Dan McDonald

About Dan McDonald

Name: Dan McDonald
Solo artist
Instruments: Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Bass, Drums, Vocals
Former Bands:
Fire Ants, Devil Head, The Methodists, Native Messiah, Strait Face, Alligator Wine, The Casuals, KB and The Jam-Ups, The Zucchini Brothers.
History:
I am a musician that originates from the Seattle area. During the early '80's I played in a number of garage rock type bands and worked in guitar stores, where I got to know everybody in the music scene all the way through the "Grunge" and "post-Grunge" era.
During the mid to late '80's, the music got harder, heavier, and edgier...much more to my liking. Just as Grunge (this was a label termed by the press...we didn't call it "Grunge"..it was just music) was beginning to take off, I was in a great band called Native Messiah. Sound Garden, Mudhoney, Tad, Nirvana, and Mother Love were all signed to the local record label Sup Pop, and they were all being courted and eventually signed by major labels. When Mother Love Bone's singer, Andy Wood, died, everything changed in my world. Bruce Fairweather from Mother Love Bone started a band, Blind Horse, and he basically stole the singer from my band Native messiah...and Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament (also form Mother Love Bone) started putting together another band which would eventually become Pearl Jam...this was all happening around 1990 through 1991.
Also, Nirvana's drummer, Chad Channing left Nirvana.
Well as my luck would have it, Andy Wood's Brother, Kevin (an amazing guitarist from his and Andy's former band, Malfunkshun), came into the Music store I was working at, and he was looking for a bass player..as that is my main instrument, I jumped on the opportunity! We needed a drummer, and Kevin mentioned that a friend of his had just left Nirvana. This was the beginning of Fire Ants..later we got Kevin's other brother, Brian, and Fire Ants took off!
Fire Ants released an EP: "Stripped" on Dekema Records
You can find Stripped on Dekema Record's website, and other Fire Ants material on YouTube and other media...we were awesome, but short lived.
I also was asked to play on Devil Head's first album, "Your Ice Cream's Dirty", Devil Head was Kevin and Brian Wood's project band that released 3 albums on Stone Gossard's label "Loose Groove".
Shortly after that (around 1995) I began putting together a band with Former Native Messiah guitarist Erik Spicer...we needed a drummer and Chad Channing was happy to join along. We added a second guitarist (Chad's old friend) John Hurd, and The Methodists were born!
The Methodists lasted from 1995 through 1998. We re;eased one CD on Chad Channing's label, Mock Records, called "Cookie". We were hard hitting punk pop.
After that, I began a solo career. I bought a 32 track digital recording set-up, and the music on this profile is some of my material from my album "Rebel In Paradise", which I never released. If any of you are interested in hearing more of my songs, I am more than happy to share..just message me. I also have lots of songs and alternative takes from Fire Ants, The Methodists, and even a song from Native Messiah (circa 1990).