I have been selected as artist of the month by Lehigh Valley dj Blake Dannen! If you've been in the tri-state area at any time during the last ten years, you've heard Blake. He was a staple of WZZO 95.1 and he's on 93.3 WMMR the Rock of Philadelphia, but calls 99.9 The Hawk his home. I've been listening to Blake since I moved to Alpha (the last exit in new jersey) from Boston. Blake is truly a stand-up guy who loves music and is one of the most supportive disc jockeys of local and underground talent. Here's a snippet of our interview from the blog on Blake's page, which you can browse by clicking on his diagonal head in my second row of friends...


MUSIC OF THE MONTH: Karl Dietel

One of my favorite bands of all time is Colorado's The Samples and a few months ago i met the band's keyboard player Karl Dietel. I'm a total freaky fan for this band. Here's the thing: Karl's from NORTH JERSEY....and he happens to have his own excellent CD out. Now that my head has stopped spinning, let's make Karl our February MUSIC OF THE MONTH. Learn a bit about him with this Q & A, check out a song from him on my profile for the whole month and check out his myspace page on my Top Friends list. If you're lucky maybe some of Karl's sly coolness will rub off on ya.

BD: So you're from NJ and hang in the Valley. How the hell did you hook up with The Samples, a national band from Colorado? Seriously, I still don't really know this.

KD: It was St. Patrick's Day, 2003, and I remember playing for What the Funk? at the Blue Tone Café in Easton. Since it was a Monday, we played an earlier set to a good crowd. And then, as we were drinking a few green beers afterwards waiting to get paid, Len Mooney of the Roamin' Gabriels roamed himself right into the bar and sat down. Well, we started talking keyboard shop and he began telling me about how he had just played a national tour, mostly large bars and small arenas, in a band called The Samples. Len played keys for Alaskan, who were based out of north Jersey, and their singer, Tom Askin, was also the acoustic guitar player and road manager for The Samples, and Tom pulled Len into the Samples. I told Len I felt like I was on the brink of breaking into that scene – the proverbial "next level," as it were, and I was ready to make that transition to touring. We toasted the Irish a few times and went our separate ways. And I didn't even think much of it, to be honest with you. Well, wouldn't you know, he called about six weeks later to ask if I could fill in for him on the upcoming Samples tour, he needed to stay put for awhile to take care of some things. Of course, I accepted, and as a member of the Samples I played 25 shows in 4 ½ weeks and traveled from NYC to San Diego and back – with no rehearsal, either! I was mailed 2 cd's of songs to be responsibe for and hopped on the tour bus after Len's "farewell" show at Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan. I introduced myself to the band on the ride out to Chicago and played my first show proper as a Sample in Colorado Springs, Co. The tour was an amazing success, and, then, for the next few months, Len and I swapped tours until he bowed out of the band to take care of his family and concentrate on the Roamin' Gabriels. Since then, we have averaged about 8-9 months of touring per year. That's a lot of mileage and during that time we've retained our fan base, made new fans, and recorded two cds, 2004's "Black and White" (which I co-produced with Tom Askin and Sean Kelly) and 2005's "Rehearsing for Life." The Samples are taking the next six months off to record a new cd, slated to be released this fall.

BD: Tell us about your new solo CD. What did you set out to accomplish with it? Tell us a little about the recording process? Where can we get it?

KD: I'm very excited about my cd, "Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself," it's my biggest accomplishment so far, and a logical one, at that. I had always made a point to write a song or two for each band I played with, and, as you can imagine, one morning I woke up and realized I had about 25 tunes lying around homeless. So I started recording, and I set out to record a rock cd. I didn't take too well to the "new rock" or "nu rock" or whatever they were calling it at the time. Rap/rock was popular but waning, I certainly couldn't compete with that even if I wanted to, and what passed for a good rock band sounded to me like "processed rock" or "corporate rock" and of course, hip/hop as strong as ever. I wanted to record a rock cd that went a few places and I truly believe I accomplished that. Although all music is derivative, I feel I've recorded some tunes that didn't particularly mirror anyone else's sound. I recorded it in a slew of studios in New Jersey, whenever I had a day off and a hundred bucks (which wasn't that often!) from Mow the Dog to Black Potatoe and others. Even did a bit of overdubbing at Big Way Studios in Upper Black Eddy with some members of Foxy Moon Baby.

