Origin Australia Role Musician Name Dan Brodie | Years active 1998 – present Instruments Guitar, piano | |
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Genres Singer-songwriter, Rock n Roll, Alternative Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, musician Labels EMI, Last Call Records, Beast Records, Fat Swine Records Albums Big Hearted Lovin' Man: A Retrospective (1999-2014), Beautiful Crimes, Deep Deep Love Similar People | ||
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 six studio albums and three eps. Brodie has toured extensively in the US, UK, Scandinavia, France, Germany, Switzerland and Spain, 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 Splendour in the Grass, Homebake, Big Day Out, Byron Bay Bluesfest, SXSW, Darnius Festival in Spain and the Binic Folk Blues festival in France.
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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.
Career
A five track EP, I'm Floatin' Mama 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.
During this period Brodie 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 (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.
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.
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".
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, and also invited to sing 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 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.
In 2012, Brodie signed with Beast Records in France, completing a successful 25 date European tour with the Grieving Widows 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 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.
Following a sold out album launch at the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne in early 2014, 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 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 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, 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.
Discography
Albums
Singles
^ Dan Brodie and the Broken Arrows
~ Dan Brodie
+ Dan Brodie & The Grieving Widows
Video Clips
Websites
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dan-Brodie/120759575434?ref=hl