Friday, December 24, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
A note from Chuck Hicks.
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!
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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….
Friday, November 26, 2010
Two new MP3s are now available for download via Noisetrade
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
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Our DVD is now available online!
If you don't have a PayPal account you can still pay with a debit/credit card.
Simply click the buy now button below.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Eddies Attic
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Our updated bio...
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
Friday, April 23, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
You do the math.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
http://kck.st/ag81uW
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
New shirts coming soon.
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.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
"Bike Tour" tour
What he will need at every stop is a guitar to play, a shower, food, and a place to sleep. Can you help???
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