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 treasurehood”. 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 rock”
- 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
www.rockcrew.ca

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