The Dan Band – Live – Review

thedanband200The Dan Band

Live! (Side One Dummy)
by Scott Hefflon

Luckily, Dan gets it… It started when he got drunk and sang karaoke. Lots of stories start out that way. This one turns out a bit better than most, and no trips to the free clinic. Dan attracted a small, hip L.A. crowd for his covers of classics far and wide. “Now the audience is peppered with frat guys who normally would’ve wanted to kick my ass for singing these songs. Now they sit in the front row, rockin’ out. It’s pretty funny.” Yup, anything good gets co-opted by “them.” And, like anything good, lame copycats are bound to think they can do the same thing. The frat douchebags can’t tell the difference between pioneer and copycat, so maybe we can dump the ballcap crew on some hack? Dan got his push from a fuck-laced Bonnie Tyler tune “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in Old School, and singing “Feel Like Making Love” to a 13-year old at her bar mitzvah in Starsky and Hutch. Like Larry the Cable Guy, Dan is a “common man” in a work shirt and backwards ballcap. He can also sing his balls off. Prefect for aging hipster yuppies and ironic trendy kids nostalgic for the ’80s, even though they never trudged through them the first time. There’s no end to the “classics” Dan and those who follow can cover, but since when are albums by cover bands worth buying?
(www.sideonedummy.com)