Danny Michel is excited. He just got back from a tour of Germany, Holland and Austria, is taking a deep breath to do laundry, then will hit the road again to tour Canada with his new band.
“Lethbridge is the only place I play a solo show and people dance, so people will be really happy this time because they will be able to dance a lot,” said Michel from his Toronto home.
He plays two shows at the Slice, Nov. 5 and Nov. 6 with his band, Mexican born guitarist / percussionist Quique Escamilla, drummer Dave Tolley and bassist Mark McIntyre.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do (play with a band), but it is really expensive today. Thinking about hotel rooms and salaries and vehicles. It‘s a tough thing to do, especially today,” he said.
“I don’t want to make it sound so grim, but that’s the reality,” he said.
He grew up with bassist Mike McIntyre and is excited to to be on stage with him.
“Quique just moved to Toronto from Mexico. We were at the Mariposa Music festival. He was playing and I was playing and I just really dug his stuff. He’s a real treat. He’ll be opening the show too.”
Michel just release a new record “Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me,” Sept. 12, the long awaited follow-up to “Sunset Sea,” which was released in 2010.
While the songs for “Sunset Sea,” were inspired while vacationing in Belize, but recorded in Canada, the new record was actually recorded in Belize.
“This one actually sounds like it was recorded in Belize rather than recoded in Canada. it’s more authentic,” he said.
“This one was recorded in Belize with a band called the Garifuna Collective. They’re my band over there. They’re big over there,” he said.
While Europeans, especially Germans gravitate towards Canadian musicians and Canadian music, Michel offered his own unique twist on it thanks to the Belize influence.
“They don’t speak a lot of English over there, so it is difficult to communicate with them. So I don’t know if they knew what I was singing about, because I couldn’t really have a good conversation about the music with them, but CDs were selling and they asked for an encore, so that’s a good thing,” he laughed.
“There are a couple German guys I know who are the biggest fans of Canadian music. They asked, ‘do you know who the Rheostatics are? They’re great,’” Michel related.
While he didn’t bring his new band over to Europe, he noted they have adapted well to Michel’s music.
“They are very talented,” he said.
Having a band means Michel can also stretch out a little bit. It also means he doesn’t have to loop his own rhythms.
“The only reason I do that is because it gave me something to play over. I really love not having to do that now because I was getting a little sick of it,” Michel said.
“This show is going to be a good time. And a lot of fun too,” he said.
