Daniel Austin

Interview 22 July 2004

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Tell me about yourself, where you're from, where you are now, family.

I am from Los Angeles, CA.. I have lived in New York and Florida, but I find myself back home here in LA. I have a young son, 16 months old, and a wonderful fiancée who puts up with all of this musical insanity.

Do you come from a musical family

My brother played a little trumpet, but it wasn't that serious. I was the only one in the family who took music to this level. It was a little strange, as my family obviously wanted me to succeed, but was always telling me 'you have to have something to fall back on'.

Tell me about music through you're life, what you were brought up on, what you aspire to be, what you draw from, who your're influences are

After being forced to take classical piano lessons by my mom at a young age, I developed an appreciation for music.' I took a turn into funk and soul first, then jazz and rock. I would sit and listen and play music for hours on end as a pre-teen. My mom was very concerned.

And at what point did you know that this was what you wanted to do. When did you start playing and writing? You're classically trained? Tell me about that and what you play.

Around 12 years old, I discovered soul and funk music. Stuff like P-Funk, James Brown, and Earth, Wind and Fire. There was a lot of good music happening in the early '80s. I was always into different types of music, so I really started to get into jazz and jazz-fusion, Weather Report, Return to Forever, Stanley Clarke&With the classical piano training, I started getting gigs in R&B and Jazz bands around LA at a very early age, in my early teens.

Do you do anything else

I have a day gig. Enough said Music is great, but like I said my family always said 'have something to fall back on'&lol.

How long has the album been out now, how's it going down, and what about the different matketplaces, local, national and international.

The CD has been out for about 4 months now. It started slowly because SoulSpace Records is really a small operation and we were learning as we went along. Promotion has been picking up. UnderMined is now in the Top 20 on the New Music Weekly radio report for the US, which is phenomenal. It is getting a lot of play on around 40 radio stations in the US. There's some film/tv licensing in work. The album has really been embraced in the UK and overseas. I was really surprised, but I think the US audience is a little overwhelmed with the pre-packaged music that is force fed to them by the big companies.

What was the vision for the album, and how long did it take to put together. There's old skool soul music, jazzy vibes and contemporary beats. What do you think you have to add to the marketplace out there and where do you see yourself.

I like to take old school soul values and throw them in the kitchen with some new fierce beats, a little jazz influence, and strong songwriting, vocals, and musicianship. Someone called it 'genre-blending and bending'.

How do feel about the overall showcase, does it reflect what you do and what you feel.

Who do you use to help put the thing together..tell me about them and how you work together. Have you worked with them before.

Marvyn Banks, the bass player and musical director of Tyghtship, my former band, helped with a lot of ideas and some arranging help. Juana Randall is a fantastic singer and did all of the backup vocals. I had some incredible guitar work from both Darryl Frias and Lewis Arsene (again of Tyghtship). Kyle Newmaster and Matt Franko threw down some incredible horn work. I use a lot of tools, keyboard and production-wise. The whole album was done in Cubase which is an incredible tool and I think of it more now as an instrument.

Tell me about Soulspace and how all that works and also the admin and promo side. How much to you get involved with that.

SoulSpace is really my alter ego. Ha! I mean, I use folks to do promotion, and marketing and radio, but I am really driving the ship. I like the promo and business side to a point, but I am really missing being able to concentrate on the music and playing a lot of gigs, which, because of the time constraints, makes it difficult right now. There's nothing like connecting with an audience.

You wrote all of the album, how do you write you're songs and what do you draw from.

The process of writing went in fits and starts for a couple of years while I was playing a lot with Tyghtship.. A lot of the lyrics were written on a weeklong trip I took to Brazil to just cool out. It's amazing what a change of pace and place can do for your productivity. Production was another long phase, as I did the whole album in a home studio. I have always been a big fan of Brazilian music, and you can hear some of that blended into the album. I try to draw from real life. And I try to keep things positive. There is so much negativity in the world, adding to that is not my cup of tea. I don't know, this might change. I might do a blues album&just kidding.

How difficult is it to put something like this together as an independent

It is hard to be independent. Anyone who wants to do music successfully has to deal with so much negativity that you really have to be hard-core driven to succeed. It takes a lot of work and a lot of multitasking. A lot of incredible independent musicians are putting out some incredible stuff. All that being said, I think it is a great time to be into music as an independent. The Internet is opening up a whole new world to independent music.

Do you do much live work?What's you're show like.

The thing about my live shows is that I stress exceptional musicianship and tightness. I mean, I grew up with James Brown, so what do you think! I have had the blessing of playing with some of the best musicians around, so we like to take it to another level live. We really want people to come back from the show saying 'Damn, that band was tight!' As far as the show, I like to take people through a coherent journey, not just playing the tunes, but stringing them together so people get an idea of a story.

Tell me about who have worked with or for in the past. Good learning experience?

Most recently, I was lead vocalist and keyboardist with Tyghtship here in LA It is the hottest funk/soul band out in LA. I did that for over three years. Just honing my vocal and playing chops, and gigging with the best musicians in LA. Most of the folks who came through Tyghtship are major label sidemen. Marvyn Banks who has played with everyone from the Gap Band to Aretha Franklin, Darryl Frias who played guitar with Prince (so you know he's bad!). Juanna Randall who was the lead singer for the re-vamped Rose Royce recently. Just incredible folks.

What other things have you done in the past - what about Tyghtship, what was that all about. Did you cut anything or was that just a live thing. Are they still going?

Tyghtship is still playing, playing hard. I just wanted to go down this path with the original music that I was feeling busting out of me. Most of those folks are going to be playing with me at the live gigs.

And concertwise you've worked with or for a number of known artists and personalities. Tell me about some of them and how they came about.

I really don't like to drop names with my own stuff, but I have played with a lot of incredible musicians and singers.

What's happening next

A lot of live gigs going into the later half of this year, in and around LA. I have had offers in other parts of the US and abroad, but my son says 'No daddy!'.I hope to do another album in the next year or so.

What do you like to do -

Right now a little sleep would be nice. Sleep is like the new 'sex'. I find myself saying 'Wow, I got a WHOLE EIGHT HOURS last night'. Like I just came off of a great date!

Anything else you'd like to add.

Mike, I thank you for promoting my music, and independent music in general. I really appreciate it, you are doing a great service to allow a venue for those musicians outside-of-the-box, who have good music to share.' Keep up the good work!

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