Northside DIY songwriter takes hands-on approach

WHEN local singer-songwriter Daniel Anderson found his musical career on the slide he embarked on the ultimate DIY project.

Not only did he build his own recording studio from scratch to produce his first solo album, he also decided to sell it door-to-door.

Anderson, as the artist is known, has tasted failure before but he’s hoping his hands-on approach to his ‘Patterns’ album will see his talent finally getting justly rewarded.

Last week he got the backing of two famous fellow Northsiders, Oscar winning Glen Hansard and author Roddy Doyle, at a secret show in a tenement building on North Great George’s Street.

And his unique approach to selling his album has got him lots of publicity, which is helping ‘Patterns’ climb the Irish charts.

He’s also managed to make the 12-track album available at Freebird Records, Tower Records, Golden Discs, Musiczone and Spindizzy Records.

“It’s been an eventful few days and it looks like the record is going to go top ten in the official Irish chart,” he said.

Anderson’s musical career began when he decided to ditch his job working on building sites as a manual tradesperson and form a band.

The Rags was an ambitious and confrontational Dublin outfit, which unspectacularly imploded at the end of the decade now tellingly referred to as The Noughties.

Despite having no band-mates, no studio space and no contract, ambitious Anderson ploughed on and returned to his building background to construct a studio on a plot of land donated to him by his Godfather.

Over the course of 18 months he not only build the recording studio from scratch, but he also followed the self-taught philosophy for creating the music; writing, arranging, performing and mixing a collection of songs to an impeccably high standard.

However, when the album was finished, he realised he’d run into a seemingly insurmountable problem – he’d no money, and nowhere to sell it.

Undeterred, he decided if potential buyers couldn’t come to him, he’d continue his hands-on approach and go door-to-door a to them with his vinyl LP.

The result has been brilliantly captured on video by Colm Russell, who’s also responsible for previous Anderson videos, including ‘Patterns’.

During the video, Anderson meets lots of Dubliners and their responses to his sales pitch is pure Dub.

“Have you any Elvis?” asks one woman.

“I have to go and sort out my social welfare,” says a young potential customer.

Many of those accosted on the street were a bit perplexed to see a vinyl record on sale in the 21st century.

“My granny told me about them,” jokes a middle aged lady. “I wouldn’t remember them.”

“Do you know what this is?” Anderson asks a group of kids while holding up the album.

“A picture,” one responds. “Oh, it’s one of those yokes,” another yells excitedly remembering seeing one at home.

“I prefer house music,” a young woman tells Anderson. “This was made in a house,” he replies.

Anderson even lets potential customers have a listen to the album.

“It’s like a real track,” says one. “Oh that’s brilliant,” says another. 

‘Patterns’ receives a great response from the public in the video, which is hardly surprising given that it’s so beautifully crafted. And Anderson is now finally tasting success with TV appearances and lots of radio play.

‘Patterns’ is available as a limited edition vinyl and CD package at andersonsongs.com. It’s also available in digital format on all major download and streaming platforms.