Dan Brodie

Dan Brodie
Born 1974 (age 40–41)
Origin Australia
Genres Singer-songwriter, Rock n Roll, Alternative
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, musician
Instruments Guitar, piano
Years active 1998 – present
Labels EMI, Last Call Records, Beast Records, Fat Swine Records
Associated acts Luxedo, Dan Brodie and the Broken Arrows, Dan Brodie and the Grieving Widows


Dan Brodie (born 1974) is an ARIA Award nominated singer/songwriter from Melbourne, Australia.

Early life

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Brodie was raised in a musical family, his father, a professional guitarist and singer taught Brodie the basic chords of guitar and along with his brother Chris Brodie (Dallas Crane), they began making music together, honing their skills of playing live to an audience, playing hundreds of shows around the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne, in garages, house parties, Battle of the Bands, School Formals, fetes, weddings and wakes.

Career

His debut EP, I'm Floatin' Mama was independently released in 1998; followed by his debut album, Big Black Guitar in 1999. Backed by The Broken Arrows which featured his brother Chris Brodie on slide guitar, Craig Williamson (These Immortal Souls) on drums and Dan Kelly on bass, Brodie signed to EMI who re-released his debut album. Both the EP and debut album were produced by Maurice Frawley and engineered by Dave McCluney at Atlantis Studios in Melbourne.

During this period Brodie also joined dirty swamp rockers, Luxedo, on bass, the line-up also including Tom Carlyon (Devastations, Standish /Carlyon) on lead guitar and vocals, Emilie Martin on violin and guitar and Jamie Coghill on drums, contributing to the debut LP, "Beauty Queen" and the follow up, "City Lights and Roadkill", departing in 2001 to concentrate on his solo career.

Brodie's second album, Empty Arms, Broken Hearts was issued in 2002 and featured vocals by You Am I's Tim Rogers, and bass by Stu Thomas (Kim Salmon & The Surrealists, Dave Graney). Featuring the singles "Take A Bullet" and "Jesus, Try And Save Me" the album scored Brodie two ARIA Award nominations for Best Male and Breakthrough Artist. The album was engineered by Oz Fritz (Tom Waits) and produced by John Wooler (Iggy Pop, John Lee Hooker) 2002 also saw Brodie sign with French label, "Last Call Records" and tour extensively throughout France in the same year.

A critically acclaimed 'solo' album entitled Beautiful Crimes was released in 2005 that veered away from country into a more indie rock sound and was produced by Barry Palmer of Hunters and Collectors.

In addition to releasing his own albums, in 2010 Brodie appeared on the Paul Kelly produced Maurice Frawley tribute album, Long Gone Whistle – The Songs of Maurice Frawley, performing the Frawley track, "Roll me" to a sold out audience at the Esplanade hotel in St Kilda, Australia with Dan Kelly, Tom Carlyon (Devastations, Standish/Carlyon) and Kiernan Box (Augie March) as well as the final song of the evening, "Everybody's Talking" with the Working Class Ringos.

Taking an extended break from touring with a band, Brodie spent several months playing solo shows in New York City and Austin, Texas and also took a lengthy sojourn to Buenos Aires, Argentina and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, returning to Australia to record the independently released, My Friend The Murderer (2011). Spanning eleven tracks, the album was recorded at Headgap Studios in Melbourne, Australia by Brent "Sloth" Punshon (Adalita) and for the first time showed off Brodie's newly formed backing band, the Grieving Widows, featuring Chris Brodie (Dallas Crane/Broken Arrows) on bass and Dave Nicholls (Ian Rilen/Spencer P Jones) on drums.

Brodie has toured extensively in the US, UK, France, Spain and New Zealand and he has played iconic venues such as CBGBs in New York, The Exit/In in Nashville, The Continental in Austin and The Olympia in Paris. He has a reputation as a formidable live performer with acclaimed festival appearances at the Big Day Out, Byron Bay Bluesfest, Splendour in the Grass, Darnius Festival in Spain and the Binic Folk Blues festival in France.

In 2012, Brodie signed with Beast Records in France, completing a successful 25 date European tour and bringing a whole host of new fans to his music.

Brodie completed work on his fifth "solo" LP, Deep Deep Love in 2012 before a diagnosis of Hodgkins Lymphoma and subsequent treatment of chemotherapy and radiotherapy sidelined him for most of 2013, delaying the record but managing to release the single and video, Tear us down. Close up and personal, the clip is a minimalist, sparse setting for Dan to frame the song, which was shot and directed in one take. Deep Deep Love features minimalist backing of double bass by Dean Schulz (Fingerbone Bill, Suzannah Espie) the sweet harmonies of Layla and Rhianna Fibbins (Sideshow Brides) and Grieving Widow's alumni Chris Brodie and David Nicholls on guitar and drums respectively.

Following a successful album launch in early 2014 (exactly a year on from the original scheduled release date), Brodie was invited along with a star-studded cast including Paul Kelly, Adalita and Gareth Liddiard, to take part in the "Living Legends Series" as part of the Leaps and Bounds Music Festival, honoring both Spencer P Jones and Charlie Owen on separate nights at the Tote.

