67. "Music Is Its Own Consciousness" — Danny Beissel on 25 Years of Rock

I'm doing work. I'm a work in progress. And, you know, I'm not laying around all day or in a bar

all day. I'm, I'm doing what I, you, all you can do is what you can do. And once you do that,

I believe that the universe comes in and, you know, I, every morning I wake up, I'm like,

where do you want me? I'm on this wave. Send me that way, man. As soon as I started doing that,

it's like, you know, we can't control anything, man.

they say you shouldn't meet your heroes but i couldn't resist the next guest on love's music

is danny bisel local rock legend lead singer of the band foster child huge songs in the early 2000s

after a brief hiatus and a couple other musical projects danny bisel is back with his new project

featherborn available on all streaming platforms so with no further ado my friend my collaborator

one of my personal heroes, Danny Bisel. We don't have a ton of FaceTime with each other,

but you've been in like very important parts of my life, like scattered throughout the last 20

years. So this is like huge that I have like a long form interview with you today.

Dude, I was grateful. Thank you for reaching out, man. I often think about you and I've been watching

what you've been doing and kudos for that, man. It's really great. And like I said earlier,

it's important to get to always talk music and stuff like that.

For those of you who don't know, Danny and I have a few songs together, one of which being

music books, the other being Pastor Mike on two of my older projects.

We're not here talking about my projects.

Let's talk about the recent stuff, man.

Featherborn is a really cool project.

There are so many iterations of you and you do them all at such a high level.

But this most recent iteration feels like such an accurate snapshot of who you are today, both sonically, vocally, creatively.

Can you tell me exactly what Featherborn is?

That's your brainchild, your kind of like singer-songwriter project with your backing band?

Yeah, so Featherborn started really pre-pandemic, like 2018.

We made the record in Nashville.

I was down there with my friend Charlie and Scott.

got Underwood and Charlie Colleen.

Charlie's no longer with us.

So we went down there.

Yeah, I just had some songs and we went down.

We had a friend from out here who sent us down there

to Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

And we went down to do like an EP, like four songs.

And it's just the energy and the vibe

was really cooking down there.

So the guy's like, hey man, you got any more songs?

Stay down.

So we did.

And we actually wrote a couple down there,

which became Featherborn One,

which is about 10 songs.

We did a cover of Stay With Me on it.

And then the pandemic hit,

and we kind of had the album done,

and I released one of the songs from it.

And the pandemic, I didn't know what to do.

Now I should have released the whole album,

but in my mind, it's like you've got to tour the album.

Anyway, so fast forward it.

We waited.

So actually, my friend Charlie passed, and we were doing a celebration of life.

And Scott produced the record, and he's the drummer for Featherborn.

And at his celebration of life, we were playing some of the songs from Train,

and we were doing his life journey.

So we did a couple of his bands, and Featherborn being one of them for Charlie.

And I don't know.

We all started looking at each other after it.

And then the end of 23, we decided to put it together.

So we got two other members, Curtis Mathewson,

who actually was producer of the first Train album,

and James Hamilton, a buddy of Curtis's from out here.

And then we finally formed Featherborn.

And we've been rocking it for about a year and a half

as this is the band, Featherborn.

So that's where we're at now.

it's really cool I was trying to explain the sound

but it's like everyone ever hear

something and it's I want

to try to like define it with what the sound

is and there's things that I think I hear influence

but at the end of the day it's really

just like no

nonsense rock music

you know

it's just it's there's a classic rock sound

there's a leaning

towards are you familiar with the band Rival Sons

yeah

they're like a California band that sounds like a southern rock band

yeah they're cute i actually cover i think i cover one of their songs oh no that's the heathens

yeah a friend of mine i play with this violin player named emily v out here and she's

pretty friends with them i know a couple people are friends with those guys and i'd listen to

them i love their sound i know it's like southern rock california it's pretty cool yeah yeah it's a

southern rock by way of malibu yeah exactly that's great but yeah man but uh southern malibu

Yeah. Well, the way you write songs, you write anthemic songs that are still intimate,

which is really hard to do. I feel like when somebody's really peeling back the layers of

their heart, I'm thinking, okay, guy on a stool with an acoustic guitar, just cutting himself

open. And then when I think anthemic songs, I think, we will, we, you know, but you write,

you have the intimacy on that, but the production is so big, they feel like anthemic songs.

I can see 50,000 people in a field singing

lighters in the air. I can

see it.

Where it was. Huge song.

Am I getting the song right? There she was. I'm sorry.

Oh, there she was. Yeah.

The thing about that whole thing

was you nodded on the head. When I came

up with

those songs, six

off the record I brought in just from

me and the acoustics.

After

Foster Child, I did a deep dive into

I mean, I always wrote from my truth and everything, but Featherborne 1 was just songs that I had, just a product of growing up listening to the music. I never really deemed myself as a songwriter to that point, but it was just like I just opened up and did it. So they did come from the heart. So I appreciate you saying that.

And when I went to Nashville with Scott and Charlie, I mean, that production is really, and Blackbird Studio, that production was them.

They really sprinkled some magic on those songs that I really give them such credit for.

It was really amazing what they did to them.

I'm so grateful that the album turned out.

And I really appreciate you saying that because that's what I was aiming for.

Here's a decent parallel. The same accessibility

of a...

Oh, it's like an oasis, right? You know they're

writing songs for crowds of 50,000

people.

They're accessible, but they're

very accessible songs, but there's something

intimate about them. You know what I mean?

You can see somebody covering an oasis song

just by themselves in a dirty bar.

But it's so accessible

it'll resonate with somebody in Canada,

Florida, Australia,

Paris.

They just resonate globally.

I think the whole thing through that, man, is I think when it resonates like that, it's something that they carved out from like the truth and deep within all.

Because when that when you tap into that, it's a very powerful thing that's going to work in a simple bar.

