Hello, I’m Daniel. I play Bass, and the Octave Mandolin.
I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself, and share my Ockham’s Razor story. I don’t claim to be a great writer, but I will endeavor not to bore anyone.
The first time I was introduced to Ockham’s Razor was at a party, in Tacoma, Washington.
I met some new friends, Jean-Paul and Mel, at a small gathering they hosted. They encouraged their musically inclined friends to bring their acoustic instruments along. At the time I was playing in Blackbird Orchestra and we were beginning to “break into the scene”, so meeting other musicians who were likeminded was important. I was introduced to Kris and Scott at this same party. I had no idea at the time that anything would come of this first casual meeting, but I was intrigued by the fact that they were in a Celtic Rock band, and we spent some time chatting about it. Later on in the day we had a backyard jam, which was the first time I played with Kris. As I remember it, I sucked.
Let me digress for a moment and try to explain this fascination with Celtic Rock a little.
In 1996 I first heard “Celtic Rock” in the form of Ashley MacIssac’s, “Hi, How Are You Today?” This was the first time I had heard some elements of heavy rock and more traditional Celtic music played together.
When I heard Hills of Glenorchy and Brenda Stubbert they blew my mind. It was life changing for me, musically. I knew that someday I would like to play a fusion of Rock and Celtic traditional in my own way. I didn’t know when or how, but I knew I would. After this I didn’t play music again until about 2005.
Not long after Jean-Paul and Mel’s party, I received an invitation from Jean-Paul to come and see Ockham’s Razor play. After playing with Kris at the party, I wanted to hear the band, so I made plans to be there. Since I’m also a photographer I wanted to shoot the show as well. I was really getting into live music photography at the time. On September 5th, 2009 I saw and shot my first OR show at the Tiger Lounge in Seattle. It is a small venue - very intimate - but for me it was amazing.
There have been relatively few times in my life where hearing music has really resonated in my soul. I don’t know how to explain this, but have you ever been watching a band perform and you got goose bumps? Where you were flooded with overwhelming emotion? My experience was like that, and it was confusing. I knew by the end of the set that one day, I would play with them. I didn’t know how or why, I just knew it would happen. I came home and told my wife, Tina, about this amazing band and how I wanted to someday play with them.
The second time I saw OR was at the Comet Tavern in Seattle, Washington. This is arguably the shiftiest dive bar in town, but it was an amazing set. I actually cried during a few of the songs because this band’s music connected with me in a deep and profound way. Luckily for me, the Comet also has shitty lighting, so my public display of emotion was hidden in the darkest corners of the bar.
After seeing a few OR shows as a fan, I was invited to celebrate Kris’s birthday at their home. By this time, Kris and Scott were becoming friends in the Seattle music scene and had agreed to do some mutual shows with our bands. Scott was also an ally in bouncing do-it-yourself music marketing ideas off of, as well as enthusiastically embracing my live OR band shots, some of which are still on the OR site today.
My photos of OR also led to Scott and Kris asking me to be the Official Photographer for the Great West Coast Craic Fest, an event that the band organized and produced.
As time went by we talked about potentially working together on some kind of collaboration. Sadly, circumstances led to me taking a “musical break” at the same time as Kris and the other members of OR also took some down time. While I had always hoped that one day I could play with Kris and OR, I didn’t hold out too much hope of that happening.
Eventually I decided to start looking for people or bands to work with - at the very least to keep my musical chops up. After a year of fill-in shows for a local post rock outfit, and joining a relatively famous Goth band that broke up while I was on a road trip to New Orleans, I decided that now was the time to look for – or start – my own Celtic Rock outfit.
I played with a few folks but nothing really seemed to happen. I met some cool people along the way, and continued jamming on the side. By this time, my childhood friend and fellow musician, Kris, had decided to move back to Seattle. We decided to give it a go with a few folks I met along the way. I started playing the octave mandolin a little and things were slowly coming together. We were having fun.
After a while we decided to expand the group and I reached out to Scott and Kris to see if they could recommend a fiddle player. The conversation took on a life of its own and we combined bands. We began by asking former OR members if they had time to come back and join us. Sadly, they were too busy or too far away. Instead, we slowly built the band to what it is today and have been preparing to present it to the fans and friends of Ockham’s Razor. As a fan, this is a big deal for me.
There is more to the story, but not being a writer I won’t try to get everything in. There will be more stories to come, likely about our adventures, which I want to share with everyone.
