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Muirsical Conversation with Dan Reed
Muirsical Conversation with Dan Reed
The reunion of the Dan Red Network, the hard funk-rock outfit from Portland, Oregon and a band who demanded attention right from their first club shows in the mid-80s, is all the more remarkable when you consider the DRN drifted apart in 1993 with no real thoughts of a reformation until twenty years later when the original line-up got together for
a one-off hometown gig on New Year's Eve 2012.
However the band went on to play further concerts in 2013, leading to a permanent reunion and, subsequently, the excellent 2016 album Fight Another Day featuring DRN originals Dan Reed (vocals, various instrumentation), Brion James (guitars, vocals) Dan Pred (drums, percussion), Melvin Brannon II (bass, vocals) and new recruit, Dan Reed’s long-time musical collaborator Rob Daiker (co-producer, keyboards, vocals).
But between DRN times Network musical CEO Dan Reed kept himself busy by expanding on his entertainment and life experiences – the multi-talented and multi-disciplined Reed continued to perform live (releasing the electronica based EP Sharp Turn in 2004) before venturing in to the worlds of theatre acting and club ownership.
There then followed a significant and influential four year period living in Northern India and Jerusalem, as well as time spent in a Tibetan Monastery; returning from the middle east in late 2008 Dan Reed musically
re-introduced himself by touring as a solo acoustic performer and House Concert artist.
In 2010 Dan Reed released his first solo album Coming Up for Air; it was followed in 2013 by Signal Fire (the same year saw the release of the acoustic album In Between the Noise) and Transmission, released in 2015.
In an extended conversation Dan Reed sat down with FabricationsHQ to cover as many bases as possible, from Fight Another Day to Back in the Day, and all points of musical and personal travel in between…
Ross Muir: I’d like to start with Fight Another Day. That was one of the stand out rock based albums of 2016 and was rated very highly in FabricationsHQ review.
We both know that commercial sales in this digital day and Spotify streamed age are no measure of an album’s worth but you must be very pleased with the positive critical acclaim and review feedback…
Dan Reed: Yes I am. So far it’s been really great and the fact that we didn’t let our old fan-based down was a major accomplishment.
But at the same time we had to make sure we didn’t sound like we did back in the old days.
That was the main goal of this album – what would we sound like had we stuck together all these years and still been performing and recording in this time period?
And now we’re even more excited about making another album! It will be interesting to see where we can take this next, maybe introduce a little more electronics, make it a little heavier; we’ll see where that all goes.
RM: Your mission goal statement about not wanting to let the fan-base down yet not sounding exactly like you did back in the day is interesting because, for me, Fight Another Day is both the natural successor to The Heat, albeit twenty-five years later, but at the same time is an album that musically – and, without any question, lyrically – could only have been written and recorded with that twenty-five years of additional life experience.
DR: That’s a really interesting point and I tend to agree with you, especially intention wise and with the theme of the record; I also think it’s more consistent than our other albums – our other albums were either rooted in love relationship stories or trying to be more idealistic about the state of the world.
This album seems to be grounded firmly with the intention of looking at how we can find light in the shadows, whether that be within our own individual relationships or our relationship with the world.
RM: It's also, to quote from my own review, the band’s "most mature and all-encompassing work to date."
DR: We definitely strove for that when we were in the early composing stage of writing the songs.
Then, when we got to the studio and started recording, it was about trying to be as authentic as possible and not dressing the recorded tracks up too much with a ton of crazy production! [laughs]; it was more about having them be true to the meaning of each song.
So thank you, I’m honoured to hear that you felt we got there.
a one-off hometown gig on New Year's Eve 2012.
However the band went on to play further concerts in 2013, leading to a permanent reunion and, subsequently, the excellent 2016 album Fight Another Day featuring DRN originals Dan Reed (vocals, various instrumentation), Brion James (guitars, vocals) Dan Pred (drums, percussion), Melvin Brannon II (bass, vocals) and new recruit, Dan Reed’s long-time musical collaborator Rob Daiker (co-producer, keyboards, vocals).
But between DRN times Network musical CEO Dan Reed kept himself busy by expanding on his entertainment and life experiences – the multi-talented and multi-disciplined Reed continued to perform live (releasing the electronica based EP Sharp Turn in 2004) before venturing in to the worlds of theatre acting and club ownership.
There then followed a significant and influential four year period living in Northern India and Jerusalem, as well as time spent in a Tibetan Monastery; returning from the middle east in late 2008 Dan Reed musically
re-introduced himself by touring as a solo acoustic performer and House Concert artist.
In 2010 Dan Reed released his first solo album Coming Up for Air; it was followed in 2013 by Signal Fire (the same year saw the release of the acoustic album In Between the Noise) and Transmission, released in 2015.
In an extended conversation Dan Reed sat down with FabricationsHQ to cover as many bases as possible, from Fight Another Day to Back in the Day, and all points of musical and personal travel in between…
Ross Muir: I’d like to start with Fight Another Day. That was one of the stand out rock based albums of 2016 and was rated very highly in FabricationsHQ review.
We both know that commercial sales in this digital day and Spotify streamed age are no measure of an album’s worth but you must be very pleased with the positive critical acclaim and review feedback…
Dan Reed: Yes I am. So far it’s been really great and the fact that we didn’t let our old fan-based down was a major accomplishment.
But at the same time we had to make sure we didn’t sound like we did back in the old days.
That was the main goal of this album – what would we sound like had we stuck together all these years and still been performing and recording in this time period?
And now we’re even more excited about making another album! It will be interesting to see where we can take this next, maybe introduce a little more electronics, make it a little heavier; we’ll see where that all goes.
RM: Your mission goal statement about not wanting to let the fan-base down yet not sounding exactly like you did back in the day is interesting because, for me, Fight Another Day is both the natural successor to The Heat, albeit twenty-five years later, but at the same time is an album that musically – and, without any question, lyrically – could only have been written and recorded with that twenty-five years of additional life experience.
