Besides Daniel

Live at Eddie's Attic...

2012-01-13T11:11:00.000-08:00

Bon Iver - Blood Bank Cover

2011-11-28T15:56:00.000-08:00

Remember The Mountain Bed

2011-11-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

what Brewer is up to...

2011-11-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

A cool mention from a friend... Anna Norris,

http://anna-norris.blogspot.com/2011/11/danny-brewer-bikes-bands.html

Thanks Anna!

Tim Walker & I...

2011-09-17T10:51:00.001-07:00

Tim Walker is a great friend and we are playing together on the 27th of September at Eddie's Attic. Please look up the show info HERE

Our friends at Indie Vision Music.

2011-06-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks Indie Vision !

they said... "If you haven’t checked out this talented folk group before, check them out now. We did a review of their last album and featured them on the site as well."

http://www.indievisionmusic.com/2011/02/16/download-besides-daniel/

noisetrade

2011-05-29T06:45:00.001-07:00

a small update...

2011-05-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

So I've been taking a bit of a break lately, I moved into a new place in East Atlanta & have bee building bicycles to support myself. It has been fun. Taking a break from relentless booking, playing and travel has been a great time of rest. I've been living like a normal person!!! Interesting! But I'm beginning to feel that old familiar itch. I hope to get out on the road for a short time later in the year, and perhaps record a record later in the year too. I'm doing some short runs on the road in the near future but nothing very extensive. Holding down rent, and a small biz is fun & I'm finding it rewarding. I hope to balance my musical ambitions and this lifestyle over the next year or so while I make a new record & work hard to get back into the music game full force. Who knows what might could happen in the next year? Thanks so much for your listenership, your encouraging words, and your love.

Please keep in touch.

-danny

A Fond Farewell - Elliott Smith Cover

2011-02-23T23:48:00.000-08:00

Unpolished Songwriting

2011-02-16T12:08:00.000-08:00

DVD for purchase online...

2011-01-25T20:59:00.000-08:00

2011-01-25T20:13:00.000-08:00

Molly Parden!

2010-12-24T07:48:00.000-08:00

A note from Chuck Hicks.

2010-12-18T08:44:00.000-08:00

Hello, All, Danny here. I'd like to thank Chuck Hicks for this amazing write up on his thoughts of us. I really enjoyed what he had to say. Thanks Chuck!

------------------------------

Happy accident. Or divine providence. I stumbled upon the band Besides Daniel while looking at a review of Standing Small’s Asleep At the Oars… on the Blue Indian web site. In a corner of the page was a video of Danny Brewer and Molly Parden performing at a small club in their native Georgia. Intrigued, I looked them up on Youtube and discovered a knockout cover of Big Star’s ”Watch the Sunrise”.

Then I found Besides Daniel (Brewer’s band) and its video for ”The Field”. It’s hackneyed to say it, but the only word I can find for this song and video is poignant. It rolls through my mind every time I visit the graveyard above my mom’s house in East Tennessee. It convinced me that Brewer is what my wife calls an “old soul.” The ancients know his type.

I’ve listened to every Besides Daniel song my computer can snag from cyberspace. This music moves in every direction while remaining nominally “folk” (and dodging that dull appellation, “Americana”). Every syllable Brewer sings, every note played is worth listening to. Standing Small’s Ryan Fletcher put it best: “From the first couple of notes and the first line of lyrics, Danny draws you in.” I’ll confine my thoughts to just three of Beside Daniel’s lesser known songs – three that are radically diverse in style from one another – to infer just some of the breadth of their work.

“Ignatius” is named for the bishop of Antioch who was carried to Rome in a cage and fed to the lions around 108 A.D. This taut, up-tempo piece combines driving layers of acoustic guitar and dense harmonies in a style that glances early ‘70s British prog. Lyrically, it juxtaposes incisive images from the mundane with the thoughts of the determined martyr: a homeless person looking to sell cigarette butts to a convenience store, a varmint ravaging a garbage can, and a man who has grown too large for his clothes. These elements are swept along by the ardor of Ignatius’ desire to be “ground by the teeth of beasts / made into flour or more / baked into bread for my Love to eat.” The song suggests that the sheer enormity of Christ’s death and resurrection – which the martyr longs to share – infuse meaning into the seemingly random events of everyday life. Among Brewer’s gifts is the ability to report what he sees with clarity, but free of premature judgment. A rare quality, indeed.