~D
I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself, and share my Ockham’s Razor story. I don’t claim to be a great writer, but I will endeavor not to bore anyone.
The first time I was introduced to Ockham’s Razor was at a party, in Tacoma, Washington.
I met some new friends, Jean-Paul and Mel, at a small gathering they hosted. They encouraged their musically inclined friends to bring their acoustic instruments along. At the time I was playing in Blackbird Orchestra and we were beginning to “break into the scene”, so meeting other musicians who were likeminded was important. I was introduced to Kris and Scott at this same party. I had no idea at the time that anything would come of this first casual meeting, but I was intrigued by the fact that they were in a Celtic Rock band, and we spent some time chatting about it. Later on in the day we had a backyard jam, which was the first time I played with Kris. As I remember it, I sucked.
Let me digress for a moment and try to explain this fascination with Celtic Rock a little.
In 1996 I first heard “Celtic Rock” in the form of Ashley MacIssac’s, “Hi, How Are You Today?” This was the first time I had heard some elements of heavy rock and more traditional Celtic music played together.
When I heard Hills of Glenorchy and Brenda Stubbert they blew my mind. It was life changing for me, musically. I knew that someday I would like to play a fusion of Rock and Celtic traditional in my own way. I didn’t know when or how, but I knew I would. After this I didn’t play music again until about 2005.
Not long after Jean-Paul and Mel’s party, I received an invitation from Jean-Paul to come and see Ockham’s Razor play. After playing with Kris at the party, I wanted to hear the band, so I made plans to be there. Since I’m also a photographer I wanted to shoot the show as well. I was really getting into live music photography at the time. On September 5th, 2009 I saw and shot my first OR show at the Tiger Lounge in Seattle. It is a small venue - very intimate - but for me it was amazing.
There have been relatively few times in my life where hearing music has really resonated in my soul. I don’t know how to explain this, but have you ever been watching a band perform and you got goose bumps? Where you were flooded with overwhelming emotion? My experience was like that, and it was confusing. I knew by the end of the set that one day, I would play with them. I didn’t know how or why, I just knew it would happen. I came home and told my wife, Tina, about this amazing band and how I wanted to someday play with them.
The second time I saw OR was at the Comet Tavern in Seattle, Washington. This is arguably the shiftiest dive bar in town, but it was an amazing set. I actually cried during a few of the songs because this band’s music connected with me in a deep and profound way. Luckily for me, the Comet also has shitty lighting, so my public display of emotion was hidden in the darkest corners of the bar.
After seeing a few OR shows as a fan, I was invited to celebrate Kris’s birthday at their home. By this time, Kris and Scott were becoming friends in the Seattle music scene and had agreed to do some mutual shows with our bands. Scott was also an ally in bouncing do-it-yourself music marketing ideas off of, as well as enthusiastically embracing my live OR band shots, some of which are still on the OR site today.
My photos of OR also led to Scott and Kris asking me to be the Official Photographer for the Great West Coast Craic Fest, an event that the band organized and produced.
As time went by we talked about potentially working together on some kind of collaboration. Sadly, circumstances led to me taking a “musical break” at the same time as Kris and the other members of OR also took some down time. While I had always hoped that one day I could play with Kris and OR, I didn’t hold out too much hope of that happening.
Eventually I decided to start looking for people or bands to work with - at the very least to keep my musical chops up. After a year of fill-in shows for a local post rock outfit, and joining a relatively famous Goth band that broke up while I was on a road trip to New Orleans, I decided that now was the time to look for – or start – my own Celtic Rock outfit.
I played with a few folks but nothing really seemed to happen. I met some cool people along the way, and continued jamming on the side. By this time, my childhood friend and fellow musician, Kris, had decided to move back to Seattle. We decided to give it a go with a few folks I met along the way. I started playing the octave mandolin a little and things were slowly coming together. We were having fun.
After a while we decided to expand the group and I reached out to Scott and Kris to see if they could recommend a fiddle player. The conversation took on a life of its own and we combined bands. We began by asking former OR members if they had time to come back and join us. Sadly, they were too busy or too far away. Instead, we slowly built the band to what it is today and have been preparing to present it to the fans and friends of Ockham’s Razor. As a fan, this is a big deal for me.
There is more to the story, but not being a writer I won’t try to get everything in. There will be more stories to come, likely about our adventures, which I want to share with everyone.
~D