It's going to work in a giant stadium.

And plus, they're great writers.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

The bros.

Yeah, right.

Well, isn't that the goal, right?

Like you're making the people that I think do really well,

at least recently are the people that continue to make accessible and are not

accessible.

They make experimental music that happens to be accessible as opposed to going

in through like the hit factory and being like, all right,

I'm going to write songs in the same,

in the same chords that everybody else is going to be your dance party song.

It's like,

I feel like now people are doing weird stuff and it's like landing in my news

feed and being like, Oh, this is cool.

You know?

Yeah.

And I think the whole, you know, it's like,

I was listening to Rick Rubin a bit ago and looking through his book and he said some brilliant

things, which I agree with is like, and sometimes it gets misinterpreted. Like you don't write for

the audience and you can't, you got to write for yourself. And like the truth of, you know,

I try to get as close, you know, the truth as I can, whatever that is in me and hope it resonates.

But at the same time, I got to be like, like right now this new album we're writing. It's like,

I'm getting a little more atmospheric, like in a sense of not like so much radio head,

but like kind of leaning towards a place because I want to like, you know, I've been doing a lot

of rock and roll. I'm a rock and roller, but I want to like, I want to change it up. And what

instruments are new today? You know, so I could keep my, I could keep my honesty as a songwriter,

but I can still tap into like sounds that are new and interesting. And that's kind of like what I'm

starting to dive in now and so you know that's the fun of it like if the song gets me high

and it's like moves me that's that's truly the only way i can like and if i deliver it vulnerable

you know through truth it's like if it resonates with people that's when you got something that's

like well art's not just the playing it's it's the execution but also the taste what makes us

good artists isn't the ability to say g sharp a b flat it's the ability to be like oh it's we have

taste that other people don't have some people get a perfect spiral like we hear things that other

people don't you know like yes we take a blank we take empty air and we put certain sounds into it

that we know is cool but other people don't know the difference between uh a whistle and a bass drum

yeah well that's that's the cool part about it and then you're just like you know like um

and within that we keep it simple yes so it's easy for people to grab on to but uh that is a

cool thing it's a that's been one of the coolest things for me really um doing a lot of gigs

and playing the featherborn album and you know and doing we've been playing some of our new songs

but doing some especially out here you know i'm not from here i'm from philly i've been out here a

couple years and the more we play and i'm looking at someone like resonate with like whether it's

blush or there she was or something and then i'll see them like saying the words and i'm like wow

and then i'm like and then you hear what it means to them like that's the coolest thing for me it's

like what they think it means and it's the coolest thing for me when i hear someone else's song and i

have my interpretation of it and um so that's like uh that that that's a cool feeling man is the way

you're right because we're we're making this song like this and we have this whole life around it

As soon as we take it and we give it away, it's out in the ether.

Right.

It's not ours anymore.

It's not ours anymore.

It's ours.

You know, it's like, but that's the beautiful part about it.

You're just sending vibrations out.

Yeah.

Hopefully good ones.

Yeah.

Hopefully good ones, right?

As somebody who's been making music, quality music for quarter century plus, can you still

listen to music objectively?

Like I just put on a cool song.

Are you always in like creator artist mode?

Can you still be deeply moved by secular music?

You know, it's funny, man.

It's funny I ask that, Jules.

I've been writing for the last, I guess the last year since we've put Featherborn, this version together.

So I'm always caught up in listening to the stuff I put down.

But I try to listen to new music, too, just because I think that's important.

But it's kind of interesting.

It's funny because, say, last year, I mean, I've listened to the David Bowie since I was probably, I don't know, 10 years old or since I could hear because my older brothers had the record.

But a year or so ago, it hit me in a different way where I did this deep dive into early Bowie and songs that I knew, but I'm like, I was so getting this nostalgia high.

It took me that long for this deeper window to open into it.

And that was like a year and a half ago.

And right now, I just put the guitar down.

I'm going through this crazy Radiohead phase.

You know what I mean?

Like I'm doing this deep, you know, I've been listening to Radiohead.

I know they've been out there, but I just, so for me, it's like certain music hits me

at different times.

So meanwhile, I'm like going down this Radiohead rabbit hole.

I'm still keeping my pulse on some new music because, you know, it's kind of like if something

hits me and it hits me hard like that i have to follow it because i feel like the universe is

telling me something yeah like if i'm going down this rabbit hole and i'm like oh my god and i'm

getting this nostalgia high off this music that's been around for a while or some you know sometimes

it'll be someone will play me a new song and i'll hit me like who is this band i'll do a deep dive

so right now it's like i'm just like this open thing and when the vibration from one band comes

in that either hits me the way where I'm attracted

to it. I hope that made sense.

No, no, it does.

There's something to be said for

posturing. I'll give you an example.

I remember, I saw this band live

just because they were at every festival. They were always

playing in the middle of the day.

I just saw them a bunch of times.

This was Death Cab, right? Death Cab for

Cutie, Vancouver.

I saw them maybe three times

and then one day I saw them in

2015.

Sun is setting. I heard

Atlanticism, he was like hearing the band for the first time.

And I was like, I'm telling you, dude, it's the coolest thing.

Yeah.

It's like you weren't ready for it when you first heard it.

You know, it's something.

I mean, I don't know what it is.

I just enjoy when it happens.

And it's like, it's like this nostalgia high, just like I'm in like this dreamland.

Like I shut my door and I'm just, just learning the tunes.

And I don't, I don't, I just let it happen because I think it's like, it's letting me

know that I should be.

That's what I said about like, you know, it's affecting,

we're writing a couple of new songs and,

and it's affecting me in that sense where I'm thinking like, well,

let me think about that.

Let me stay on that.

Yeah.

Atmospheric vibe for a minute.

And that's the fun, man.