“car, duck, train, bird” is a devastating, funereal dirge. The one repeated phrase in the cut-and-paste soundscape is simply:

What were we thinking (of), me and you?

I thought better of love than this

The words merely frame the drama within the sounds: a glib female voice repeating “car, duck, train bird,” a descending, reverberating piano line, distorted accordion, and an overdriven electric guitar. Ringing over the first half of the piece is a Glockenspiel. Halfway through the track the tension reaches its apogee: the female voice and Glockenspiel give way to an electronic bleep. Brewer’s voice becomes manipulated and distorted. It’s an experience akin to not being able to take your eyes off a terrible accident: the spellbinding soundtrack of a relationship destroyed – or of Adam and Eve driven from the Garden.

And finally, “Lake Michigan.” Here, Brewer’s voice and guitar could easily be mistaken for a young David Gilmour, especially when he strkes G major in the refrain. Here, a week before Christmas, a young man is on the run (though not very far) from an abusive guardian, on a drinking and driving binge in an “old orange car….as big as a satellite.”

You wouldn't know it now

If you did, you would blow it down

Yeah, your anger, it would shake the ground

As it is you don't make a sound

Circumstances, including the weather, seem to conspire against him, until finally,

It happened so quickly

You lost control of your car

You lay looking up at the stars

Wondering how far they are

You closed your eyes

You took your last breath...

But this is never quite the end. In Brewer’s reckoning there is a providential love deeper than Lake Michigan:

And now here you are

Here on my front step

Son, welcome home

Grace. No matter where it roams, Besides Daniel’s music is surrounded by a grace that draws you in. So I keep listening….

Two new MP3s are now available for download via Noisetrade

2010-11-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

I have been writing and traveling and living out of my van as of late. It's been an adventure to say the least.
Just wanted to let everyone know that two new tunes can be downloaded here. They are available on Noisetrade for only a few days. I'll be making my demo recordings available for a short window of time. They are some unpolished and raw home recordings of recent songs. They will be in a sort rotation meaning as I write more I will switch them out. They will change every week or so do me a favor and listen right away and get back to me to let me know what you think. I figure this will be a good way to get feedback on the tunes so I know what songs are best received.

Song #1
"Unanswered Questions"

I wrote this about my family. Each verse has it's respective person. The lyrics have a few scenes from my memories of growing up. It explores the wonder of our recollections.

Lyrics :
turn it over momma,
don't you remember the warmth of the fire
grandmas blankets you pinned up
in all the doorways to keep heat inside

back when I was your baby
all the things that get stuck in our head,
is it the smell of gardenias?
that poppa bought you as you laid in your bed

Oh it's all the things we remember
oh it's all the things we forget
it's all of the unanswered questions
Hid in the way that you love me

it's the color of curtains,
it's the smile that I put on your face.
it's the songs you would sing to
all the ways I invaded your space

when your hair was so tangled
mom would forced you to put in a comb
we would pick at each other
but you're so elegant now that you're grown

Oh it's all the things we remember
oh it's all the things we forget
it's all of the unanswered questions
Hid in the way that you love me

it's the drive to kentucky
it's the smell of the car we would take
it's the scars on your fingers
and all the changes you made for our sake

Oh it's all the things we remember
oh it's all the things we forget
it's all of the unanswered questions
Hid in the way that you love me

Song # 2
Set Sail

This is a song about a trip to Young Harris Georgia with my good friends Jordan-Anne Poe & Tyler Lyle. We talked quite a bit while driving and this is about those conversations. The chorus is a way of saying that most things I make an effort to do turn out to be unfruitful and it is as though I'm trying to set sail on everything else but the sea-like I have yet to know where my home is.

Lyrics :

I move from the drivers seat,
and the vehicle keeps moving
You take over take over for me,
why am I not okay with me?

I set sail on everything else but the sea

conversation into the mountain
you insisted that I'm okay,
we spoke about how we were raised
filled with "should of's" and razor blades

I set sail on everything else but the sea

we rode with them up to the look out.
and we laughed at what we were doing there
We are never the people that we think we are
you are not the person that you think you are

I set sail on everything else but the sea

Our DVD is now available online!

