Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
I have lived most of my life in a small market town, surrounded by green rolling hills most people associate with Hobbit holes, in Lancashire, England in the UK. Music has been in my life since the heady days of listening to tapes of David Bowie, Michael Jackson and especially Nirvana and REM, on my alarm clock-radio-cassette player at 11-years-old, thinking (as you do) these were mine and no-one else had ever heard such wonders. Then having my mind blown by meeting someone at school with an actual guitar who could play actual Nirvana and Green Day songs. I simply could not let this stand without getting a piece of the action. Getting my first acoustic guitar at 13, I immediately started recording little ideas on that same tape deck, as well as obsessing over every detail of my music collection, much to the annoyance of no-one…I did it all in secret… It was years later anyone knew I could play, let alone write music. Though, thankfully, my confidence has come along some since then!
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
The key is never be afraid to contact anybody and everybody, any venue, publication, station you can, even if you think your act doesn’t 100% fit the gig you are making your presence known! Put yourself out there and face potential setback after letdown after misfire because every single singer, guitarist, spoon-player in history has had those aplenty. Pick yourself up, always do everything your own way and ignore the likes of ‘no’ ‘don’t bother’ ‘forget it’ ‘you can’t’ and especially ‘never’, whoever tells you those things (even it’s yourself), laugh lots and always believe better things are on the horizon, because they most certainly are. Even get your mom to hand out CDs at her work… heck knows, that got me one of the best shows I ever did!
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
Mistakes? Nope, note perfect every single time… or so they think! I find most people at shows hardly even realise if you mess up, and if they do…just blame it on the sound guy! The worst, for me, was doing an acoustic cover of Billie Jean by Michael Jackson and screwing up the words. Everybody on the planet knows that song, so you screw that up it’s way more noticeable than if you miss a guitar line on your own material, that far less people at the show have heard (so far…).
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
While I used to play live pretty regularly as part of my old bands, I have only ever flown entirely solo a handful of times, so far. One of these gigs involved waiting for a promised slot at the end of a university leavers’ ball, following a salsa session band, who kinda blew my big moment by playing a never-ending stream of classics, ‘salsa’d up to the max…all night… Though I didn’t let the night totally go up in flames, I managed to get on stage with my guitar and join them for a couple of numbers (you’ve never lived till you’ve solo’d along to ‘La Bamba’…).
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
My bedroom studio has served me well over the years, with the Mac and Logic being central focus. I still have my trusty Korg X50 mostly for MIDI keyboard work, though it’s great for live work too seeing as it’s so light. I recently upgraded to using a thunderbolt interface, the Focusrite Clarett 4Pre, which was pretty lifechanging. Gets rid of all those pesky latency issues, and it has the cleanest sound I’ve ever had on an interface.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
My friends and family telling their friends, and so on, was really what ignited any interest in me taking this whole thing further. Word of mouth is still such a powerful thing! I have also had awesome experiences collaborating with other musicians online, through sites like Bandhub where you can come together and work on covers and originals as part of a team, and this really helped get my name out there and made me feel like I was an actual artist for the first time.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
It would have to be David Bowie. To be in his band on a full live tour would have simply been THE greatest experience for me! For me, no single human being in the history of world music ever came close. Sheer innovative brilliance!
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
After working on my record ‘Make Life Take Mine’ for half a year I feel like taking a break with pizza, beer and lots of sleeping… though obviously that won’t be happening as I have a number of projects to keep my brain occupied! I am currently helping with the writing of my friend’s first album, alongside collaborating with another friend of mine on an EP we’ve been dreaming of making for what seems like (and probably is) years. Also a charity network called One Million Project, who mostly work with authors on fiction anthologies to raise money for cancer charities, will be moving into music soon and that’s something I am going to be part of.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Sleeping…sometimes gaming, most likely. Though also writing the novel that always takes a backseat to music. Basically anything that involves me not having to leave the house for any lengthly period of time…!
Exposed Vocals: Any Shout-outs?
Would love to do a shoutout to all my Bandhub friends and collaborators over at bandhub.com and the FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/bandhubusers
Bandcamp: https://danielmassey.bandcamp.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/danielmasseymusic
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/make-life-take-mine/1341387132
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3ytRtc7E3jY7x1erPE0Fm7?si=R_Q_uNC2See3Sx4iAQiJNA
Amazon: http://a.co/b86L8R1
