Another Day Dawns debuts in Top 40 of Mediabase Active Rock Chart as first unsigned Pennsylvania rock artists on chart
Today, Lehighton hard rock band Another Day Dawns debuted at No. 40 on the Mediabase Active Rock Chart with their single “Taste of Heaven,” a notable feat for any unsigned artist.
The lead track from their new EP, “Stranger,” has over 100,000 streams on Spotify, and the music video, which was filmed in Pittston, has over 100,000 views on YouTube. Their new video for “Beautiful Suicide” recently surpassed it with over 160,000 views and climbing.
“Historically, the band is the first rock band from the state of Pennsylvania to chart on the Mediabase Active Rock Top 40 chart as an unsigned act without any major or indie label representation,” said Another Day Dawns tour manager John Phillips, owner of 900 Management, MCR Design Group, and The Room at 900 in Forty Fort.
“The only thing cooler about this is that there are two other bands from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area on this chart, which include the incredible Breaking Benjamin and the unstoppable Motionless In White.”
Phillips is the former tour manager of Breaking Benjamin, and his current clients include legendary rappers Public Enemy, Snoop Dogg, and Ice-T’s Body Count. Breaking Benjamin has held the No. 1 spot on the Mediabase Active Rock Chart for weeks with “Far Away” featuring Cold singer Scooter Ward (that first came together because of a collaboration at a hometown show at The Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton) and dropped to No. 2 this week. Motionless In White is at No. 19 with “Another Life,” up from No. 20 last week. They’re both sharing the Top 40 with Falling in Reverse, Godsmack, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Ozzy Osbourne, Disturbed, Korn, Tool, Asking Alexandria, A Day to Remember, Bush, In This Moment, Killswitch Engage, Shinedown, Theory of a Deadman, Saint Asonia, Bad Wolves, and more.
Last year, Another Day Dawns hit No. 10 on Billboard’s Northeast Heatseekers chart with their debut EP, “A Different Life,” only four months after it was released. “Stranger” came out on Jan. 31, and “Taste of Heaven” peaked at No. 28 on BDS/Billboard radio charts. Despite the slowdown of the music industry during the coronavirus pandemic, the song has received coast-to-coast radio airplay for months, from 97.9X and Alt 92.1 in Northeastern Pennsylvania to KSSI 102.1 IROCK in Ridgecrest, California, and dozens of stations in between.
The “Taste of Heaven” music video premiered on the Live Nation-owned website The Noise, a song co-written with multi-platinum hitmaker Desmond Child, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for creating decades of hits with artists like KISS, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, Bon Jovi, Cher, Ricky Martin, and many more. The Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producer first saw the band in Los Angeles when they were finalists in the 2017 neXt2rock competition and began working with them in Nashville, Tennessee in 2018.
Child also co-wrote the song “Am I” on ADD’s “Stranger” EP, which was produced by Red and In Flames drummer Joe Rickard (Starset, Diamante, Joyous Wolf) and features a special guest performance by Breaking Benjamin bassist Aaron Bruch.
These young up-and-comers have worked their way up in the Lehigh Valley and NEPA music scenes for years. Initially formed as a classic rock cover band in 2010, Another Day Dawns evolved into an original modern hard rock/alternative rock act and hit their stride in 2017 with their first single, “Love She’s After,” and a lineup consisting of singer Dakota Sean, guitarist Tyler Ritter, and drummer Nick McGeehan; bassist Livi Dillon left the band to pursue a solo career last summer, and Jerome Betz is now on bass. They built up a following and became hometown favorites with high-energy performances that received Lehigh Valley Music Awards and accolades from local press like The Morning Call. Not just sticking to the Allentown/Bethlehem area, they also made their mark in NEPA with shows at The Pavilion at Montage Mountain, The V-Spot, Stage West, Levels Bar & Grill, River Street Jazz Cafe, Sherman Theater, and Penn’s Peak.
Opening for bands like Breaking Benjamin, Godsmack, Stone Temple Pilots, Five Finger Death Punch, Fuel, Winery Dogs, Saving Abel, Trapt, Sponge, Sammy Hagar, Daughtry, Avatar, Bad Flower, and Puddle of Mudd, ADD toured the country with Hinder, Issues, Cold, and Buckcherry; signed with M7 Booking Agency; and picked up tour manager John Phillips. In the last two years, they’ve broke into the Mid-Atlantic region, filled hundreds of seats in venues with a 400-1,200 capacity, and gained over 20,000 followers on their social media accounts while racking up hundreds of thousands of streams on all major platforms.
“A great attitude, hard work, and a will to succeed will get you everywhere. It’s great to be working with a rising band and such great individuals,” Phillips told NEPA Scene last year.
“They are getting a ton of streams, and sales from their shows are beyond strong. They have been plugging at this for years. At this point, they have established a loyal following, have a great live show, a positive attitude, and just a hunger to win it all. The songs are great also. … Not to mention the entire scene that has been behind them and supported them. They never forget what everyone does for them.”
See NEPA Scene’s photos of Another Day Dawns opening for Sponge at Stage West in 2019 here and learn more about them in an in-depth interview with the whole band in Episode 82 of the NEPA Scene Podcast, which also premiered their single “Psycho:”
Photo by Brittany Boote Photography
