Dan Brodie
Dan Brodie is an ARIA Award nominated musician, singer and songwriter from Melbourne, Australia, best known for his prolific solo career, during which he has released eight studio albums and three eps. Brodie has toured extensively in the US, UK, Scandinavia, France, Germany, Switzerland and Spain, and he has performed at 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 Splendour in the Grass, Homebake, Big Day Out, Byron Bay Bluesfest, SXSW, Darnius Festival in Spain and the Binic Folk Blues festival in France.
Dan John Brodie | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Australia |
| Genres | Singer-songwriter, Alt-country, Rock n Roll, Acoustic |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, musician |
| Instruments | Guitar, piano |
| Labels | EMI, Last Call Records, Beast Records, Fat Swine Records, Midnight Baby Recording Co. |
| Associated acts | Luxedo, Dan Brodie and the Broken Arrows, Dan Brodie and the Grieving Widows |
| Website | danbrodie |
In addition to releasing his own albums, Brodie's songs have been recorded by other artists including two songs on Love Is Mighty Close, a Vika and Linda Bull Album. Also 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.
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. With his brother Chris Brodie (Dallas Crane), they began playing in bands together, honing their skills of playing live to audiences around the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne before landing their first pub show whilst still in their early teens at the Richmond Club Hotel in 1990. Over the next five years, Brodie performed around Melbourne, recording his first proper Album in a student run studio at Monash University in Clayton in 1993, released on tape and sold at live shows. After a move to the inner-city in 1996, Brodie joined dirty swamp rockers, Luxedo, on bass, the line-up also including Tom Carlyon (Devastations, Standish /Carlyon, Time for Dreams) on lead guitar and vocals, Emilie Martin on violin and guitar and Jamie Coghill (The Jimmy C, The Devilrock Four) 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.
Career
I'm Floatin' Mamma EP and Big Black Guitar
A five track EP, I'm Floatin' Mamma was independently released in 1998; followed by 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.
Make Me Wanna Kill EP
In 2001, Brodie released a four track EP featuring songs recorded for his forthcoming unreleased Album, as well as some from earlier demos. "You make me wanna kill" (not included on the full length Album) was the single and a filmclip was shot in Brisbane, Australia casting Brodie as a modern day Romeo, serenading his love interest from below her window whilst she showered him (and the band) with all of his belongings.
Empty Arms, Broken Hearts
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). Containing the singles "Jesus, Try And Save Me", "Take A Bullet", and "Hope that we get home tonight", 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). In the same period, Brodie sign with French label, "Last Call Records" and tour extensively throughout France, U.K. and the U.S.
Beautiful Crimes
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, releasing the two radio friendly power-pop rock anthems, "Wanna Shine" and "Sweetheart". That year also marked a triumphant return to the Big Day Out with a band formed especially for the occasion with Gareth Liddiard (The Drones, Tropical Fuck Storm) on bass, Chriso Strybosch (The Drones) on drums and Chris Brodie (Dallas Crane) on guitar.
My Friend The Murderer
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 travelling 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. The Album heralded a very stripped back sound for Brodie, the sparseness allowing for the lyrics to come through strongly, in what would prove a dark meditation on the underbelly of Australian society, exploring themes of violence, domestic abuse, mental illness and suicide. "The sum effect is not unlike "Beat 'Em Up", the bottom-heavy, '90s Iggy Pop album that threatened to rip itself a new arsehole. Unlike that record, "My Friend..." leaves enough light to shine a pinpoint through the dark. And yes, it took a French label to put it out on deliciously thick vinyl. (The Barman, 1-94 BAR)
The release of My Friend The Murderer led to a renewed interest in Europe and in 2011, Brodie signed with Beast Records in France, completing a successful 25 date European tour the following year with the Grieving Widows and bringing a whole host of new fans to his music.
Deep Deep Love
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 release but making the single and video, Tear us down; shot and directed in one take by Dallas Crane's Dave Larkin. Deep Deep Love features minimalist backing of double bass by Dean Schulz (Suzannah Espie) Layla and Rhianna Fibbins (Sideshow Brides) on backing vocals and Grieving Widow's alumni Chris Brodie and David Nicholls on guitar and drums respectively.
Run Yourself Ragged EP
In June 2014, Brodie entered St Charles Recording Studio in Northcote with the Grieving Widows 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, and the RUN YOURSELF RAGGED EP was borne, with a guest appearance by Spencer P Jones on the title track.
A video was made for the single, "Booze to Blame" and directed by Daniel Cheek. The clip was shot on Sunday 21 September on famed inner-city booze strip, Smith St, Collingwood and follows an early morning walk-of-shame home after a big night out, and starred ten year old Hemi Dietrich as the narrator/singer.
In August 2014, Brodie was invited along with 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.
Big Hearted Lovin Man: A Retrospective 1999-2014
In March 2015, Brodie released the solo acoustic sixteen track compilation, Big Hearted Lovin Man: A Retrospective 1999-2014 Recorded and mixed by acclaimed studio engineer Glen Hewer over one night in January, 2015 at Salt Studios in Melbourne, the album (awarded 4 out of 5 stars in The Age Eg) draws from Brodie’s early solo work, the twangin alt-country of the Broken Arrows through to his current incarnation in the Grieving Widows. "We set up a stool and a microphone on the Saturday afternoon and I proceeded to rummage through my back catalogue and recorded 20 songs straight to tape, allowing for two takes of each song, and choosing the best version - by the end of the night we had an Award winning album!"
