Daniel Robinson

Tower Road Beach was rocking to the tunes of local garage bands on Sunday as the Winnetka Park District sponsored its second annual Bands at the Beach day.

Greased Monkey, Ninjaviduals and Daniel Robinson's Sunshine Duo impressed sunbathers, swimmers and about 100 fans with their sounds under a scorching hot afternoon sun.

"The beach was packed," organizer Charlie Imig said.

Fans enjoyed grilled hot-dogs and free T-shirts with imprints of the... - Pioneer Press - Winnetka Talk

Daniel Robinson is creating beautiful music that mixes elements of Folk, Alternative, and Acoustics that music fans will find refreshing especially with his angelic voice that sounds heavenly . If you want to experience the magic of wonderful crafted songs fit to meaningful lyrics, then Daniel Robinson is going to win you over with his style of music. Check out our recent interview with the Singer/Songwriter in this fun and delightful spotlight. Enjoy!

Isaac: We'd love to know about your inspirations growing up. I hear so many influences in your music. How old were you when you first discovered music? Is there any kind of musical history in your family?

Daniel: The influences are too much lately I think. I'm 21 years old. I've had a miniscule amount of what I consider GREAT music pass through my living life
. However, what is nice about music is that it lasts forever, so besides the early 90s stuff that I grew up on as just a child, (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and the most beloved Chicagoans, The Smashing Pumpkins), I was listening to a lot of what my parents listened to… Ya know, my dad grew up in the Chicago suburbs in the 60s so he was listening to a lot of typically great rock music… Beatles, Stones, Allman Brothers, Bowie, Hendrix… the whole spectrum, as well as the Chicago Blues stuff; he was pushing that stuff on me all the time.

My mother though, she grew up on the West side and she loved Soul music. She showed me Motown stuff when I was a kid and she showed me Otis Redding and then a lot of great singers too like Patsy Cline and Frank Sinatra and Smokey Robinson, a wide range… whoever else. She loved Dylan as well. That stuff has less of an audible, direct influence, but it is all there. As far as older stuff, I got into on my own; I have loved Elvis Presley since I was maybe 8 years old. Over the years I've become more and more interested in him. I think and hope to think forever that he has the steadiest voice at any range of all of rock n roll music… Besides maybe like a freak like Roy Orbison, or Freddie Mercury… but that's operatic, it's different. So yeah, the first music I listened to was my parents' music, but I found stuff I liked really early on, maybe 7 or 8 years old I bought my first cassette tapes.

I bought Pearl Jam's Ten album on tape and Queens greatest hits and that was music that lasted me a long time, but yeah I got into the 90s stuff heavily and over time it made much more sense to me in Middle school and High School. And then there was my family influencing me on there own. My mother and sister and my dad (a tiny bit) all play piano. My mother used to come downstairs and play Debussy for us. I've always thought Debussy and Chopin have more influence in popular music than most people think about, but I think that had a lot to do with me wanting to learn. Her playing was moving. They were the typical songs, Claire de Lune and Arabesque... But they had different life when my mother played them.

Isaac: What drew you to pick up an instrument in the first place?

Daniel: My dad's best friend owned a music shop in Chicago. Still does actually… he's the second biggest renter in Chicago; Andy's Music over on Belmont… But anyways, I remember being really young, maybe the same week I bought the Pearl Jam and Queen tapes actually, but yeah he took me to Andy's store and when I walked in, Andy was there of course, and he said, "Hey Daniel! Pick out any instrument in the store and it's yours!" thinking of course that my dad would direct me to the counter and I would pick a shaker or a tambourine or something ya know, but I looked around and saw a black Strat up on the wall. I pointed and said, "I want that." In the midst of my dad trying to explain to me that that isn't what Andy had in mind, Andy had brought the guitar down and handed it to me. My dad argued with him for a bit, (he was literally giving me a guitar for free) and then we left the store. I had that thing in my hands nonstop for the next 4 days straight. I messed with it but I didn't have any idea how it worked or anything. One day, after school, I got home and the guitar was gone. My dad returned it. From then on I just HAD to have a guitar. My parents didn't get me one, besides the constant, constant request, until I was about 10 or 11, so maybe 3 or 4 years later. Even then I got this really piece of shit Peavey with a warped neck that just was unplayable. But I loved it.

