Daniel's musical relationship started at 4 years old, when he started taking violin lessons at the Pacific Northwest School of Music. The school emphasized performance and ear training skills and gave many solo recitals and concerts where all students played together as a group. These skills enabled Daniel to quickly overcome nervousness and come to rely on playing exactly what his ear heard.
At 11 years old, Daniel's father bought him a small ukulele and a companion booklet. Soon, Daniel was singing and playing I've Been Working on the Railroad, and Home, Home on the Range! Asking a 5th grade teacher to add a performance in a school play, Daniel was able to perform these songs for his elementary school.
The following year, a friend of his mother's, Oleg, gave Daniel his first guitar lesson. Oleg was a Russian folk player, and knew several chords. Daniel learned these and soon was writing songs. In high school, he played violin and viola in the orchestra. He also started his first rock band after buying an electric guitar. The band was called Shinola. It was made of two friends and Daniel's brother, Jonathan on drums. This was also Daniel's first recording experience. He purchased a Tascam 424MK 4 track cassette tape recorder. The following year, Shinola had their own self-recorded and produced album, You Rude Guy.
In 1999, while at the University of Washington, Daniel formed his second group, Groove Packet, which played locally. In Fall 2000, together with Justin "Lobster" Barnes, Daniel formed the reggae-rock group, Nuffsed. While writing original songs was slow at first, Daniel picked up momentum and began writing songs for the band's first cd, All The Hits.
Around this time, Daniel started taking private lessons from local jazz guitarist, Milo Petersen. He felt that more awareness of melody and harmony was needed in order for him to make his best work. He also enrolled in a Jazz ensemble throguh Seattle Community College and studied there with bandleader and drummer, Brian Kirk, from 2004-2005. This, in turn, spawned new projects including Nineteen Eighty Funk, Parabolic Funk, and The Maccabees, where Daniel took advantage of further writing opportunities.
In concert, Nuffsed consistently drew large crowds and made permanent fans and groupies. They went on to record a self-produced album, Good Nuff (2004), their official debut cd followed by Ignite the Fuse (2006). Three West Coast tours were completed, including a stop at the 2005 Reggae on the River festival in Northern California. The band broke up the following year, but Daniel has plans with original bassist, Todd Baum, to bring the band back to life in the near future.
In 2007, Daniel began studying guitar, arranging, and producing at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He took private lessons focusing on jazz played in a variety of ensembles ranging from reggae and jazz to funk and Latin. Daniel learned scoring techniques and became well versed in the newest music technology. He graduated in May 2009 with a degree in Contemporary Writing and Production.
Whether he works in Seattle, Los Angeles, or Paris, Daniel hopes to bring his music and talent to even more people through writing for television as well as performing world music. "Music is about bringing harmony and upliftment, and a satisfied mindset to its audience. It can incite people to do all things big and small," refects Daniel. And what about the future? "We'll see what happens this year," he laughs. "Just gotta keep working hard writing good tunes and LISTENING. Never stop learning!"
