Dan Smith (American musician): Difference between revisions

Dan Smith
A self-photo of Dan Smith on a flight to Philadelphia.
Background information
Birth name	Daniel Reuben Smith
Born	(1978-10-09) October 9, 1978 (age 46) Mount Vernon, Missouri
Genres	Indie Rock, Spoken Word, Hip-Hop
Occupation(s)	Singer, Poetry
Instrument(s)	Vocals, bass, mellophone, trumpet, guitar
Years active	2002-present
Labels	Independent (formerly Sounds of Subterrania, Sincere, Tangled Talk, Mush, Tooth and Nail, Gotee)
Website	iamlistener.com thedancemyth.com

Daniel Reuben Smith (born October 9, 1978) is an American poet, vocalist and songwriter for the spoken word rock band Listener. A member of the Hip-Hop group Deepspace5, Smith went by the name Listener, but has not used this pseudonym since 2005. Instead of working under the name Listener, Listener has become the name of the band consisting of Dan, Christin Nelson and Kris Rochelle.

Smith has been active in music since he was in junior high, first writing for and producing for Labklik, later joining the supergroup Deepspace5.

Dan Smith was born in Mount Vernon, Missouri on October 9, 1978. As a boy he lived with his mother, and his sister.

Smith started playing the piano at age 5, but has stated he did not pursue the instrument. Later, in the 5th grade Smith took up playing the cornet, which he continued playing in his school marching band all through high school. Also around this time, at age 11 Dan started listening to hip-hop music.^[1]

Smith started his music career by writing and producing Hip-Hop music with Labklik, which he continued to do past high school.

Dan worked as a screenprinter, and designer for High5 Screenprinting from 1998 to 2005. He has also worked for Momentum Textiles and Bio-Tech Pharmacal.

Smith attended John Brown University in Arkansas from 1996 to 2000, receiving his Bachelor's Degree in broadcasting and graphic design. While attending the university, Dan was on the school's rugby team.^[2]

Smith has stated that his influences for the band Listener are As Cities Burn and WHY?, and for his songwriting Dan has stated that he was greatly influenced by Brand New and AA Bondy. Some of Dan's favorite bands currently are Arcade Fire, and the post-rock groups Explosions in the Sky and Sigur Ros. Dan has always been influences by all music from wide-ranging genres, especially folk music.^[3]

Dan now lives in Kansas City, Missouri.

Listener originally started as a solo underground hip hop project in June of 2002. Smith capitalized on his personal project one year later, making his professional debut with the commercial release of the album Whispermoon on Mush Records in 2003.^[4]

With his second release Ozark Empire in 2005, Dan began his first "Tour of Homes". This consisted almost entirely of traveling from home to home around the United States (the European leg of the tour was titled the "European Tour of Homes") in a grassroots style of touring. The European leg consisted more of performing in standard live music venues as well as houses, coffee shops, art galleries and warehouses.^[5] It was also during this period that Smith invited drummer Andrew Gibbens and guitarist Erik Olsen to join him on tour, thus starting the transition away from traditional hip-hop performances toward a live band format. Gibbens and Olsen remained until they departed the band in December 2006. Regardless of using the name Listener for his solo work, Smith decided to continue using the name as the project developed in to a live band.^[6]

It was during the "Tour of Homes" in 2005 that Dan met musician Christin Nelson at a house show in Las Vegas, Nevada. After finding out that Christin played drums, Dan asked him to join the group in June 2007 and the band released the album Return to Struggleville.^[7][8]

After a year and a half of touring, Listener released their third studio album, Wooden Heart, in July 2010. Later that year after being introduced to the band The Chariot, Dan was asked to collaborate on the song "David De La Hoz" on the album Long Live.^[9]

In April of 2014 Listener embarked on another European tour. The band will be travelling through 11 countries, covering nations in both eastern and western Europe. ^[10]

Dan has also contributed to several collaborative albums with the groups Deepspace5 and Labklik,^[11] both of which he is a founding member of.^[12]

Smith's first ventures into music were with the group Labklik. While working with Labklik, Dan first got his start writing and producing music. Dan has stated that raps that he helped produce for Labklil were influenced by his love of spoken word poetry, and have further influenced his contribution to the Listener project.

• Whispermoon (Mush Records, 2003)
• Ozark Empire (Deepspace5 Records, 2005)
• Talk Music (independent, 2007)
• Not Waving, Drowning (self-released, 2009)
• Return to Struggleville (self-released, and on vinyl by: Tangled Talk (UK) Sincere (Europe) Sounds of Subterrania (Europe))
• Wooden Heart (self-released, and on vinyl by: Tangled Talk (UK) Sincere (Europe), Sounds of Subterrania (Europe))
• Time Is A Machine (self-released, and on vinyl by: Tangled Talk (UK) Sounds of Subterrania (Europe))

• Listener and Dust – Just in Time for Christmas (Deepspace5 Records, 2005)
• Train Songs (self-released, 2009)

• Live on 3FM (self-released, 2013)

• [1] – Official website
• [2] - Dan Smith's personal blog.
• [3] - Dan Smith's Twitter