TGt Meets...Dan, The Guitarist from Toploader

TGt Meets...Dan, the Guitarist from Toploader! We asked him all things Mintey Festival and he gave us an insight into the life of performing.

How would you describe your music? 

We often get asked this but to be honest it’s not an easy question. I guess Dancing In The Moonlight is as pop as we go but we also like to rock, and I’m loathe to use the phrase rock-pop as I’m not a fan but that's what we fall between if I’m being honest. 

What can festival-goers expect from your live show?

We like to keep things positive and have fun with our festival set. The way we see it is we have 60 minutes to give people a good time. We’re lucky that we have plenty of good singles that we’ve released over the years and we’ll even chuck in a couple of covers that we like to play. Even in the early days we had a rep for being a good time live act and I don’t think that has changed much. 

What are the main differences between playing festivals and regular gigs? 

Good question! We can maybe play more obscure tracks at regular gigs, maybe even get a little retrospective, but at festivals we respect the fact that we’re playing to a wider audience and not everyone has heard all our material. Most bands stick to the hits and keep things 'up' at festivals, and rightly so. I’ve been at festivals where bands I like start playing B-sides and I just think this is not the time! 

What’s one of your fondest memories from one of your shows? 

Wow, so many. Gigs are what you concentrate on at the start and where you end up 20 years later, it's the one part of the industry that doesn’t change and rarely disappoints from a musicians perspective. If you don’t get a kick playing some tunes with your mates in front of a crowd them it's time to give up. We still love it, maybe even more now, so without sounding cheesy every gig is a memory. I guess Wembley Stadium (yes the old one!) was pretty special and I’ll never forget the Brixton Academy shows on 2001. 

What's your favourite thing about what you do?

Being part of a gang, the band are my mates. It never ceases to amaze me how we still have so much shit to talk about after 20 odd years. In fact we never shut up! We drive our crew nuts as we just keep on chatting, even if a lot of it is inane nonsense. But the real reason we do what we do is when we get that rapport with the crowd. The crowd at gigs play as much a part of the atmosphere as we do as performers.  

If you could pick one highlight from your career so far what would it be? 

In all honesty I’ll never forget the first time we were on the radio or the first time we got to play on Top Of The Pops or played our first big show with Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher in Edinburgh, or got asked to be on the front of a magazine. So really the ‘highlight' is ‘the first’ of everything. Like life you learn to be in a band as you’re doing it so at the beginning everything is so much fun but sadly over the years you learn too much and get cynical.

The great thing for us is that after 20 odd years we don’t have a bloody clue what the f**k is going on in the music industry anymore, so it all feels fresh again. The industry has gone mad now, haha. Imagine telling bands in decades gone by that you need to take all that time and money to make a good record just to let people have it for free and that you’ll only get 1% (or whatever it is) from any profit made by multi billion dollar companies. It’s hilarious when you actually think about it! 

What is 3 things that you always take with you when performing? 

Guitar, lead and an amp! I’m guessing you mean personal stuff? In that case, a spare t shirt, toothbrush (always brush my teeth before we play, not sure why) and after shave for after to cover the smell of sweat after the show! 

Do you still get nervous when performing in front of large crowds? If so, what's one thing you do to calm your nerves?

We don’t get nervous really. Our drummer Rob has always given us this pep talk before we play, like a team captain. Not sure what he says, something about go out there and play well etc (as if we wouldn’t) but I like to hear him say it anyway. 

What are you most looking forward to when you perform at the Minety Festival?

The crowd… please come armed with a good voice and we’ll promise to play harder and better! 

What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to be a performer?

Don’t listen to people who tell you it's impossible...well unless you sing like a tortured cat then maybe get a proper job!