In June 2014, Brodie entered St Charles Recording Studio in Northcote with Grieving Widow’s Dave Nicholls (Escape Committee) on drums, and Chris Brodie (Dallas Crane) on guitar to record a song from their live set, a cover of Ian Rilen’s (Rose Tattoo/Love Addicts) “Booze to Blame”. Three more songs of original material quickly followed. This proved the best way to creatively use the pain of his recent experience: to put some of the suffering into his lyrics and stare it down; for Brodie it was a creative struggle he had to win and leave behind.

Kicking off with Rilen’s classic of lost love and regret, “Booze to Blame”, the Grieving Widow’s announce their intent with a horn filled blast of good time four-to-the-floor riffage, providing a link with their 2011 release, MY FRIEND THE MURDERER.

With the epic “No Warning”, a simple guitar riff builds and builds, culminating with the sorrowful lament of “being with you once upon a time used to be like a drug high”, before rebounding with help from Spencer P. Jones (Beasts of Bourbon/Escape Committee) on the cautionary title track,“Run Yourself Ragged”, before finally letting it all hang out in an ode to rock n roll debauchery and good times in “Let’s get fucked up (and dance)”… “tonight we’re embryonic, tonight we’re crapulent, we’re making histrionic, it’s all so elegant!”

Combining big drums, tough guitars and sassy brass with Brodie’s signature dark, troubled and sometimes confronting lyrical observations of people and their relationships, RUN YOURSELF RAGGED EP was borne .

A video was made for the single, “Booze to Blame”, the Ian Rilen (Rose Tattoo/X/Love Addicts). Directed by Daniel Cheek, the clip was shot on Sunday 21st September at 7am on famed booze strip, Smith St, Collingwood. With a skeleton crew, the clip was shot in five takes with the song at full volume following the narrator, ten-year-old Hemi Dietrich walking from the corner of Gertrude St toward Johnston st. using an iPhone and a small hand held wireless speaker. Accompanied by the Widow’s powerful brassy rock n roll soundtrack, the clip perfectly encapsulates the day after comedown of a big night out with a healthy dose of humour and pathos.

Reviews

"If Dan Brodie were an actor, he wouldn't be the star of the show. He would be the guy the other actors on set wanted to hang out with, the guy the director would turn to when he needed a moment of inspiration to get the show on the road. This album.. shows why Brodie was twice nominated for ARIA Awards." Martin Boulton - The Age

Stunning guitar work and honest vocals...magnificent tension..a remarkable cohesiveness, with each piece contributing to the larger story. Deep Deep Love is a mature and poignant release." Jazmine O'Sullivan - themusic.com.au

Spencer P. Jones (Beasts Of Bourbon), Ian Rilen (Rose Tatoo), Tim Rogers (You Am I) y otras luminarias de aquel vasto país. Ha ganado varios premios ARIA, equivalentes a los Grammy allí. Aquí le conocimos en una estupenda gira presentando el sensacional My Friend The Wanderer (Fat Swine Records), que vino firmado como Dan Brodie & The Grieveing Widows. Con dicho disco surgieron excelentes referencias como Nick Cave, The Gun Club, James Chance & The Contortions, Kill Devil Hills o Rowland S. Howard. Pero ojo, este Deep Deep Love es amor profundo acumulado a lo largo de 15 años de trayectoria. Eran canciones que no tenían cabida en sus anteriores trabajos. La mayoría de ellas íntimas y muy personales y le ha llegado el momento de publicarlas. Aquí el sonido eléctrico apenas aparece y en cambio dominan las acústicas y algunos momentos de Brodie con su piano y armónica. Además de ello, protagonista destacado es su hermano Chris Brodie, que brilla con la lap steel, el dobro y la pedal steel guitar. También molan los coros femeninos de Layla y Rhianna Fibbins que por momentos pueden recordar a los coros en algunos discos de Neil Young de Emmylou Harris, Nicolette Larsson o Linda Ronstadt. Emociona con las guitarras y ambientes en plan Ennio Morricone de “Fallen down again”. Antes lo hace casi a pelo y con toques pop como el Paul Kelly más desnudo en “(We gotta) Deep deep love”. Aquí tenemos ya esos coros preciosos de los que hablábamos. La lap steel y pedal steel guitar también citadas comienzan a hacer de las suyas en la ‘americana’ “You look so tired” y desbordan magia al estilo Ry Cooder en la estupenda “Lean on me”, de nuevo con sublimes coros femeninos . Su armónica pone notas de magia al estilo del Neil Young de Harvest en la hermosísima “With hollow eyes”. Lo puedes conseguir y oír (merece la pena) en www.danbrodie.com.au y de paso a ver si le animas a que se dé otra vuelta por nuestros escenarios. Este disco quizás esté hecho especialmente para su deleite, pero puede cautivar a cualquiera. ¡Preciosidad de principio a fin! - Txema Mañeru

Discography

Albums

Singles


^ Dan Brodie and the Broken Arrows
~ Dan Brodie
+ Dan Brodie & The Grieving Widows

Video Clips

Websites

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dan-Brodie/120759575434?ref=hl