Dawes bassist Wylie Gelber will soon depart the band he co-founded. Gelber will play his final shows with the band in March and April.
Gelber formed Dawes in Los Angeles in 2009 with frontman/guitarist Taylor Goldsmith and his brother, drummer Griffin Goldsmith, and keyboardist Tay Strathairn. Gelber has appeared on each of Dawes’ eight studio albums, including their most recent, 2022’s Misadventures Of Doomscroller.
“We’ve been playing music together since he was 15 and I was 18 and Griff was 13,” Taylor Goldsmith wrote in a message announcing Gelber’s departure. “I don’t know what being a musician is without him. He has set the bar for what great bass playing sounds like to me. It’s gonna be hard and tears have been shed but change always leads to some kind of newfound strength and Dawes isn’t going anywhere, I promise.”
Gelber, who has built instruments and pedal boards over the years, will turn his focus to being a “designer/contractor/builder.” A replacement for Gelber in Dawes has not been named.
Dawes heads back on the road this Thursday, March 2 for a performance in Birmingham, Alabama. The run continues through March 18 at The Beacon Theatre in New York City. Gelber’s final tour with Dawes commences on April 6 in Dallas. The band’s only bassist to date will end his tenure with the group with shows in Solana Beach, California on April 27 and 28.
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