Hey everybody, Dan Howler is going to be featured solo and acoustic in the 8th Anniversary of Borrowed Tunes, a concert celebrating the music of Neil Young and featuring some of the finest singer-songwriters from the area. The show is running two nights, May 1st and 2nd at Hugh’s Room in downtown Toronto. Links below for details and ticket info: Click for tickets to the show Friday May 1st Click for tickets to the show Saturday May 2nd Here’s a little preview of what you’re going to hear at the show. It’ll be a night of great music from one of the most influential Canadian songwriters of all time so if you’re in Toronto don’t miss it.
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The hats of the Dan Howler record: a photo essay
As weeks passed at the Sound Distillery, we noticed a huge diversity in both our musical inspiration and our headgear. What if the two are entwined? What if the music we make is, in part, a product of the hats we wear while making it? After all, they say the clothes make the man.
And with that in mind, we bring you The hats of the Dan Howler record: a photo essay.
We start off with a classic Toque. We have been recording all winter so we have seen plain, warm toques in an array of colours.
Here, Dave is sporting a plain toque, but with a twist! Look how carelessly it is perched atop his head, as if he just threw it on without any thought for how it looks. This level of nonchalance takes years of practice.
Next up is Will sporting a baseball hat, but backwards because he’s super serious and focused. This style also serves the technical function of keeping your long hippie hair out of your ears so you can hear the monitors.
Here you can see Dan stepping up the baseball hat game with a super fly wooly hat. Dan totally picked this very stylish hat out himself.
Sometimes the realities of winter clash with our good taste. In these circumstances we bring out the big guns. Kitchener set a record this year with a temperature of -34C. On nights like that, there’s nothing better than having a dead animal on your head. Thanks for your sacrifice little bunny wabbit.
In his own words “Let’s not be afraid to get twangy with this one.” Nothing helps get in a twangy mood like a good hillbilly hat. This one will come in handy when Will gives up his career as an engineer to be a dirty bum.
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Dan is getting into the twangy spirit with his own farmer hat. He can pull it off cause he’s from Elmira.
Here we are on one of our many Shawarma breaks during a long night of working. It’s important to have a good baseball cap and maybe a pair of sunglasses to hide from the paparazzi. They’re not following us yet, but it’s good to be prepared.
Even I got in on the baseball cap game, mainly to keep my hair our of my face while were working. This one makes me play bass like a child.
Here you see Dan sporting his “Heritage” trucker hat. We have a lot in common with truckers, because we really want them to listen to our music in their trucks. We also have a strong connection with our heritage, you know, cause we have grandparents and stuff.
And the grand prize for biggest, baddest hat goes to the man himself, Dan Howler. This one only comes out when the banjos and mandolins are around for an all out ho-down!
Maestro Matt Sotnik
We first met Matt Sotnik through his band Ill Evans, where we heard him playing funk, jazz, hip hop, R&B and everything soulful. Politely sitting behind the keyboard like the maestro that he is, when we needed somebody who knew their way around a keyboard, we called Matt right away.
After hammering all the funk and jazz out of his nimble fingers, he had the pain and anguish in his soul to jam out some awesome blues, rock, and country parts on piano, organ, and a lot of weird keyboards, I mean really weird. You’ll be hearing lots of Matt on the new tracks as they appear.
Matt joined the band to play our first show at Maxwell’s Concerts and Events in Waterloo in January, 2015 (watch a clip), and will be playing keyboard, piano, and organ on our upcoming CD release shows, details and dates coming soon.
Here are some pictures from Matt’s session.
New Year’s Update: Guitar Heaven and Hell
So after a short hiatus for festivus, we’re back in the studio working on the album. We’ve entered guitar heaven/hell as we dig deep looking for the perfect tone for every track, then try for the perfect performance.
We’ve finally got the talented Mr. Will Abell in the studio putting a little secret sauce on everything. With Will in the mix we have a truly gratuitous selection of guitars and amps to choose from. Sometimes the choice leads to paralysis instead of perfection.
But despite this, we forge on and we make progress. To see videos from the studio and hear little sneak previews of some of the tracks, make sure to check out the Dan Howler instagram:
And here are a few pics of the fun we’ve been having working on guitars at the Sound Distillery.
– Ian
Boys writing parts in the control room.
The right tool for the job.
That guitar sounds like garbage!
WHAAT?????
Duncan working on accoustic overdubs.
Nailed it!
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Drum Machine
Almost every musician I know has made the ‘I’ll just get a drum machine’ joke at one time or another. If you haven’t heard that one, you probably need to get out more.
Even though we joke about it, in reality, people fear drum machines. And I guess on the surface the fear is reasonable: lots of today’s pop music uses samples, loops, and drum machines for rhythm tracks rather than a real drummer. And that makes drummers fear for their jobs.
I spent a few hours yesterday programming a drum machine that might end up replacing me on tracks – might cost me some of my work. And even though that sounds a little crazy, when it comes to software instruments, us artists ought to keep in mind what our goals really are. We all know that drum machines can work remarkably on a track when used properly. So why fight them? They’re a means to an end. And if this particular means will get your tune a licensing deal, or get you some airplay, or sell some records, who are you (A lowly drummer! That’s who!) to argue with it?
If you’re a drummer, your skills are unique and valuable regardless of whether or not you’re actually playing. Ever watched a guitar player try to program a compound meter traditional Ghanaian groove into a MIDI/sampled track? Not a chance. They don’t know how.
So fellow drummers: don’t fight the drum machine. Embrace it as a subset of your percussion skills. You didn’t fight when someone asked you to learn to play the glockenspiel for your (progressive!) indie folk grunge fusion band. Why fight this? In the end, if we all made careers out of programming drum machine plugins on sessions… well, things could be worse. You could be schlepping a hundred pound bag of hardware up a narrow staircase into a filthy club to set up your beloved vintage Radio Kings. Playing a gig for sixty bucks. I think I’ll take that comfy control room chair whenever I get the chance.
-Duncan
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