DR: That’s a really interesting point and I tend to agree with you, especially intention wise and with the theme of the record; I also think it’s more consistent than our other albums – our other albums were either rooted in love relationship stories or trying to be more idealistic about the state of the world.
This album seems to be grounded firmly with the intention of looking at how we can find light in the shadows, whether that be within our own individual relationships or our relationship with the world.
RM: It's also, to quote from my own review, the band’s "most mature and all-encompassing work to date."
DR: We definitely strove for that when we were in the early composing stage of writing the songs.
Then, when we got to the studio and started recording, it was about trying to be as authentic as possible and not dressing the recorded tracks up too much with a ton of crazy production! [laughs]; it was more about having them be true to the meaning of each song.
So thank you, I’m honoured to hear that you felt we got there.
RM: You mentioned earlier about not sounding like you did back in the day but that distinct, DRN funk-rock vibe remains, sonically re-sculpted for the twenty-first century.
The Fight Another Day sound is, I would surmise, due in small part to the input of co-producer and keyboardist Rob Daiker?
DR: For sure. I worked with Rob on about half of my first solo album and all of my second solo album – and probably would have worked with him on Transmission, but I recorded it in Prague where I live now.
In fact I was co-producer on a few of his own songs for his first solo album, when he was a young musician in his early twenties, so we’ve worked together for twenty years now.
He's just a master in the studio for capturing performances; he's also a great engineer and a really good songwriter.
Rob is somebody I really respect and like bouncing ideas off of, but Brion James, our guitarist, had never worked with Rob before – and with Rob also being a superb guitarist and having played in some of my solo bands I think there was a little unsureness of how it would work out between those two.
But when we were on tour with Rob at the end of 2015, Brion got a chance to listen to Rob’s solo material; he really let it sink in, lived with it for a while and discovered he loved Rob’s songwriting!
So Brion just became this big fan of Rob’s work and that’s why we’re excited about the next album because Rob didn’t really get a chance to work on the composition of most of the material on this album; if we get to do an album in 2018 we’re going to try and get in a room together, all five of us, and try and compose together as opposed to any long distance songwriting.
We’re really excited about what Rob, Melvin, Dan, Brion and I can do when we get in a room together.
RM: Yes, I would imagine having the quintet together, firing on all five compositional cylinders, is an exciting prospect.
DR: It really is!
RM: Having spoken about Fight Another Day it’s time to feature a song from the album and it has to be Champion, which was released as an Official Music Video in January.
It’s a beautifully atmospheric number but I believe it carries even more weight with the video, due to its concept and the myriad of on-screen faces.
It’s strikingly dramatic and using faces as the focal point? Inspired.
DR: Thank you; I’m happy to hear you like it so much. That was the goal though because so many times in the past I’ve seen videos that just destroyed the song for me [laughs].
Champion is the song that gave the album its title through the line "live to fight another day;" it’s also the band’s personal favourite, for a number of reasons, and I love performing it live.
I also love the message of it, about surrounding ourselves with people who push us to better ourselves as opposed to those who drag our energy down.
I think that’s the message of the band in general and our live shows too; so the last thing we wanted to do was make a video that was going to visually destroy that intention!
Originally it was going be videos of people up on the screen instead of still shots of their faces but then we came up with the concept of just showing their faces and close ups of their eyes, because I think you can really see the heart and soul of people through their eyes.
RM: I agree; I believe there’s great truth in the saying "the eyes are the windows to the soul."
DR: Exactly! We were also lucky enough to work with the world renowned photographer Lee Jeffries, from Manchester in England. All the shots you see in the video of homeless people are his – there’s a lot of history in those faces, a lot of determination and strength to survive...
The Fight Another Day sound is, I would surmise, due in small part to the input of co-producer and keyboardist Rob Daiker?
DR: For sure. I worked with Rob on about half of my first solo album and all of my second solo album – and probably would have worked with him on Transmission, but I recorded it in Prague where I live now.
In fact I was co-producer on a few of his own songs for his first solo album, when he was a young musician in his early twenties, so we’ve worked together for twenty years now.
He's just a master in the studio for capturing performances; he's also a great engineer and a really good songwriter.
Rob is somebody I really respect and like bouncing ideas off of, but Brion James, our guitarist, had never worked with Rob before – and with Rob also being a superb guitarist and having played in some of my solo bands I think there was a little unsureness of how it would work out between those two.
But when we were on tour with Rob at the end of 2015, Brion got a chance to listen to Rob’s solo material; he really let it sink in, lived with it for a while and discovered he loved Rob’s songwriting!
So Brion just became this big fan of Rob’s work and that’s why we’re excited about the next album because Rob didn’t really get a chance to work on the composition of most of the material on this album; if we get to do an album in 2018 we’re going to try and get in a room together, all five of us, and try and compose together as opposed to any long distance songwriting.
We’re really excited about what Rob, Melvin, Dan, Brion and I can do when we get in a room together.
RM: Yes, I would imagine having the quintet together, firing on all five compositional cylinders, is an exciting prospect.
DR: It really is!
RM: Having spoken about Fight Another Day it’s time to feature a song from the album and it has to be Champion, which was released as an Official Music Video in January.
It’s a beautifully atmospheric number but I believe it carries even more weight with the video, due to its concept and the myriad of on-screen faces.
It’s strikingly dramatic and using faces as the focal point? Inspired.
DR: Thank you; I’m happy to hear you like it so much. That was the goal though because so many times in the past I’ve seen videos that just destroyed the song for me [laughs].
Champion is the song that gave the album its title through the line "live to fight another day;" it’s also the band’s personal favourite, for a number of reasons, and I love performing it live.
