Student Spotlight – Garry Daniel

We spoke to self proclaimed Metal Head Garry Daniel about his new podcast, his musical experiences and plans for the future in our latest Student Spotlight!

Tell us about your musical background, who are your influences?

I’ve been playing guitar since my late 20’s. Black Sabbath made me want to pick up the guitar once I heard the Masters of Reality album especially with the song, ‘Into The Void’. I’m a major “Metal-Head” and bands like Iron Maiden, Queensrÿche, King’s X and Rush are still an influence on me. I love all kinds of music especially jazz from the 50’s to 70’s. I have such a love for progressive rock music with bands like Yes, Pink Floyd, Rush, Genesis and these bands have expanded my playing. I also play bass and love many bass players such as Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, Steve Harris and so on. I used to play in a punk band called, ‘Rodent Emporium’ in which I was the bass player.

What projects are you currently working on?

I’m currently the guitar in a band called ‘Butler’s Experiment’ which I founded back in 2017. I’m working on new material and hope to have some new songs out this year. I did release a new song called, ‘Control’ on Spotify this year for my college course. I also host a podcast on Anchor.fm called ‘Butler’s Experiment Podcast’.

Tell us about your podcast, what is it about, and who have you interviewed so far?

I love music so much that I wanted to set up a podcast. The podcast concentrates on which artists or bands have influenced the musician I have invited onto the podcast. It limits it to three artist/bands and I’ll ask; how have they influenced you on your instrument? How have they influenced your song writing style? I’ll also feature their own music and ask them about how the artist/bands can be heard in their songs. The podcast really aims for bands/artists that are not on major labels etc as I’m not doing this for any monetary gain – just for the love of music. I certainly wouldn’t discount a band on a major label; I just want that to be clear.

If any bands/artists want to contact me for an episode, that would be great.

Why did you want to study at Riverside Music College?

I wanted to study Music Performance as I felt I had reached a dead-end with my knowledge in writing songs and my technical skills on guitar; I needed to consolidate what I have learned into a more cohesive approach and this is why I chose to study at Riverside Music College.

How has the HND Music Performance course helped you – which modules have been the most useful for you?

All of the modules have helped. With the Song Writing module I have learned so much in terms of how artists have written their songs in a particular way in terms of melody, harmony and what form of lyrics an artists’ employs, I love this part of the course. With Music Theory I finally had many theory questions answered, I have also improved my sight reading and how to read a chord chart. The Music Business For Musicians module has been an eye opener to the world of the music business and I really enjoyed learning about the Collection Societies such as P.R.S. and M.C.P.S. as they will provide a source of revenue if you sign up to them as an artist. With the Live Performance module I have learned more about stage performance which I didn’t really pay attention to years ago, so that has been very useful.

What are your future plans?

My future plans are to finish my second year of my HND at Riverside. I also intend to continue my podcast, I have several artists lined up to be interviewed. I’m also currently working on new material and hope to have a new ‘Butler’s Experiment‘ album out later this year!

Find out more and show your support to Garry using the following links: