Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with daniel b
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
I might’ve been around 2 years old, I remember my dad brining home an old acoustic guitar and me just randomly strumming the strings and making noise. Then my second memory is being in a car when I was around 6 years old, one of my parents was driving our old Skoda Favorit and playing a cassette of Bonnie M or something, I just remember the colours of the cassette (faded blue/green/grey).
How did your passion for creating music begin?
It started when I was an early teen, me and my cousin, we wanted to be rappers. I tried to write the lyrics to our first song, he was supposed to deliver the beat, but he didn’t. Then I went rough a few different stages, I wanted to be a techno DJ, I really liked Scooter, but the gear was expensive for a 13-year-old and the passion wasn’t really there. After discovering the music of Jean-Michel Jarre, my passion for creating music grew and then one summer evening I heard Highways to Hell by AC/DC for the first time and I knew right then and there that “this is it”. So, I picked the old guitar up and tried to sort out how to learn to play it.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
As most kids playing guitars, I was in a band in high school but that lasted only a few gigs. I loved John Frusciante at the time, and I started to ponder the possibility of DIY recording. A few years later I fell in love with Bon Iver and decided that yeah, that’s what I want to do. So, I starting writing songs and recording them in my bedroom. I gave the project a name (daniel b), based on my real name and that was it. Now I’m writing songs for my second album and I’m feeling good about them!
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Intimate nostalgia and soft-strummed melancholic indie folk perfect for an autumn evening with a glass of red or a cup of hot cocoa.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
That an acoustic guitar sounds much better when miced and not recorded only using the piezo. Also, that proper mic position is a game-changer.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
Acoustic guitar, Logic Pro, saturation plugins and my voice.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Day One – Bon Iver
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Tremendously – the whole of my debut album is introspective and it sums up my life from around 12-27 years old. Its themes range from simple love songs, to coming to terms with loss, self-doubt and even death. The same principle holds true for my new songs – I try to channel what’s inside of me into the words and themes and currently is 80% love songs. Sometimes I don’t really understand how the words say what I’m feeling, yet I can always see it there when I get back to the songs later.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
That they are not alone, that it’s ok to feel like you don’t belong, like things are worse that they were, just let the emotions play out and run through you and know that there’s someone out there feeling the same way. I think that’s comforting and with time, encouraging.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Patience and being true to yourself.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Dream venue – Paradiso in Amsterdam or O2 Brixton in London probably. Festival – of course Glastonbury or Primavera and Pohoda in Slovakia.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
Present: Justin Vernon from Bon Iver – I genuinely love everything he’s done so far and he seems like a nice dude to hang out with.
Past: David Bowie – he’s the OG.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
https://www.instagram.com/danielfcknb
https://www.facebook.com/danielfcknb
https://danielbmsc.bandcamp.com
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
To make it into a full-time affair that can pay all my bills, I would really love that. And gig as much as possible, all around the place, work with inspiring people and just have fun with it.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
That they are not alone, that they can be creative and do what I/we all do with just a little patience and courage. And that the world is a better place if we’re all just a little bit kinder to each other.
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