Cause we're just creating great, you know, we're creating music.

So it's kind of like,

we have to be open to whatever's coming in new or old, you know what I mean?

So it's like,

there's something to be, it's like the value of stillness,

the value to be open to not just being like,

you know, the hammer and the nail.

Sometimes you just got to like sit still and just kind of like let it happen.

Yeah.

It's like all, all, all that is in there. Yeah.

It's one of my favorite things about myself.

The fact that I can still be like deeply affected by like new artists,

you know, do you think you'd be jaded? Everything was down derivative.

For instance,

I think the last artist that just like got their hook in me.

Are you familiar with Joy Oda-Lacoon?

No.

A folk, folk artist, a black woman.

I believe she's from Nashville, but moved.

Absolutely incredible.

I listened to her album on the way to my parents.

And it was like a spiritual experience.

It was unbelievable.

The point I'm trying to make is you can still be effective.

What I think people don't realize is unless you're making music for 15 and 16-year-olds

and you're their first artist, we're out here as artists almost trying to get market share

from people who already have a favorite artist.

So you have these new artists that are coming in and are saying, okay, this is the dozen artists you listen to.

I have to take one of their spots.

So I guess the question is, what does it take for an artist to really connect with somebody?

Like the artists that you've seen that just popped up and just resonated with large groups of people.

What do you think they have that you'd be able to impart to younger artists in terms of perspective?

Like, this is what you have to do to gain favor in this community or to gain impact in this community.

You know, I'd say right off the bat, you know, don't write for that community.

As we said earlier, like, you got to find your truth, write your vibe.

And it's not like being selfish.

It's being artistic.

You know what I mean?

You can't write for somebody else.

So find your vibe, find your sound, really.

And be honest with it.

And to get in the community, I mean, now it's so different.

You could literally now, you could go and find your favorite artists and kind of like on the streaming platforms and jump onto like playlists and stuff like that.

But everything costs money.

So right now to try to break into it, like I keep saying, and I'm doing the same thing.

I'm such a, like, even the way I write and play is like very just old school rock and roll, but I'm always looking for a new sound.

You know, I can only write what I know and what, and what my feel is, but I can grab new sounds.

So if you're listening to these, if you're, you're trying to find your way through, if you have like, I love these artists, they turn me on, you know, figure out their, and if you feel like, find out what you sound like.

Right.

And like find artists that you think you compliment with, like you, that you, um, you match with a little bit in yourself and go, go on there, you know what I mean? Try to find a playlist with them on it or something like that. But you know, it's, it's, uh, it's an interesting time because we're all trying to navigate through this, this, uh, digital world of music. It's kind of like, you got to find how to navigate through what you're trying to get.

for me you know I uh I left Philadelphia I moved out here and I you know I got this new record well

it's not new now but when I had featherworn one and I'm trying to like how do I get in and I was

doing that I was getting on some playlist but it's like it wasn't really I felt like I was paying

money like greasing the DJ old school you know and uh for me you know I I had uh blush was put in a

like a rom-com and and i saw a little movement on it you know it wasn't it went straight to dvd and

all but i was like hmm so it kind of like licensing yeah that's what i'm that's why i moved out here

try to license some music and that's what i'm working when i go in to record now it's a it's

a licensing licensing deal because um you know the only way i could feel to break through quicker than

the old school record label radio, which kind of really doesn't exist anymore, is getting

placed in a commercial or movies or something like that.

Now, that's a big jump.

I mean, if I was 20 years old and in a band, just go, man.

That hasn't changed.

Get in the van.

Go.

You got to play.

I can't stress playing out live is so important right now for young bands.

play play play play play like shut and rehearse be like yeah be as best because you're you got to

remember you're up against so much right out there right now and there's so much more out there because

now everybody can jump on and put on their video which is cool man you know everybody's got a voice

in a sense and i would also say a really cool thing would be you know if you're trying to break

into this vibe like you know there's so many like you could go on and be like you know is there a

group that loves this band you tap into that hey man i gotta when you check out my record i mean as

much as like the digital era is like oh my god how am i going to navigate through this there's always

a negative and positive to everything so the negative being like a guy like me i'm like well

wait a minute we get signed and we get radio and that's you know that that that's not around anymore

so and so it's kind of like i have to navigate the digital era so i landed on licensing but

because I have some records out there that you know possibly hopefully can can do that for me

like I say play live because you're not getting a lot of that and and and be the best that you can

at your craft because you know a lot of times there's a lot of uh you know you know I think

now you can literally play live and have like a tuner on your microphone yeah and you know that's

fine i guess for whoever wants to do that but like the one thing you'll never get away from is the

human experience music is feeling it's vibration it it's a it's like its own consciousness sometimes

and you can't get away from that live and ai will never do it'll never recreate that human aspect

so it's kind of like you know i wish i had something to say to say you know do this and

that and that and that it's just not there right now you kind of just you got to do it because you

love it you got to write from your heart and you got to just you got to play you got to be active

you know you can be active on the you know the uh you know and these young kids now they know

the computer so much better than like yeah and it's like so with that you you also need that

the live aspect get in the van go see the your cities and you know yeah when i was in philly i

played philly and then i played the tri-state area and i got lucky and we got signed and then

we did the country there's nothing in the world like that and then you're just meeting people so

like being an internet mogul and all that's fine having music on that that's great too but you you

know if you have both then you really got it so i guess my answer that question in a in a in a

roundabout way is um to break into that find out you know like you said like you know break into

those kind of bands that you love and that and what's happening would be like find out who's

listening to them and that's the power we have on you know on the internet you could be like

what algorithms and all that like there the data is there so it's like you know come at it this way

opposed to this way like hey you know instagram has somebody playing music hey check out my record

you know check out my song or or tiktok tiktok's probably the better one that's like

I guess. Yeah, I think, I don't know.

