Walking through the sixth floor of Arnhold Hall on a Sunday afternoon, the rhythmic beat of drums and deep tone of a bass fill the hallways. The sound of a wavering vibrato created by the whammy bar comes from none other than the Brooklyn-based indie band, Dino Expedition, jamming out in one of the practice rooms. The band — composed of singer and guitarist Tahlia Amanson, bassist Aidan Velazquez, and drummer McCabe Teems — is rehearsing six new songs to be recorded at the end of March.

The trio has been playing together for the past five months, but Dino Expedition was conceived long before that. A project created by lead singer Amanson, the band was originally named after her nickname, “Tahls.” A little over a year ago, Amanson ended up changing the name with the help of a t-shirt and her now permanent bandmates Velazquez and Teems. “I found this old circo kids shirt at a thrift store and I love Dinosaurs so I got it and hung it at my band’s practice space,” Amanson said.

“I ended up wanting to change the name and we all really liked the name Dino Expedition,” she said.
For Amanson, Dino Expedition is front and center. After dropping out of Pratt Institute to pursue music, she reached out to mixer and sound engineer Calvin Lauber, who has also worked with artists like Julien Baker, to help produce the band’s first record. In the fall of 2022, Amanson drove from California to Memphis, Tennessee to meet with Lauber and Elijah Poston, also known as artist Doter Sweetly. The three of them spent the next 10 days in the studio recording 7 songs that make up the band’s first album Thanks a Million, released Nov. 15 of last year. Amanson described the record as a “recollection of the last fifteen years of my life,” in her announcement on Instagram.

While Velazquez and Teems were not yet a part of the band during the recording of Thanks a Million, they have performed the songs live with Amanson at Dino Expedition’s monthly shows. Their upcoming recorded tracks will be the band’s first time releasing music together.

Velazquez has been a part of the project for a little over a year. “I met Aiden through my good friends Bobo and Frankie, who used to be the drummer for Dino expedition. And actually we were looking for a bassist,” recalled Amanson. “I already had note of Aiden being a sick ass bassist, but I was like, ‘Oh, I know he’s too busy.’ And then he reached out one day”

As a third-year jazz drum set major at the New School’s College of Performing Arts, Teems books the rehearsal rooms for the band’s weekly practice. Teems met Amanson at a Dino Expedition concert over a year ago, back when the band was called Tahls. The two became friends through connections in the New School community, so when the band lost their drummer, Teems took the open spot. “We had a little trial run, and it just worked perfectly,” Amanson said. 

The band recorded their new tracks over two days in the basement studio of 66 Rivington in the Lower East Side. With the help of sound engineer Jeremy Harris, who’s worked on projects alongside Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker, the group knocked out the base tracks for six songs in one day. Rather than record the drums, guitar, and bass parts separately, the band decided to play together in an effort to maintain an organic sound.

“Right now with the songs that we’re playing, I’m very inspired by Silver Sun Pickups. I love their guitar, and I also feel like Aiden’s bass lines are pretty similar,” Amanson said. The group’s music is reminiscent of 90s alternative rock, taking inspiration from bands like Stereolab, Electrelane, and Yo La Tengo. “I’m very inspired by the raw, wacky guitar, and I love the drumming that they have,” Amanson said in reference to Yo La Tengo’s influence on Dino Expedition’s sound. The whammy bar — a lever attached to the bridge of Amanson’s electric guitar — allows her to experiment with pitch and diversify the texture of her strumming.  To Teems, Amanson’s hollow body guitar feels reminiscent of Big Thief’s guitar playing.

The band’s emphasis on heavy instrumentals and softer vocals combines these vintage influences with a modern flare. “Dino Expedition is really just like ‘20s alt rock,” Teems said. 

For Teems, attending the New School has been a catalyst in generating a community where  opportunities to play in bands like Dino Expedition arise. “I feel like I’ve been able to meet a lot of great people who have sort of led me into these connections of just knowing musicians and knowing bands,” he said.

The web of musical groups both within and outside of The New School has a nature of overlap. Beyond Dino Expedition, Teems is also a part of the duo group called The Kippers, alongside fellow New School student June Kagiwada, and he drums in the StepfordWives with Lily Gudas and New School student Ava Elliot. Similarly, Velazquez is working on a solo project outside of Dino Expedition called Green. 

Dino Expedition finalized the instrumental recordings of their new music this past week. With just vocals left, Amanson is set to return to the studio with Harris on April 16th. Once the vocals are overdubbed, the songs will then be sent out to Calvin Lauber for mixing.

Friends of Amanson, violinist Lea Gutman and cellist Omeed Almassi, came into the studio last Wednesday to play on certain tracks — specifically “Ten,” “Corkscrew Drawers,” and “Magpie.” For Amanson, collaboration is an important part of creating the music. “I try to give creative freedom to everyone who’s playing an instrument in the band,” she said. “I want to see what everyone else comes up with. Because it’s a full band, I want everyone to be, you know, creating together.”

The group plans to release the singles sporadically across the span of the next year. “We’re gonna release them as singles,” Amanson said, noting that the current music landscape is less receptive to album releases as it used to be.

Dino Expedition has made an effort to play at least one show a month, testing out these new tracks on audiences of strangers and friends. “It’s interesting because we’ll be practicing great. But then all of us get on stage, and we tighten up so well. It just clicks.” Dino Expedition’s next show is April 29 at Cassette bar in Ridgewood alongside bands Pearjuice, Or Best Offer, and Lambkiss. 

The connection between the audience, and the connection between the band members, makes each show feel like a “photograph in time,” for Amanson. “Because every place, every show is at a different spot, I feel like I always capture something new,” she said. “I’m a storyteller with my poetry, my songwriting. Stories are so important to me and by playing these live shows, I get to hold a new story from each show.”

Disclosure: The reporter formed a personal relationship with one of the band members over the reporting process.