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daneforth
multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter in the north west UK, aspiring to be a professional full time musician

Dane @daneforth

Age 30, Male

Musician, producer

Baxenden, Lancashire UK

Joined on 9/18/20

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daneforth's News

Posted by daneforth - March 22nd, 2023


Good evening one and all!

What a weird time of the year it is, so much has been going on behind the scenes and, frankly, I do enjoy writing out these blog/update posts - I've said it once, ile say it again, I just find it therapeutic!


A little while back I started uploading some new demo tracks, forgive me for not remembering exact dates and numbers but, from memory, I uploaded 3/4? not sure. Well something has happened this month that I didn't plan for, nor that I made it a goal, I just found myself actually WANTING to involve myself more creatively and thats been really eye opening. I know you probably read this news thread title and have questions, hold fire on that front, all in good time.

So my in real life schedule has been up and down as I have had to adapt on the fly to keep my head above water, I spoke about last time the lack of validation and that has never been more true to form as my experiment with my approach to handling my life has proven that to be nothing but the truth. You see, working as a third party content creator for Train Simulator Classic (yeah i know im a nerd, just suck it in xD) the process in which I have made my own content and all the other contributions to other projects works on a validation of money via percentage of sales.


Problem being:

1. you actually have to invest 6 months of work into a project before its finished.


2. even when the product is on sale, you get paid monthly if your lucky, but mostly, its the first month after the first month on sales, so there's another 2.5/3 month extension.


3. even after that point you have zero idea on the number of sales, meaning, come the time to get paid it could be way below expectations


I've had the pleasure of many conversations over several coffee's at AkioDaku's, where I have said its a cause of mental derailment (no train pun intended, though I will take it) as, there is no connection with validation, people say well done, great job! but then no money follows it. So over the last few months, since mid December I believe, I decided to incorporate commissions into my work AND! impose a stricter window of time on my day to day's where I work and dont work, lets say - 10am - 6pm, then focus on me time. Frankly, I'm shocked it worked so far, this means without dedicated thought I have found a guitar in my hand.


Now, back to the point!

It is way, way, way to early to start making promises, or defining anything precisely BUT, more and more demo's have been made, a new song has been written, alongside tid bits of lyrics and general notes. Overarching concepts, meanings, thoughts and pretty much everything in between has been put down - pen to paper. At this point a list was made and I called it Album 2023, on it, there are 8 demos, 4 of which are nearly complete along with other much shorter demo's around the PC that I want to use.


What can i say so far?

well, i certainly feel these are some of my best ideas to date, they are strong, melodies I have are good, Im personally shocked at some of the lyrics on paper (though they may not stay the same) and the overall tone of these bits of work is a lot more gritty than Moonlight was/is but the theme of the album in my head is one of much greater colour and positivity


So, is there a new album on the way?

you know what?, yeah its in production, lets not beat around the bush


The working title for the album so far is: Together

it follows themes of separation anxiety and the damage of not working together

The stratocasters will be out of retirement, there are strong electric parts and strong acoustic parts and hey! who knows, I might get my partner in on the backing vocals


So yeah!, lots going on, many writing sessions taking place, lots of ideas and life flow happening, i just wish i can keep the pace up and see if i can beat the 4 year production window Moonlight took to make

Thats all for now, keep an eye out for some new demos being uploaded and ile catch you all soon


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Posted by daneforth - December 13th, 2022


I do like finding the time to write these little snippets of updates, like I have said previously its a good form of therapy for me to put down some words and with them they carry the news, or update, with them which in turn just reduces the pressure and weight on my shoulders that comes with being a musician. The itch to constantly publish content especially in at time where I am creatively not producing much worth talking about - or so I feel is not worth talking about


The genuine scare that's come to my door of recent months is a total loss of meaning which, sounds obscure but its actually and genuinely really been quite terrifying. As an individual who likes to set aside time, work and see results, its certainly been difficult working on my game DLC, commissions of this, that and the other as well as my freelancer position of doing sound engineering jobs to actually arrive at the pathway of prioritization and with that I have felt the question deep inside come to the surface. That question being of course - Do i want to do music anymore?

This time I've certainly leaned towards No more than ever, I don't really play guitar anymore, nore do i really write. The danger of my mentality with the though processes I have is that it quickly spirals from the initial question to quickly thinking, whats the point ? then to, have I wasted my life? etc etc and then the whole car crash of life implodes and you get down to that rock bed of a million thoughts and dreams above your head and your slowly drowned in the noise of it all you cant really grasp onto the right life ring to float you back above keeping on top.

its a crazy trip, highly not recommended


But the thing is, thats not entirely just me though. Having work as a regular sound engineer for a venue not too far from me I speak with musicians weekly, promoters and the odd record label rep here and there and yeah the entire music industry is falling apart quicker than can be reassembled. Spotify is degrading the value of its listens, live music is evaporating and that quickly comes to mind when you are working with the headlining band of much value, local recognition and realize they just work for starbucks or a Just Eat takeaway. Not that I am saying those are bad jobs, but as a form of reality check, these guys have personnel behind them as well as the money and they are no where near as glamorous as they make out to be and actually its more of a motivation boost. Considering they are compositionally not very competant as well.