I always recorded drums and bass first, if I played bass, which I did on about half the songs. If I had a bass player, we recorded keys, bass and drums – the old-school rhythm section. You can hear it best in "After All." Then I'd add a guitar player, and depending on the song, I picked from about five guys I'd grown to know real well over the years. Then overdub any additional keyboards. "If I Could" has me playing harmonica. And then lay down a lead vocal. Listen to the rough mix for awhile and then come up with the harmonies. Some of the harmonies came to me as I listened to the rough mixes, such as in "Sever Me," and some we had worked out during the live show, like "Ready" and "She Said." I remember writing out the vocal parts of "Blur" on staff paper in the studio because the harmonic motion of that song is more complicated than most of the tunes and I then sang all the parts off the sheet music, like you'd do if you were in a choir. You might hear some Queen and Beatles references in some of the vocals, I remember adding an Abbey Road-type vocal to "Remember Love" to soften up the whole tune a bit, originally I was going to leave the song off because I thought it stuck out a bit from the arc of the whole cd.

The cd is available by clicking this icon:





BD: Tell us about your regional musical history. (things you've done in the NJ/PA area, area projects you've been involved in).

KD: In high school I cut my teeth becoming a live performer in bar bands that played at DJ's Pub, DJ Bananas and the Pattenburg House. In the mid nineties, I was in a band called "One Cat Left," with my good friend and recent Lehigh Valley acoustic rock winner Scott McDonald. We were signed to a management company out of Philly (who will remain nameless) and we played A/B/E quite a bit. I remember lots of fun bar gigs and playing Stone Pony a few times, an incredible experience for this Springsteen fan, and once we opened up for Leslie West and Mountain at Crocodile Rock. I actually started as the bass player of the band, and then I got snowed in at the studio where we recording our first demos. It was just me and the engineer. I had finished my tracks and he had a keyboard lying around and I said, "Well, since we're going to be here awhile, you might as well plug that in." And I layed down keyboard parts for every tune we had recorded until the roads were plowed. Scott, Victor and I went back to the studio two days later for vocal tracks, and when Scott heard the keyboard parts, I remember him saying, "You put all this down in one day? What the hell are you doing playing bass?" And I got myself fired from playing bass so I could recreate all the keyboard lines when we played live. Unfortunately, we broke up the band several years later to get out of our management contract. Over the next several years, this would be a few years before and after the century mark, I played Porter's and Mother's and the Mt. Vernon Hotel quite a few times with Angus and Uncle Sloppy, KC Cary, and whoever needed a hand, spent some time at Godfrey Daniel's playing along side Christian Bauman and Gregg Cagno, and going to open mics. I remember playing a few times a week, also became a staple in the central Jersey scene, playing with Joe Stuby and Rockinghorse and even did a stint as bass player of Screaming Broccolli, working for STARS Entertainment, which I look back on very fondly. Picked up quite a bit of studio work, too, playing on the cd's of all the bands I've mentioned, and other local folk acts like Kenny Collins and Alan Bennett.

BD: Who are your musical influences?

KD: My piano influence stems from Billy Joel, as does some of my writing. I learned melody from studying Elton John and the Beatles, and my songwriting influences range from The Who though U2 to Ben Folds and Pearl Jam. And I used to listen to tons of Phish back when I had long hair! Any band I can learn from, I enjoy listening to: from Keith Jarrett to Lou Reed to Kanye and the Boss. But I am also influenced my non-musical things, conversations I've had and heard across the United States, people I see and have seen. And a smart book or a good movie can creep its way into my lyrics as well.

BD: I imagine you've been to some awe-inspiring places with a road-tested band like The Samples. What's the most memorable show or location you've played?

KD: Being on tour with the Samples for the last five years is almost indescribable. It is as exhilarating as it is exhausting. And it takes quite a bit of work to pull off a good live show, don't let the Motley Crue videos fool you. We arrive at the venue 4 hours before the doors open and stay until all the gear is packed up into the bus. If I could remember half the things I've done, I would write a book about it! I am astounded at how big the United States is everytime we drive west. Parts of Nebraska have no mountains (or houses) as far as the eye can see. Enormous lava rocks in random places in the middle of pastures out in Montana. And to realize, for the first time, that California is mostly desert was a bit bizarre. On our first trip from Vegas to San Diego I remember thinking, "Okay, so the only inhabitable part of this state is the coastline, got it." I have been able to meet some of the musicians I looked up to growing up while on tour. We jammed some Neil Young and Rolling Stones tunes with Trey, Page and Jon Fishman in Vermont in the summer of 2004. Playing First Ave in Minneapolis, which is seen in Prince's Purple Rain, was a trip. But, easily my favorite show was our performance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado this past June 2. I have a photo album on myspace devoted entirely to that show. We played for 7,000 people and the sun set during our performance. I've never seen so many colors in one sky! And to be performing outside while that gradual sinking "just like a ship" was very humbling to me. There are two enormous rocks, the "sacred stones" that border the natural amphitheatre that is Red Rocks and I remember thinking, "These stones have been here for millions of years and will be here millions of years after me." I was starting to think about all the things those rocks had seen, how wise they are, but I soon realized I had to get back to focusing on the live show! I've learned much and lived more since I've been on the road, and I always draw on those experiences when I play my solo shows.