Going with the Flow: An Interview with Daniel Wylie by Eric Eggleson
At some point in a man’s life “a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” Early in Daniel Wylie’s career he left his band the Cosmic Rough Riders to pursue his musical dreams. A new label, then starting a new label, and now self-releasing his latest gem, Fake Your Own Death. Through all of this one thing remains, the quality of his songs is always of the highest. His newest album is pure, raw, jangly acoustic guitar filled with the emotion of a man that has been through a lot. Here’s what Daniel had to say about how he got there.

When did you realize how important music was in your life?
I would have been four years old or younger. My dad had a lot of records. I remember hearing and loving Hank Thompson's "The Blackboard of My Heart" and "The Wild Side of Life", a lot as a child. I still love those songs. I also heard a lot of Hank Williams. My dad was a big country music fan and I am too.

What is your musical background? Do you have any musical training?
I taught myself to play guitar. I've been playing for 27 years but I'm still not very good. Good enough to use it as a writing tool and to pass on my ideas to better musicians. Apart from guitar, I play some simple keyboards and I'm good at banging percussion in time with the music. I suppose my voice is an instrument, too. I sing all the vocals on my records, including all the harmonies. My other strength is my songwriting and arranging skills.

By doing all of the harmonies as well, do you have your own studio yet?
I don’t have my own studio. I like to go to work. It stops you from being lazy and makes you focus. When time is money, you work.

What was the first CD/record you ever bought?
I had records bought for me by my parents all my young life but the ones I remember buying with my own money were "Woodstock" by Matthews Southern Comfort", "Band of Gold" by Freda Payne, "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" by Joan Baez. All on 7" vinyl. When CDs came along I bought three albums on the same day, Sentimental Hygiene by Warren Zevon, Meet Danny Wilson by Danny Wilson and Good Deeds & Dirty Rags by Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie.

What was the first concert you ever went to?
British glam rock band The Sweet at Glasgow Apollo in 1974. As a youth, I basically lived in that venue. I saw tons of band there; Lou Reed, David Bowie, Queen, Elvis Costello, Traffic, Kraftwerk, ELO and tons more.

Were you in any other bands?
I've been in quite a few bands but the only one (apart from Cosmic Rough Riders) that officially released anything was The Thieves. We released one 7" single and three 12" EPs, all on vinyl. There have been so many bands called The Thieves, but I think we were the first. It was a good apprenticeship before moving on to better things.

What artists have influenced you?
I have a broad taste in music and I suppose I'm influenced by it all. The key for me is to be able to stamp your own personality over your influences. The most audibly obvious influence would be R.E.M.
Love R.E.M., I saw them when they only had the “Radio Free Europe” 7 inch out and they played for four hours!
I first saw R.E.M. in 1983/4 when Reckoning was out.

Do you have a day job?
I don't have a day job. I should have a day job as I don't earn a lot from music these days but I'm lucky. My wife has a good job and from what I earn from music, she's happy to let me stumble on.
If you could work with any other artist (dead or alive), who would it be?
Neil Young, a young Joe Walsh, Jackson Browne, a young Brian Wilson, CS&N.

Wow. Great Choices. What do/did(?) you think of the alt-country scene?
I like a lot of Alt-country bands. Wilco, My Morning Jacket, absolutely adore Band of Horses, like Ryan Adams, The National, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver; but I also love 60s and 70s pop, reggae, and I love the Kinks, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Byrds, Beach Boys. I like quality songwriters with great tunes. Love Bob Dylan, like Neko Case, Lucinda Williams, Laura Cantrell, Skeeter Davis, Connie Francis. 50s rock ‘n roll. Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Atlantic Soul, Bacharach and David, The Band, America, Bread, Paul Williams & Roger Nichols. Gram Parsons and I even love The Eagles. I love music.

When you write songs, what comes first, the music or the lyrics?
Usually the melody, then I work out the chords. Sometimes I'll just pick up the guitar for a strum and a melody will come into my head based on what chords I was playing at the time. Lyrics are always last, although when I'm recording the melody as I write the tune, sometimes a key phrase will make the bed for the rest of the lyrics.
What instrument do you begin writing songs with? (guitar, piano, etc.)
Acoustic guitar.

How is releasing your latest CD yourself working out?
It's tough. I still haven't got an official release date but I'm working on it. I've had label interest and a few offers but haven't been able to agree a deal with anyone yet.

So you are trying to land a label with the new record?
To be honest, I haven’t been trying hard enough. I got three early offers but didn’t like the contracts. It’s a great album I’ve made (maybe my best…although I believe they are all equal) and deserves to be on a label that can get it out there, not on a label that does nothing to promote it. I suppose I’ve accepted my time may have passed. Sadly, I have lots of quality as yet unrecorded music that will never see the light of day. Enough good stuff for twenty more albums without dropping quality.

What made you decide to do this?
I started off self-releasing with the first two Cosmic Rough Riders albums, which were both solo albums under a band name. Then Alan McGee signed me to Poptones as a band, because he'd seen the band, that wasn't actually a band, showcasing live.