But what goes around certainly comes around and fortunately for me the other areas of my freelancing work has my brain ticking in full creative mode so I am confident once financial worries stabilize - then so will my mind and music will come back to me as much as it left me. My knight is shinning armor is my partner though, he loves camp over the top music and silly live free suggestions and ideas and he pushes me to break my bubble and because of him dropping ideas on me I have actually (after everything I have just said) been working on music - with a twist.

You see he wants to make bi-monthly music for his streams or occasions or perhaps for the "YOLO" make tunes which hes been able to get me to make my own spin on TV themes or recreate a long lost Gibly TV show theme with vocals and because of him I have been able to stay somewhat stable and find much more sanity than what I would of been able to, than without him - More Love his way hes just adorable in much regards.

So I have been thinking of creative a new theme/serise just exclusive for newgrounds called "By The Boi" which is just all the silly, weird, fun, camp tunes and recreations we've made togeather and hope that not only does it bring joy to people but also in the event it actually just ignites motivation for me to go back to my serious music and maybe help boost my spotify statistics


like as ever, thanks for keeping in touch with my page, the listens, the favs the downloads, the ratings, the comments. it does mean a lot <3


Please spread the word, share my music with anyone, it means the world

thank you

https://open.spotify.com/artist/19DuCuTkNAwm0itq1Fqi5M?si=x5FvO721TWuwAuD6feg5QA


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Posted by daneforth - June 12th, 2022


Writing this blogs/news entries or what ever you want to call them is a neat way of me being able to convey out to my profile what's happening in terms of the output that you all have access to but in a sort of therapy gives me the chance to sort of ramble and perhaps vent a little its a nice relationship with my inner monologue.


Back in lockdown of last year I started experimenting with my hobbies, model railways was one - buying and selling and that was fun to keep busy and bring in some extra cash - ya know? because I'm a geeky nerd and that's just who I am. At the end of the day it was law in the UK to stay at home and a soul crushing time for musicians because we couldn't go out anywhere. Pair that with the fact everyone else in the family was locked in with me and things like recording go out the window pretty fast in a sort of mutual understanding that we respect each others time, space, peace etc. So its the holy grail for us as well as we can accept that we have to have lazy days, no music done today? well its law that we cant and you accept that pretty quickly and be able to doodle in the meantime, make the notes and the lyrics and hope to put that into production another day which leads hobbies and ideas to come into play as you sort of experiment with yourself on the journey to further find out who you are.


Back in January last year I and a few friends started toying with the idea of becoming developers for a game I used to play which was a train simulator, I can't record music? but I can do audio treatment and instigate sonic design in a 3d environment and yeah I told myself that this would be my full time job - ditch my real job that I was on the furlough scheme for (government wage support for those ordered to stay at home) and when the world opens up I'd find myself in the position of working when I wanted to work and have full control over my life and be able to finally put music at a 50/50 front. Create, write, record, perform as equals however its been so long and no money has returned and its sort of an embarrassing feeling to be sat on these projects which I have funded or invested money into whilst I still wait for the units to sell and the more the financial worries come into my mind the more I focus more and more and more on making it work which leads me to where I am currently - Not really writing much but I am making it my goal to rehearse 1/2 times a week and so my musical output is a more physical sense rather than a creative one. All that said an done is perfectly acceptable and I'm happy to finally be focusing on the live side of my work as I reach out to venues and look for gigs but in terms of the socials? it means there's not really much to post about. However, I do have some archive audio/demos and what not so Ile look at putting them out in the near future.


One area I have found myself venture into recently in connection to the train simulator products is writing trailer music which there have been 2 instances, my own DLC product and another from a developer of another game who came to me directly so Ile post those pieces of music very soon (as I finish typing this)


but yeah, soon, soon.

I feel like I am at the cusp of a break (for once in my life) so positive thoughts, perseverance and keep focused


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Posted by daneforth - August 29th, 2021


Life has this wonderful wave to it, you ride it out like a surfer with no real direct input on the ultimate here and now, only the modist minor change to the end result and my mental health is currently at an all time low, creatively and motivily.


I have a brand new single releasing 03/09/21, I guess pre-release my health - mentally anyway, has this spike like nature to it - the fear and tightly clenching crossed fingers that people like the new single even as far as to say i hope it pushes me musically and in my career forward rather than pushing me backwards.