2010-08-31T16:48:00.000-07:00

Our DVD is now available via PayPal for only $5. It will be mailed to you for $2.

If you don't have a PayPal account you can still pay with a debit/credit card.

Simply click the buy now button below.

Eddies Attic

2010-08-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

We are playing Eddies Attic on the 5th of October so be sure to put it on your calendars! See you there!

FREE MUSIC!

2010-07-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

A few cool videos...

2010-06-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

Tell some of your friends about us and get some free music.

2010-05-25T13:27:00.000-07:00

Our updated bio...

2010-04-26T14:27:00.001-07:00

Besides Daniel is an independent folk band from the center of Georgia. Embarking in 2001 as a solo project of Danny Brewer, the effort briefly became a duo of two lovers. In the winter of 2009 the group outgrew the iconic pair as the romance of the duo dissolved. Today Besides Daniel endures as a full band. Crafting unique folk songs about friendships, faith, daydreams, romance, and pain, Besides Daniel hopes to inspire love, beauty, creativity, and thoughtfulness.

The current line up includes Aaron Schorch (drums), Ryan Robertson (bass) and Danny Brewer (guitar/vocals)-though a live show could, and most often does include their friends who give their time and talent playing an eclectic array of various instruments such as; sax, cello, violin, melodica, tambourine, banjo, accordion, keys, organ, and whatever else is close at hand. At home in the hot, humid summers, chilly winters, and otherwise perfect southern metropolis of Atlanta, you'll hear a bit of the south ring through in their repertoire.

Writer and creative force behind the project is Danny Brewer. His influences are songwriters like Bob Dylan, A.A. Bondy, Ray LaMontagne, Sufjan Stevens, Nick Drake, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Elliott Smith, Conor Oberst, and Samuel Beam (Iron & Wine), as well as bands like Sigur Ros, Radiohead, MeWithoutYou, and Arcade Fire.

"Besides Daniel is a shining anomaly... From the first pleasant chimes of opening track “The Field” on the band's EP, one gains a warm feeling of benevolence, like a child wrapped in a blanket of comfort. Truly, the vocals have a cathartic power. [Leaves] one touched yet yearning for more. Rare moments like these are the true mark of accomplished work." -Matt Amato, Metromix Atlanta

Free Download

2010-04-23T21:20:00.000-07:00

WE MADE IT!!!!

2010-04-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all those who took the time to pre-order the DVD & to help support Art!

You do the math.

2010-04-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

67 hours left. That means we need $17.69 an hour till monday @ 3 PM. Not too hard to do right?

2010-04-01T14:52:00.000-07:00

So we have 10 days left to reach our goal of $2000 that will fund our DVD project. We have been biting our nails a bit, but we trust that our fan-base and friends will come through. Aspiring to create art for a living is a precarious undertaking. Especially when one has strict independent ideals. Some risk great career opportunities, a comfortable lifestyle, and even personal relationships to create art as a vocation. Besides Daniel hopes to inspire creativity, honesty, and community with our music, but as with everything else in this world, our ambitions are dependent on the willingness of those who enjoy the fruit of our work to make an exchange. We don't demand much, only a few bucks & a moment of your time to make the purchase. To think that ones dreams can come true if only a few folks took a sec to pre-order a DVD the price of a meal is an amazing concept. We believe it is possible. Please do your part to keep art alive. Keep the DIY ideal alive. Support art and the world will be a more beautiful place, and the world will thank you, or at least we will… in our DVD booklet thing.

http://kck.st/ag81uW

Learn to say Goodbye

2010-03-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

Show your love!

2010-03-12T14:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks to TWIN KITTENS for taking pictures of the new line up.

2010-03-10T11:19:00.001-08:00

Mexico Cover

2010-03-09T07:10:00.000-08:00

New shirts coming soon.

2010-02-25T08:41:00.001-08:00

We are printing on all second hand shirts. We find our shirts mostly at thrift stores. If you are OCD & can't wear second hand clothing, then you most likely don't like our music anyways... Look for our shirts on our online store and for sure at our upcoming shows.

Brandon Latham is helping out with the printing so look him up if you need some shirts made.

