We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jason Daniels a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

For me one of the most meaningful creative projects I’ve been a part of is when I stepped away from the music industry as far as touring goes, and moved to a remote indigenous community on an island off the top of Australia in Arnhem Land. I was given the opportunity to teach the local indigenous children about writing, performing and recording music, as well as setting up a small studio in a shed to record artists living on the island.

It was a huge experience, I had to learn the local language, go hunting with the older boys, attend local funerals and be 100% immersed in their ancient culture.

We worked on writing songs in both English and their local language,
The local elders saw music programs as a way to stop the older boys (in particular) from getting into drugs, petrol sniffing and violence, which sadly are all very common on the island. It was the most amazing thing to see the students get more and more confident to express themselves through music and have a reason to attend school.

This whole new life change inspired me too, I wrote many songs on that island and even produced an entire album that I got some of the boys to help me with, the lead single, Hurting Too, got picked up by national radio, getting played on Triple J.

I spent just over 2 years up there, produced over 60 songs for local people, and was a part of making 7 video clips.
I have since moved back to the Australian East coast and I am pursuing a bunch of new musical endeavours, however I still head up to the island when I can to run more music camps.

Arnhem Land is a truly special place.

Jason, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Jason Daniels, I’m a producer/ songwriter/ performer currently living on the Sunshine Coast Australia. My wife and I have a folk duo called Brook St and we have done two Australian East Coast tours, and a set to be heading to Europe later this year for a run of shows there following the release of our first EP.
When I’m not on tour, I have a small studio which I produce from, working with a range of artists in a range of different genres.
The Sunshine Coast and surrounding areas have a vibrant folk music scene that is incredible to be a part of, it’s so amazing to be able to call fellow artists like Tay Oskee, Ziggy Alberts, The Dreggs and many many others, friends. It’s so reflective of the chilled surf culture here in the Southern Queensland/Byron region of Australia.

For me, music has always been a huge part of my life, I grew up in the Church and so was on stage playing a range of instruments from as early as 9 yrs old. I’m so thankful that I got that musical upbringing as it’s set me up to step into the creative industries as an adult.

Music has always been a wonderful tool of connection and I’ve seen it bring people together so so many times across many different cultures. I’ve got to perform in many countries around the world, particularly in the Pacific Islands (Vanuatu, PNG and Fiji) as well as the USA.
My life has been quite the random adventure up until this point, always with music as a key aspect of what I’m doing.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Well over the years there’s been many many many let downs from promoters, booking agents and managers. However the best (and funniest) story of resilience for me is when I performed with my then band at the time (The Jason Daniels Trio)(kinda lame name I know!) for our first public performance.
We were booked to play at a very popular yacht club right near the beach, however in being such a popular spot, every carpark was taken within a 3 km radius of the venue.
We obviously had heaps of gear to bring in, luckily I had scored a park right out front, my bass player however, wasn’t so lucky. We were supposed to be on stage in 10 mins and he still hadn’t found anything.
Then I spotted a car pulling out of their park directly infront of the venue, I ran out and stood in the empty carpark, texting my bass player to come park in it.
Suddenly, despite me standing in the middle of the spot, this old man in a car started pulling in. I politely tapped on his window and told him the whole scenario.
He swore at me and stomped on his accelerator, running his car into me and sending me straight to the ground. He then hopped out of the car, abused me for a little longer and walked off.
I was obviously in shock! I couldn’t believe it!?
I dusted myself off (well best I could, I now had a tyre mark up my jeans) and literally had to head straight inside, tune up my guitar and walk onto stage. My hands were shaking the whole performance but somehow I made it through the show.
The next day I obviously rang the cops and told them his license plate etc etc.
But for me, the real victory didn’t really come until a few years later.
One day it struck me, I’ve felt so upset and angry about this scenario for song long, why don’t I apply my skill set to help process it all.
And so I wrote a song called ‘Please Don’t Run Me Over In Your Car Again’.
I haven’t recorded it yet, but I always play it live at my solo shows and it goes off. People singing along and laughing and making the whole scenario seem like one big strange dream.
It’s definitely one of my favourite songs in the set. I’m not sure what ended up happening to that guy, but I’m glad (despite a few years) I could make the most out of the whole unfortunate scenario.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me it’s connection. Music will always take words to a place they can’t go on their own. I remember doing health care work in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, we had finished up for the day and we were all sitting in the shade of this hut. Non of us could speak each other’s language very well, so I pulled out a guitar and we started singing simple songs to each other and learning phrases and having a lot of laughs.
I’ve seen this time and time again. Even within East Coast Australia I’ve seen this. One particular show I randomly felt to play a really old song I’d written about hope. After the concert a young women approached me and mentioned how she was struggling with self harm and contemplating suicide, but that song impacted her so deeply and changed the outcome of that day.
I’m so amazingly thankful for that! It’s hard to know what to say after hearing that.
Music truly is a tool unlike anything else.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jasondanielslive.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasondanielslive
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JasonDanielsLive
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/JasonDanielsLive
• Other: Brook St (A folk duo my wife and I have started):
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brookstmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrookStMusic

Image Credits
Cameron Herweynen Photography Nathan Hughes Photography