Why would that matter if you were a band or not?
It shouldn’t matter but McGee is a funny guy and he liked what he saw. He offered to sign us on the spot but wanted the whole band because he liked us the way we were that day. Even though he’d had both of my albums on rotation and it was different people on the records. It didn’t matter to him that a couple of musicians were not right for the feel of the music. But I took my chances and it didn’t work out. I had guys who didn’t play on my records or write anything telling me they wanted equal cuts of everything financially. Stuff they had no right to and no claim to so I left them to it. I had to decide whether or not to give up the opportunity or go for it with a band of people I didn't really know. I chose to go with it. McGee, released a compilation of my first two albums called "Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine", which went on to sell over 100,000 copies. As it happens, it didn't work out with the new band and I ended up leaving. It's complicated but then I got signed to my (ex) manager's label, Measured, and released a couple of albums. Then I started a label (Neon Tetra Records) with my friend, graphic designer, David Wells, who designed the early Cosmics sleeves. When that didn't work out, I decided to self- release again. The best part for me is that I paid for the recordings of my own albums and own all my work. I licensed them out. Only two of them are still licensed out but they come back to me in 2014 and then I'll own all of my catalogue again. I'm planning a box set for 2015.

Box set? Will there be unreleased tracks, demos, b-sides, etc.?
It’ll be four CDs (If they’re still making them) or whatever format is dominant at the time and will contain all my studio recordings with CRR and under my name, plus b-sides, live stuff, demos, and some unreleased songs.

Who plays on the new album? 
Neil Sturgeon on guitar, Stephen Scott (who engineered the album) on keyboards, Tom McGarrigle on bass, Stevie Boyd on drums and percussion. My son, Joshua, plays guitar on one track ("It's Always Been You").

How old is Joshua? Is he one of the people you dedicated Fake Your Own Death to?
Joshua is 21 and a fantastic guitarist. All my records are dedicated to my wife, Liz, and my children, Joshua, Charlotte, and Nicholas. Right from the first CRR album, their names are on every record. My children were all under ten years old when I released the first CRR album, Deliverance.

Where did you find the other musicians?
They're all long time trusted friends apart from Stephen Scott, who I only met at the sessions.

Who is in your back-up band when you tour?
This changes every time I play live. I just see who's around and available at the time and we rehearse the songs.

How often do you tour?
I don't tour much as it costs too much money to put a band on the road. My last band tour was two years ago. We toured Spain.

How often do you make it to America?
Only been to the USA once, in 2001 for SXSW at Austin, TX. Loved it. While we were there, we made a video for one of our UK hits.

Which hit?
“Revolution (in the Summertime?)”. Watch it on YouTube. It’s a great video.

Do you enjoy touring?
Touring was always a burden to me while in Cosmic Rough Riders as I didn't get along with some of the other guys. These were guys who didn't play on my records (apart from Stephen Fleming) and some of them were just not right for my music, particularly the drummer. But once I left CRR and got a band around me made up of people I got on well with, I loved being on the road.

How do you achieve the beautiful vocal harmonies live?
Nowadays I always get guys in my band who can sing harmonies. Back in the Cosmics days, I had some of my harmonies on a hard drive and the band sang along with them. I did all the vocals in the studio.

Any upcoming shows? Do you ever do solo shows? The new album would work well with this...
I've nothing planned but would love to tour if I can get the record out soon. I get offers of gigs all the time from around the world, but money is always the issue. I might play some gigs later on the summer. I’ve had an offer to tour at home with a couple of my friends helping out, an acoustic trio like CS&N.

Tell me about the greatest artist/band you shared the stage with. Did it change your appreciation of him/them?
I've opened for some great bands; U2, The Jayhawks, The Black Crowes, The Posies, Simple Minds. Everyone seems to hate U2 and Bono but they were really nice guys.

I met the band on the October tour in Madison, WI. Yes, very nice guys. I just finished reading Killing Bono, a hilarious history of Neil McCormick’s struggles to land a record deal. Have you read that?
Haven’t read that book. Heard about it, but have not read it yet.
I also opened for Paul Weller and got to sing a duet with him on the last date of the tour.

What song?
We sang a cover of a British 60s hit by The Casuals, a song called “Jesamine.” If you don’t know it, check it out on YouTube. Paul named one of his children after the song. Paul was fantastic and a great guy. Some people you meet are disappointing but you can still like their music.

If you were stuck on a desert island what five albums/CDs could you not live without? (And no box sets! )
To be honest, I'd need at least 1,000 albums but these five would be close to the top of the pile;
Barnstorm by Joe Walsh.
Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.
Aja by Steely Dan.
Automatic For the People by R.E.M.
Quiet Is the New Loud by Kings of Convenience.

What do you think of the current music scene?
There's always good and bad music around. It's getting easier to find great music through web recommendations but it's also getting more difficult for artists to afford to make music.

Any new bands you like or we should know about?
I really love the Australian band, Tame Impala. Their debut album from 2010, Innerspeaker, is one I always go back to. It's a modern psychedelic record with great tunes, tunes to die for. I love Beach House. Their last album, Teen Dream, was great. Devotion was good too, but Teen Dream was a leap forward in songwriting quality.

Where can people find your music?
It's available through all good (record stores are becoming extinct) online stores like Amazon and on download from iTunes.

What are your future plans?
I never have plans, things just usually happen and I go with the flow.

Daniel Wylie discography:
Cosmic Rough Riders:
Deliverance (Raft Records) 1999
Panorama (Raft Records) 2000
Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine (Poptones) 2000
Pure Escapism (Epic Records (Japan), Poptones) 2001

Solo:
Ramshackle Beauty (Measured Records) 2004
Postcards (Measured Records) 2005
The High Cost of Happiness (Neon Tetra) 2006
Let’s Go Surfing EP (Neon Tetra) 2007
Car Guitar Star (Neon Tetra) 2008
Very Best of Daniel Wylie & Cosmic Rough Riders (Neon Tetra) 2008
Fake Your Own Death (Daniel Wylie Records) 2010