Maybe you’ve heard their popular 2010 single, “When My Time Comes.”

Or perhaps you saw them as part of Rolling Stone’s “New Noises” compilation along with artists like Girls and Zola Jesus.

…No? Okay, well, fear not-if up-and-coming band Dawes has managed to slip under your radar, we’ve got you covered.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to interview Griffin Goldsmith, the drummer for the Los Angeles-based folk-rock group. Joined by his brother (guitarist and songwriter Taylor Goldsmith) along with Wylie Gelber and Tay Strathairn, the group has been compared to Crosby Stills and Nash, with infectious layered harmonies and easily memorable hooks. The band will return to Chicago on November 3 to play The Metro and promote their second LP Nothing Is Wrong as part of a tour with Portland-based band Blitzen Trapper. I am nothing but excited for their continued growth and exposure.

I asked Griffin about the band’s history, their future aspirations, and of course, the dynamics of being in a band with his sibling. “We’ve been together for four years,” Goldsmith said happily. “The lead singer is my brother, and some mutual friends came along later.

“He writes all the songs, he brings them to us and we arrange them together. He gets a lot of feedback that way, and whenever he’s writing a song, we’ll be bouncing ideas,” Goldsmith explained. The collaboration is evident, as the band presents incredibly cohesive work complete with lush instrumentation and tight vocal harmonies throughout (which “developed naturally,” Goldsmith said).

In terms of influences, the drummer seems to have many. “I get off on good playing,” Goldsmith said. “Mitch Mitchell is a big (influence), and I’m also a huge fan of Motown.” Coming from L.A. and the North Hills area – for which their debut LP, North Hills, was named – has informed Dawes’ style tremendously. Instilled with the “Laurel Canyon sound” that influenced such folk greats before them as The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and Joni Mitchell, the band recorded their first album on analog tape.

Today, the area continues to be a source of inspiration for the band. “Lots of awesome players and songwriters around there,” Goldsmith said. “It’s inspiring, and you have to rise to the occasion to be a part of that group. It gives you an idea of what it takes to be at that level – they’ve devoted themselves to something.” Echoes of the historic folk scene, as well as pangs of Wilco and Bright Eyes, can be found in the band’s top-to-bottom delightful latest album.

And how about being one of two Goldsmiths in the same band? “It’s great,” the drummer said. “We generally always see eye to eye so it works out well. We have our tiffs but nothing ever serious. As far as brotherly love, there is definitely a lot there.” That’s the type of sentiment that makes the honest, natural, free-flowing folk sensibility behind Dawes’ music that only comes from “Time Spent in Los Angeles.”

Catch Dawes live at The Metro on Nov. 3 with Blitzen Trapper.

– Kara Ali Goldsmith