Dawn is up-to-top Texels. That starts with the name: the band is named after the very first ferry from Teso, the dawn. But there is more behind it, says bassist Abe Rienstra. “In the summer we often get stuck in sunrise in our base, to the dawn.”
The island also comes back in their songs. They sing about growing up on Texel, the contrast with city life and the moment you have to leave the island for study or work. Three of the four band members now live ‘across the street’, as Texelaars call it. “On an island you grow very safely and protected. That gives a sense of freedom,” says Rikus. “But a song like sailing music is about leaving the island. Sailing away from that safe environment, into the wide world,” says singer Joerie Beumkes.
Although their music is firmly rooted in Texel, the boys do not sing in the dialect. An exception is the song Skattebout, which is somewhat close. “We might talk a bit with an accent, but we don’t really control Tessels,” says Rikus. With their cheerful danceable songs you cannot call Dageraad the Rowwen Hèze van Texel. “Call us the Texelse Snollebollekes,” says Gang.
Dawn is the main act on Saturday 15 March at the Texelpop festival that is being held in the Texel event hall on the island. The debut album of Dageraad will be released at the beginning of the summer.