Last year Vancouver-based musician Daniel Wesley quit his job, moved his family to Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast and started working on his first album since 2015.
“It’s a beautiful place to hang out,” Wesley said of his new surroundings. “So I just light a fire every night and sit down with the guitar and write some songs. And they all just kind of came really naturally.”
Half of that album was just released as the five-song EP Beach Music, with the full 10-song album coming out in the fall. Wesley said the record would not have been possible if he kept his day job as an electrician.
“It was proving too hard for me to finally, at the end of the day, at 8:30 at night, sit down with a guitar. And the inspiration wasn’t there,” he said. “So it wasn’t until I really had the time to just kind of live my life that these songs started coming.”
Wesley said the EP, which came out on June 21, is composed of “more summertime songs.” The first single, Fire, is a reggae tune that Wesley said audiences have already connected with.
“Before the single’s come out I started playing that one and right away there was a reaction. People were singing that chorus along right away,” he said.
Tonight, July 5, Wesley brings his beach music to Nanaimo, one of the first places he played outside of the Lower Mainland when he was getting started over a decade ago. He’ll be performing at the Old City Station Pub for the first time since “the early days.”
“I have friends that worked there and they’d spin my album and the first time we went there, I could believe it sold out,” he said. “So we’re trying to do something fun and, I don’t want to say ‘old school,’ but I haven’t even been in that place for probably close to eight or nine years so that’ll be fun.”
Wesley said Beach Music was recorded on vintage reel-to-reel analog equipment from the ‘70s and it’s his first entirely acoustic album. He said he enjoyed being back in the studio. Wesley said it’s different from playing live.
“For me it’s like painting,” he said. “You get the canvas and you figure out what colours you want to use and then from there you just kind of go with your gut and I’ve always really enjoyed that.”
WHAT’S ON … Daniel Wesley performs at the Old City Station Pub, 150 Skinner St., on Friday, July 5. Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8. Tickets are $30 at the door or $25 in advance at the venue, Lucid, Desire Tattoo, Sunrise Records and http://myshowpass.com. 19-plus show.
arts@nanaimobulletin.com
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