardiñas.
Photo: Sara Rivas – @groovyrivas

Dawn Fades is a sludge/post-metal band from Los Angeles, California, creating heavy, immersive music that explores the darker corners of human existence. Formed in 2016, the band emerged not just from inspiration — but necessity.

Frontman and lead songwriter Sam Sherwood, a life-long drummer, was forced to step away from his instrument after developing chronic pain. In the wake of that loss, he taught himself guitar as a lifeline, and the first songs he wrote became the foundation of Dawn Fades. “I had played drums continuously since the age of 9. Sometimes you don’t realize what a blessing it is to lose something until you get through it.” What began as a personal act of survival evolved into a sonic force — one built on emotion, atmosphere, and overwhelming heaviness. It takes time to unearth certain layers of depth to a band’s sound, and with their third album, the songs came out leaner and meaner, revealing something quite dark, beautiful, and new.

Their new album, III, is a bold and unflinching exploration of suicide, societal rejection, drug use, and revolution. It’s not just an evolution — it’s a confrontation. A record that pushes deeper into the emotional and thematic extremes that Dawn Fades has come to represent. Sherwood is 22 years sober, a factor that plays into the album’s most arresting song, “Drugs.” The sheer aggression of the album opener, “Stripped,” inspired new sonic textures the band’s never tried before. On “Cleaver,” Sherwood uses haunting melodies and harmonies to address themes of suicide, and “True Doom” is about the fallacy of celebrity worship. The genesis of this album is its closer, “Numbers,” which was written in 2020 during the George Floyd protests. According to Sherwood, “‘Numbers’ is more or less about believing we can have no effect on the world but really we have the numbers.” Thus, the album’s simple numeric title takes on new depths of meaning, frustration, and possibility.

It was my great pleasure to have the frontman Sam Sherwood on the Interview to speak on the new album III and much more on the release and plans. Check out the complete coverage on the below YouTube video.