I mean, I'm not that

dabbing on which one to do, but

somebody keeps saying TikTok is actually

one of the better ones. Yeah, it's all

amazed to me. Yeah.

Foster Child was like, I mean, you

guys had a seat at the table, right?

Yeah.

It was like a super group with Octane

and you, basically, it was the two guys

from... Yeah.

Brian from Octane and yourself

at LEED. I met Brian

down to South Street in Philly back in like,

I think it was around 2003 or 2004 when I met Brian.

And, you know, Octane.

So obviously I loved Octane, Philly,

a massive band in Philly, actually all around that area.

I don't know if they toured or they did shows with Fuel.

So the drummer of Fuel, Kevin Miller,

became friends with Brian Quinn.

And those guys were always talking about jamming.

And I met Brian and we started, you know,

hanging out and writing and, you know,

Like I was never, you know, I just, I really became a songwriter with Brian.

You know, I messed around with it before that, but Brian really opened that up in me.

Cause I was new to music.

I was, you know, I became a musician in my early twenties.

So Kevin left fuel and him and Brian started jamming.

And Brian's like, Hey man, I know the singer.

And I know this bass player who is Eric Lenhart from Jersey.

And we got, we went to Kevin's, got in a room and start playing.

And that was it.

That was awesome.

That was a killer.

That was so fun that I was able to do that four-piece rock and roll band.

I mean, that was such a rock band.

Dude, that's another thing.

I remember write-ups about Foster Child.

It was like this commoditization of music was happening.

The boy band thing was starting to die.

Now it's kind of like these dance pop records.

Hip-hop is like commercial hip-hop.

And they're like, here's a band that is just all attitude.

That's how they wrote about you guys.

And I was like, yeah, that tracks.

four bad dudes

with killer songs

that are going to smack you in the mouth

for a sec.

And drink whiskey with you.

Yes, and drink whiskey.

That's actually how we met.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

Do you remember, was it the gig

at

the Roosevelt Boulevard place

or was it Whiskey Tango? You guys played a gig and then we

hung and that's how I met you.

I think it was

Tango. I mean, we played

both of those places but i remember hanging with you at whiskey tango because i remember

you did an event there and i jumped up with you and i think we were saying like this is where we

met yeah i think you were there with brian lee i think yeah yeah yeah so to tango and i think

that's where we met bro yeah that's so funny that was a great spot yeah man well here's here's a

funny moment i don't even know if you remember it i don't i forget where we at the night before

but I was living on Sylvania Avenue

and I think you had family in Glenside

and Brian wasn't even with me.

At this point, me and you were already cool.

We had a song together

and we were doing something

and then we just went back to the house

and my roommates, we were all a little bit wild.

There's maybe six or seven of us.

Like the house was like rocking around 1.30 to o'clock.

You come knocking at the door.

I'm like, oh, it's Danny.

This is my dad.

My roommates haven't met you before.

So you come in, you sit down on a beanbag.

You played like six songs

and I was like, hey man,

you want to drink anything?

You're like,

I think I'm going to get out of here.

You literally came over

like six songs

at 10 o'clock in the morning

and left.

And everybody was like,

did that just happen?

They're like,

do we dream that?

I had to get it out

at two in the morning

and I had to be on a beanbag

at your place.

I'm like,

I don't even know

who remembers this.

It was after real.

Like in the morning,

like in the morning.

There was a skinny blonde guy

that came up by

and played by a blanky dude

that stopped by

to Saturday.

think about it from my roommate's perspective

you're like here's a guy with a guitar

and I was like oh that's my buddy

you know what I do remember

that I don't know where the hell I mean I'm sure I was

you know

I was had a couple

yeah

it was in 2000

that's cool man

yeah

sometimes you just gotta stop by your boy's house

and just whip a guitar out and start jamming

and rolling

as a matter of fact I think

my wife was actually at the house then like we weren't we weren't dating or dating theater at

the time but i think she was actually there and had that memory too it was like we have this like

memory from like with like with like danny bison yeah that's awesome yeah i'm wondering what i can

play you had a couple staples um when i used to see you do covers with uh brian clay you would play

Hallelujah

you would play

what's

the song from Reservoir Dog

Ryan would sing lead on that one

you would sing Karma Police

and it was like my favorite

I think I liked your cover better than the original

that's funny see I was doing

Radiohead back then it's just hitting me now

I saw that set

that I'm talking about at Kildare's

you remember you used to play Kildare's on South Street

I love Kildare's

Yeah.

The Killed Heirs on South Street?

Yeah, there's one.

It's almost, it's not quite front.

It might be, it might've been second,

but I know it's almost towards Ben Landon.

Yeah.

No, it was Head House Square.

Really?

It wasn't Killed Heirs?

Yeah, yeah.

It was right across from where

Boys the Men did that video.

Remember, they're walking under the pillars.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's Head House Square.

It was Killed Heirs.

I used to love playing there.

Yeah, Brian and I used to play there all the time.

Yeah, man.

Yeah.

Then it was called Get Happy.

Remember that?

I know it was called that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Or Get Happy or something happy.

I think it was Get Happy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We're going to Get Happy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was called Some Dude Bought It.

And it was kind of cool.

It was really played there.

Yeah.

It was kind of fizzled out.

Yeah.

Marketing genius there.

Sounds rolled off the tongue.

For sure, right?

In a quarter century of making music, what is the most valuable lesson you learned?

About music or just life?

Life, art, people?

Well, I guess you have a better grip with a loose hand.

That's how I can sum that up.

The minute I stopped trying to, I need this piece to move over here and this piece to move over here.

Then all of a sudden I'm like this.

I just went, you got a better grip with a loose hand.

You got to kind of just like, that which grows simpler always grows better.

And as soon as I did that and I just gave it over to the universe, as long as I show up, I'm doing work.