"Bike Tour" tour

2010-02-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

Danny is doing a solo "bike tour" tour soon. He'll be riding to Chicago on bike over the course of about two weeks-stopping every 60 miles or so to do an intimate house show. The journey will be about 800 miles & it will take him 15 days to pedal it all. He plans on flying home from Chicago after he has sold his bike to someone there in the windy city (God Bless Craigslist). He will leave on May the 26th & fly home on June the 12th after a few days of biking about Chicago & seeing some old friends.

What he will need at every stop is a guitar to play, a shower, food, and a place to sleep. Can you help???

View Larger Map

Jan 2010

2010-01-16T21:47:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

We want to share with you one of our favorite sites. It is called Last.fm. Please check out our page here.

Some very cool features on Besides Daniel.

2009-10-28T09:03:00.000-07:00
We'd like to compile a short list of the awesome folks who have been getting the word out about Besides Daniel lately. Thanks to all of these generous people.

One of our foreign fans posted "The Field" music video to their Tumblr.

BeATL features us on their great local ATL music website.

Heroes of Indie Music features some of our covers on their blog.

As noted before, the Blue Indian had a phone interview with Danny on their indie music site.

Hope you're enjoying autumn, we sure are! Also, we look forward to playing shows again starting in 2010. Keep your ear to the ground for our 5 song Christmas sampler!

Love,
Besides Daniel

Listen to our newest song, "Learn to Unlearn"

2009-10-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

Interview with luke Goddard.

2009-10-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

Interview with Besides Daniel from Blue Indian on Vimeo.

Check out WWW.TheBlueIndian.com

One Of These Things First - Nick Drake - Cover

2009-09-30T00:31:00.000-07:00

Free Downloads

2009-09-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

thoughts from Danny

2009-09-09T11:02:00.001-07:00
Learning to form ideas is like sculpting a stone. Reading Dylan is like hearing a song. Thoughts are sterile & dull until leaned upon & squeezed like a fruit until, every drop is ready to be absorbed. It is art that is as unending as the cosmos. Any detail of our lives gives reason to muse endlessly. Only thoughts remain. like stones. giant unmovable substance that can only be misunderstood by one willingly ignorant. learn to interpret self. To search for context & sub-context so as to create what will be. As we all try to discover our chief end. My chief end in today is the cultivating of all that has come before me. And then to relay it to the ones who might come after. this is done via thought in form. via idea in shape. Via Creation. No context is without weight. All insight is a building block for the structure of mind. The world is a collage of noise. Artists suck out the tune. Harness it like a wind. Write, sing, sculpt, dream, paint, dance, whatever. We are not here to die. Take a stab at words. We should hope to slay it.

Watch us on 11Alive Atlanta!

2009-08-21T16:48:00.000-07:00
Hello everybody!
We woke up bright and early (actually, some of us didn't sleep at all) in order to perform live on the 6 am news hour on NBC! It was a great experience and we would love to share some of our segment with you! This was for Metromix Soundcheck and our friend shot some photos of us on the set of the show so check those out as well HERE!

Thanks for checkin it out and thanks so much if you got up early to watch us Live on TV! That sure doesn't happen everyday.
-Susanne

Tour Video #... Northern California

2009-07-16T21:04:00.000-07:00
Music by: The Doors, Rufus Wainwright, Kings of Convenience, Arctic Monkeys

We signed up for Noisetrade.

2009-07-11T01:32:00.000-07:00
Take a second to download some rarities from Besides Daniel. Some of these songs are from old albums, and some are just unreleased tunes from recent years. YEAH! Support fair trade music.

Enjoy!

Tour Video #5

2009-07-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

Tour Video #4

2009-07-01T00:12:00.000-07:00

Tour Video #3

2009-06-29T13:38:00.000-07:00
Here is a peak at our time in Wichita, Pueblo, and Salt Lake City!

We're excited to be in Abilene, Texas at Monks Coffee tonight.

A quick one

2009-06-23T23:29:00.000-07:00
Okay, you guys. So it's not so easy to upload videos, photos, and other exciting news while on tour. This is a learning experience for all of us obviously. Internet access is few and far between. For example, right now is an ideal time to edit some videos and post some photos except that there is very very loud electronica music blaring from the speakers of this joint. Therefore, I cannot hear my computer even with headphones on. But I promise, dearest blog readers, there will be an updated video soon. I am working very diligently on the Wichita-Pueblo tour video #3 when possible. It is fairly difficult to do when my computer has no charge left on the battery and we are going from place to place.