I also love the message of it, about surrounding ourselves with people who push us to better ourselves as opposed to those who drag our energy down.
I think that’s the message of the band in general and our live shows too; so the last thing we wanted to do was make a video that was going to visually destroy that intention!
Originally it was going be videos of people up on the screen instead of still shots of their faces but then we came up with the concept of just showing their faces and close ups of their eyes, because I think you can really see the heart and soul of people through their eyes.
RM: I agree; I believe there’s great truth in the saying "the eyes are the windows to the soul."
DR: Exactly! We were also lucky enough to work with the world renowned photographer Lee Jeffries, from Manchester in England. All the shots you see in the video of homeless people are his – there’s a lot of history in those faces, a lot of determination and strength to survive...
DR: That particular video was Crowd Funded, as were the other videos we made; all from the budget we had through people supporting the band.
So to be able to do that video was fantastic; it was a great honour to be able to make it.
RM: Yes, a serious shout-out to the fans who contribute to the Crowd Funded and Pledge Music campaigns out there; it's a powerful tool for many bands and a fantastic way to get that direct fan-to-artist interaction.
DR: Absolutely, but then it’s such a paradigm shift as you know – in the old days you would get a label to put up the money and then the label would recoup that money through sales of the product.
But now audiences are putting their own money up front and getting to be part of the project, sometimes even hearing or seeing it before it comes out, which is fantastic.
And, as you said before, about the downturn in CD sales and even on-line sales with people expecting music for free these days because of Spotify and what-have-you – for me that's a negative but there’s also a positive, which is everybody can get to hear your music without committing to buying it or knowing who you are.
Or maybe they’ll check you out on YouTube and decide they want to come and see you.
RM: I totally get the benefits instant accessibility brings, but you have to hope, believe and trust that enough of those YouTube viewers or Spotify streamers will take that next step and buy a ticket for a show or buy a copy of the album.
Sadly I think it's a relatively small percentage that do and I have a serious problem with Spotify, not least the absolute pittance the artist receives per stream.
DR: Taylor Swift is not on Spotify anymore because she has come out and said it’s not a fair pay-out but I think it would need people like Springsteen, U2 and a collective of other big name artists to put pressure on Spotify to distribute funds more fairly.
That would be great but I personally don’t have enough power, or time, to try and organise that sort of thing.
But it’s a shame that the executives and the people who run Spotify are becoming millionaires while the artists who are responsible for putting that music out there are getting paid very little.
I can’t remember the exact numbers but I had about a hundred thousand plays of a song from one of my solo albums and I think I got about sixty-five euros [laughs].
But, at least a hundred thousand people listened to the song and that’s a good thing, right?
RM: Of course, which goes back to the point about the benefit of instant accessibility – but I’m also saying you should be paid accordingly for your craft, your creation, your art…
DR: Well, maybe with hindsight, twenty years from now, we’ll all figure out where we should be with the Internet!
RM: [laughs] Maybe we will at that but until then, for the music artist, the Internet is a classic case of – with apologies to Mr Dickens – "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
DR: Yeah [laughs]
RM: To go back to a time well before Spotify, the Dan Reed Network’s initial three album run.
I always found it interesting that by the time of second album, Slam, the UK and parts of Europe were starting to embrace the band while in the US the powers that be just didn’t know how to market the DRN in an era where melodic rock was on the wane, grunge was on the rise and alt-rock was on the radio.
DR: That’s all very true. I’ve heard that from the people who worked at Polygram back then, and in the industry in general, over the last couple of decades.
In the European market, every country had their Radio One so to speak, and back then Radio One would play everything – pop stuff, rock stuff, funky stuff – they would play Prince next to Van Halen next to whatever was coming up next.
The listening public just seemed to be a little more musically educated and a little more open minded across the different countries in Europe, whereas in America every station was trying to find their market share within the metal community, or the pop community or the rock community and all the rest.
So, where do you put a band like the DRN? Are they an R&B band? Are they a soul band? Are they pop or rock? Are they metal? The answer to that would be different on every song on the records! [laughs]
Then there was the look of the band – I think we just threw everybody for a loop in America [laughs]
It was "just where do we put these guys?" We would open for UB40 and then we were opening for Bon Jovi; then we’d open for Eddie Money and after that David Bowie!
It was just all over the place but it was great to be seen by so many different audiences!
Oh, and I remember we opened up for Run DMC, in San Francisco, and the audience hated us! [laughter]
I’m not joking, they literally hated us [laughs].
RM: Man, that must have been a seriously tough crowd because the one place in America that would usually be open, musically, to anything, would be San Francisco…
DR: I know, right? I thought "this is going to be so cool" because this was right at the time when Run DMC lifted the Aerosmith song Walk This Way as part of their rap-rock.
I thought "OK! Their audiences are all into rock and roll now!" But, nah [laughter]
It was just a little too soon. A couple of years later Living Colour came around with their song Cult of Personality, which opened up things even more for bands like the DRN; then you had Fishbone and the Red Hot Chili Peppers who rose in the late eighties, and bands like Faith No More.
They all proved that funk and hard rock could live side-by-side.
RM: Something the DRN proved in funk-tastic fashion with the self-titled debut and then Slam.
Both garnered deserved, critical acclaim but I think Slam represents what the DRN were all about in a much stronger fashion.
Nile Rodgers captured the live, funk up front sound of the band in his production of Slam whereas the late, great Bruce Fairbairn, on the debut, had that big polished production sound he made his reputation with.
I’m curious to hear what Dan Reed, some thirty years on, thinks…
DR: That’s an interesting question. Before we made the debut album the DRN were just a club band playing four nights a week throughout the North West; our priority was to keep the dance floor busy and keep the club packed during our two, sometimes three, sets each night.
