morning...

i never used to be a morning person. at all. now, being awake during the sunrise is actually quite inspiring. its amazing what goes on while you're sleeping. I find myself writing some of my best music during the early morning. Yesterday was a very productive morning. I was still tripped out from my reunion, so i basically sat in the sun and played all morning. Wrote a song I called 'Swollen'. No lyrics really, but i like to name them. Gives an idea of what inspired the song in the first place.

my high school reunion....

so, check this out. i went to my 10 year high school reunion this weekend. i decided that i wasn't going to take it too seriously and kind of have fun with it. so, tuxedo t-shirt it was! that turned alot of heads. but, i realized how absolutely awful i am with names. but since this is my music blog, i'll keep it somewhat related. so, the deal was 15 bucks, and you got as much beer as you wanted to drink. prolly a bad idea for the majority of these folks. anyways, i'm on my way to the restroom and this guy stops me. no idea who he was. he says 'hey dan, good to see you, you still trying to be a rock star?' this was all slurred of course. so, i'm standing there, having no clue who this guy is, much less how he knows what i do, because, lets face it, he had to be into country or something, cause he wasn't a metal head. So, as nice as i could, i said 'nah, just struggling as an artist.' then i walked away, and kind of realized where he was going with that. it was the 'you haven't changed at all' thing. so, i got a little weirded out. but, after i got over what he said i realized that i wasn't the same. i grew into myself. most of those people grew away from them selves. and they'll keep getting further and further away from them selves. until eventually, they are completely lost. then i ran into an old old friend that i grew up with and it was genuinely nice to see her (Breanne, if you read this, you're good people, stay that way). I went to the reunion with Paul from Downshift (we went to high school together). I think he was a annoyed with some of these people as i was. Anyways, its been an eventful last couple of days. And now its Mother's Day. Happy Mom's day mom!

epic...

went and saw In Flames last night. first time. they were unbelievable. totally inspired now. i realized as i was dodging elbows and fists is that each song is epic. opened another door for me. so, i'm pretty stoked.

(in unrelated music news, i got a new job, getting a new car, new band, lots of changes in my life, just an FYI for those interested)

oh...

i am also working on instrumental downshift record. I'm very facinated with the idea of capturing the essence of a photograph and representing that musically. So, there will be some tracks that i write that way. I'm going to do some different takes on some older downshift songs as well. The record is called 'Downshift: Idle - The Irregularities'. Keep an eye out for that. I'll post on the DS myspace page when that becomes availible for download.

dc

Update

Rehearsals are going well. We started transferring songs from the acoustic demos to the 'plugged in' versions. It's amazing to see a song that you wrote and played a million times take on a whole new and more powerful life. Especially when you think of it in terms of what inspired the song in the first place. Scott came into rehearsal yesterday with new lyrics to a song we wrote months ago. "I wrote this song on a handful of bullets and unloaded it on my past." That's my new credo! That totally captured everything we were going for. It forced me to think of a conversation he and I had months ago. I remember him saying 'we are happy people, but we are happy because we write 'not so happy' music'. That pretty much summed it up.

hmmmmm.

so, i've come to a conclusion. there is so much music out there, but so little of it actually moves me. and by that i mean totally takes me to a different place. i stop thinking about what's going on, i totally zone out. i love that feeling. not many records to that for me anymore. perhaps it was because i was only listening for 'cool' guitar parts, or that 'really good' guitar player. you know when you look at a painting or photograph, and you are really into it. it takes you some where, and makes you feel something. that's what music is supposed to do. and in that respect, i know see music as art more then i ever have before. i now refuse to release something i've written unless it totally does this to me. and i don't mean 'oh, that's kind of cool and it fits the spot'. i mean 'that totally took me to a different place...'. That's where i'm going with my writing for BOH. And this is the first time i can say that something i've written has done that to me.

d

Cover Songs...

Of late, most bands will toss out a 'cover' song as a b side or for their 'hey we went gold, so we'll re-release the record with a cover song on it' record. While most of these tracks are insanely well produced and very well played, there is no risk involved. Everyone plays it safe (ie... Killswitch and 'Holy Diver'). I've only heard one 'metal' band really take a chance. Mnemic did a badass cover of 'Wild Boys' from Duran Duran, and it was kick ass. They took a chance. There's respect there. I want BOH to do a cover or two. Any ideas?

d

the whole point...

the whole point of this project was to get a way from the 'metal' side of things. metal is in a sad state these days. There just isn't anything good. Not to mention the 'insert clever word here'-core bands. how many times can you write the same song and use the same lick? No one ever seems to have an answer for me, yet there are a billion of these 'core' bands. Makes no sense to me. I'm not saying that these bands are bad, because they aren't, but there is never anything new. They will write their 'staple' song (which is usually ground breaking), and then every other song they write, throughout what seems to be their entire career, is a throw back to that song. I won't give examples, but I'm sure you can think of at least 20 of these bands. Anyways, my point is, the purpose of BOH is to try and get back to the root of why we write music. Yea, its fun to get up on stage and play metal and kick ass. That's a given. But, after awhile you get sick of trying to be 'metal' or 'heavy'. That's why we wrote the majority of our demos for BOH on acoustic guitars...