I'm a work in progress and, you know, I'm not laying around all day or in a bar all day.

I'm, I'm doing what I, you, all you can do is what you can do.

And once you do that, I believe that the universe comes in and, you know, I, every morning I

wake up, I'm like, where do you want me?

I'm on this wave.

Send me that way, man.

As soon as I started doing that, Jules, it's like, you know, we can't control anything,

man.

All we can do is be on a high vibration, which means like, you know, what's a low vibration?

Like anger and frustration, like high vibration.

Like it's all good, man.

And warmth.

Not to sound like a guru, but like in a sense, like as soon as I shot it, stop trying to put a square in a circle hole and just let it flow.

And that goes with everything, dude, my writing and my everyday life.

So I guess I'd say you have a better grip with a loose hand.

I love that.

I love that.

If you could have the knowledge you have today and implant yourself at any point in your career,

almost like time-acuse style, with the knowledge you have now,

where would you implant yourself and what would you do different?

Oh, man, what a quest.

That's something I probably think about twice a week.

I was pretty green in my 20s.

I didn't know a lot.

So I would plant myself in my 20s.

Look, my journey is my journey.

I'm happy I wouldn't change anything.

But if we could do that, I'd probably go back to my 20s.

And knowing what I know now, I would look at things a lot different.

I would protect my voice a lot more.

sometimes when you're 20, I could be out for three nights

partying and still sing the highest notes of all time.

But I just didn't know.

I was just greening at it.

I would go back in my 20s

and I would start digging in

and I would become...

I guess I would be more of an original artist early on

because I became an original artist.

probably, I mean, I got signed

I was 34

that's actually pretty impressive

yeah, I mean, I was pretty late

in a career, but it was like

I remember being like, if I'm 35, I'm

switching the route

I got signed at 34, so it was like

thanks to the guys, because you know

when we started Foster Child, it was like

we were fanatic, you show me a fanatic

I'll show you success, like we were fanatical

we were like up Kevin's

but you know, we were practicing all day

me and Brian were going home and

and right until four in the morning and then going back to kevin's we were like

so it was like yeah that's because you know it's what you put in is what you get out man it's like

it's an important thing and i and i give a lot of credit to the guys you know foster child brian

and like because i was so aloof you know so it was like um just getting in there and

just getting your getting your sound tight you know like even a gig we were doing in featherboard

that's so important

and that's

that's something

I would tell my young self

that I know now

is like

behind the scenes

do the work

because when you're on stage

you don't have to think about that

if you did all the work

you need practice

and all that stuff

so when you're coming out on stage

you don't have to think about anything

but just

relaxing

and just

and just letting it flow through you

and come out

and knowing all that stuff's there

the lyrics are there

your beats are there

your timing's there

you know when they come in

when you know

all that

that stuff that shouldn't come out

in a performance.

Yeah.

I remember

we saw you open

for Cross Freed

and Buck Perry

and you couldn't tell

who the headliner was.

Intensity never dropped off.

Like you guys,

I think you guys were first,

obviously.

It was like,

it was like I was watching

like,

I'm like,

oh,

that's my,

that's a star,

but it's my board.

That's,

oh,

that's,

no,

I'm like,

I'm watching it happen.

You know what I mean?

Croc Rock?

In Allentown.

Yeah,

yeah.

Crocodile Rock in Allentown?

You remember that night?

Yeah, I do.

You guys are incredible.

Thanks, man.

That was a fun one.

Yeah, I'm like,

it's a great band, dude.

4pm, man.

Just Brian and Eric.

It was kind of interesting

because now I'm,

the way I write's like,

finding all these sub-melodies

and everything,

and the way they went at it,

it was like Brian would have a riff,

and Eric would double it,

and it was just this wall of like,

just,

gah,

coming at you.

Yeah.

It was a rad band, man.

And it's funny how perception changes because you can look at that band and you're going to be like, oh, this is like a throwback to like Guns N' Roses and 90s stuff.

And then in hindsight, you're like, oh, no, you were kind of doing the stuff that Youngblood's doing now, you know, like in terms of like screaming, scratching wood stuff and like the high energy, like rock is like anthemic stuff.

So it's timing.

Man, it's so cyclical.

Yeah, man.

Youngblood, that's right.

He is doing all that, man.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was like, look at this guy. I'm like,

don't look at my boy Danny though.

Well, thanks.

A young boy could run.

Yeah.

Speaking of that,

so when you see somebody,

the same way I was seeing your performances

and other people alike, and I'm like,

some people just have it. Obviously, it's hard

work, and you have to have great songs.

You have to have some kind of aptitude and work ethic.

Some people just have it.

In your opinion,

what does it get?

I don't know if it looks like anything.

I think it's more feel.

You know what I mean?

Like for me, whatever that is, you know, I don't think anybody knows, oh, it's this, this and that.

Right.

It's just, and it all, to me, it comes from when someone's very expressing their truth.

Like that's what gets you.

Even if you're seeing an artist and they only have 10 seconds of complete relaxation and their true self comes out because they're nervous, that's all it takes sometimes.

Like, oh, shit.

It's like a window to their soul.

And the only thing you have to offer is the thing that's uniquely you.

So there's no facade.

So whatever it is, I believe it means that person is being honest.

and you're getting the trueness of them.

And then they, you know, and it's not,

usually it's not one thing.

It's how they sound, you know,

their voice comes out and their movement

and what they're not doing.

You got to remember that.

It's not all about what you're doing.

Sometimes it's when you're not doing anything,

when you know the power of silence,

the power of not playing at that moment

and letting it breathe.

It's trusting.

trust in the moment sometimes the moment's not a note or a voice and i think all of that

and you know for me it's like if i see that i'm like whoa but it really comes down to the person's

vibration i guess like you either vibrate vibrate with them or you don't

and you got someone like well take like elvis presley i mean like

wow you know one of the biggest artists of our time and it's like what was that and i remember

I mean, my first thing I ever did was called the Elvis experience.