We were doing maybe one or two covers out of two or three hours of music so we were playing pretty much all original stuff and the goal was to be funky, rockin’ and have some dancin’ fun – it wasn’t so much about what this music would sound like on a CD, or listening to it on a record at home, it was about being vibrant in a club atmosphere.
Now, what Bruce Fairbairn did was take that atmosphere and turned it into a really good rock record, but with some really good funky elements from our club days.
I don’t think we could have done Slam had we not gone through that great experience with Bruce and Mike Fraser, who engineered that first record; they helped make that first record sound really strong, especially with how big the drums and the guitars are.
The debut album was recorded up in Little Mountain Sound in Vancouver where Bruce did Aerosmith’s comeback record Permanent Vacation, Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and so many more.
That studio had a great sound to it – in fact I don’t think we ever captured that big drum sound again – but I do believe working with Nile on Slam was taking it to the next level, compositionally and arrangement wise.
Personally? I think they are two different sounding records, fidelity wise; it’s up to the audience to decide which they prefer.
But, yeah, I think Slam was probably our strongest, composition wise.
So to be able to do that video was fantastic; it was a great honour to be able to make it.
RM: Yes, a serious shout-out to the fans who contribute to the Crowd Funded and Pledge Music campaigns out there; it's a powerful tool for many bands and a fantastic way to get that direct fan-to-artist interaction.
DR: Absolutely, but then it’s such a paradigm shift as you know – in the old days you would get a label to put up the money and then the label would recoup that money through sales of the product.
But now audiences are putting their own money up front and getting to be part of the project, sometimes even hearing or seeing it before it comes out, which is fantastic.
And, as you said before, about the downturn in CD sales and even on-line sales with people expecting music for free these days because of Spotify and what-have-you – for me that's a negative but there’s also a positive, which is everybody can get to hear your music without committing to buying it or knowing who you are.
Or maybe they’ll check you out on YouTube and decide they want to come and see you.
RM: I totally get the benefits instant accessibility brings, but you have to hope, believe and trust that enough of those YouTube viewers or Spotify streamers will take that next step and buy a ticket for a show or buy a copy of the album.
Sadly I think it's a relatively small percentage that do and I have a serious problem with Spotify, not least the absolute pittance the artist receives per stream.
DR: Taylor Swift is not on Spotify anymore because she has come out and said it’s not a fair pay-out but I think it would need people like Springsteen, U2 and a collective of other big name artists to put pressure on Spotify to distribute funds more fairly.
That would be great but I personally don’t have enough power, or time, to try and organise that sort of thing.
But it’s a shame that the executives and the people who run Spotify are becoming millionaires while the artists who are responsible for putting that music out there are getting paid very little.
I can’t remember the exact numbers but I had about a hundred thousand plays of a song from one of my solo albums and I think I got about sixty-five euros [laughs].
But, at least a hundred thousand people listened to the song and that’s a good thing, right?
RM: Of course, which goes back to the point about the benefit of instant accessibility – but I’m also saying you should be paid accordingly for your craft, your creation, your art…
DR: Well, maybe with hindsight, twenty years from now, we’ll all figure out where we should be with the Internet!
RM: [laughs] Maybe we will at that but until then, for the music artist, the Internet is a classic case of – with apologies to Mr Dickens – "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
DR: Yeah [laughs]
RM: To go back to a time well before Spotify, the Dan Reed Network’s initial three album run.
I always found it interesting that by the time of second album, Slam, the UK and parts of Europe were starting to embrace the band while in the US the powers that be just didn’t know how to market the DRN in an era where melodic rock was on the wane, grunge was on the rise and alt-rock was on the radio.
DR: That’s all very true. I’ve heard that from the people who worked at Polygram back then, and in the industry in general, over the last couple of decades.
In the European market, every country had their Radio One so to speak, and back then Radio One would play everything – pop stuff, rock stuff, funky stuff – they would play Prince next to Van Halen next to whatever was coming up next.
The listening public just seemed to be a little more musically educated and a little more open minded across the different countries in Europe, whereas in America every station was trying to find their market share within the metal community, or the pop community or the rock community and all the rest.
So, where do you put a band like the DRN? Are they an R&B band? Are they a soul band? Are they pop or rock? Are they metal? The answer to that would be different on every song on the records! [laughs]
Then there was the look of the band – I think we just threw everybody for a loop in America [laughs]
It was "just where do we put these guys?" We would open for UB40 and then we were opening for Bon Jovi; then we’d open for Eddie Money and after that David Bowie!
It was just all over the place but it was great to be seen by so many different audiences!
Oh, and I remember we opened up for Run DMC, in San Francisco, and the audience hated us! [laughter]
I’m not joking, they literally hated us [laughs].
RM: Man, that must have been a seriously tough crowd because the one place in America that would usually be open, musically, to anything, would be San Francisco…
DR: I know, right? I thought "this is going to be so cool" because this was right at the time when Run DMC lifted the Aerosmith song Walk This Way as part of their rap-rock.
I thought "OK! Their audiences are all into rock and roll now!" But, nah [laughter]
It was just a little too soon. A couple of years later Living Colour came around with their song Cult of Personality, which opened up things even more for bands like the DRN; then you had Fishbone and the Red Hot Chili Peppers who rose in the late eighties, and bands like Faith No More.
They all proved that funk and hard rock could live side-by-side.
RM: Something the DRN proved in funk-tastic fashion with the self-titled debut and then Slam.
Both garnered deserved, critical acclaim but I think Slam represents what the DRN were all about in a much stronger fashion.
Nile Rodgers captured the live, funk up front sound of the band in his production of Slam whereas the late, great Bruce Fairbairn, on the debut, had that big polished production sound he made his reputation with.
I’m curious to hear what Dan Reed, some thirty years on, thinks…
DR: That’s an interesting question. Before we made the debut album the DRN were just a club band playing four nights a week throughout the North West; our priority was to keep the dance floor busy and keep the club packed during our two, sometimes three, sets each night.
