Artist Profile: Spoon's Britt Daniel

By our guest blogger, Megan O'Malley

Spoon is one of those bands that took years to reach fame--lesser groups would have burned out. Instead, Britt Daniel, founder, guitarist and lead singer of Spoon, kept pushing for more and eventually became a member of one of the most respected and well-known bands of the last decade.

Before Spoon, Daniel formed another band, Skellington, but they only lasted two years. Some of Skellington’s songs have been re-recorded and can be heard on Spoon’s first album, "Telephono." After his first group parted ways, Daniel then formed Spoon with drummer Jim Eno in late 1993. They are the only original members left in the group. While the two of them are obviously a team, it is Daniel who takes the reins on most of the songwriting. He uses his talents for more than just his indie-darling band Spoon.

In 2006, Daniel worked with Brian Reitzell on the movie “Stranger Than Fiction” to help create the film's original score. Besides his original compositions, Spoon’s music also could be heard throughout the film and their song “The Way We Get By” played over the trailer. He also has produced, working on songs with Interpol and Bright Eyes. One of his more major accomplishments came in 2009 when he produced the White Rabbits album, "It’s Frightening." In addition to Spoon and all of his time spent working with other bands, there have been rumors of a Britt Daniel solo album, as he has been performing solo shows since 2006. He self-released one in 1994 entitled "Clocking Out is For Suckers" under the name Drake Tungsten, but nothing since then.

Watching Britt Daniel perform is really something. With their latest album, "Transference," recently released, Spoon is hitting the road on a huge tour. Their music travels well from record to live show because he chooses to leave in the errors and quirks on his recordings. These can be heard on "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" and now on the electrified new sounds of "Transference" (it’s somewhat reminiscent of Velvet Underground recordings.) The man really gets into his music. He is the most interesting of showmen, not in an over the top sort of way, but in a way that he just mesmerizes concert goers. All eyes are fixed on him because he knows his music and his sound better than anyone else. Spoon maybe a group, but it is truly Britt Daniel’s band.