Anyway, today we find ourselves in the heart of Humboldt county California. Ah, yes. We have experienced it all. We took a stroll in the Arcata Community Forest today in order to see some of the biggest trees ever- Redwoods. They were glorious. It felt like a dinosaur was going to come around the corner any minute.

We also compiled all our change to do laundry. Praise Jesus for Clean Laundry & Showers.

Downtown Arcata has a delicious little pizza & donut shop called "Don's" which serves donuts that are superior to the likes of Krispy Kreme and Dunkin. Not kidding. The Arcata Theatre and Lounge is the coolest venue we have been to yet. It's only been open a couple months but in a year or so I bet you will see some major touring acts come through here.

Well, we are about to head up on stage to play some tunes, but I'll have that video for you in a jiffy. We head to San Francisco for a day off tomorrow. We'll probably play an open mic or somethin.

Love you all. Miss you all.

-Susanne

The Field Music Video!

2009-06-18T20:32:00.000-07:00
While you wait for our latest Tour Video Update, please take a look at this music video done by our great friends Kyle & Garrett (Somnium Arbitrium). Thanks so much for keeping up with us and our adventures!

We are in Moscow, Idaho at One World Cafe right now. I always heard Idaho wasn't much to write home about but geez, it is BEAUTIFUL. No joke. It's some of the most gorgeous terrain I've seen this whole trip! Also it is filled with bicycle riding, music loving, art appreciating, coffee drinking, laid back people.

We head to Seattle tomorrow!

Tour Video #2: Little Rock & Tulsa

2009-06-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

Tour Video #1 - Birmingham, AL

2009-06-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

Why?

2009-05-28T14:40:00.001-07:00
While driving to South Carolina to pick up the new EP, Susanne and I were talking about the purpose of Besides Daniel. We started asking ourselves the "why" questions (why are we driving out here to get these CDs, why are we doing all this planning and hard work?) Lately, we've been so focused on the "how" questions (how are we going to pull this off?) and the "who" questions (who will be willing to come on the road with us, play at our CD release show, host us on tour?) We found ourselves digging into the reasons behind all the planning, playing, and promoting.

Why do we play music? What are we aiming to create? Why toil in an industry that has no clear path and no definite promise of success, regardless of how hard we work? In order to answer these questions fully, we feel it is necessary to move eventually into a full time career of creating music for our friends, fans, and family.

During our conversation, we were able to articulate one definite goal as we approach the incredible task of playing music worthy of an audience's attention. It is impossible to define such an abstract question as "why" without touching on our beliefs about this world and the significance of the people we hope to inspire, engage, and entertain. We believe that every person alive is remarkable and immeasurably valuable. Because we believe this, we hope our music will highlight the importance of relationships and encourage people to value those closest to them. We play music because we want to inspire others to love. Maybe that is a cliche--perhaps our answer to this question is as abstract as the question itself--but alas, we will embrace the mystery of our task. We are artists...

On June 6th, we are planning an evening celebrating the completion of a work that has been brewing in us for over a year now. We hope you can find a way to come to The Redlight Cafe on Saturday, June 6th. Bring your friends, have a few drinks, and hear some great music from us, Besides Daniel. Two more fantastic local Atlanta bands, also good friends of ours, Oh Dorian and Joshua Fletcher will share the stage with us. The night kicks off at about 8 pm. Our new 5 song EP "the Clay, the Seed, the Stone" will be available for purchase as well!!!

-Besides Daniel
http://www.reverbnation.com/besidesdaniel

Thoughts on art & artists...

2009-04-14T20:36:00.000-07:00
Disclaimer: these are thoughts that have had brewing in my head lately. These are not so much a dogma as they are a hypothesis. also, I am in no way claiming to be a "true artist" but am only commenting objectively, only as a human being. I do aspire to create real art though....

let me know what you think.

In this world that we now find ourselves in, it is only among real art that any solace or meaning is found. The artists are the spirit of humanity, without them we are but machines. The poet, the psalmist, the writer, the thinker, are all like preserving salt in this decaying world, reminding us of the irrational, the beautiful, the impossible, and of the hope we forgot we had for these things. Commerce, education, technology, politics, these are all the by products of the dreamer-artist, these are systems that had their origins in the artists mind. No institution we have today in our complex society would exist if it were not for the ingenuity, and singular vision of the true artist. All the fashionable and functional artifacts we employ everyday in our modern world are the fruit of a pure aspiration to create, laboring to a greater end, unmoved by compensation or individual gain-moved solely by the mystery of pulling the abstract into this physical world.