We were doing maybe one or two covers out of two or three hours of music so we were playing pretty much all original stuff and the goal was to be funky, rockin’ and have some dancin’ fun – it wasn’t so much about what this music would sound like on a CD, or listening to it on a record at home, it was about being vibrant in a club atmosphere.
Now, what Bruce Fairbairn did was take that atmosphere and turned it into a really good rock record, but with some really good funky elements from our club days.
I don’t think we could have done Slam had we not gone through that great experience with Bruce and Mike Fraser, who engineered that first record; they helped make that first record sound really strong, especially with how big the drums and the guitars are.
The debut album was recorded up in Little Mountain Sound in Vancouver where Bruce did Aerosmith’s comeback record Permanent Vacation, Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and so many more.
That studio had a great sound to it – in fact I don’t think we ever captured that big drum sound again – but I do believe working with Nile on Slam was taking it to the next level, compositionally and arrangement wise.
Personally? I think they are two different sounding records, fidelity wise; it’s up to the audience to decide which they prefer.
But, yeah, I think Slam was probably our strongest, composition wise.
RM: I was curious to get your own take on those albums because three decades on it remains a great discussion point – which is stronger, which works better sonically, are they just as good as each other?
But the fact those albums, along with The Heat, also produced by Bruce, are still discussed so passionately and have tracks played across many a rock radio station? That’s the real marker of their quality.
DR: It’s strange you should say that because I’ll be at an after-show party somewhere, or at someone’s house after doing one of those wonderful House Concerts, and someone will put on an old DRN album and I’m still kinda shocked at how all three albums hold up sonically.
Maybe not thematically, or even song wise if I’m honest, but there’s definitely nothing embarrassing or cheesy about any of them, in my opinion.
RM: No, indeed not. For me it comes down to something you said just a moment ago – "being vibrant."
It's all to do with that vibrancy; we can all discuss good songs, bad songs, or have differing tastes on the genre or genres, but there’s a sonic vibrancy there that you cannot deny.
DR: And what’s great is we’re still in touch with the guys who helped give us that sound.
Tom Durack was the mixer and engineer on Slam and I’m still in touch with Tom on FaceBook; we’re good friends and we align politically.
I still talk to Mike Fraser too, who also engineered on The Heat, and Ken Lomas, who was the assistant to Mike on the first album. Ken has a very right wing train of thought on politics so we have very lively debates, on a lot of subjects [laughs].
Bruce has unfortunately passed away of course but Nile is doing great, out there rockin’ bigger and better than ever; I still talk to Nile from time to time as well.
So we have all those guys to thank for the sound of those records and it’s greatly appreciated.
But the fact those albums, along with The Heat, also produced by Bruce, are still discussed so passionately and have tracks played across many a rock radio station? That’s the real marker of their quality.
DR: It’s strange you should say that because I’ll be at an after-show party somewhere, or at someone’s house after doing one of those wonderful House Concerts, and someone will put on an old DRN album and I’m still kinda shocked at how all three albums hold up sonically.
Maybe not thematically, or even song wise if I’m honest, but there’s definitely nothing embarrassing or cheesy about any of them, in my opinion.
RM: No, indeed not. For me it comes down to something you said just a moment ago – "being vibrant."
It's all to do with that vibrancy; we can all discuss good songs, bad songs, or have differing tastes on the genre or genres, but there’s a sonic vibrancy there that you cannot deny.
DR: And what’s great is we’re still in touch with the guys who helped give us that sound.
Tom Durack was the mixer and engineer on Slam and I’m still in touch with Tom on FaceBook; we’re good friends and we align politically.
I still talk to Mike Fraser too, who also engineered on The Heat, and Ken Lomas, who was the assistant to Mike on the first album. Ken has a very right wing train of thought on politics so we have very lively debates, on a lot of subjects [laughs].
Bruce has unfortunately passed away of course but Nile is doing great, out there rockin’ bigger and better than ever; I still talk to Nile from time to time as well.
So we have all those guys to thank for the sound of those records and it’s greatly appreciated.
RM: Following the initial three album run we arrive at the early nineties and the demise of the band in 1993.
If memory serves you never really split up; it seemed to be a case of each member just going their separate way – more of an extended hiatus than a formal split?
DR: That’s very true. There was never a day where we said "yeah, let’s break the band up" although I had planned to take about a year off because we had been touring consistently for seven years, all over the world. In fact with the early North West shows, and the club gigs before that, it was closer to ten years, so it was a decade of non-stop playing and I really needed to take a break.
Management saw that too, so we agreed that I would take a break, but after a year of being back home in Portland, just working with my dad in the garden and walking the dog, everything just seemed to be more chilled and I started working on other projects outside of music.
I think the other band members saw the writing on the wall at that point and kind of just dispersed.
It wasn’t the best way to handle things, that’s for sure; in many ways it was very disrespectful to the crew, the band and a myriad of other people who had worked hard and been around to make sure we were on the road, getting to the shows and taking care of the business side of things.
But I’m just thrilled that we found a way to get back together and we're getting along better than ever these days; our personalities have grown, we’ve matured and now we’re just focussed on kickin' ass live and trying to write some good music!
RM: And long may that continue. But that lengthy hiatus period certainly wasn’t wasted as regards your own personal growth and expanding both your entertainment and geographical horizons.
As you said earlier, you started to get involved in other projects well outside of the musical sphere...
DR: Yeah. I think there were three major things in that period, starting with working in theatre for a few years.
I was learning dialogue from other writers and trying to stand in the shoes of other characters – that all helped me a lot about imagining those characters, and imagining within lyric writing.
Then being a club owner, and seeing how fundamental dance music is at our core – there was a great Mash Up DJ who was mixing all the rock tracks with dance grooves and I remember thinking "this is not far away from what the DRN was doing!" That fed my inspiration for believing I’d be doing music again, some day.