I did a rockabilly thing.

I had short hair and moving my legs and shit.

And it kind of like through his voice, I found mine.

I was almost doing Elvis as a characterization, trying to find out what is it that makes this

guy like, why is he's driving everybody crazy?

What is it?

And through like, as like an actor's perspective, it was humility.

He was truly humble.

He would make fun of them.

He was truly humble and people couldn't fathom it.

I mean, that's what I came up with, anybody.

So it's kind of like not taking yourself too serious.

I mean, look at Youngblood.

He's this dude.

You can't not look at that guy and be excited

because he's just having a good time

because he takes the stage like,

oh my God, what's happening?

It's the first time it's happening

and the last time it's happening.

And it's the best.

I always say that to everybody, like if you're on stage like this, that's what people are going to feel.

If you're like this and that, then they're like, they want to leave.

You never let them see you sweat.

It's always positive.

And like, and that's why that guy's shining because like, you never see it.

He's just always like, you know, every time I, I, I seen the guy on TV or something, I don't know a lot about him, but I'm like, ah, that guy's got like a, there's something about that guy.

And it's like what you're saying, it, whatever it is.

Yeah.

And I think it's a combination of things.

To be quite honest, I think it could be a God-given thing maybe.

I don't know.

Yeah.

And it's kind of like, but I think it all boils down to find it if you have it or not.

Yeah.

It's still got to come out of relaxation, truth, and honesty, and sincerity.

Absolutely.

Absolutely. It's almost like, I remember

seeing

Post Malone, to kind of add to your point.

And I'm listening, and I'm looking at his catalog

and I'm in like the Wells Fargo Center at this point.

Now he's like the guy. He was having a huge

year. And

you're looking at it, I'm like, this is so huge.

This is so fun. It doesn't make sense.

And he got on stage like, it doesn't make

sense to me either, man. This is a ball.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know.

Yeah, man. And he was

like a genuine everyman.

And I think there's something about it

that has to do with alignment.

When you talk about truth and you talk about vibration,

when somebody is aligned,

the sound, the energy, the aesthetic,

all just kind of marries itself.

And this, you said, attitude of humility.

This is who I am.

And now I'm going to blow all of your minds

in a form of service to you guys.

Make sure we all have an excellent job.

And something about being able to do that well

is like, oh, we're in the presence of something special.

Well, it's like you're telling them you're not alone.

You know, it could be as simple as that.

When you're making someone feel like, oh my God, he gets me.

You know, whatever that is.

Once you unlock that through, like a good writer will do that lyrically

or, you know, I mean, God, talk and bring up Radiohead again.

I mean, I can't wrap my head around some of their melodies

are just out of this world.

And I think,

see, I'm a melody guy.

Like the last thing I get is the lyric.

You know, some people hear the lyrics immediately.

To me, the melody hits me

and I'm like, oh.

And then eventually I figure out what he's saying

or she's saying, whatever it is.

And, you know, everybody's different.

Here's the thing, man.

Do you even have an Achilles heel?

You know, like I've seen you do like

half a dozen things

at the highest level you can do them.

Is there something that you just wish

better or feel you'd like to refine yeah you know i could be a better player i i'd say for me

yeah i think i could dig into the guitar a little more get the piano know the piano a little more i

mean i've been i've been pretty strict on my vocals like you know taking care of them and

i'm a i'm a crazy person about my pitch so i'm like i'm so focused on that before shows because

i sing with different bands so it's kind of like if i'm singing with american vinyl it's like

I have to approach that differently

because I'm singing the highest

of my octaves

doing the Boston and all that stuff.

So it's like,

I'm always concentrating on my voice.

So I'd like to, you know,

dig in to be a, you know,

better musician to speak.

Yeah, the harmony work on

Featherborn versus Foster Child

was like a very welcome difference.

You know?

Yeah, that was Charlie, man.

Yeah, yeah.

He's, I did some harmonies,

but like,

You know, I got to really give it to those guys what they did to those songs.

Like it was, you know, you know, you basically had like trains, rhythm section, having Scott and Charlie and just because, you know, it's not that I've been in a, I only did really Foster Child before that, before Featherborn.

And I think I did, I did the, yeah, so I basically just did Foster Child.

I was only in the studio for that.

maybe when we did Calling All Angels with Carly Simon,

that was the other thing, but that was only one song.

And then when I did Featherborn, it was such an educational...

I left that recording a different songwriter, a different player.

It really opened me up.

Because I'm always like a sponge in those situations.

I know I don't know.

You know what I mean?

I'm always willing.

I just want to learn and learn and learn and learn.

That was just being at Blackbird with John McBride, engineering, and Scott and Charlie,

and the musicians that we use, man.

It was such a mind-blowing experience.

Really special experience.

It is cool, man.

In terms of having a four-circle moment, when you're a kid, you always dream about doing

the music thing, and you have this short list of things you always dreamed about, and then

you start doing it, and you're like, oh, that was on that list of things I dreamed about

when I was a kid.

I actually got to do it.

Do you have anything like that?

Something you always dreamed about?

And you're like, oh my God, I actually just had to do that.

I experienced it.

I'll tell you what, man.

And I say this all the time.

And it's like, I remember the first daydream that ever came true for me.

And I was on a bus in Philly coming from Arnold Ockarty and Alany.

I was on the K bus, I think it was called, SEPTA.

And I remember daydreaming.

And this is the first time because I wasn't really,

I didn't know what I wanted to do until like,

But I remember daydreaming, being on a stage or something and singing.

And I remember the first time it happened, I'm like, oh my God, is that a dream come true?

You know, like a daydream.

