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Daniel
Iorio
The daily surfing mp3.com for new music and quality songwriting isn't
always a fruitful one, and on a day when everything is wrong right, you
discover an artist like Daniel Iorio. Refreshing, thoughtful, musical,
museful... these are all words I'd use to describe his songs and sentiments.
A relative newcomer to the online music world, Daniel has become a consistent
BB promoter and personality. I chatted with Daniel from his studio in
Montreal Canada...
Mb: Yo, Daniel.
Daniel: Wheezy!!!
Mb says: So how is everything going?
Daniel: all right!
Mb: Tell me about your typical day.
Daniel: Well, being an indie artist, I do have a day gig. Believe it
or not I'm in finance, so a day generally consists of corporate dogma.
Mb: In touch with the VC's?
Daniel: Come again?
Mb: Venture Capitalists....not Viet Cong.
Daniel: Ahhh yes. I really thrive on it from an artistic standpoint.
I'm not sure what I would write about if I wasn't out there digging trenches
with everyone else. It's a great catalyst!
Mb: I see you've been in the biz for 15 years. Why start?
Daniel: Yeah that's right. I started writing the minute I got my first
guitar (at 17), but sang in a high school rock band 2 years prior. Woah!
That's more than 15 years isn't it? I'm losing track of time...lol.
Mb: Why'd you get in to it?
Daniel: I was a Beatles freak by the time I was 6 years old. The first
rock record I ever heard was Rubber Soul. My folks loved the fab four,
so there was some vinyl laying around. I got a John Lennon haircut and
played a mean tennis racket. I'd pretend I was John and put on shows
for my family. In my teens, I was involved with theatre moreso, and one
day (grade 8) some guy over heard me singing......and asked if I'd be
interested in singing for a U2 tribute thing for a variety show. I said
yeah...
Mb: So you wanted to be John Lennon? Good choice.
Daniel: I still do! But hopefully I'll live past the age of 40. It's
odd as I was born in 1970, I missed the whole thing, but for some reason,
the music spoke to me.
Mb: I hear a lot of Lennon's influence in your music.
Daniel: He taught me everything I know! Plus, being an unschooled musician,
I was able to understand what it was he (they) were doing. Still can't
get those amazing harmonies down just yet...
Mb: So why write songs.. why not just sing covers?
Daniel: I really don't know. I've often said that songwriting found me,
and not the other away around. Sometimes I feel as if I have no control
over what's spilling onto the page. It's weird. I was in a cover band
by the time I was 17. We played Led Zep, Allman Bros, Doors etc...I guess
I just found writing a great outlet for me. I was a teenager...angry
at the world and I needed to express myself.
Mb: What do you want to say?
Daniel: Musically? Politically? Spiritually? lol!!
Mb: All of the above? How about when you write...
Daniel: That there is strength to be found in suffering. I'm willing
to expose my weaknesses to everyone, with hopes that they can address
theirs without feeling volatile or alone. I think there is something
great about knowing your parameters.
Mb: You sound like a Buddhist.
Daniel: I have read quite a bit on that actually-most recently "Awakening
the Buddha Within"by Lama Surya Das. I'm not anything. I take a
little from everything that makes sense and is comforting. Right now
I'm finishing up Gandhi's autobiography. I'm not very Zen at times, so
I'd be a liar and a fake if I fully subscribed to one thing.
Mb: Your song "Overblown" speaks to that notion?
Daniel: Well Mb, alot of my songs don't stick to a theme. They will often
be canvasses for sound bites and images. Overblown
is about a whole bunch of things-but particular to my work life, corporate
nonsense and family. I guess I'm at a crossroads in my life. The line
"forgetting everything you know, could soon be drawing to a close"
just means that maybe I could stop playing Mr.9-5 and start being an
artist. As it were, working in an office means forgetting everything
you know on an artistic, moral and ethical level. I would really love
to earn a living doing what I love and what comes most naturally.
Mb: You're not alone there. Do you see that in your future?
Daniel: You really want to see it happen, so the element of hope gets
you through the 8 hour grind. I'm talking with a major label now, but
it is just that, talk. Suppose I'm old enough to accept the odds and
be realistic about the outcome. But yeah, I'd love for it to come to
fruition!
Mb: Your music seems very natural...
Daniel: I'm definitely very organic about songwriting. The fella that
played guitar in my old band, ecclestone was a schooled musician but
couldn't write tunes. He always referred to me as "an idiot savant"
as often, I didn't know what he was talking about when talking theory!
Somehow I still wrote all the words and music, so yeah, that is pretty
natural!
Mb: So what would you like to close with?
Daniel: That I am the real thing. What is an artist without suffering?
A BOY BAND!!!
Mb: lol
Daniel: Seriously...I don't know Mb. I'm a driver without a map....I
throw caution to the wind and let the chips fall where they may. If people
dig it, I'm doing something right!
Mb: I liked the other ending better!
Daniel: lol...That could get me sued!
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