And my time in India and Jerusalem; that brought a deepening of intention as far as being an artist – trying to say something more with every song as opposed to just a song here and there and figuring out how to do it without getting preachy on a soapbox, or being judgemental.
It’s easy to get angry at things that are going on in the world but controlled anger, to quote Gandhi, "can be transmuted into a power which can move the world." I’ve held on to that, especially with the DRN material.
RM: Your "deepening of intention" comment immediately makes me recall Coming Up For Air.
Those journeys through India and Jerusalem clearly influenced your first solo record because aside from being a really nice singer-songwriter styled album it features lyrical themes of world view, the human condition, hopes and fears for the planet and what we’re doing to the planet.
There's a lot more to that album than people might think or first hear…
DR: Thank you. That all began with a Mission Statement I wrote to myself when I was in India.
I wrote it in the front page of my journal and it all was about Intention and that anything done in the future, musically, should have all those core elements in there.
Basically they are love songs for your family, for your friends, for the planet we call home and for yourself, as you try to find empathy and light in all the darkness in the world, or as you try to stand in the shoes of people you totally disagree with. It’s about finding that balance and trying to strike up some humility in your life.
But it’s also about how you convey all that in a song! [laughs] – there was a press agent in London who said "I love the new album but I can’t do anything for you, publicity wise, because it’s too worthy!"
In other words it’s too much of a message, but at the same time I thought "you know what? I’ll take that."
I’d like Coming Up For Air to have that message but when I’m playing these songs live I don’t think it’s about any political, or spiritual, lesson – it’s about trying to convey some kind of positive outlook and letting go of depression, or stress, and filling those dark holes with something brighter.
RM: Amen to that Brother Dan and trust me, that’s as religious as I get [laughter].
Seriously though, listening to you speak there, and in relation to a number of the songs on Coming Up For Air, it’s almost like Buddhism in musical form.
DR: Wouldn’t I love that to be true! [laughs]. But thank you.
RM: Well it’s as high a compliment as I can think of, other than your press guy’s "too worthy" line [laughter]. To keep on the Buddhist path for a moment, I don’t have a religious bone in my body but I have the utmost respect and time for Buddhism – but then for me it’s not so much a religion as the art of common sense, human decency and compassion; something we could all learn from and should aspire to.
DR: The thing for me about Buddhism is that Buddha spoke of loving your enemy four hundred years before Jesus; I feel that what Jesus – or Yeshua – did was to mix Judaism with Buddhism.
But that didn’t go over very well at all, and he was killed for it eventually.
What Buddha said was until you understand your enemy’s point of view you cannot find peace between each other – you need to stand in your enemy’s shoes while looking at yourself and see your actions, or your politics, from your enemy’s point of view.
That always made a lot of sense to me but I had a lot of friends who unfriended me on FaceBook during this last election because I supported Bernie Sanders and I’m concerned about Donald Trump.
Some people unfriended me for that but I much prefer lively debate; when people disagree with me I’ll ask for evidence or a reason on why they would disagree – if they can’t find it or provide it that’s one thing but if they do, or can, then I learn from that or say "oh, I wasn’t aware of that."
It’s the same thing with religions, in that you hope we can all get along some day, but what’s great about Buddhism is there’s no God figure – when you look in the mirror, that's who you need to make peace with.
RM: Indeed. I've also found that some of the most interesting, enlightening and educational conversations it’s been my pleasure to be part of – on any subject you care to mention – have been with Buddhist monks…
DR: I can’t say enough about the eight months I spent at the Tibetan Monastery as regards insight, humility, joy – and discussion!
The monks love debating things and in fact they start debating on every subject and concept of this physical world at a very young age, seven or eight years old.
By the time they are in their twenties, thirties and forties, they are just brilliant when sitting down to have a discussion on, as you said, anything – even on what’s for lunch! [laughs]
RM: Returning from Tibet to Dan Reed the solo artist – Coming Up For Air is the acoustically based singer songwriter... Signal Fire is more rock orientated... Transmission has what I surmise to be a deliberate mid-tempo pulse that works as the perfect platform for the Transmission lyrics to be best "received."
In other words with your solo albums we’re not simply getting Dan Reed without the Network, we’re getting a true extension of Dan Reed the individual.
DR: That’s really nice to hear. With the solo work I’m always trying to make albums, not singles, so I try to have a theme through the whole album, including the artwork.
If memory serves you never really split up; it seemed to be a case of each member just going their separate way – more of an extended hiatus than a formal split?
DR: That’s very true. There was never a day where we said "yeah, let’s break the band up" although I had planned to take about a year off because we had been touring consistently for seven years, all over the world. In fact with the early North West shows, and the club gigs before that, it was closer to ten years, so it was a decade of non-stop playing and I really needed to take a break.
Management saw that too, so we agreed that I would take a break, but after a year of being back home in Portland, just working with my dad in the garden and walking the dog, everything just seemed to be more chilled and I started working on other projects outside of music.
I think the other band members saw the writing on the wall at that point and kind of just dispersed.
It wasn’t the best way to handle things, that’s for sure; in many ways it was very disrespectful to the crew, the band and a myriad of other people who had worked hard and been around to make sure we were on the road, getting to the shows and taking care of the business side of things.
But I’m just thrilled that we found a way to get back together and we're getting along better than ever these days; our personalities have grown, we’ve matured and now we’re just focussed on kickin' ass live and trying to write some good music!
RM: And long may that continue. But that lengthy hiatus period certainly wasn’t wasted as regards your own personal growth and expanding both your entertainment and geographical horizons.
As you said earlier, you started to get involved in other projects well outside of the musical sphere...
DR: Yeah. I think there were three major things in that period, starting with working in theatre for a few years.
