Dinosaur Bones on the launch pad

Write this down: Dinosaur Bones is a band to watch. Stick a little memo on your record collection (or wherever you store music). One day, you will be glad you did. Listen to Shaky Dream, their newest release, and you will hear a band that is working through all of the problems of songwriting and craftsmanship that every band has to solve. Their most obvious influencers (Muse, Oasis) are still far too close to the surface. But don’t be fooled — Dinosaur Bones is a work in progress on the launch pad to a sound and an ethic all of their own. And one day, they will Modest Mouse us all with a sledgehammer out of nowhere like “Ocean Breathes Salty” and concertgoers will say, Who are these guys? And where did they come from?

The answer is Toronto. The alt-rock quintet started there in 2008 and booked gigs based on the launch of a self-released self-titled EP. They sold copies out of the van and at merch tables like any other road band, but somehow the EP made it up the ladder to satellite radio. That attention got them a deal on an indie record label and the usual showcases at South by Southwest and so on. So far, no big breakout success yet, but it’s coming, if only they can stand the test of time and the price of gas enough to keep touring.

Dinosaur Bones songs have as much emotional distance written into them as do four friends sitting around a restaurant table with their eyes glued to smartphones. And, there’s an emotional anxiety about DB’s music that I don’t think anyone has done all that well since Jimi Hendrix. This is precisely the kind of band you’d hear on the big stage at a Street Scene — that is, if we still had Street Scene.

Lazulis and Grizzly Business also perform.