Daniel came to Austin in 2002, leaving the cold, hard concrete slate of Chicago, and the frigid, albeit friendly nowhere streets of St. Paul, MN that he grew up in. Seeking a warm place to belong he found it back in Austin, the city in which he was born in June of 1979. And with familial roots going back seven generations and a slow, steady disposition, Austin naturally fit like a hat.
Always a creator, Daniel has dipped his toes into a variety of art forms; film, drawing, photography, journalism, poetry/philosophy, while his love for music of many styles remained constant. His start in writing songs came like a calling with his political and societal dissolution. During the seeming tranquility of 90's prosperous America, a peaceful world was like an inevitability, just an assumption or wishful thought, but after 9/11 it became clear that this America was, yet again, not going to choose peace over destruction and someone had to do or say something. Someone had to be there to counter the dark, knee-jerk, thoughtless impulses of the ignorant, angry and scared. Someone needed to come out and preach understanding, forgiveness, truth, and the hope of a better world in such a spiritual wasteland as this modern society. And this remains the root of why Daniel makes music.
Art is often the expression of those whose thoughts are too deep, too right, too truthful and too different than what is accepted in everyday life-function -- much less mainstream television or radio. So these songs, these paintings, these sculptures in colors and symbols and sounds, are merely what has to be said. The other option is slow self-destruction that may manifest in suburban living and an eight-to-five office job. To an artist or someone with a loud soul that needs to be heard, that life is death.
An avid disciple of Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Nina Simone and other socially conscious songwriters, Daniel had found an appreciative crowd at anti-war rallies and benefits for other such causes. He went on the road with peace-mom Cindy Sheehan during the summer of 2005 on her "Journey for Humanity" opening up for her in cities and towns from New Orleans on up to New York City. He has also played in the psychedelic folk-rock band "The Lovers" from their inception for the recording of a Christmas album in 2003 to their ending in 2009 due to the death of one of the singers, Starr, of cancer. Starr was also Dan's wife and soul-mate and he has, through the process found loads of inspiration, beauty and sadness, that is illustrated in some of his newer material.
In '08 he formed a solo band called "Castro's Beard" to drive some of his funkier political songs into mind frames. It disbanded, and, in the summer of '09, he started recording a full-length album, "Warrior Utopian", produced by Courtney Audain (of "Timbuk-3" and "Pressure" fame) using studio musicians. It is set to be released in October of '10 and is sure to raise some hairs and hearts. "Warrior Utopian" contains many of his broader-themed political songs, spirituals and revolution anthems, written over the past years as well as some happy-times love songs about Starr. Next in line to get out to the world is the bunches of songs he wrote through the grieving process and beyond – with the depth, reality, freedom and hope that comes along with change.
His sets are a mixture of these multiple phases of his life's 30 years work and play. Through these lessons Dan has taken his sound from primitive folk to rock, soul and reggae and then maybe back to folk. His themes started out in deep spirituality and evolved into incendiary protest music and have since settled back to the root of it all: spirit and love. Everything he has done he takes with him and he is always changing, trying touch that inner voice that needs to come out for the world to feel. He has written and recorded, since 2003, over a hundred songs and self released around six albums. He currently performs with acoustic guitar and harmonica rack, in a band or solo.