Dan Byrne took time out from his busy schedule to talk to ERB about his solo career, his approach to songwriting and what he finds most challenging about performing in front of a live audience.

WORDS – Terry Taylor

PHOTOS – Nick Ashton Photography

With both a critically acclaimed EP and a highly successful headline tour under his belt, plus a support slot on The Dead Daisies’ forthcoming UK tour, it’s easy to see why Dan Byrne feels he made the right choice to pursue a solo career just over two and a half years ago.

“Going solo was probably one of the scariest decisions I’ve ever made. At the very start, when you haven’t got a team around you, it’s absolutely terrifying! Luckily, I managed to find my footing and we got the gigs and started writing songs…and the team that I’ve got around me now has made it so easy for me…my managers and the guys in the band are so solid.”

Although at the outset he didn’t have a proper plan in place, he knew he wanted to create music that was different from the traditional style of rock he’d been playing with his previous bands. Essentially, he didn’t want to be bound by the rules. His vision was to combine his bluesy, classical rock vocal with something more modern: something that is still rooted in the music he’s always loved but not constrained by the usual conventions associated with the genre. He began the process by giving himself time to experiment and develop his ideas before recruiting the musicians who could help him deliver them.

The “right fit” came in the guise of guitarist Glenn Quinn (Tigertailz) and bassist Colin Parkinson (Inglorious), both of whom he’d worked with whilst fronting Myke Gray’s band Skin, and also in his good friend and drummer, Max Rhead (Kira Mac). It’s clear from listening to him talk about them that he’s very happy with how things have turned out.

“It’s the most laid back, chill environment I’ve ever been in… ever! All the guys are very confident in their own ability… they’re incredible! Everyone is so supportive… and it means a lot to me that everybody in the project wants the best out of it because obviously, my name is on it and the fact that those guys are willing to put so much hard work in and care about what we’re doing, well, I can’t ask for any more from them.”

As well as giving him the initial opportunity to work alongside Glenn and Colin, Dan is in no doubt that his involvement with Myke Gray has proved invaluable in developing his skills as a musician and performer.

“I owe so much to Myke, probably more than I actually realise. I’ve learnt so many lessons, just in terms of techniques and the way I do things… whether it’s recording…or it’s before a gig, or the mental attitude going into it…the fact that someone of that calibre and with that experience wants to [work with you] kind of builds your confidence [too]… and when you’re in a room with people who are all that good, you push harder to be as good as they are.”

For someone who so obviously enjoys what he does, it is perhaps surprising that music was not Dan’s first love. “When I was younger, it was all about sports. I was a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu by the age of 13 and I [played] football and cricket and everything really. I’m very ‘all or nothing’!”

It wasn’t until he was about 13 or 14 years old, when he picked up the guitar and started having guitar lessons, that his entire focus shifted to music. He only took up singing though because he couldn’t find a singer for the band he was in at school! “I wasn’t very good to start with,” he laughs. “I never had singing lessons and I thought the correct thing to do was … just to put on the gruffest voice you [could] … and sing Metallica covers [which is] pretty much what I did! …Now I’m doing it professionally, I’m kind of coaching myself as well as unlearning some bad habits from years ago. I have now had [some] singing lessons… but it was more about learning how to maintain a healthy voice… and not push myself too hard on stage because, when I’m there, I really feel I need to give every last bit of myself. I feel like I’m cheating if I don’t…”

Described variously as “one to watch” (Classic Rock Magazine) and a “voice of a generation” (Planet Rock Radio), Dan is certainly making waves as an emerging artist. Asked which musicians influenced him growing up he points to the likes of Alter Bridge, Myles Kennedy, Shinedown and Black Stone Cherry but he’s in no doubt that it is the classic rock vocalists, Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company) and David Coverdale (Whitesnake), who are most responsible for the way he sings: “Paul still sounds like an angel, partly because he’s looked after himself… and I adore everything about David Coverdale: his voice, his stage presence, everything.”

“I’ve taken a lot from different vocalists, though not necessarily intentionally. I like the way certain things sound…I find it really interesting the way people manipulate words or vowels when they sing. Max, my drummer, pointed out to me that I make two or three different sounds on a vowel when I’m singing… it’s obviously just a way of manipulating the word to make it higher or to [add] emotion. I think I must have taken that from somewhere, but I honestly didn’t realise I did it.”

There’s one musician who Dan credits as having had the greatest influence on him, particularly as a writer, and that is Fish.

“His songwriting is unbelievable…especially the lyrics…some of the words he comes up with are so beautiful. He can create a mood within a song which I think is really impressive. Sometimes I’m most attracted to the vibe or the atmosphere of a song more than I am certain words or the melody. My favourite song, arguably of all time, is Scattering Crows by him. Maybe it’s a nostalgia thing or the way the song hits me in a certain way but it nearly brings me to tears every time I hear it.”

Dan makes no secret of the fact that he’s a very emotional person. He writes mainly from personal experience and it’s important to him that his music should mean something and allow him to express his emotions. “There were moments on the last tour where I really did struggle to get the words out. I think if I’m in an emotional state, the love-based ballads can be some of the hardest things to sing ever.”