-Danny

Just finished recording!!!

2009-03-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

This is how Danny looks when he is excited.

All the tracks are done! Mixing & Mastering will be done within the week, Photos will be done soon and finally album art! Woo hoo!

We celebrated with $1.00 hot fudge sunday from McDonalds. Yeah!

2009-03-26T19:09:00.000-07:00
First off, thanks to all the good folks at Bread who signed up for the mailing list last night. It was great to meet you and so relaxing to chill out and play some tunes for you guys.

Welp, we are winding down on this whole recording biz. Our EP, "The Clay, The Seed,The Stone" is almost done now. Below is a link to a preview of all of the 5 songs that will be on it. Please keep in mind this is still a pretty rough mix. We've still to record Susanne's vocals, and the Cello. We want to share it with you because it will be some time still before we have the final product avail for purchase on itunes/at our shows. So check it out!!!

Click here to preview the new EP!

Good news... We just confirmed our CD release show at the Red Light Cafe on the 6th of June. So mark your calenders!

Hope you enjoy the preview.

-danny

-Besides Daniel
http://www.reverbnation.com/besidesdaniel

A Name for the EP!!!!!!!!

2009-03-20T22:05:00.001-07:00
We hope this update finds you doing well & enjoying the Spring!

So we just got finished tracking all of my (Danny's) vocals for the entire Ep today. My head kinda hurts & I'm tired. Singing can really take it out of you. But my spirits are high, huge weight lifted off!!!! You know how it feels to have a deadline right? Even though you might be doing what you love, it still seems to hang over your head. Well we are getting really close to our "self imposed" April 1st deadline. I've been dreading getting my vocals down because my voice seems to be quite unpredictable. So when I began to sing today and it came out quite clear, I decided to track as much as I could.
This record is coming together slowly but surely. It has been a technical and logistical challenge because we are self producing it, and as you probably know, all my recording gear was stolen last year. So now we do what we can and piece together lil set ups wherever we can get silence & a computer in the same room. But I believe Lewis put it well, "the land of duty & delight are one"... So we will keep working on it.
The name of the record will be "The Clay, The Seed, The Stone," We thought for a long time about what to name it & this name just seemed to fit. This collection of songs seem to keep bringing us back to the earth, back to relationships, back to family, back to nature, back to toil, and back to love. So until the fruit of our labor ripens in the form of a compact disc, we will keep on keeping on.

On another note, we are thinking of releasing a three song "besides" of Besides Daniel music on NoiseTrade. It is a pay what you want (or help promote) online store that is making lot's of waves in the independent music scene. We will fill you in once that happens, (could be as soon as next week)...

Thanks for reading this update!

We look forward to seeing all of you at the Cd release at the end of May!

-Besides Daniel
http://www.reverbnation.com/besidesdaniel

Show at the WonderRoot

2009-02-24T19:18:00.000-08:00

On the radio...

2009-02-23T19:49:00.000-08:00
Just a short note to give ya'll the link to our recent radio interview & performance at KSU Owl Radio with Matt Nix.

Radio Show 2/16/09

Thanks guys!!!

What is a fan?

2009-02-18T19:49:00.000-08:00
As an independent artist I always cringe at words like selling, marketing, and buzz... There is a common perception that a musician must learn all these things if he or she wants to have a career being a performing artist. This overwhelms me at times.

I'm not any of those things, I just want to write music that touches people and points to truth!

I do want to make a living with my music. Right now, Susanne is in school learning about music business/marketing & I work at a church as an audio technician. In the past couple weeks we have engaged in some interesting conversations about marketing Besides Daniel.

My roommate, Tommy, runs a brand consulting business and a few nights ago I asked his opinion on a few things. Our conversation changed my view on the whole idea of "fans."

My conversation with Susanne and Tommy allowed me to see that we don't need a million impersonal fans. I'd much rather have fewer quality "fans" we respect as more than just a consumer of a product and with whom we can interact. I'll be okay if we don't have masses of "fans," and we will always value the folks that do support us.

