FUCK DANNY DENIAL
Danny Denial first rose to fame after performing with Dark Smith, a Seattle-based band. Even though he’s already working as a solo artist, Danny has not shied away from leaving his creative mark in other areas. One such area is filmmaking, and we can already tell how far he has gotten since being listed as the “POC of the Queer Punk & Alternative Scene to Watch” in Status Magazine.
So far, the artist has released two full-length records, and they’re both based on alternative rock. After releasing Dead Like Me in 2018 and Goodbye in 2017, Danny wished to explore different sounds and themes for his third long-playing record. “Fuck Danny Denial” came out as a result of this exploration. If you’ve ever taken the time out to listen to Danny’s song collection, you must have noticed how well he’s able to blend different genres and communicate with his audience through stories in broad strokes.
The themes his songs usually revolve around include power, rejection, highs and lows, dysphoria, euphoria, mania, and depression. It’s not often that we come across musicians who know how to blend a state of mind in a song; neither have we been fortunate enough to come across self-aware artists and have enough knowledge about the concepts themselves.
In his latest work, “Fuck Danny Daniel,” the singer was able to release around ten songs with special appearances by artists from Seattle such as Razor Clam, Rat Queen, Eva Walker, and DoNormaal.
One thing to note here is that Denial is far from your mainstream artists who try to gain clout by writing love songs or incorporating flashy themes in their videos. He’s one of the very few artists in the world right now who doesn’t shy away from talking about depression, anxiety, and most of all, the societal notions surrounding queer artists in the industry. He also often explores dark themes and incorporates his feelings about several matters in his lyrics.
After listening to his latest release, “Fuck Danny Denial,” you’ll most probably wonder about the same things as Danny does. What happens when your dreams finally come true? What’s there to look forward to? What happens when you no longer have drugs to distract you from your pain? What must you do when you don’t feel like staying, but you also don’t want to leave?
These are the very questions that Danny wishes to find answers to, and since they’re always at the forefront of all of his thoughts, they always find a way to be in his music. In the end, he isn’t your typical “happy ending” kind of guy, and he doesn’t want you to believe in it either.
However, he wants you to believe that no matter what puts you down (deteriorating mental health, marginalization, oppression, etc.), you’re stronger than you think and you will always find a way to get back on your feet again.
