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Name: Angels Wake
Dan: Hey, I’m Dan Quinn, and I’m the singer/songwriter…I also play
acoustic guitar and piano. I am a wearer of many hats.
Dan: Well, nearly all of the material comes from me. The band
contributes to the arrangement and stuff, but I’m the one that writes the lyrics and
music. When I write, it usually comes out of personal experience: from my walk with
God, from something a friend is going through…whatever. A lot of that gets
assimilated and just comes out in the mix as something that, hopefully, people can
relate to.
Dan: It’s hard to pick absolute favorites, but I’d say that my personal
favorites are “Carry This, Too” and “Going Home”.
“Carry This, Too” is about this guy who outwardly is tough, but inside is carrying around all this baggage. Everything that happens, he just piles more on…but in all that he’s carrying, what he’s missing is Hope and Love. I think that’s a place that I’ve been at certain points
in my life, and I think that a lot of us have been there as well.
“Going Home” is my other favorite because it grew out of a time of spiritual conflict
in my life, where I needed to just give up and give things to God. It’s also the
oldest track on the CD…it was written about 2 years before everything else. But it
was one of those that I couldn’t just stick in a drawer and forget about; it kept
jumping out at me. It’s sort of like an old friend…as strange as it sounds,
we’ve been through a lot together.
AJ: My favorite on our EP is “Art of Self Defense” because it’s really
fun to play and has really powerful lyrics.
Rob: I’d have to say “Cross It Out” primarily because it’s quite
simple, yet it sounds hard. Guitar solo is nice too because it’s in the key of E minor
and makes soloing easier!!
Parker: I like them all. I’m new to the band, so I haven’t become that
acquainted with the songs yet.
Dan: Art of Self Defense is another one of those songs that arose out
of personal experience. It’s about someone who has been so wounded that they’re
just preemptively attacking everything out of fear. And they can’t lay down their
arms, so to speak, because they’re not at a place where they’ve reached peace
with themselves or the world around them. The song really focuses on the first
steps of that journey to peace, which is understanding the rationale behind that
way of thinking.
Dan: That’s really tough - there are so many places that would be cool
to see. I’d love to visit England, Ireland, and Japan at some point.
Rob: Well, I love France and Switzerland. I’d like to get to Australia
too. That’d be fun.
Parker: The Netherlands, Greece, Jamaica, Haiti, Israel and Africa.
AJ: I hope to tour at home first and then travel to Europe, Japan, and
New Zealand. I want to tour these places because they supposedly have great crowds
and I always love a good crowd.
Rob: Practice, and self appraisal. If you don’t practice you can’t be
good at what you’re doing. It took me 6-8 hours a day for 5 years to get to where I’m at.
You can’t put yourself down either. If someone busts on you just ignore it and keep playing. (This is directed toward guitarists/musicians who are just starting.)
AJ: I stand for the pro-life movement. That is something I feel very
strongly about and have always fought every hard for.
Parker: Jesus. The Lord is my strength and peace.
Dan: I’d have to say hope; I think it’s an important part of human
life, and really the focal point of our message as a band. Not just a positive
outlook, but a hope with a direction, a source and a meaning; a hope in something
greater. I believe that Jesus Christ is that ultimate hope.
Dan: I’d have to say that, overall, I really admire Bono. I think U2 is
a great band and has influenced my music profoundly, but I also think he’s extremely
socially conscious and tries to do great things with the gifts he’s been given.
He truly cares about the world around him - he could easily be insulated from the
world, if he chose to be. But instead he’s out there making a difference. I
really admire that, and I think that’s something we can learn from.
Rob: I don’t admire any current musicians. No one these days has any
good music - I feel it is way too simple and has no emotion. But currently I admire
Randy Rhoads, he was just too incredible for anyone’s own good. Kerry King, Steve Vai,
SRV, and Dave Murray. These guys were/still are from 80’s metal bands, only the
best music.
Parker: CeCe Winans
AJ: The music downloading issue is a very touchy subject. I think there
should be 2 songs from a CD on the internet available. People could download those 2 songs and if they liked it they could go out and buy it. People spend their lives making music and when they do make it big people take all of their music off of the internet.
Dan: I think that more and more, people will gravitate towards
downloading songs and CDs will become a thing of the past - which is somewhat dismaying
to me since I have a moderately large CD collection. Haha. But in all seriousness,
regarding our stance as a band…I think that it’s a great opportunity to reach
more people with our music. I don’t have any problem with people burning our songs
or downloading them. If they like what they hear, and they have a few
extra dollars laying around, I’d love for them to support us. It takes more than most
people realize to run a band, especially in this day and age.
Rob: I think people make too big of a deal out of everything. It’s all
about money and power. Where are all the flower people when you need ‘em?
Parker: Unless you pay for a registered downloading site it might be stealing. It’s a gray area. I guess it’s a personal decision. I wouldn’t care if someone
downloaded my music.
AJ: One achievement for Angels Wake is to minister to people in the
world. The basis of our band is God and playing shows to bring God to religious
and non-religious people.
Rob: My personal thought is that we could achieve world power and
domination…I think the 1st step is to get a full length CD out, then give me a
jingle and we’ll go from there.
Dan: I think that the achievement, for me, is to create music that gets people to think; whether it’s about their walk with God, or just thinking deeper
about the world around them. I think once you’ve done that, and you’ve made a
quality product, you’ve made music that is going to be relevant…not just now,
but years in the future. That’s something that I’d definitely like to achieve.
Parker: To spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to bring people to Christ.
Dan: Right now we’re working on material for a new EP. This one will be
recorded in Nashville, so the quality will be a little better. We don’t have a
solid date yet, but look for it sometime in mid to late 2006.
Rob: If I can meet every one of my fans and hang out with them, I’d
choose that over fame, glory and money. I appreciate everyone who listens to us,
but don’t listen just for the guitar solos or weird songs, listen to the words. It will
lift you up more so than a few pentatonic scales.
Parker: Come to know Jesus. He is the truth, the way and the life. All
glory be to God.
AJ: I would like to tell all of the fans who read this to keep the
faith. Without faith Angels Wake wouldn’t be here and probably nothing else would
either.
Dan: I would like to thank everyone who has been so supportive of us.
We appreciate that more than we can say.
Stay up to date on Angels Wake by visiting their official website at Angelswake.com
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