Isaac: As you hit your teenage years, did you know that this was what you would be doing for the rest of your life?

Daniel: Absolutely. I had a couple bands with the same kids in middle school, (and keep in mind, the teenage years aren't really so far back for me…), and then in high school we had a fun band with some really talented kids. We just sorta hit it off with a funny jazz rock ridiculous thing going and I loved it. And playing shows with those guys who are still my best friends… That is just the best. That's where I wanted to be then and I've been hoping to find that ever since. My best friend and songwriter companion Bo Olson, who was the bassist of the high school band and really just the most talented songwriter I know, he got me into writing music for myself in a more intimate and personal level. I give him 100% credit all the way. I would not ever have sung on a song if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have really written a SONG if not for him.

. Isaac: Is there a performer in any genre of pop culture that you would like to work with?

Daniel: I mentioned earlier that I love the Smashing Pumpkins. I think Billy Corgan and I would connect musically. I think mentally he's off the deep end right now, but musically he's still incredible. He's still an amazing guitarist and songwriter, but his heads fading, so his emotion is fading, which I could make up for think. I would love to get a chance to trade licks and work on something with him that's more mature than the stuff he's been putting out. He thinks too much and tries too hard and I've always thought I could put him in his place. I put him as a character down a lot, but he'll always be my hero.

Isaac: Who are some musicians that you really like, present or past?

Daniel: Contemporary stuff, I'm really into Iron & Wine and sorta that cheesy new millennium folk style that's around, just real sweet melodic stuff that has love driven lyrics. I still listen to a handful of 90s grunge bands… A lot of what I've been listening to lately actually are the older great guitarists of folk, country and rock. I've been on a Les Paul kick and Chet Atkins has always been one of my favorites. Carl Perkins too is great. The main standbys though are always Pumpkins, Queen, Elvis and the Beatles.

Isaac: What is your ultimate goal with your music career?

Daniel: Ya know, if I can continue writing and recording and playing shows, no matter what I'm doing with my life, I'll be happy. I'm in the midst of planning a tour starting on the East coast and moving towards California, but that's about a year away from starting. That's around when I graduate from school and hopefully will be releasing a really big thing. So I'll be touring on that. It's a kind of double album, artsy mess kind of thing I have going. I'm hoping for it to be relatively unique. I have a few really talented artists working on the album art and a few great directors working with me on some videos. When it's finished, there will be a 40 page lyric and narrative booklet, a series of drawings, 4 or 5 videos each from a separate independent artist and my 40 songs. As long as I finish the project, I just don't really care where it goes. I work at it and I work hard and I promote and whatever, so I'm happy. If I'm happy with the music than Ill be happy with life. As long as I can play for people and do these sorts of things for myself, I'm good.

Isaac: What have been some of the obstacles it has taken to get this far in your career?

Daniel: I don't know. Mostly people have been really supportive. My parents have been great. I guess balancing school and music has been tough since I was in High School. Music School seemed like a drag to me and didn't thrill my parents, so I've just been at Northeastern University in Boston trying to get a degree in English. I love the school but often I wish I had the time and money and devotion available to forward my music life.

Isaac: Would you recommend this "field" to others who are aspiring to be musicians like you?

Daniel: Absolutely. You know, it depends though. If they're really "like me" then of course I recommend it, not to say I'm something special or something, but I really do care about music and that's what's important. You need time and you need to work really hard if you want to get ANYTHING done. But even saying that; I feel like music has to be on par with the most important things in your life, if not set in a higher place if you want to succeed at it. I think there are a ton of people out there who think of being a musician as this sort of this hobby and this way to get friends or whatever, it's just an image thing. It's not hard for it to become gimmicky.