I was learning dialogue from other writers and trying to stand in the shoes of other characters – that all helped me a lot about imagining those characters, and imagining within lyric writing.
Then being a club owner, and seeing how fundamental dance music is at our core – there was a great Mash Up DJ who was mixing all the rock tracks with dance grooves and I remember thinking "this is not far away from what the DRN was doing!" That fed my inspiration for believing I’d be doing music again, some day.
And my time in India and Jerusalem; that brought a deepening of intention as far as being an artist – trying to say something more with every song as opposed to just a song here and there and figuring out how to do it without getting preachy on a soapbox, or being judgemental.
It’s easy to get angry at things that are going on in the world but controlled anger, to quote Gandhi, "can be transmuted into a power which can move the world." I’ve held on to that, especially with the DRN material.
RM: Your "deepening of intention" comment immediately makes me recall Coming Up For Air.
Those journeys through India and Jerusalem clearly influenced your first solo record because aside from being a really nice singer-songwriter styled album it features lyrical themes of world view, the human condition, hopes and fears for the planet and what we’re doing to the planet.
There's a lot more to that album than people might think or first hear…
DR: Thank you. That all began with a Mission Statement I wrote to myself when I was in India.
I wrote it in the front page of my journal and it all was about Intention and that anything done in the future, musically, should have all those core elements in there.
Basically they are love songs for your family, for your friends, for the planet we call home and for yourself, as you try to find empathy and light in all the darkness in the world, or as you try to stand in the shoes of people you totally disagree with. It’s about finding that balance and trying to strike up some humility in your life.
But it’s also about how you convey all that in a song! [laughs] – there was a press agent in London who said "I love the new album but I can’t do anything for you, publicity wise, because it’s too worthy!"
In other words it’s too much of a message, but at the same time I thought "you know what? I’ll take that."
I’d like Coming Up For Air to have that message but when I’m playing these songs live I don’t think it’s about any political, or spiritual, lesson – it’s about trying to convey some kind of positive outlook and letting go of depression, or stress, and filling those dark holes with something brighter.
RM: Amen to that Brother Dan and trust me, that’s as religious as I get [laughter].
Seriously though, listening to you speak there, and in relation to a number of the songs on Coming Up For Air, it’s almost like Buddhism in musical form.
DR: Wouldn’t I love that to be true! [laughs]. But thank you.
RM: Well it’s as high a compliment as I can think of, other than your press guy’s "too worthy" line [laughter]. To keep on the Buddhist path for a moment, I don’t have a religious bone in my body but I have the utmost respect and time for Buddhism – but then for me it’s not so much a religion as the art of common sense, human decency and compassion; something we could all learn from and should aspire to.
DR: The thing for me about Buddhism is that Buddha spoke of loving your enemy four hundred years before Jesus; I feel that what Jesus – or Yeshua – did was to mix Judaism with Buddhism.
But that didn’t go over very well at all, and he was killed for it eventually.
What Buddha said was until you understand your enemy’s point of view you cannot find peace between each other – you need to stand in your enemy’s shoes while looking at yourself and see your actions, or your politics, from your enemy’s point of view.
That always made a lot of sense to me but I had a lot of friends who unfriended me on FaceBook during this last election because I supported Bernie Sanders and I’m concerned about Donald Trump.
Some people unfriended me for that but I much prefer lively debate; when people disagree with me I’ll ask for evidence or a reason on why they would disagree – if they can’t find it or provide it that’s one thing but if they do, or can, then I learn from that or say "oh, I wasn’t aware of that."
It’s the same thing with religions, in that you hope we can all get along some day, but what’s great about Buddhism is there’s no God figure – when you look in the mirror, that's who you need to make peace with.
RM: Indeed. I've also found that some of the most interesting, enlightening and educational conversations it’s been my pleasure to be part of – on any subject you care to mention – have been with Buddhist monks…
DR: I can’t say enough about the eight months I spent at the Tibetan Monastery as regards insight, humility, joy – and discussion!
The monks love debating things and in fact they start debating on every subject and concept of this physical world at a very young age, seven or eight years old.
By the time they are in their twenties, thirties and forties, they are just brilliant when sitting down to have a discussion on, as you said, anything – even on what’s for lunch! [laughs]
RM: Returning from Tibet to Dan Reed the solo artist – Coming Up For Air is the acoustically based singer songwriter... Signal Fire is more rock orientated... Transmission has what I surmise to be a deliberate mid-tempo pulse that works as the perfect platform for the Transmission lyrics to be best "received."
In other words with your solo albums we’re not simply getting Dan Reed without the Network, we’re getting a true extension of Dan Reed the individual.
DR: That’s really nice to hear. With the solo work I’m always trying to make albums, not singles, so I try to have a theme through the whole album, including the artwork.
DR: Coming Up For Air was about learning to breathe again, spiritually, in a suffocating environment; Signal Fire was a message from the distance, telling you there was either safe passage or a warning to stay away.
Transmission was about taking the knowledge and insight you have learned, transmitting it both inward and outward, and seeing what came back from both yourself and those outside your sphere.
If I do a fourth solo album it will be about receiving a bounced back message from somewhere else – well, hopefully! [laughs]
RM: So there’s an underlying concept linking the individual album themes – both musically and artistically.
DR: I was a fan of Pink Floyd growing up; I liked the fact that their albums seemed to be telling a cinematic story of the soul or the mind.
I liked Led Zeppelin and Queen’s album covers, Journey’s too, with the Scarab beetle – there always seemed to be a theme to their career, not just a hit song on each album.
People say "one hit wonders" about so many different bands but the bands I grew up listening to seemed to have a real strong theme, or path – I’ve done that with my solo stuff, I've tried to do that with the DRN and if the band goes on to make more albums I’m sure we’ll continue in that tradition.
RM: It’s also the best of both worlds in that you have your solo career and the bigger, all-encompassing band environment to express yourself.
