About Dan

As a kid I would wander the streets of Downer making up songs. Like so many of my generation I was swept up in the magic of Rock’n roll. My home life was in turmoil, I found comfort in these long strolls, lost in a fantasy. I would start with I song I knew and just fill in the blanks with my own lyrics. This left me with an uncanny skill, I could easily make up a song when jamming with people, I developed a natural sense of phrasing that I still work on today through my song writing, sometimes everyday, it’s hard to switch off.

I came from a spirited family, my mother was from a large Irish clan, she had 6 sisters and 1 brother. When they were all together the house was swaying and everyone was singing. We kids, I think I roughly had around 36 cousins in all had to get up and perform, sing, dance or just be silly. So getting up in front of a crowd was nothing new. The tough part was that I was the only one named Danny.

So when it was time to sing oh Danny Boy I would be dragged into the middle of the throng whilst my mother and her sisters would passionately sing that painful Irish lament of loss and longing for a far away home.

I met Steve Grieve when I was around 10 in a laneway near my home. He was a friend of my neighbour Nigel Jones. Steve had a very unusual pushbike and a shock of blond curls, he was very quiet and reserved. Years later in our twenties I went to a party in a lounge room in Archibald St., O’Connor. Steve was absolutely wailing on guitar and I was just blown away. There would be many more of these jam parties but there was never anyone to sing.

So I learnt the lyrics of a few of the songs the guys played and took my chance, singing Johnny B. Good at the Corroboree Park Hall in Ainslie. Soon after I approached Steve and asked him if he was interested in trying to write a few songs.

Song writing is my meditation, a mental exercise that I now do almost daily. Song writing is a wondrous timeless craft. Being involved with a band is a real comfort for me. I have played in some good bands in my day. Solo performing has never appealed to me. I am riddled with doubt that I don’t think I can ever shake. I need a band to really lift and support my performance.

Years ago during my years living in Bellingen my housemate’s sister came and stayed, she was an astrologer. She said she would do our charts and wanted our exact birth time, dates and geographical location. I called my Mum and she fired back the time, giving birth to a 9lber stays with you I guess. Not thinking much of it months later I received a 10 page document, it was quite an amazing read. One thing stood out for me though, it said that I did not like being the center of attention unless I wanted to be, a conflicting statement that made so much sense to me. I remember the agony of my aunts singing Oh Danny Boy. I had sobered up by this stage of my life and I learnt that I am a far more reserved person than what I originally thought. I can’t ever see myself stopping writing and performing my songs is a big part of who I am.