Dan Ward - My Story

I've always loved music. When I was a kid I would stay inside with my little record player listening to songs all day. I hesitate to admit singing a long with Barry Manilow's "Copa Cabana" as a kid. My older brothers eventually saved me with great groups like AC/DC, Van Halen, Rush, Led Zeppelin & The Who. I was a child of the 80's and thanks to Eddie Van Halen and my friend Steve Malone, guitar was the instrument that caught my ear.

In the summer of 1984 my cousin Paul gave me one of his old guitars. Even today I coudn't tell you what brand it was. It wasn't in great shape, it didn't stay in tune and when I brought it to my first guitar teacher he immediately told me to buy a new one. Unfortunately that guitar is somewhere in a closet in pieces and repainted during my days of experimenting with "customizing" my guitars. But I loved it. I would sit in my room playing on that thing through an old stereo for hours. My mother is up for sainthood for sitting through it all.

My family moved from Central New York back to the Philadelphia area the next year. And being the new kid in town it was a lot easier to make friends when you can pull out the six string and show off a little. I began playing in a band in the 8th grade. We weren't great but we had a good time. We had a repetoire that included a lot of Bryan Adams songs basically because I had the sheet music book and they were pretty easy to play. It was around this time I started to write original music. I made the most of all the bar chords I knew.

When I reached high school I began to learn that not a lot of people cared for original music so I turned back to cover songs. I played with the band in a few different incarnations at talent shows, church carnivals, etc. This is where I began to learn about real musicianship and playing with people. Unfortuately a lot of the people I played with weren't as serious as I was so I was constantly looking for the right guys.

Even though I was playing mainly cover songs I continued to write music and in my senior year of high school I recorded an album with two friends, Tim Campbell (drums) and Brian Sandella (bass). Tim was in a band with me for a while and Brian was fronting his own band at another high school. But they agreed to help me get these tunes on tape. I borrowed a four-track recorder and some microphones from friends and we spent a weekend working on 12 tunes. I made up 100 copies of my debut album, "Forward, Backward, Danward." I thought it was a catchy title and I was proud of it. I sold all but 5 copies in two weeks. Now I look back at some of the songs and cringe but I always smile a lot too.

After graduation I went to Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA (home of the Little League World Series and Hall Of Fame). It was there that I really began to become a musician. I joined a band that was looking for a guitarist. We played a lot of the current tunes and a lot of classic rock. The drummer was Brian Clayton who appears on almost ever track of my new album. He is still one of my best friends and he's also the guy who taught me how to sing the right way. Along with Brian the band included John Oleniacz and eventually Mike Saulnier (both of whom also appear on the new disc). It was a great learning experience and a lot of fun.

The good thing about the band is that they actually liked some of my original stuff and we recorded some of it. All through college I began working on the songs that ended up on this CD. After graduation I entered the real world but continued to play with the band from time to time. My good friend Russ Myers had just completed school for audio engineering and was working at a recording studio. It was then that a light went off in his head and then mine. I began to take any free time the studio would give me or that we could steal to record tracks. This is where the idea of putting all these songs on a CD began (7 years ago).

Well it took a long time. Russ ended up leaving that studio and I ended up starting up with a new incarnation of the old cover band. I went from a 24-track studio to having an 8-track home studio to going full out and buying a complete ADAT studio in my house. Russ and I also started working with Philadelphia local band Sinch , who I am happy to say signed a deal with Roadrunner records and released a pretty slammin' debut album in July 2002. Russ and I are no longer working with them but we like to think we helped them out at the start. I'm looking forward to seeing them hit the big time.

So, I finally have all the tracks done and I'm working on getting the CD out there. I'm still playing with my cover band Blanket Ride rocking the NJ clubs. I still have a day job bringing in the income to pay for the outcome that this dream requires. I also have been dabbling in writing some screenplays. I've completed two and am working on my third. They're posted on this site. If you want to check them out go to the Scripts Page. So I'd say that the plate is pretty full and I still have to work in some downtime and golfing. But I'm still having fun and enjoying it all.

That's the short story, but if you're not asleep by now I'm shocked. I look forward to people hearing my music, reading my writings and maybe seeing one of my movies some day. I've always loved the shiver a good song can send down your spine and I would love to give someone else the same feeling that a truly great song gives to me. I owe a lot of people a lot of thanks for getting me where I am. Hopefully they know who they are. Thanks for everything and I hope to see you down the line!

- Dan Ward, July 2002