It still surprises him that songs like Hemispheres and Easier, which are so very personal and specific to him, resonate to the extent they do with fans who find the lyrics relevant to their own experiences. “They are probably examples of lyrics that are the most ‘me’…and you can see it’s my point of view. Sometimes I look back on it and I don’t remember writing the songs but I think, ‘Yeah, you hit the nail on the head’.”

He’s immensely proud of his debut EP, Beginnings, and of the support it has received, particularly from Planet Rock. “When I released [it] into the world, I had no kind of prior expectations; I didn’t know what was going to happen. I have nothing but thanks for the guys at Planet Rock. Literally, the songs that we put out separately as singles ended up getting playlisted. Death of Me was on the A-list for 11 weeks!”

The four tracks on the EP (Death of Me, Like Animals, Easier and Hard to Breathe) are, in his words, “very different songs, almost genre-wise” which was exactly what he was aiming for, and it’s plain to see that he’s enjoying the creative freedom he now has. “I feel like I can push the boat out a bit more [now], write what I want to write and there’s still a coherency because it’s my voice and my kind of take on a song… and that’s the thread that weaves through the whole body of work…I’ve never been a person who writes within parameters, especially with my solo stuff, I just want it to sound good. I feel I’m understanding my voice a lot more [now] and I can definitely deliver things the way I want to.”

His most recent single, Sentimental, has also been getting airplay on Planet Rock Radio. Asked why he chose that particular song over others he’s road tested live and already recorded but not yet released, he said it was just a gut feeling: “Sometimes it’s a reaction from the audience, sometimes you just hear something and go, ‘Oh, that one’s got to be a single’.” In the case of Sentimental, it was also that it was different in style compared with those he’s released previously which allowed him to showcase a different quality to his vocals and demonstrate more of his vocal range.

“In our eyes, it’s a blues-rock number: it’s maybe a bit more commercial [than some of the others], it’s reasonably catchy [and] it’s got an earworm chorus…there are also about a hundred violins [on it]!… It’s another example of just experimenting…”

Listening to Dan talk about the journey he’s been on, it’s evident that he’s become more self-assured as a writer and singer in the last few years, but there’s one aspect of fronting a band that he’s always found difficult. “I really struggle, or struggled, to talk to the crowd. For me, that’s the hardest thing about being a musician. I found my way on the last tour where I could get more personal and I was able to talk about certain songs…and I don’t think I got that nervous… but that’s always the biggest challenge. The singing has never been what scares me, it’s always been the bits in between. I [still] can’t watch myself talk… so I won’t watch any kind of video [interview], or if I’m watching a live performance back, I’ll skim through the bits where I talk.”

He’s certainly much happier speaking to people informally, and meeting fans who’ve come to see him perform is very important to him. “I always try and make a point to go out after every show and say hello to everybody. I love the fact that they make an effort to stick behind because, at the end of the day, that’s the reason that you’re playing music. You’re there for those people and effectively, when you put music out into the world, it’s not yours anymore, it’s everyone’s.”

“You never really have a grasp of how other people view you and what you are doing but the fact that people stop me in the street to thank me and stuff, is something I never thought would happen and so I feel very, very lucky to be in that position.”

Asked whether he ever reads reviews, he reflected for a moment before responding: “If it’s a written review of an album or a live show, I will absolutely read it because my curiosity gets the better of me but… you can get a million compliments but the one negative thing will really stick so I don’t necessarily like the fact that I want to keep reading them!”

Over the past few months, Dan has been very busy: “Genuinely, I haven’t left this room…apart from dinner and sleeping, which I haven’t done a lot of either, I’ve just been writing songs… I have a phone full of voice notes of me humming random melodies… [and] over a hundred projects on my recording software. Some it is just a riff or a chorus…it’s not all good, believe me, but there are certain nuggets [in there] and maybe I couldn’t think of what I wanted to do [with them] at the time but then I’ve gone back and thought, well, actually that works…”

He says he has another 5 or 6 completed songs that he’ll be recording in a few weeks’ time. “I’m proud of where they’re going but they really take on a new life when you go into the studio and you can hear how it’s going to sound…”

He is working again with David Radahd-Jones who produced Beginnings and who is someone he trusts to help him maintain the high standards he’s set for himself. “I love his no-nonsense approach and his ability to get the best out of myself or the band members while also getting the best result for the song. His ability to get what I hear in my head onto the track is phenomenal.”

At this point in time, Dan is aiming to release more new music before the end of the year but whether that will be in the form of singles, another EP or possibly an album is not yet clear so it’s definitely a case of watch this space.

If you want to see Dan play live, he has a number of festival appearances lined up: BradStock (3rd May), Firevolt (8th-10th August), RockWich (24th August) and Just Push Play (6th September) plus he’ll be supporting The Dead Daisies on various dates in August. He’s also hoping there’ll be an opportunity to tour with his band towards the end of the year.

As far as his hopes and ambitions are concerned, Dan is realistic about the future: “I think I just want to create music that reaches people and that means something to people. I mean, it’s all well and good saying I want to go and play The Royal Albert Hall (and I do…I’d love to…), but if I can make a living just doing that, it doesn’t really matter what the size of the venue is that I’m playing. Providing I can survive doing something that I love… and that I care about, then I couldn’t ask for any more…”

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