Over a 35 year period Dan Donovan has recorded 16 albums. Derbyshire born to a Welsh preacher, Dan moved to Fenland, England in the early nineties where he had rooted himself until recently when he moved back to the North Midlands, England a few miles from where he grew up.
Dan cut his teeth in his early 20's playing with a hard rock trio called Sword then post punk pop outfit The Reps and later with Indi Rock band Back to Jordan. Back to Jordan were one of a few bands to secure an interview with the late great John Peel.
In 1989 Dan was invited to record a Radio 1 session at the famous BBC Maida Vale studio with his then band the grebo goth rock Tribe of Dan. Much press, national radio play, international touring and an album followed but in 1992 Dan folded the outfit to pursue a more intimate genre, embracing a stripped down sound inspired by his fondness for alternative roots music and early blues.
During the following years he recorded a number of albums, acclaimed in the press.
“earthy, moody... crafted by candlelight” Kerrang KKKK
“highly atmospheric” Raw Mag
“visionary Dan the snarling moaning man” NME
“Funky, sinister and impenetrable” MOJO
“sparse with sack loads of heart” Folk Roots
From 2005 Dan performed and recorded with King Kool, a two piece garage sounding electric band described in the press as "Rocket fuelled scuzz". With 4 albums from this project under his belt he then returned, embracing his acoustic roots. A new album featuring 12 songs from 12 albums recorded was a retrospective project with gritty blues, acoustic renditions from his back catalogue.
"A stark, grit-packed,
punky folk-blues snarl" Fatea Magazine
In 2017 Dan was invited to record at the infamous Rancho de la Luna, Joshua Tree, California. Accompanied by Jonny Quinn (Snow Patrol) on drums and Dave Catching (Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of The Stone Age) this unlikely combo offered new twists that complimented Donovan’s desert rock offering titled The Dan the D the sessions were released as Mojo del Rancho in 2019.
"Bonecrunchingly primal" Metal Planet Music
"A great slab of art rock" Pennyblack Music
During the 2020 Covid lock-down Dan unearthed recordings covering a 30 year period of rare and mostly unheard studio work and live performances. With Dan on lead vocal and guitar duties, these recordings make for a nostalgic trip for some, and for others offer an insight into Dan’s eclectic musical odyssey. These tracks compiled became Dan Donovan's Unearthed Moose Tracks.
2021 birthed a new Donovan album Bat Beats. Producer Gavin Monaghan aka The Bat and Dan worked together remotely on this album from the close of 2020, they cooked up a treat and Dan raised a nod to the chaos as a worldwide pandemic rained down. Locked away Dan wrote & recorded everything in The Moose Shack, Fenland, England and Gavin then worked his magic on the mixes some 120 miles away in his bat cave, The Magic Garden.
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