I guess at the time of writing this I am trapped in this awful bubble of life which I can't find an answer out yet that will enable me to pursue a clear path musically which is why my time and attention on here is spase to say the least.


I know I shouldn't rant or be down about the privileges I hold but the shire fakery of the modern social media life would lead you to believe its all perfect and were all awesome and we are all the stars of our own realms of individuality but honestly?, I feel like I'm dragged along the dirt in the shadows cast by individuals less able than myself which - for my mental health anyway, is a knife's edge of living.

To be clear, when I say less able - I'm in no way talking able-bodied or mentally, I'm talking specifically in relation to abilities held back by presumption, ignorance and laziness. I see it alot in the small social links between individuals that studied music with me, waaay back when, whom, resolve every hurdle with a fine night amount of money, mixing? - sorted, production? - easy. Mastering? fire that check my way, gigs? sure thing, Where-as us fellow creative mind-alike people spend time and skills to perfect our visions that (speaking purely in relation to my case) is just thrown under the bus and as dangerous as it is to compere its also impossible not to.


it sucks

but I am looking forward, the next chapter, the new unlocked United Kingdom beyond the Covid and where that leaves me, who, has been mostly sat at home and in the rehearsal room all alone towards focusing more on live music rather than studio work. Once I pair that vision with financial worries its hard to see what clear path is being presented to me so this is the bubble thats formed around me. I can't promise that, "Im Back" or try to inherently uphold anything that clashes with my inner-directly driven thoughts and emotions but I am open minded enough to embrace the possibilities of gigging, open mic nights and potentially look at the recordings and audio that they may bring forward like live recording, furthering my content in that regards.


As for now?

Life Within - the new single releases 03/09/21

More information and the track will be live on Newgrounds shortly there after


Thanks for reading over this twoddle and my many thanks go out to all those who still clock up the individual listens to my work, comment and rate. I wholeheartedly appreciate your time, care and attention

Ile check back in with you all soon


peace and love <3


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Posted by daneforth - December 7th, 2020


Hi guys and galls, I just wanted to post a honest up to date "where my head and myself are at" and what I'm doing


Look I honesty cant thank you all enough for the listens, the ratings and the follows for my lack of content or even my little new grounds rating that I am. Engaging with communities is how you grow and I don't doubt that a second but then again we are all totally different so you'll obviously see millions upon millions of different approaches to the same problem for each and every one of us. How do we grow? how do we get followers? we are all creatives so I can only speak of what I do and what I feel so I never want to lour in anyone who is interested in my work under false pretence's

As it stands I have my different avenues for different revenues in my life such as financial, thought provoking, relaxation, creative etc etc and maintaining these social media statures is just one path that sucks out as much energy out of me as I put into them, its by no means an insult or an ego centric stance, It just rubs my head the wrong way and I just spiral out on a downer for a while getting my priorities mixed up.


For the time being I will only just be uploading the work I have - (demo or finished) depending on when those pieces of audio find there way into a sealed format that can be shared. Next week you will all have a brand new, re-record of the first ever song I wrote which I am super pleased with and I hope you all enjoy it as well.

I do venture on here to listen to other peoples work but my main focus is trying to pin point my safe spaces in a way that keeps me on the 'sane' side of the fence and just to keep writing down the demos, work out my next creative endeavour etc

I dont want people feeling that this is a dead channel because I assure you its not. My projects are (not to boast or compete) but my projects are quite big undertakings. I calculated that my average project has a total of 52 instrument channels at one point and thats acoustic kits, phase correcting, multitrack, mixing, mastering the whole sha-bang. The new tracks out next week started months ago but was left in status after huge drummer delays etc so that goes to show how long tracks can take me to get composed - to - mastered, for reference the Moonlight album (which is uploaded in its entirety to Newsround's) took over 4 years to complete.


So i hope that clears up a few things as well as showing that as stereotypical "Im not dead update" to my page so you can have a clear indication to what I am doing.

but yeh thanks again, new track next week

hope your all okay and enjoying life, take care and have a nice day


Posted by daneforth - September 27th, 2020


Just a quicky

I have spent some time after observations and receiving feedback that it would be cool to see the lyrics on my music tracks so I have gone back and added in all the lyrics for you all


Posted by daneforth - September 25th, 2020


Hi everyone!

I just wanted to say hello to this site, it's a new and gray area for me after trial and error over on different sites which for one reason or another fall short of my tastes. - no harsh feelings Facebook, but No im not paying out to attract ears to my craft, that's just explotivie tactics praying on the unwise.... anyway


A huge thank you to all whos listened to my uploads so far, I was pretty shocked that I got on the front page and its just be a huge motivation boost for me especially at this morbid time in the world right now. I've just uploaded track 5 and 6 will follow shortly so I really hope you enjoy the rest of the tracks to come


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