Ian Danter Interview

Ian Danter is a radio presenter and commentator for talkSPORT. However he is a man of many talents, one of which is songwriting and has recently released a new album called 'Prove You Wrong'. I sent him some questions about his musical inspirations and his new album.

What music did you listen to growing up as a child?

"My earliest musical memories were my Mum & Dads record collection. Stuff like The Carpenters and Simon & Garfunkel - but it was my older brothers' records that I first took a real interest in. They owned albums like Live and Dangerous by Thin Lizzy, Machine Head by Deep Purple and Rising by Rainbow, 3 awesome Classic Rock recordings that were such a great introduction for me to that kind of music"

Who are your musical inspirations?
"Well, aside from the musicians who played on those albums I've already mentioned like Ronnie James Dio, Phil Lynott and especially drummers like Brian Downey, Ian Paice & Cozy Powell, my big musical inspiration was KISS, who I got into from around the age of 10 or so, and I still love 'em now. Criminally underrated as songwriters, usually by the critics who daren't admit that KISS could actually write, they're a great catchy rock n roll band.
I also love Foo Fighters these days and The Wildhearts too, plus loads of other Classic Rock & AOR bands from my teens - Rush, Journey, Foreigner, that sort of thing" 

If you could collaborate with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
"That would have to be Dave Grohl - he seems so tuned in to writing amazing riffs and powerful songs, I'd love to write a tune with him...and have him play drums...I might get a look in on guitar, though."












What is your new album, 'Prove You Wrong', about?
"It's a lot about my personal experiences over the years, mostly in relationships so its autobiographical for the most part. A few songs are fictional, like Soulmate and Overflow, but some are very dear to me, like Stay In My Heart"  

What would be your desert island discs and why? "KISS Alive! as that was the album that changed my life, Spilt Milk by Jellyfish which is genius songwriting and playing, Moving Pictures by Rush which is their best work all in one album, Whatever by Aimee Mann as she's such a wonderful writer and Live and Dangerous by Thin Lizzy as it still holds up as one of my earliest musical memories" 

What's next for Ian Danter? 
"My band has its first gig on Friday 19th July at Birmingham Asylum as support to SHY - hopefully more dates for later in 2013. I'm also back in the studio to record a few more tunes of mine now I've got the writing bug back again!!"

Click here to listen to samples from each track of his new album