Daniel Durrett

On a beautiful friday night in New York City’s lower east side, I had the chance to lay down some beats and really rock for the kids. My sister Jess and her husband Scott both live in New York City, so they helped me put together this show. We had an awesome turn out and a successful night. The show itself went great and I gained even more new fans. Even the door guy had some positive things to say about the show – including wanting me to return as soon as possible. So, New York, want me back this fall sometime??

Today, I had an awesome opportunity to teach a class on looping and electronic music at The Parkside School, a school for special needs children in New York. The students were awesome and we had a great time going around the class and adding sounds and layers to an ongoing loop. It was very rewarding to see all the student’s faces light up once we created some cool sounding clips. Working with children was a great way to start the day.

After a quick car ride from Chicago to Kalamazoo, which included a piece of the car falling off and a Starbucks Barista who didn’t know what time zone she lived in, we were ready for the second gig at The Strutt.

This show went so smooth. The crowd was great, as was the sound at the venue. I felt very comfortable from the start. The very beautiful and talented Mechele Peters opened the show. Her gorgeous vocals and heart-wrenching lyrics were moving and mood setting. I thoroughly enjoyed her set. Then, my good friend and old band mate, Chris Schleuder, made an appearance with his new band The Rumors Are True. They have beautiful songs with awesome harmonies. I also enjoyed their set and the great vibe they have on stage.

My set went really well, complete with a special appearance by Nick Davio on a couple songs on a piano that was at The Strutt. I picked up some new fans, sold a bunch of T-Shirts. Overall, a very successful second show.

The first show went extremely well. Lots of people turned out and the music was hot and steamy – just like the Chicago weather. We sold a good number of T-shirts and also picked up some new fans. All in all it was a huge success.

When we left the club, we headed to the after party on a roof deck. We needed some beer, so we stopped at my old liquor store, Cardinal in Lincoln Square. It is  a bar/store type set up. The bartender recognized me right away and yelled “Where the F%^& have you been?” He proceeded to pull us into his bar and pour us all a shot of Jameson. Before the shot he introduced himself to all my friends, looked at me and said “get a haircut you fu%^ing hippie!” Then we shot it, he slammed his cup down and said “Get the F*&^ out of my bar!” And that was it. It was a nice beer buying experience.

Overall, the show and the whole night went far better than I could have ever wanted. It was a great start to this tour.

We took off from San Francisco and headed toward Chicago. Upon arrival, there were massive storms in the area. On the first landing attempt, the plane was shaking pretty hard, swooping left to right like a seagull riding the ocean currents, and up and down like a pogo stick. The pilot decided to abort landing and we went back up. We circled for a while and off in the distance we could see the lighting and dark clouds covering the airfield.

The pilot came back on and said we had a break between storms and he was going to attempt a second landing, and if we had to abort again we would need to fly to Indianapolis to refuel.

On the second approach, the plane was just as wobbly feeling. It was quite frightful, but also a bit thrilling at the same time. The plane was pretty silent aside from the occasional “Oh Jesus!” and “Dear Lord!!” When we touched down, we hit the ground so hard and we were moving so fast.

I have to give credit to the Southwest Pilot and his awesome skills. He got us there safely – but we still had quite a journey ahead of us.

On the car ride from Midway to the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago, we hit standstill traffic because of 3 feet of standing water at an underpass. Luckily, my friend Jeff has some dope driving skills, which included using the shoulder, using an accident investigation site to turn around, and going the wrong way on the other side of the express way to get to an open exit. Even though it was 5 a.m. and it took a long time, we made it to Chicago!

As I prepare for my upcoming shows this summer, I have been working on bringing what I do in the studio (playing multiple instruments) to the stage. Obviously, I can’t do it all at the same time, so I am using what is called “looping” to achieve a wall of sound. I can record and play loops using a foot pedal so that my hands are free to play guitar/keyboards/percussion.

Here is a video of my song Wasting Our Minds – Live in my studio.