As I write this now, we are still deep within the Coronavirus outbreak. This obviously threw a wrench in the music industry, not to mention EVERY industry. To start, I had a general plan for how I was going to attack the professional life of a musician/producer/engineer before all of this happened. I was playing shows often, had a great internship at a major Label-owned studio, and was preparing to release a ton of music. All up in smoke. That plan became no longer viable, and I sat. This is though, fortunately, not where our story ends.
After months of stagnation, an "A-HA" moment struck. As it goes, life will do what it wants, and it's up to you to make it work. This idea took me a long time to truly grasp. And, like most creatives, comes and goes in strength with the lows and highs of living. The real practice was keeping forward momentum present in some capacity, no matter how big or small. And I say practice, because that is exactly what life and creativity are. It's the act of building upon what you have, one step at a time. Now I'm not claiming to be hyper effecient, but since I've taken this concept to heart, I've been immensely happier with both my life and the results.
To give a bit more background about me; my name is Dan. Music has always been present in my life. I started taking piano lessons at 5 years old, followed quickly by violin and guitar. By the end of intermediate school, I was involved in my churches praise band, several youth orchestras, and had begun the experience of producing electronic music. And I loved it. While in highschool, my band formed between essentially strangers who all wanted to do one thing: play in a real rock band. This band, Spirit of the Bear, has since grown into both my closest friends, and a legitimate business. After highshcool, I attended the Berklee College of Music for a year. I met a ton of incredible artists and people, and spent most of my time that year with a laptop and microphone in hand to make music with whoever was in close proximity. And I loved it. After that year, I ended up back home in Youngstown, Oh. Once back, I began playing keys with the local act the Labra Brothers (and have since began recording/producing their music), and started playing hired-gun shows for whoever needed it. After a few years, I realized it was time to continue my education which led me to the Blackbird Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. It was here that I spent 1000 hours in the world famous Blackbird Studio, learning from some of the most prolific engineers and producers alive today. All the while, still writing, recording, and performing music with my bandmates. After the program ended, I moved back home once again, feeling refreshed and ready to begin my career.
Over the years, I've been able to start and be a part of many incredible projects. My friends and I started an events production company, who managed to book a major Artist right before their breakthrough and put on a show many people wouldn't have thought to be possible in our area. I've played shows to thousands of people and had records break the top 200 on college radio with Spirit of the Bear. Through music, I've learned some law, marketing, branding, confidence in public speaking, electrical engineering, physics, website building, video editing, and countless other things that all in someway work together, and within the realm of music. But I realized all of these things wouldn't be possible without love, and passion, learning from others, and working together to create something new and exciting. And I love it.
This brings us to now. It's hard for me to try and describe what it is that I'm trying to do, as I both hate writing about myself, and my goals may sound incredibly vague to those who don't know my background. My goals, however, are to create something new with people. To any capacity. I made this website to move forward, and limit the stagnation, as staying within my own bubble not only limits my views and experience, but prevents me or my name from getting any further out into the world. If you're reading this and you're in a rough spot, stop reading this and go do something you love just for the sake of doing it. If you're reading this and not in that spot, feel free to email me, I would LOVE to talk (although that goes for anybody, rough patch or not).
Stay well, stay healthy, and keep creating.
-Dan
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