Well now then…
Hello, my fellow readers, writers, and possible future lovers – Welcome to Hark to Tanner. If you have been made suddenly frightened and unsure of whether to continue reading, may I put your mind at ease? This is my first post demonstrating my skill as a performing musician, and while I myself have so thrust this forward, festooned and liberated from the creational blackhole that is YouTube, I have done so reluctantly.
I have belligerently dangled a carrot of self-proclaimed development to you all in the form of personal projects and musical skill. Though I will not swipe that carrot cruelly away, as one might from the mouth of a gawping ass, I will try to justify the exposition of a project that is hanging so loosely from its infinitesimally thin thread, that you could be forgiven for thinking it had never actually existed at all. Please, gather yourselves in spirit, and I will pour you all a nice glass of word juice to tentatively sip upon.
Hark to Tanner is an ongoing project of mine that began with my releasing a few ‘tester’ videos. The videos did manage to get some attention, and also some lovely commentary from friends and family, but ultimately, life did what it does best, and I never really had the time to do anything more – something I should very much like to change.
The one thing I should like to clarify is the reason for my reluctance; I’m incredibly self-critical from a professional standpoint. I’m a perfectionist and, with the ability to analyse and break down musical performance and composition, that isn’t something that I can just switch off. Listening (critically) to my performances, I can hear all of the faults and parts that I coulda, shoulda, woulda, done better. Nevertheless, sitting in a stew of permanent self-doubt and criticism is no way to spend one’s life, and so here I am, once again, exposing myself to the world – it isn’t the first time.
What I want.
As a musician, I too have that shining aura of pitiful hope that would have me thrust into the light of appreciation. While this is wildly unrealistic, I still hold the embers of that idea in its simplest form – to be appreciated and known as a man that has made even the smallest scratch on a pearl that will ultimately cease to exist in 7.5 billion years.
Depressing as this may be, I still pick up my guitar, play something ‘plinky plunky’, and primal scream my way through the choruses of most songs.
I started my project with a stage name. Now, it’s not the best name in the world, and I still question it from time to time, but it came from a song I’m incredibly fond of - Mr.Tanner. it’s a song about a cleaner from a town in the mid-west (literally the first lyrics of the song), and it continues with his trying to become a singer but ultimately lacking the talent. I connect with this song so very much and, as I grew up listening to my father’s playing it, I did not realise just how relevant it would become.
What I got.
My first name actually is Daniel, and so Dan Tanner (naturally) became my dedication to that song and the man that wrote it. Mr.Tanner was written by an artist that I consider to be an incredible talent, unfortunately, Harry Chapin is no longer writing as, like most talented people, he’s dead. But, if you do have the time, check out his work - it really is beautiful. I will do a post on Mr.Chapin in the future but, for now, back to talking about ME!
So, in my moment of delusional overconfidence, I bought myself a GoPro Hero 5 (not a tech review, but: it’s an alright camera, it gets the gist of what I’m going for) and started recording videos for the ever so infamous ‘amateurs’ first port of call’ – YouTube. I ran it through a mixture of Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, gave it a snazzy intro that makes me look like I’m a chain smoker, and...
Voila!
click here
Squirming uncomfortably.
As you can see, my view count went off the chart (no it didn’t), and I became a viral sensation overnight (no, I definitely didn’t).
“I joke, I kid, I cry.”
Maybe not, but it was a start, and it will most definitely not be the end. I want to continue with ‘simple covers’ and grow into doing more complicated arrangements, originals, and the publishing of full pieces. Hell, I’ll even take requests.
Only the beginning.
When more time presents itself within my life, I will build a small empire of education, compositions, and performances. I have a very large band project that I want to work towards and hopefully, with the right support, I will see that come to fruition. For now, please enjoy what little content I am squeezing out, and don’t forget to snap your fingers along to the music.
Thanks for reading,
Dan.