How did you get into music?
Dan: I’d say it all started when who was to be my guitar teacher came into school when I was nine. Yeah he stood up in front of the school and played “she’ll be coming round the mountain”, a kids song and from that I was just like “I wanna learn guitar” (laughs). So when I was nine I started getting lessons at school and things like that and after them lessons I sort of started doing gigs with my sister in his light. He was playing gigs and in his breaks me and my sister played guitar and she was singing. I was thirteen when I started doing that and sort of stopped doing lessons but carried on gigging with my sister from thirteen. And then we did as many open mics as we can, like three or four a week. Sometimes we did this about eight days / seven days at once, just loads of open mics. And that sort of led on to the gigging. My sister went to University and I just didn’t have anyone to sing with so I thought of try singing myself.
That was a good decision!
Dan: Yeah and it just led on nicely. Yeah, luckily people like it. (smiles)
You’re kind of a YouTube star, or better: this platform introduced you to the great Mick Fleetwood. By all disadvantages of social media, do you think it’s easier for modern artists to become successful via the internet?
Dan: I think yeah… It’s definitely a way of doing it now. They’re definitely another way of getting out to loads of people now, which is like YouTube and things… which is something I never really took advantage of when I was playing. But I know of people that have hardly gigged but have millions of YouTube streams but… I had one video that did well, just completely unexpectedly. It was someone else that just videoed me playing on their phone and they uploaded it and luckily, crazily it did quite well… yeah, you can push social media and stuff but I personally think you’re better off going to the pub and playing and learning your trade and doing it hand using all the other stuff as well. You need to do everything. It’s hard. Being a musician now is not just going out and playing. In the early stage it is but you have to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, have a Spotify like everything… (laughs) but you have to take advantage of it cause you have to go with the times. And it’s amazing you can go on Spotify and listen to any music in the world.
I’m a bit surprised about the comparisons to Bob Dylan I always read when it’s about you. I would suggest James Bay if I had to suggest one at all. How annoying are those comparisons?
Dan: They’re not… They are both great artists! James Bay is just starting his career, isn’t he? Who knows where he’s gonna go, huh? And yeah, Bob Dylan probably comes from when I used to play around pubs and I used to play quite a lot of Bob Dylan songs. So maybe that’s where it comes from (laughs). When I’ve been writing my own songs it sort of evolved into different ways to play just loads of blues music around pubs and as I’ve been writing it, it changed into a different sort of thing… I don’t know what it is really. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing to listen to so many different types of music to take influence from everything. I mean, why wouldn’t it?
When you create a song, what comes first – lyrics or melody?
Dan: It’s hard to say sometimes. Cause sometimes you’re being on the bus or walking when an idea happens and you make a note of it on your phone like a lyric. Or I could be at home lying in bed, picking guitar, playing guitar and just start humming something. I just don’t have a certain way. Just whatever happens, just allowing yourself to get taken by a sort of thing. It’s the best.
You’re playing 150-200 gigs a year – what is amazing – is it positive stress or sometimes exhausting?
Dan: When I was gigging around pubs it was full on but it was my job sort of thing. At first I wanted and started to be a carpenter cause I didn’t think you could make money out of music. And then I did six months of apprenticeship and then I had an accident in the work shop which meant I couldn’t carry on doing the carpentry. Some piece of wood came out of the machine and hit me square on the inner eye. So this eye doesn’t work properly anymore. So that means I can’t do things like fine work and got double vision. All those words are all over the place (points on the interview notes).
Oh that’s hard!
Dan: It is but I’m kind of used to it now. What I see now is a 100% vision. That was what – because I never knew what you could do – got me music for a full time job . cause that happened and I couldn’t do anything else, cause I always worked with my hands. It came to a time when I was like “right I just gonna do music and I have to make it work” as I put a pin in my house on a map and with a two hours piece of string – like a piece of string you could lend to two hours – I drew a big circle around my house and found every town and city within two hours drive and then found like five or six pubs in each town and then just continuously rung them… like annoyed loads of managers and staff. And I ring four of it a day and I got like one gig a day and I has post its all over in my room (laughs). At first it was 150 that year and next year just people put me back again I could sort of stop doing the rougher pubs where you don’t know what’s gonna happen. They are like playing to the backs of some bloke’s head that doesn’t care. And that’s sort of things fell into place with the video on YouTube and all bits and bobs and now I’m in Hamburg… (laughs)
Yeah and it’s a beautiful place, isn’t it?
Dan: Exactly, yeah! Great festival!
A lot of very talented musicians are from the UK, while we as your neighbours don’t have such a huge amount to offer. Is there something in the water on your islands?
Dan: No idea why it happens and I hope it doesn’t change because a lot of UK music venues had been closed down. So there’s loads of pubs and things being closed down. And I really hope that doesn’t affect how many musicians are getting turned out cause that’s where you learn your trade unless you go to a music uni which for some people is great. But it probably wouldn’t work for me, I failed music at school… (laughs)
Really? That’s funny to be honest! Which German words do you know?
Dan: (laughs and tries to remember some) not many… I keep meaning to learn another language. I’ve got a friend who knows loads of German like funny phrases, just really random ones… I can’t remember one. It’s like a “Pudelmütze” – it’s like a hat? Could be wrong…
Ask him for more and next time we meet…
Dan: …I’ll nail it!
We’re huge fans of mixtapes and playlists. Could you tell us your favourite songs for…
…love song?
„Skinny Love“ by Birdy.
…nightly car drive?
Bit obvious but „Nightcall“ by Kavinsky.
…beach music?
Anything by Bob Marley.
…festival?
„Iron Sky“ by Paolo Nutini.
…heartache?
„Someone Like You“ by Adele.
First record ever bought?
Eminem and D12 – „My Band EP“.
Album of the year?
I have a feeling it is going to be Bruno Mars.
Which song is on continuous loop in your current playlist?
A song by Jason Isbell called „Live Oak“, I always seem to find myself singing it.
If you had to choose: small gigs or big festivals?
That’s a tough one! Maybe I’d choose big festivals but I love the intimacy and audience dialogue in small gigs.
Is there a music genre that shouldn’t exist in you opinion?
Not at all, I think there’s definitely a place for everything.
Interview conducted by Maria
