Danny Michel w/ Justin Bird - Nov 10 at Elixir

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This Thursday, Nov 10 at Elixir (14 Garrett Street), Rock Crew presents Danny Michel with special guest Justin Bird. Tickets are $8 advance at Zap Records, Chumleighs, Destinations, Renaissance, Brian's Record Option, Elixir and online at www.rockcrew.ca

He was been called “a candidate for national treasurehoodâ€. Danny Michel is a clever songwriter, a captivating live performer and a crafty musician. Danny has built a loyal following in his native Canada through cross-country touring and a steady release of critically acclaimed albums.

After several years playing in the bands the Rhinos and later Starling, Danny began his solo career with the inventive and creative self-produced Fibsville (1999). Read the back cover and the listener is asked to ‘just say no to random shuffle’. Inside, there are songs ranging from his ode to a Brad Pitt stalker (Coalmine), the tale of his Cadillac hearse (Smell of Gas), his experience of opening for one of his musical idols, Frank Black (Mr. Black) and a song referencing the band leader on the Titanic, Wallace Hartley (Hartley). Fibsville was followed in 2001 with In The Belly of a Whale. Yet another self-produced album, Belly … found a wider audience, who discovered an irrepressible talent. Lyrically, its main focus is on the matters of the heart, in particular the broken variety. ‘We’re Gonna Be Alright’ hides a tale of loss beneath a steady Keith Moon-like drum beat. ‘Toledo’ explores the vacuous road weary state of longing for home, while ‘Fireworks’ tells a vivid story of a dream inhabited by Ronald Reagan mask wearing bandits and fireworks selling weirdos. Danny toured Belly… with a can-rock dream band of Luke Doucet (Sarah McLachlan) on guitar, Emm Gryner (David Bowie) on bass and Gavin Brown (Sarah Harmer) on drums.

Following a full year of touring, Danny retreated to the country. He settled in a boathouse on a picturesque lake outside of Guelph, Ontario. Eventually he set up a studio and whiled away his days writing and recording. The result is the aptly named Tales From The Invisible Man (2003). Released on upstart indie label, MapleMusic Recordings (Sam Roberts, Kathleen Edwards, The Dears), Danny’s music continued finding an expanding audience. Tales… earned Danny a Juno Nomination for ‘Best New Artist’ in 2004. The album found Danny in vintage form and showcasing his diverse talents, from the power pop of ‘Two Hearts’, an ode to his fixation with childhood memories of growing up in the ‘70’s (I got no beepers, no pagers, just Farrah Fawcett, Lee Majors) to the folksy tale of a mining disaster (Thunder in the Mountain) to the Tom Waits-like sounding title track. Recorded almost entirely at his home studio, and not enough to merely self-produce, Danny played almost all the instruments on the album as well.

In between steady bouts of touring, Danny returned to his lakeside home studio to begin work on a project he had wanted to do since he was in his teens, a cover album of David Bowie songs, his favourite musician. 2004’s Loving the Alien….Danny Michel Sings the Songs of David Bowie, is more than just a long titled tribute record. He steers away, for the most part, from Bowie’s more popular songs, and instead focuses on the Thin White Dukes more obscure numbers like ‘Andy Warhol’ and ‘DJ’. The one hit covered, ‘Young Americans’, is turned into a country leaning acoustic strum.

The summer of 2005 was a busy and fruitful one for Danny. He had the honour and pleasure of playing guitar in Sarah Harmer’s band as she crossed the country headlining her own theatre shows as well as doing the Folk Festival circuit. Danny also hit the Folk festival circuit for his own solo shows, winning over fans from Mariposa to Vancouver. He won the CBC/Galaxie Rising Star award at the Edmonton Folk Festival, arguably the country’s largest and most prestigious festival. Danny was also quite busy off the road. He recorded with Andy Kim (Sugar, Sugar) and Gentleman Reg as part of the CBC ‘Fuse’ radio show. As well as putting the finishing touches on his own record, Danny produced Edmonton’s alt.country upstarts the AASoundsystem.

Danny’s forthcoming album, on MapleMusic Recordings, will be released in March 2006.

Justin Bird:

- Developed skills as a performer and songwriter in Moncton, NB

- Moved to Kingston where he produced five records: Shine, Gaudi Birds, For The Living, Glatisant, and Return To Form

- Canadian Musician magazine best described his music as “soar o’er the moon rockâ€

- Known for his sometimes raw, passionate performances

- Comparisons have been drawn to Bowie, Morrison, and, oddly enough, k.d. lang

- Is currently working on a new record, Beyonder

www.dannymichel.com

www.justinbirdsanctuary.com

www.elixirnightclub.com