MUSIC. SUMMER STORM | a collection of ukulele ditties [2005]. Folk/singer/songwriter Daniel Gannaway.

Here is an interview with Daniel as he discusses this amazing new release with us...

PMN - So why the ukulele?

DG - I wrote and recorded SUMMER STORM | a collection of ukulele ditties on a ukulele that my wife gave me. I'd started plunking around on it after I finished darling one year. At first I didn't really know what to make of the ukulele with it's little body and nylon strings, I was just bumbling around making shapes. I actually found it kind of frustrating at first because I couldn't even hint at the amazing Hawaiian ukulele music I was listening to. Once I accepted my limitations and style, as I had previously with the guitar, inspiration on the uke started to flow. It was kind of exciting for me to write songs on a different instrument. Fairly soon I had a bunch of ditties, and I thought it'd be really cool to make an album documenting them. I ended up deciding I would make an album without any guitar whatsoever, base it completely around the ukulele, using other sounds to complement.

PMN - Different instruments inspire a different approach...

DG - Yeah exactly. For me it's the ukulele sound. It's different to the acoustic guitar and set off a new direction in song writing for me. SUMMER STORM is the album I was imagining in my head, but because I was writing on a new instrument I didn't know if I could translate the ideas in my head into an actual living album around that core sound.

PMN - What was the first song you wrote on SUMMER STORM?

DG - The first couple of songs were real social/political in nature and then the group rounded out as other songs appeared. The first song was A just senator. I had words along those lines and the tune. Then the two were combined and inspired to completion by Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 which I saw at the time. There was a heavy feeling in the air. Mainstream media networks like Fox were candy coating everything the President said. Meanwhile Iraq was forcing the Bush Administration to call up the National Guard for service there. Hawaii is one of the most militarized places on earth, so you're fairly aware of the military here. The song for me is a cynical, happy tune, with an old timey political props band on the trayback idea in mind. I wanted it to be fun to listen to and yet still raise a question mark. I was really happy with the outcome when we tied it all together with Michael's [Brennan] walking bass line and Stan's [Leboy] kooky drums and stuff. The second song I wrote was No Mall At Sharks Cove, which was in support of Friends of Sharks Cove. Sharks Cove is a coastal gem, and a huge draw for tourism on the North Shore of Oahu. There is some seriously hideous development in Hawaii where no thought for the surrounding environment or community has been made, so my thoughts were that it'd be a shame to see Sharks Cove go the same way of the strip mall metality. Not only that, Haleiwa is just down the road. I'm interested in responsible development, and what was being proposed at the time was not responsible in any way.

PMN - So the same contributors again?

DG - For sure. I was/am super happy with how darling one year turned out. Michael and Stan just nailed what I wanted exactly. Same with the kidameln debut album, the kidameln lo-fi, which we all play on [along with Warren Lawson]. For SUMMER STORM Stan was his usual creative self with drums. This time there was also a more keys type input, rather than just electronic sounds. On darling one year I wanted some weird electronica sounds, which he worked closely with me on. This time I wanted some keyboard and piano complimenting subtley. He did this and also brought some synths into places too. It's all really understated which is important. The same with Michael. I really trust Michael's judgement in contributing. I might have a groove I'm trying to find and he'll be able to play that, but he'll be like 'What about this instead?'. I usually run with what he suggests. Some musicians want to stamp their mark all over something, whereas he's sensitive to the overall message, and plays something that elevates the song as a whole. Recently while Michael was recording his latest Phonoss album, [Dead Slow for Hell] he said that SUMMER STORM was one of the hardest things he's had to play on. I'd dropped the key of my ukulele when I was given it 'cause I liked the sound better, so it became really slack, which made it really fun for Michael to tune too. I got a bung ear for tuning so it was sort of all on his shoulders as to whether he was in or not. If you listen to some songs on SUMMER STORM in headphones you'll hear two bass lines of Michael's playing off each other and stuff like that. I really like what he put down, the album as a whole has a really nice low end driving it along.

PMN - What about recording?

DG - Michael and I each bit the bullet and invested in moving across from PC onto the MAC/Protools M-Box platform. I did this prior to recording SUMMER STORM. It was quite a learning process, learning the basics of a whole new recording method, while getting my head around what I was trying to do with the album. Probably this is actually the best way to learn something, as you're forced to figure it out to achieve your aim. Ultimately the investment has been worth it as we're now able to send each other a dvd with a Protools project on it, and while he might be in Switzerland I can be here in the US and still formulating an idea together in a really quality form. This is what we've done in the past before getting together to actually put the thing down. Now we may be able to put the bulk of the demo song down and then get together with a really nice quality to start from. Same with Warren who has been working on a solo project in New Zealand that I've already contributed a vocal track to. A slow Johnny Cash like countrified version of the Feds song Ridin lo. I used Protools to record over his rhythm track, sent him the vocal separate and he mixes at his end. Killer. The new kidameln album will feel real different to the first album as it will all be done in Protools, which is what we actually joked about after finishing the kidameln lo-fi, doing something higher-fi. I always want to learn something new out of a project and with SUMMER STORM and DS4H [new Phonoss album], I've learnt some basic Protools stuff and can see that the program has huge potential. As always, you've got to know what you're trying to produce or you'll get lost in the plugins and effects. Sometimes you don't need any of them.

PMN - What's next?

DG - The new kidameln album will be next. We got most of it in the can over a month or two of recording sessions before I left Aotearoa in September 05. We'll be adding some final touches, mixing, and then mastering with our friend Jason at MCA in Auckland. Given all of our schedules and locations it might be a little whiles away. After that I will be putting out a solo acoustic album. It's gonna be a collection of the social/environmental/political songs I've been releasing every now and again. I'm really excited about that. Then after that I'll be helping produce on a kinda country/folk debut album for the band theNOWawol. Most of the songs are written and sung by Stan and Lanky Fredriks with some nice lead licks from Big Col Jeffries and bass by A'lan Michaels. Real quiet mellow songs. I might be singing backups on a couple and strumming rhythm on a few. Both the new kidameln and theNOWawol albums will be put out on my label truly independent and distributed in NZ/Australia by Powertool Records. As per usual, anything I'm involved with will be available through CD Baby, Mp3tunes, iTunes and a variety of other outlets for mp3s and cds. Stay tuned!

PMN - Great to talk to you.

DG - The thanks goes to you for supporting truly independent music.