In April 2015, Brodie embarked on a three-month solo acoustic tour of Europe playing back to back shows at France’s famed Cinema Utopia (presenting Ted Kotcheff's Aussie cult classic film "Wake in Fright"), a three star Michelin restaurant, a dive bar in the Basque country, a Record Fair, a bookstore and finishing up with a sold out show in Paris.
2016 saw Brodie perform at the Gumball Festival in the Hunter Valley, NSW with James Thomson & The Strange Pilgrims as his backing band. After the success of their collaboration, they completed an East Coast tour of Australia called, "From Melbourne to Maitland" beginning at The Tote in Melbourne and finishing at The Junkyard in Maitland, NSW. In September of that year, Brodie embarked on another three month European Tour, "Booze to Blame", as Dan Brodie & The Grieving Widows, comprising highly regarded French musicians, Vinz Guilly (bass), Thomas Legroud (guitar) and Dav Rock (drums) playing both band and solo shows across France, Spain and Portugal.
Lost Not Found
In early 2017, Brodie returned to Melbourne to record Lost Not Found a collection of reinterpreted cover songs featuring songs by Dylan, Iggy Pop, Prince and Motorhead. The Album was well received garnering five stars from Off The Tracks' Simon Sweetman who proclaimed the record "a Sunday hangover for any day of the week, a loner’s gem, a startling set of back-alley takes on established classics; new life breathing in through the bones of these songs, the flesh exposed, the spirit soaked in new bar-room spirits no doubt, but something wonderful has happened here."
Chris Familton from Alt-Country bible, Post to Wire also gushed - "The source material here includes numerous titans of the music world...plus a trio of Brodie’s own compositions that easily hold their place amid such defining artists. Invariably Brodie invests the covers with a brooding, gothic country pall, taking them into the shadows and finding their dark corners."
Later in the year Brodie once more returned to Europe to perform across France, Spain, Scandinavia and Switzerland, completing the tour at Paris' legendary (and now defunct) rock n roll club, Le Feline.
Whilst in Paris, a filmclip was shot for an original Brodie composition off the Album, "Words of a Drunken Man" at the famed Conservatoire Municipal Gabriel Faure. Directed by Frédéric Lemaître, it portrayed an intimate portrait of Brodie alone with his piano in an empty auditorium and was nominated for numerous international film awards.
In 2018, Lost Not Found was released on 12" Vinyl with a re-ordered tracklisting and brand new Cover Art by acclaimed Sydney artist, Jimmy Meek.
Funerária do Vale
Funerária do Vale was released on August 30, 2019 and is Brodie's 8th full length album.
The Album cover and title are taken from a photo that Brodie took of a funeral home in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil during a six month stay in 2007. “I found the imagery so evocative (with its English translation of ‘Valley of the Funeral Home’), and always hoped to use it as an Album cover. In a way I wrote the songs to fit the existing photograph, exploring themes of loss.”
Recorded at Shrimp Shack Studios in Melbourne by Award-winning producer and multi-instrumentalist, Mic Hubbard (Spencer P Jones, Eagle and the Worm), Funerária do Vale showcases Brodie’s musical influences to date; at times tender and haunting, at other times loose and spirited.
A video for the single Un deux trois saucisson! was made in late January and filmed on location at Elwood Beach, Melbourne.
Funerária do Vale contains 10 new Brodie originals and follows on from his 2017 cover's collection, Lost Not Found. The Album features Danielle Golding (Jacky Winter) on opener, "When we turn to dust", "Drugs have gone" and "My Fallen Star", Chris Brodie (Dallas Crane, Dan Brodie & The Broken Arrows) on "You had me at hello" and "On the Outer", Mic Hubbard on bass and additional instrumentation and Molly Jean Morrison (The Level Spirits) on the honkytonkin' tribute to hedonism, "Getting fucked up again".
Discography
Albums
- Funerária do Vale (2019)
- Lost Not Found (2017)
- Big Hearted Lovin' Man: A Retrospective:1999-2014 (2015)
- Run Yourself Ragged (EP) (2014)
- Deep, Deep Love (2013)~
- My Friend The Murderer (2011)+
- Beautiful Crimes (2005)~
- Empty Arms, Broken Hearts (2002)^
- Make Me Wanna Kill (EP) (2001)^
- Big Black Guitar (1999)^
- I'm Floatin' Mamma (EP) (1998)^
Singles
- Un Deux Trois Saucisson! (2019)
- "You Can Call Me Al" (2018)
- "Words of a Drunken Man"(2017)
- "Booze to blame" (2014)
- "Tear us down" (2013)
- "(We Gotta) Deep, Deep Love" (promo only, 2012)~
- "Lower Me Down" (promo only, 2011)+
- "I gotta get up (so I can get down)" (2011)
- "Sweetheart" (promo only; 2005)~
- "Sunday Mourning/Wanna Shine" (2005)~
- "I Hope That We Get Home Tonight" (promo only, 2003)^
- "Jesus, Try and Save Me" (2002)^
- "Take a Bullet" (2002)^
- "Make Me Wanna Kill" (2001)^
- "I Love You, Baby" (2000)^
- "Hurricane" (1999)^
^ Dan Brodie and the Broken Arrows
~ Dan Brodie
+ Dan Brodie & The Grieving Widows
Video Clips
Websites
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