“My overall goal for my career is to keep writing songs and keep producing and recording. It’s what I absolutely love doing and if I could do it and get paid for it, then that would be the icing on the cake!” @danfarrellmusic
Listen to the show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2015/10/01/episode-262-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax
GETTING TO KNOW DANIEL FARRELL
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
My personal definition of success is…
having the unconditional support and love of a good woman. I am most proud of getting my girlfriend to marry me 4 years ago, despite her knowing what a nightmare I am to live with! To have a wife who understands how important songwriting is to me is perhaps my greatest achievement. Oh! And somebody bought a download of “Delusions” the other day too! So that’s two achievements!
My over all goal for my life & career is…
I don’t like this question. It’s too hard to answer! I guess my overall goal is to try not to worry so much. I’m a terrible worrier. I get it from my late dad who used to say “If I didn’t have anything to worry about….I’d worry!” My overall goal for my career is to keep writing songs and keep producing and recording. It’s what I absolutely love doing and if I could do it and get paid for it, then that would be the icing on the cake!
The three ways that I challenge myself are…
1) I try and come up with song ideas regularly. I want to get a decent catalogue behind me!
2) To be more patient and allow things to happen naturally.
3) Keeping fit. I run regularly which keeps me feeling confident and alive!
I would love to have 5 minutes alone with…
Paul McCartney. Just to talk about what it was like inside the Beatle Bubble. Were they aware at the time that they were making music that would last forever. It’s not JUST because he is a fellow left hander, but anyone who can write a lyric like “Take these broken wings and learn to fly” is someone of incredible artistry.
On being trendy or following your own path…
I am so not trendy! I’m far too old for that I think. Trendy is a marketing term as far as I’m concerned. Music should move you, emotionally. If it does that, I want it. But if I hear something I don’t understand, then I can’t make an emotional connection with it. Music isn’t always a universal language, because some people can get incredibly moved by music that leaves me cold! I always try and and get my songs in between those grooves where people wanna rock out or cry with emotion.
I am most afraid of…
Myself. Sometimes I doubt myself so much it stops me from doing things I really want to do.
Your musical inspiration comes from…
The Beatles music when I was growing up was my main inspiration. I loved their attitude, their melodies and their movies.
Your song “Delusions” is about…
ego driven people who are only out for themselves. They use you until they’ve got what they want from you, then cast you aside.They could be politicians. They could be employers. There’s a musical journey within the track, designed to take you from initial excitement through despair, to eventual freedom. When I wrote it, I had the most terrible chest infection, so the music backing tracks were done initially to my croaking chesty vocals! I managed to do enough of these rough vocal tracks to work out the guitar phrasing around the lyrics. I played everything, and sang every part so I didn’t have to rely on session musicians. Once a couple of weeks had passed and I’d recovered, I launched into the vocals. The hardest part was stitching all the different parts together, because I wanted it as one long piece. I am very proud of this composition.
We can expect from your music…
a variety of songs. I don’t really put myself in a particular genre. I love writing hard rock stuff as much as gentle, emotional pieces. My debut album “Let The Sun Shine In” has a mixture of rock and folk style. I am very inspired by The Beatles. I love how they always could surprise you with different types of songwriting. I definitely borrowed that same formula and try to keep people guessing! What’s special about my album is that it took years for me to do – by that I mean I’ve been writing for years and years. I always wanted to have the discipline to write something that I felt was professional and could stand up against my heroes. Until this year, that discipline had eluded me. Now though, I can’t seem to stop!
You marketed your music through…
CDBaby and of course myself through Twitter. Hopefully more people will catch on to my music over the coming years.
The music scene in London is…
huge! I love going to see acoustic acts the most. There’s something about a guitar and a voice which gives you a true representation of an artist. There’s no band to hide behind – just you and your guitar.
The pros and cons of the music business are…
I’ve worked in the movie business and it is very similar to the music business. The pros are being able to write something and share it with an audience. Obviously the con of that is that they might shout “NEXT!” in a loud voice and kick you out the door. If someone doesn’t take to it – that’s fine. Eventually someone will listen to something you’ve written and say “I’m digging that track dude!”
Social media is…
I really like social media. I love the immediacy of it – especially twitter. But if you’re going to write songs and get people to hear them, you have to manage so many platforms – like twitter, facebook, youtube, sound cloud, and band camp.
Singles versus an album…
I’m a big fan of singles because it’s far easier for the listener to deal with a 3 or 4 minutes track than with a whole album. The world moves so fast these days that albums are slowly becoming a thing of the past. I still fondly remember the days though where you saved up your pocket money to buy an album, then took it home and played it from beginning to end whilst reading the lyrics! Happy days…but people prefer music in bite sized pieces now. Although I have to remember you’re playing a 12 minute track from me today – so I do make exceptions occasionally!
Social Media:
Website : www.danfarrellmusic.com
Twitter : https://twitter.com/danfarrellmusic
Bandcamp : https://danfarrell.bandcamp.com
CDBaby : http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/danfarrell2
SoundCloud : https://soundcloud.com/danfarrellmusic
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dan-Farrell/821920237875563?sk=timeline
YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-bqsFNLJhCxcrqPDxCEONw