So then I looked at it like, you know, that's a very special moment.

So yes, I daydream all the time.

I do it now, right?

Because it's kind of like I have a super objective and all these other objectives to get there.

So like right now, I'll picture like I try to manifest things and I'll just, I do it all the time.

I'm still like a little kid, like, oh my God, daydream doing that, whatever that is.

And I believe as soon as we daydream it, we could go towards it.

Because as soon as I made one come real, I mean, do that equation.

If I can make a simple daydream real that I did as a kid on a bus, I daydreamed something

that actually happened.

I was like, oh, that's cool.

How far can I take this?

So yeah, I'm still

kid, you know, I don't think

as an artist we should ever lose that kid-like

mentality. That like child-like

wonder. Yeah, imagination

is the most powerful thing. Absolutely, man.

Absolutely. A musician, an actor,

any, any, anybody.

You know, any human

can get out. Like a carpenter has to imagine

a house, you know, and once he

builds that, it's got to be just the feeling of

me writing a song. Right.

It almost like validates your

belief, right? I always thought it was like the cheesiest thing

people like believe in yourself.

I was like, well, don't believe in yourself.

Go out there and, you know, establish proof

and do the steps and do the thing.

But I was like, that's so corny.

And then I'm like, now as I'm older,

it kind of almost takes on like a new form.

It's like, no, it's believe in yourself.

It's like, use the proof to learn how to trust your gut

and your instincts and your taste,

like we were talking about before,

because your instincts are usually right.

And that's what I meant by believe in yourself.

Like when I say something broad, like believe in yourself,

What does that, how do you personalize that in your world?

I didn't believe myself a long time.

No, I mean, that's a whole nother thing, but it's like to personalize that is, is, is trust your instinct.

You said it, you nailed it.

They're your instincts.

You know, I always say, if your intuition says, don't walk across the street, don't walk across the street.

You know what I mean?

I mean, the thing that got me through life to this point where I'm at is my instincts because I trusted them.

And I think that's all we have at the end of the day.

And, you know, your instincts are everything, but we have to, they're just not like, you know, it all comes to living your truth and trying to be as honest that that sharpens your instincts, sharpens them up.

Because we went on a dolem, you know, if I'm out five day binge, my instincts ain't really sharp or probably not even really my instincts at that point.

So it's kind of like, I love that you said that because that's such an important thing.

The only thing we have is what we are and our instincts.

And sometimes they might be wrong, but at least we followed our instinct.

By the end of the day, I could be like, well, I instinctively thought that and I followed it.

And I could sleep at night if I did that.

Sit in this guessing game, like, which, they pull this lever.

Exactly.

I think it's the courage to move forward without certainty.

I mean, it aren't,

certainty is a luxury, man.

You go up on a show, I don't know how it's going to happen.

I've been doing all the stuff we can do.

We don't know how this crowd is going to go, this menu, this album,

this song. We think it's great, but

you really don't know. And I think that

believing in yourself is like,

all right, we're going to figure it out. We have about 55%

of the data. We'd like to have 100.

We're going to move forward.

Well, dude, it's like, I'll wake up

and I wake up and I'm like, okay,

today's an improvisation. What's my

objective? You know what I mean?

And it's like, now I have my, and everything else is just life.

And you just got to react to it.

So it's like, you got to keep it sharp.

And go back to that statement I said about better grip with a loose hand, too.

It's like, don't, you know, some people can get so in their heads.

It's like, you've really got to give it, like, the magic is to give it, give some over, you know,

just almost say, give it over to God or give it over to the universe, whatever floats your boat.

But you can't, as humans, man, as soon as we get like this, it's wrong.

It's not going to be right if we're tensed up in a low vibration.

You know, it's like, and I found, you know, I'm saying that because I'm living it.

You know, lucky enough, I'm able to live out here in Laguna Beach, California.

And living that way is like, it's such a peaceful, I have such a peace because of that.

I'm not, you know, look, man, I'm a work in progress.

I'm still going, you know, I'm still a little kid trying to make it, you know what I mean?

In a sense, you know, like, but what is life?

But just, you know, sometimes I got to remind myself that the journey is it.

Don't get so like, because then all of a sudden, like all this life, like two weeks went by

and you're like this opposed to like, yeah, whatever, you know, I'm going that direction.

I'm doing my best.

I'm doing, you know, somehow I'm still out here and I guess I'm supposed to be out here.

Ain't that a nicer way to just.

Yeah.

it could all end tomorrow, man.

I don't know.

So it's kind of like,

yeah, don't take yourself too seriously.

Like you said,

and I think that's a brilliant thing you said.

Yeah, man.

Well, what's the,

what's the next question is a two-parter.

Practically speaking, right?

Your best and worst at it.

What's something you do

that helps you stay aligned,

focused, centered,

and then something that you have that's like,

oh man, I wish I could kick this havoc, man,

but I just can't.

It's such a guilty pleasure.

I like it.

I have so many of those.

No, not that many.

The good thing that really centers me and helps me in everyday life is I wake up and meditate.

So that's been a literal game changer.

That's for me, though.

I can only speak to myself.

That's a great habit that I've been doing.

I do that.

I have a bunch of habits throughout the day that I do, but that's my number one.

Because I wake up with a racy head, man.

Oh my God, I'm late.

For what?

I'm not late for anything.

You know what I mean?

But it's just that head I wake up with.

So I meditate a lot.

A bad habit that I still have that I'm trying to fix is procrastination.

I procrastinate a lot.

You and me, brother.

You and me, brother.

It's like, you know, I push things off.

I'm not as bad as I used to be.

I'm cleaning that up a little bit.

but it's, like,

it's such a stupid thing to do.

It's, like,

you know,

and when I don't do it,

like,

when I get up

and I text something

and it's gone,

it's, like,

oh, my God.

