Danny Michel is more than unique
There’s unique. And then, there’s Danny Michel.
You would be hard-pressed to find another artist like this Canadian singer, songwriter and producer who will perform at Creekside Theatre in Lake Country at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. For tickets, go online to kelownatickets.com or call the box office at 250-766-9309.
He is also performing at the Dream Cafe in Penticton on Wednesday as part of his 20-stop tour across Canada.
Michel is described as “a musical chameleon, able to slip into many genres with ease.” That’s why his music isn’t easily classified as rock, pop, folk, world or even classical.
However, this adventurous and fearless artist is more than just a singer-songwriter. For example:
* After a 15-year love affair with Belize, Michel relocated there in 2011 to track down one of his favourite Belizean bands; The Garifuna Collective, a unique AfroAmerindian cultural group. He convinced members to create an album with him, Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me, then travel together on a sold-out summer tour of North America.
* While in Belize, he founded the Danny Michel Ocean Academy Fund that helped raise more than $82,000 in scholarships for Caye Caulker Community School, a small non-profit community high school. He volunteers there when he has time.
* He was invited in 2017 to join Generator Arctic by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield who assembled a small group of scientists, photographers, writers and musicians to capture a unique perspective of the north.
The result was composing and recording (in cabin 712) Khlebnikov, possibly the most northern album ever recorded above 80 degrees, while aboard a Soviet-era Russian ice-breaker, Kapitan Khlebnikov, during an 18-day Arctic expedition through the Northwest Passage.
Once home, his classical-based recordings were arranged for brass and strings by film composer Rob Carli into a suite of atmospheric and haunting songs about the Arctic, this planet and our place in it.
— Besides his own albums, Michel has produced, engineered and mixed many albums for other artists.
— The mobile web series Dan’s Space Van is filmed in his 1978 customized Chevy Vandura, airbrushed with a Star Trek theme. While travelling around the world ó including Africa, New Zealand, Portugal, Amsterdam, British Virgin Islands, Gereenland, Iceland and across Canada, he has interviewed musical guests (who perform in the diamondquilted, red plush velvet van interior) and other interesting people like Hadfield, Blue Rodeo, Sarah Harmer, Alan Doyle (Great Big Sea), Barenaked Ladies, Fred Penner, 54-40, Dustin Bentall, Barney Bentall and spoken-word poet Shane Koyczan from Penticton.
The series includes segments of Michel descending into volcanoes, ocean diving, parasailing off a cliff, buzzing glaciers in a helicopter, traversing the Northwest Passsage, and eating narwal and harkarl (fermented shark).
— Michel performed as the musical guest on Stuart McLean’s The Vinyl Cafe on CBC radio, and performed with McLean more than 70 times across Canada.
— His first short film (9:40), The Circle, can now be viewed on his website: dannymichel.com.
All that being said, his latest album, White and Gold, is somewhat normal for Michel.
“I always seem to have this pattern where I do some weird project like the Arctic and then, I make a normal record. And then, I do a weird project like the Belisle record (Matadora) and then, I do a normal record,” he said with a laugh.
“So I kind of flipflop between doing those things to keep things interesting. This is the in-between one, between a big project like the Belisle one somewhere around the world. It’s an album I made in my new home studio which I was really excited to do. It’s another one of just simple Danny Michel songs.”
Producing the short art nature film, just posted, is another artistic genre that he’d like to learn more about.
After the tour, Michel plans “to hunker down and start working on a new project, whatever the new one will be.
“I don’t look ahead that much. I just feel like I need to get the project I’m working on finished right now. And then, when I’m done, then I’ll sit down with a clean slate. It’s hard to keep both of those things going at the same time in my mind. I’ve got to get through this tour first.”
Michel admits he is “constantly interested” in travelling to new areas of the world to learn more about music and culture.
The van is now in winter storage, but “as soon as spring hits, we’ll start the show again. I’ve got a bunch of people lined up, some great names. I’ll keep that going for sure. It’s a lot of fun,” he said.
Michel began making solo records in the 1990s after being a member of many bands including the power-pop trio Starling. He now has 13 albums to his credit.
Michel won two Canadian Folk Music Association awards in 2017 for Khlebnikov as Producer of the Year (with Carli) and for Pushing the Boundaries.