I see people selling out who aren't making money and who aren't any good and who aren't doing ANYTHING with music, but they're sellouts and they're worthless. They say they play guitar so they can learn a Jack Johnson song and play it for their loser girlfriend in their freshman dorm hallway. For those people, I say drop it. I mean it's not even important to tell them to drop it because it won't go anywhere and it won't last. But is obnoxious knowing that everyone in the world thinks they should play guitar. I think anyone should that wants to put in the time and effort and emotion, but people who don't give a fuck shouldn't give a fuck any further than daydreaming. There isn't enough of a distinction between musician hobbyists and real musicians. Like with a painter, you can tell if someone can really paint and if someone just does it for fun on a Sunday. Too many shitty musicians take themselves way too seriously. I probably take myself way too seriously.

Isaac: Describe one piece of advice you've have been given to by others in the music industry.

Daniel: I worked with this producer... He's a nice guy and he's been in touch and I respect what he did for me. I remember he tried to give me a lot of advice... Ya know, in the meantime, he's taking pictures of me and saying I have "The look" and "the sound" but in the background he literally told me to not trust anyone in the industry. I trusted him; ya know, but then at his own advice, I stopped trusting him... he showed me a lot of production stuff, he helped me produce an EP which I am semi happy with. But yeah, he told me not to trust anyone and I really believe it.

When we are living in an age where the album is dying, independent (and I mean in your basement, record on an interface into garageband) music is becoming more common and important, and we're seeing BIG bands in lawsuits with labels and labels that are crumbling and major label bands that are losing money all the time, that's when we know that you cant trust anyone. Those bands had a special thing going, but that relationship with the businessmen of music is changing and crumbling and evolving, it's kinda dead, and now we need to shift gears and do things by ourselves or with different people and different motives. Movies, TV shows, video games are becoming the new labels, bedrooms and basements are the new studios. Licensing companies are more important I think.

Isaac: What genre of music do you consider most of your music?

Daniel: I literally have no idea. I asked a friend of mine this question because I send him almost everything I record and he told me Folk/Grunge So I don't know what the hell that means. I don't think its particularly unique music, but I do think it's kind of eclectic and it's just kinda of hard for people to place my music and my voice together. I really don't like any retro 80s sounding stuff that I hear in so much of music now… I don't mind the real 80s so much. I love some of those bands, but 80s imitations are worse than the bad 80s music to begin with. So I don't know. My music is just sorta what it is.

Isaac: What has been your favorite piece of work?

Daniel: Does this mean my own work? I had a great time recording the Megan EP, but it's not really released. Right now though, the music I've really connected with and been able to step back and enjoy is the album I'm working on currently. It's a concept album titled, "Weddings and Funerals". I've been in talks with a Boston label for releasing it. But anyways, using the concept album thing has been ultra beneficial to me. I have a hard time directly facing anything, so putting that wall between my real self and a character is so great.

Isaac: How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?

Isaac: Yeah… I'm hoping to sorta get a better hold of that when I finish my album. But yeah. On iTunes if you search Kidd's Creek an old album of mine that I wrote and recorded with Bo Olson who I mentioned earlier is up. Besides that, you can go to

http://http://www.myspace.com/danielcolinrobinson

That's got all my newer stuff on it. I mean not all, but the stuff that's on there is new. You can also go to http://www.ourstage.com/fanclub/danrobinson and that has a fan club thing and you can vote for my tunes or whatever. I go to MySpace more though, you can message me and ill respond. I love hearing from people so check it out!

My press kit is at

http://www.sonicbids.com/DanielRobinson

Also, I'm not sure when this will be published but I have shows coming up on, November 10th at Savant Project in Boston and November 12th at C3 in Cambridge. Also, Ill be a guest and performer on Bottoms Up on cable which should be broadcast by December. I don't know the channel but it'll be on YouTube as well.

Isaac: Is there anyone you'd like to acknowledge for offering financial or emotional support?

Daniel: Friends, Family, Fans (all four of you), Ex Girlfriends...I love you all.

Isaac: Any last words?

Daniel: Anyone want to go see that Michael Jackson movie with me?



Daniel Robinson's Official MySpace Website

http://www.myspace.com/danielcolinrobinson - Junior's Cave Online Magazine