And live, you can be funkin’ and rockin’ it up with the Dan Reed Network in front of a rock audience but you also have the opportunity to play in more intimate surroundings through your one-man solo tours and the House Concerts.
It's clear to me you don’t just love playing in those differing environments, you positively embrace them.
DR: Well they are all exercising different muscles of the spirit; a Dan Reed Network concert is external energy and celebrating life within a quite bombastic, bob your head and shake your butt type show [laughs]
The solo shows and their material, the songs, are not really about that; they are more of an internalised energy. One could even say masculine and feminine, but definitely external and internal.
At the end of the Network shows I’m covered in sweat and my knees are killing me [laughs]; at the end of the solo shows I’m usually not covered in sweat but, energy wise, I’ve spent every last piece of my heart and soul trying to mean every single word of those songs.
When I’m playing with the Network I lose track of that thought process because I’m watching four other great musicians on stage beside me and seeing all those joyful faces in the audience in front of me.
So they are totally different but yes, I embrace them both equally.
RM: And we get to see that externalised energy in all its bombastic, head bobbing and butt shaking glory when the DRN head out on an eleven date UK tour in March…
DR: We’re really looking forward to it – and tell all our Scottish fans we’re playing Glasgow this time around!
RM: Indeed you are and trust me, you’ll get quite the "Weegie" welcome, and quite the atmosphere, at the Oran Mor. It's a great venue.
DR: Fantastic, and the other great thing is our friends Vega are supporting us on all the UK dates except Sheffield – I hope everyone comes early to see them because they’re a great band.
RM: I can vouch for that. As we wrap up we're going to feature another song, this time from one of your solo albums, and I’d like you to choose it.
DR: Thank you Ross. There's so many I really like but I’ll tell you what – let’s make it All I Need Is You.
It’s a rockin’ kinda song, I like the lyric and it’s got a great groove – in fact Brion James said to me "Dude, that could have been a DRN song!" [laughs]
RM: Well having discussed both your solo career and the DRN at length, that’s the perfect song to end with.
Dan, thanks for making this an extended and all-bases covered chat; it’s been a pleasure and an absolute blast.
DR: Well thank you brother, I appreciate the opportunity – I'll see you in Glasgow and we’ll see all our fans out on the road!
Transmission was about taking the knowledge and insight you have learned, transmitting it both inward and outward, and seeing what came back from both yourself and those outside your sphere.
If I do a fourth solo album it will be about receiving a bounced back message from somewhere else – well, hopefully! [laughs]
RM: So there’s an underlying concept linking the individual album themes – both musically and artistically.
DR: I was a fan of Pink Floyd growing up; I liked the fact that their albums seemed to be telling a cinematic story of the soul or the mind.
I liked Led Zeppelin and Queen’s album covers, Journey’s too, with the Scarab beetle – there always seemed to be a theme to their career, not just a hit song on each album.
People say "one hit wonders" about so many different bands but the bands I grew up listening to seemed to have a real strong theme, or path – I’ve done that with my solo stuff, I've tried to do that with the DRN and if the band goes on to make more albums I’m sure we’ll continue in that tradition.
RM: It’s also the best of both worlds in that you have your solo career and the bigger, all-encompassing band environment to express yourself.
And live, you can be funkin’ and rockin’ it up with the Dan Reed Network in front of a rock audience but you also have the opportunity to play in more intimate surroundings through your one-man solo tours and the House Concerts.
It's clear to me you don’t just love playing in those differing environments, you positively embrace them.
DR: Well they are all exercising different muscles of the spirit; a Dan Reed Network concert is external energy and celebrating life within a quite bombastic, bob your head and shake your butt type show [laughs]
The solo shows and their material, the songs, are not really about that; they are more of an internalised energy. One could even say masculine and feminine, but definitely external and internal.
At the end of the Network shows I’m covered in sweat and my knees are killing me [laughs]; at the end of the solo shows I’m usually not covered in sweat but, energy wise, I’ve spent every last piece of my heart and soul trying to mean every single word of those songs.
When I’m playing with the Network I lose track of that thought process because I’m watching four other great musicians on stage beside me and seeing all those joyful faces in the audience in front of me.
So they are totally different but yes, I embrace them both equally.
RM: And we get to see that externalised energy in all its bombastic, head bobbing and butt shaking glory when the DRN head out on an eleven date UK tour in March…
DR: We’re really looking forward to it – and tell all our Scottish fans we’re playing Glasgow this time around!
RM: Indeed you are and trust me, you’ll get quite the "Weegie" welcome, and quite the atmosphere, at the Oran Mor. It's a great venue.
DR: Fantastic, and the other great thing is our friends Vega are supporting us on all the UK dates except Sheffield – I hope everyone comes early to see them because they’re a great band.
RM: I can vouch for that. As we wrap up we're going to feature another song, this time from one of your solo albums, and I’d like you to choose it.
DR: Thank you Ross. There's so many I really like but I’ll tell you what – let’s make it All I Need Is You.
It’s a rockin’ kinda song, I like the lyric and it’s got a great groove – in fact Brion James said to me "Dude, that could have been a DRN song!" [laughs]
RM: Well having discussed both your solo career and the DRN at length, that’s the perfect song to end with.
Dan, thanks for making this an extended and all-bases covered chat; it’s been a pleasure and an absolute blast.
DR: Well thank you brother, I appreciate the opportunity – I'll see you in Glasgow and we’ll see all our fans out on the road!
Ross Muir
Muirsical Conversation with Dan Reed
February 2017
Muirsical Conversation with Dan Reed
February 2017
Dan Reed official website: http://danreed.com/
The Dan Reed Network official website: http://danreed-network.com/
Dan Reed Photo Credit: Laurence Harvey
Audio tracks presented to accompany the above article and to promote the work of the artists.
No infringement of copyright is intended.