All this to say, if you are someone who enjoys our tunes and wants to help us realize a dream of doing this as a career, then please let us know by signing up on our mailing list. You will receive updates from us about interesting things going on with us on our journey to quitting our day jobs. We will not Spam you! We hope to gain more than fans. We hope to develop friends.

So here's to you! We respect you and want to develop a real relationship with you.
Thanks for reading this.

-danny

New Music Marketing

2009-02-17T07:30:00.000-08:00

The New Music Marketing:
From Mainstream to Avant-Garde

Susanne O’Day
Marketing in the Music Industry
Dr. Fredrick Taylor
February 16, 2009

Today is an exciting day in the global music industry. If traditional marketing and distribution blueprints are the ebb, innovative and contemporary strategies are the flow. The numbers are in, and they are not good. Since 2000, the global music industry lost a third of its business in CD sales with the biggest losers being major labels (Kot). In the first six months of 2008 alone, total album sales fell 11% (Fine). Anyone with enough courage to blaze a trail in today’s music business must embrace a rapidly changing industry in order to succeed. Forget about the glamorous romanticism of getting a hit, being #1, or becoming the next NSYNC. Instead, try adopting a do-it-yourself attitude toward music marketing.

Some may use plummeting major label sales to discourage newcomers from entering the industry. Others ask, what better time for creative and tenacious businesspeople to rise to the top? Now is the time for young artists to embrace this lull in the majors and adopt a more independent attitude. Peter Spellman, director of career development at Berklee College of Music, tells Electronic Musician,

“Getting signed by a major forces you to toe the line of the corporation, which is owned by shareholders wearing 90-day glasses… art [is put into a] machine that treats music like a disposable product… Creative artists are moving away from wanting to be taken care of by the record companies” (Levine).

Spellman’s insight on major labels points out the bias toward mainstream music, alluding to the fact that the majors have forgotten how to cater to the smaller, more specific markets making up the majority of the global music industry. Thus, an easy explanation is made for the staying power of independent labels. According to Sub Pop (veteran indie label out of Seattle), record revenues in 2007 rose 79% to around $20 million--14% from licensing its bands' music to advertisers and entertainment properties. Sub Pop also sold more records in '07 than in any other year (Fine). Last March, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails independently released a boxed set of instrumental music and reported first-week revenue of $1.7 million. Because he had no affiliation with major-label publicity and marketing, he kept most of the revenue for himself (Kot).

So who says the music industry is a sinking ship? There may be a few cases of “man overboard” (major labels) but there is no need to surrender. True, majors will probably always be around since they are owned by some of the most powerful corporations in the world. This does not mean there is no hope for the independents or those creative enough to go against the grain.

Indeed, today’s artists and marketing teams must require outstanding work ethics of themselves. No lazy person will succeed in the music business. It would be too easy to overlook a slight change or a new idea in this ever-changing industry. Herein lies the importance of knowing the market. It is imperative to capitalize on the advantages that come with recent advances in technology. Technology has created a huge market where fans are directly connected to the artist and artists have absolute control of their product. However, taking advantage of the resources is the challenge. Artists still need name recognition, word of mouth publicity, inspiring live performances, and standout recordings. It takes strategy to produce enough buzz that people want to invest their money into a certain artist or product.

This is the age of peer-to-peer piracy (i.e. LimeWire), pay-what-you-want (i.e. Radiohead), free mix tapes (i.e. Lil Wayne), tell five friends for a free download (i.e. NoiseTrade), and more of the like. Once consumers find enjoyable music they will most likely support the artist financially, but they want to test the product for free before they invest in it. Most of the public—especially the younger generation—is tired of being ripped off by the major labels and major corporate retail system.

Illicit downloads now outnumber paid downloads 40-1 (Fine). This fact alone implies people are listening to more music than ever. However, the mainstream industry hasn't been able to take advantage of this extraordinary marketing opportunity. Greg Kot, music critic at The Chicago Tribune, hit the nail on the head in his review of the 2009 Grammy Awards.

“The big labels have the resources to expose music in the mainstream media, [but] they have lost the trust of consumers by placing profit and expediency ahead of artistic accomplishment and long-term growth. Listeners no longer deem many CDs worth the $18 list price and have sought out alternative means of sampling music, including file sharing. Instead of following the consumers' lead, the industry has tried to stifle them by suing file-sharers” (Kot).

