Tuam's Dan about to make big solo debut

ABOUT to embark on a new adventure as a solo artist, Tuam songwriter Dan Trayers is set to release his debut solo single, Buenas Noches, in the coming weeks and has announced a string of gigs in which he will showcase new material from his forth-coming album. The first of these shows takes place this Sunday, July 8 at 2 pm in the Global Village situated on the Claddagh, and is part of the Volvo Ocean Race Galway Festival. Dan is a well-known performer around the country and, in my opinion, one of the most technically gifted and most recognisable vocalists in the business. 'It's both an exciting and nerve-racking time coming up to my first solo gig, but I'm really looking forward to playing some of these songs live for the first time,' remarked Dan. Every generation of music lovers and band start-ups in Tuam have had a local band to follow, aspire to, and, to ask how and where to get their first gig. For me, and my friends, it was Dan Trayers and Stone Lakes who encouraged us and gave us a stage to sing our first batch of badly-written songs. It's just the way it goes, musicians in the town are ever-giving and always ready and willing to give the next in the long bloodline a leg-up in order to keep the town's traditions alive. After my guitar turns to rust and my fender amp blows a speaker, and my great grandkids and I are rocking in our graves, I guarantee, there will still be new bands coming out of Tuam. I was 17 or 18 and just learning the guitar when Stone Lakes started playing original music around the town and gave a bit of belief back to the kids on the scene. It was the same for Dan. 'I remember watching Mouse McHugh playing with Too Much For The White Man on the back of a trailer in the Square and I knew then that was what I wanted to do,' says Dan. Since then music has taken Dan everywhere from the UK and Australia to the US and Lanzarote, and he has definitely paid his dues to the music world, playing with and starting a lot of bands, including a Beatles cover band at one stage. His first full-length album as chief songwriter, Coming Down, was released with Stone Lakes in 2006, a band he formed with his brother Gerry and between the two of them they recorded the majority of instrumentation on the album. 'Gerry is now in Canada but he is still playing guitar and drums on some of the new tracks, we've been sending stuff back and over and then mixing it with Kenny Ralph in Sun Street Studios,' he explains. Dan's new single Buenas Noches, a song about getting away for a while and spending some time at a sunny resort, is a little slice of summer and is laced with feel-good vibes. 'Evan Barrows plays drums on the track and I managed to get a childhood idol of mine, Derek Murray from The Stunning, to play keyboards on it and I'm happy with the final mix.' Dan Trayers has three up-coming Galway shows, the first this Sunday, on July 15 he plays in Monroe's as part of the Galway Fringe Festival, as part of a bill which includes Seamus Ruttledge, Mouse McHugh and up-and-coming Tuam band Razz. Dan will also play support to Damien Dempsey in Monroe's on July 22. Buenas Noches will be made available for download through iTunes in the coming weeks and I'm confident it will be heading straight for the charts upon its release. - Darragh O'Dea.