When MUSICAlive! reconnects with Jared Daniel, after a 6 year interval since our first interview about his Fireside Music events, we ask if he’s gotten married and divorced and had kids and now is starting up a rock band to express all that?
“Yeah,” he laughs. Like, how did you know?” HE DOES now have a 2 year old daughter! “And she’s the inspiration for a lot of my new music.” (we both laugh)
“Performance was always the intention (when he was running Fireside). I grew up the son of a musician, so music was just always around the house, and people . So it’s kind of in my veins, and was something I wanted to do myself. Fireside was an expression of the community I experienced growing up: I just had a love of getting people in the living room, getting the guitars out, percussion or whatever, and connecting with people through music.
“But inside of me was an artist which really wanted to come out as well! I thought if I could get close enough to the flame that enough of it would rub off on me, with them staying at my house in Bowness and playing a house show . . . And we Would Jam, and we Would make music, and a lot of these artists would say, ‘Why don’t you do this?’
“So lots of encouragement from my peers caused me to come out as an artist. And it was during the pandemic (Pandemic? What Pandemic?) that I released my first single, Give It Away, and from there the rest is history!”
We both have a Pandemic-induced blank about when it started , 14 years ago? 2019? 2020? The gap seems so wide and yet already receding into the distance . . . we hope!
“March 2020 was when I released music on streaming platforms, and legitimized myself (as a Soul performer) for the first time . . . I have a band when I play around Calgary that plays more from the black gospel genre (and therefore) have a couple of background vocalists from the gospel world, weaving into my sound as well.”
Since Jared has mentioned Soul music as a genre focus, we inquire about this being a stretch from his family’s musical origins?
“My dad definitely started in that folk/ roots world, having his career in music and setting up folk clubs here and in BC: I definitely came from that world.” Jared talks about being a basketball player when he was growing up in Calgary, and remembers being inspired by the music he heard in the movie Space Jam: D’Angelo, Monica, R. Kelly.
“These voices really inspired me from a young age. I just continued on. I think some of those folk elements still do influence me today. A good example of a crossover artist between those worlds is Leon Bridges, called folk-soul.”
Jared describes a Soul musical heritage that starts of course, with Marvin Gaye and then passes through Brian McKnight, Usher, and Chris Brown, to end up in Neo-Soul.
“and that’s why I think this show (on May 31st) is so important: I haven’t felt like I’ve truly nailed the sound like I envision it, and this is the first time I’ve brought this band together entirely. I thought ‘Now’s the time to provide this sound for the Calgary community,’ and to create this legitimate experience within this genre. in a beautiful historic space. So I’ve just put my head down and organized this show, and it’s already sounding amazing!”
And having shared his soul music development in Toronto, New York, AND Calgary, he’s got a complete setup happening in the Lantern Community church on May 31st: lead and rhythm guitars 2 keyboardists, the percussionist and the backup vocals to create a total show, not simply a string of songs but the Jared Daniel experience!