This new music climate inspires millions around the globe to fight for a new, ethical industry. Personally, being apart of an independent band feels like one of the most exciting and potentially worthwhile activities. Having the resources for marketing, production, licensing, recording, and publishing at the click of a mouse is empowering. There is no need to frantically throw music at labels hoping for a signing deal because progress can be made independently. If there has ever been a good era to aspire to be a musician or music businessperson, that time is now.

Works Cited

Bernardy, Cathy. “Internet's a Double-Edged Sword for Indie Artists.”
Goldmine. 13 May 2005: 52, 60 IIMP. Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. 14 Feb 2009 < url_ver="Z39.88-2004&res_dat="xri:iimp:&rft_dat="xri:iimp:article:fulltext:iimp00345892">

Fine, Jon. “Drowning Out the Big Labels.” Business Week. Aug 2008: 75 ABI/INFORM. Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. 29 Jan 2009

Kot, Greg. “What Grammy can learn from Radiohead, Lil Wayne, and Paul McCartney: Awards show, music industry in need of a makeover.” Chicago Tribune. 1 Feb 2009. ABI/INFORM. Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. 15 Jan 2009

Levine, Mike “Working Musician: The Shifting Sands - Marketing your Music in Today's Changing Climate.” Electronic Musician. Oct 2006: 88, 90. IIMP. Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. 15 Feb 2009

recording....

2009-02-09T09:56:00.000-08:00
Here I am, sitting in the music lounge at Georgia State University, while Danny is home listening to some podcasts.

The EP is going well! We had a full 12 hour day at 800 east studio last Thursday to record drums, piano, and strings. I would go so far as to say it was magical.

We had lots of support from friends. That felt way good. Thanks friends!

Now we have the giant task of replacing the scratch tracks with final tracks and editing the results of Thursday and piecing it all together... Whew. All in the next few weeks.

Next Monday we will be on Matt Nix's new radio show on KSU radio. Cool! We have only ever done one other radio interview and it was fun, so this should really be great!

Oh, by the way, if you guys ever get a chance to see Loney, Dear or Andrew Bird you should definitely get on it. Inspiring & extremely talented folks.

Alrighty, well everyone around me is getting up so maybe it's time to go to class... Bummer. Music theory here I come!

-Susanne

scratch tracks

2009-01-30T07:52:00.001-08:00

Check out these old pictures I found of Danny at his old studio and playing music with Tanner Merritt!

Well anyway, Danny is hard at work recording scratch tracks for our new EP coming out in a couple months! We are goin in the studio next Thursday to record some drums and strings. Should be awesome! Our good friends Kevin and Aaron are helping us out with drums and Daniel Solberg is arranging the string parts for us. I hunted down some awesome violin players at music school and the response from our Facebook and Myspace posts were overwhelming. People are so willing to help out with their talents!

We have a ton of shows coming up.

-Susanne

Recap

2008-12-20T19:35:00.000-08:00
I think I'm going to wait to title this until after it is written. How can I title it when I don't even know what this is going to be about?

We are singing "Lo, He Came to Us" at a Christmas concert tomorrow so we had to get Danny a tux and cut his hair... I have to wear a fancy dress.

We had to wake up early today to go to rehearsal for the concert. It was amazing. They put Danny's name as David Brewer and that he plays music under the name "Besides David." Hah! But seriously, the strings sound amazing, sleigh bells, glockenspiel, and a quintet of singers! It will be quite the night for us!

Right now I'm listening to awesome music I just downloaded off Noise Trade. The best website ever, by the way. I just got Dignan, Alli Rogers, and David Mead.

oops, but merry christmas anyway

2008-12-14T19:51:00.000-08:00
We, Besides Daniel, formally inaugurate this blog on this 14th day of December the year of our Lord 2008.

So we had a good laugh at ourselves tonight for giving out the wrong download link to all our fans. But hopefully they will graciously forgive us for being simple folk who don't have a professional grip on this whole internet-promotion deal... We were so excited the song was done that we rushed into giving it out to all our friends before Christmas. Whoops. But, all's well that ends well and we have corrected our mistake.

Now it is bedtime. Goodnight!

Free Christmas Download!