Folk group Dan HL along with other bands play for a crowd at the Starving Artist
Michael Woodworth
Equinox Staff
The air was filled with sarcasm and jokes as the band Dan HL warmed up.
Over the chatter you could hear the sound of a cow mooing coming from the trumpet.
Dan Htoo-Levine sang the “Mic Check Song” to test the microphone system. The members even discovered a discarded organ over the piano and took turns trying to play “Time Warp” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The group has a bond that comedy has created a nice home. Students swarmed the Starving Artist on Friday, Feb. 10, to listen to the folk songs of Dan HL. Dan HL is a Boston-based folk band that does shows across New England and sometimes down the East coast.
Each song consisted of the band going nuts and jumping around the stage in a manner that if someone couldn’t hear the music, they would have no idea what is going on.
After each song ended, the audience burst into applause and shouted encouraging, and, sometimes a bit inappropriate, remarks.
“I thought it was very fun and entertaining,” said freshman Rebecca Marsh.
“I loved it! This is a great venue where you can stomp your feet and yell real loud,” Htoo-Levine, the front man and guitarist/vocalist, said.
Trumpeter Thom Brennan agreed with Htoo-Levine. “It was good. Everyone was into it,” Brennan remarked.
Brennan has been playing the trumpet for 12 years and graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston with a degree in trumpet performance.
“I wanted to pick an instrument that no one plays,” confessed a laughter-stricken Brennan. He originally wanted to play the drums but he was told he had to start on a drum pad instead of a kit, and he admitted he wasn’t that patient.
This is the first time the band has been to Keene, let alone the Starving Artist, and they agreed they loved it.
“I hopped in the car and Dan [Htoo-Levine] said we were going to Keene,” percussionist Kyle Jenkins said.
Htoo-Levine heard of the Starving Artist through his girlfriend’s brother, who just happens to attend Keene State.
And even though it is their first time, the band members expressed that they would love to play here again in the future because of the atmosphere and how involved the crowd was with their music.
Jenkins, the drummer, was born and spent most of his life in Balmy Tuscan, Arizona and began musical training at 11. After two years of studying percussion at the University of Arizona, he transferred to Berklee and ended up graduating with a degree in film scoring.
On the keyboard was Matt Hines. Hines was born and raised in England and came “across the pond” to the U.S. to study electronic production and design at Berklee. Rounding out the group was bassist Andy Merrill. Htoo-Levine was involved in a band called Dear Havannah before this project. Hines even had a sticker on his keyboard that read, “I knew Dear Havannah before they were famous,” showing that the love and brotherhood between the members band ranged back to when they weren’t even band mates, just fellow fans.
These five people have the bond of friendship on their side. According to the band’s webpage, Brennan and Hines declare war on each other in the back of the van while they are commuting to their latest venue.
Some of the band members reflected on their favorite venues they’ve had thus far in their short music career.
Htoo-Levine remembers a show at Sullivan Hall in New York City where they played a live set of their album “Nothing.Anything.Everything,” which is their debut, and only album.
Brennan mentioned another show they had at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City as well.
Jenkins thought about a house party in Washington, D.C. and remembers it being extremely crazy and a whole lot of fun. Along with mentioning their favorite venues, they talked about the most notable musicians or artists they have played with in the past couple years.
They have shared the stage with the likes of Black Thought, Alan Evans, and Michael McDonald.
The band members also confessed to their favorite songs to play at a concert. They love to play Wooden Wire, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Oh, Brother, Oh Sister, Surrendering Song, and Mexico.
They can all be heard on the band’s debut album now available on iTunes. A couple members of the band also have some unusual fun facts. Htoo-Levine loves the first half of “Titanic” but not the end.
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“That’s the part that’s still cool before it’s an over-processed love story,” he explained. Hines confessed to eating almost 4,000 calories a day, which he said is outrageous. “I eat twice as much as everyone else. Whenever we do a gig, I will spend double the band budget on food,” he explained. Upon hearing that someone outside of the band is aware of these facts, Htoo-Levine and Hines burst out laughing and asked where they found that out. The secret is that it’s on their profile pages on the website, www.danhlmusic.com, along with some samples from their album, and upcoming gigs.
The band’s upcoming shows are as follows: Burlington, Vt. on Feb. 11, at the Radio Bean; Salem, Mass. on Feb. 14 at Salem State University; and Cambridge, Mass. on Feb. 23 at Tommy Doyle’s Harvard Square.
Just five members of a band have become brothers through music and humor. Their life is going around city to city, small town to small town.
Their goal is to share their gift of music with the community, and they couldn’t be any happier.
Michael Woodworth can be contacted at mwoodworth@ksc.mailcruiser.com