It's, like,

the universe is right,

you know,

and it's such a simple thing.

But listen, man,

that's,

you know,

we all lived a lot of life

and, you know,

there's things.

It's, like,

I don't get frustrated

when I don't do it

because

I'm just, like,

because at least I caught it.

Like,

hey, man,

I did that again.

So again, I'll tell you what, the statement of being a work in progress has been the best thing I say to myself.

Like, relax, Annie, you're a work in progress.

Are you going that way or are you going that way?

So I always try to keep going that way.

So I guess to answer your question, man, it would be like just the meditation that just quiets my mind.

Just for like 20 minutes in the morning, man.

And then it's just a calmer day for me.

And that's a good version of me when I'm at, you know, not that I have walking around anxiety ridden.

I don't have that, but I have a head that thinks a lot.

I guess we all do.

Nice.

And yeah, procrastination, dude, it's been around day one for me, but I cleaned it up

a bit.

But that's a thing that I'm trying to, I've been chipping away at and it's been a lot

better.

Well, there's something you said a couple of times and I haven't addressed it yet.

You always talk about, I'm a work in progress and I'm getting there.

Did it take you a while to be able to extend yourself to that grace or have you always had

healthy relationship with shame and vulnerability and being able to be like,

oh, I made a mistake. I'm not going to sit and dwell. Or did you

learn to do that later in life? You can extend yourself in grace and be like, look,

I'm not going to get it all right, but I'm working with it. Well, for me,

and I don't mind saying this, I'm an alcoholic.

Before I got sober, I wasn't

thinking the best about myself and all

that stuff so it's a little different for me to answer that so like the last four years have been

you know fixing that part of myself getting it was a good run but you know I had to put the drink

down and um that cleaned a lot up for me so that's like but thank you when I was when I was out there

on the party and stuff like that I just wasn't thinking right and um I I wasn't aware I was a

work in progress but i wasn't working towards the light side of things you know so yeah you know i

was just i was kind of lost in a lot of those years as we are and i give i give credit to a lot of

people in my life like the you know brian brian was a big part of my life they gave me a direction

in a positive way shout out brian lee changed my life yeah brian lee brian quinn you know like

like quinn he just you know like i was just like this so i got lucky to when i attached to someone

that like was a driving force in a good direction i got lucky with that you know with them you know

musically and everything else but yeah you know had to clean all that up which i did and and right

now like i feel it's kind of funny it's like i you know feel like it's a whole new life for me but

you know so a work in progress meaning like you know the things that you know how do we learn by

you know for me i did the things the wrong way enough that i learned that they were wrong

So like right now, a work in progress, meaning like trying to be the best version of myself,

try not to procrastinate, try to show up, try to be, you know, man of my word and all

that good stuff.

And that's all we can really do.

It's all I can really do as a person.

And the journey has been absolutely amazing.

And it's been filled with ups and downs, but that's life.

Yeah, absolutely, man.

Well, speaking about it now, what are something you're proud of that has nothing to do with

music?

Besides music, it's just being, you know, not to sound like a weirdo, but like being, I'm proud of where I'm at and where I'm at in my headspace and being a man of my word and showing up.

And, you know, I was a pretty sick guy out there for a long time running around with a drink and, you know, and it's a progressive thing.

it was a progressive thing so you know i was letting people down people that were

that were trying to help me and and i didn't mean to i was just sick so i guess the main thing i'd

be proud of is that um i became a man of my word for anybody who listened to this interview um

how do we stay plugged in how do we connect with people more importantly how can we support you

man and kind of advance the movement number one be the best version of yourself because when you do

that it helps everything and we need to put more positive energy into this world of ours the

negative is on the rise so but to support me i mean i guess listen to you know if listen listen

to featherborn and if you like it keep listening and if you don't that's okay it's not everybody's

flavor but like like right now it'd be like you know i'm just trying to get the music out there

and it's a hard thing to do in a sense,

but I'm not going to let, you know,

it's like we talked about earlier, Joel.

Like, I'm trying to navigate through this new way

of the digital era.

Like, I landed on, you know,

I'm going to try to license some music.

And so, you know, just, you know,

I guess listen to my music.

And if it affects you,

maybe I don't know how you would let me know about it,

but I love hearing about that stuff.

And I love when someone tells me something.

Because it means something to me.

I mean, you would feel the same way if someone comes up to you about one of your songs.

It's like, wow.

For sure.

100%.

It's a great feeling.

So we're all just trying to put a little bit of good vibrations out there in the atmosphere.

So yeah, check me out.

I'm on streaming platforms.

Stay tuned for some new music coming out.

possible movie.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I might be doing some,

get back.

I was like,

I started before I was a musician.

I started acting in Philly under this guy,

Sydney K,

which was like,

became more of a mentor in life than actually,

you know,

I did a couple independent films and stuff like that,

but I had this thing that came up now.

I was trying to work some music in a movie and I may have some good news

coming out soon.

So stay tuned.

But yeah,

just check me out on Instagram.

let me know who you are and I'd love to

find out who you are.

That's sweet, man. Well, dude, I thank you from the bottom of my heart

just for making time, man. I think your journey

is there. Thank you, man. Thank you for

thinking. Yeah, dude, you have

so much more that's going to come out. I have nothing

but the highest hopes for you and the highest standards

because everything you do is

fantastic. So I love you, brother.

Thank you so much, man. Dude, I love you too

and I'm very grateful that you reached out

and asked me to do this, man. I'm a big fan

of you as your music

as a person.

And you're just like,

you know,

you're a great family man.

And I do.

I love you, brother.

And I appreciate you reaching out, man.

The rest of you,

thank you so much for checking out

Danny Baisel and I.

I'll make sure you check out

that Featherborn album.

Take very good care of yourself.

And if you like what you've heard here today,

please tell somebody who loves music.

Thank you.