Dan Costello - turning Woody Guthrie into a Hip Hop artist one borough at a time.
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Dan Costello knows how to make an impression. Fusing folk and hip-hop, his unmistakable songs convey an unforgiving sense of the world, life, love, and getting arrested for hanging flyers on a lamppost. Straight-up!
- Dan Dipollito, jezebelmusic.com
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The Facts
Dan produced a ton of albums in 2007 - seven. His new album, "Come Home" will be the first collection of Dan's jazz songs, all centered on the theme of people far away. Set in more restrained, classic jazz arrangements with a focus on the vocals, "Come Home" is a digital-only album available January 5, 2008 only at dancostellomusic.com.
Stepping out of the cultural cross streets of Brooklyn, Dan Costello's sound breaks all the musical molds. Writing from the influence of Hip Hop, Folk, Rock, Jazz and Broadway, Dan's songs cannot be restricted to any particular genre, as he fashions new sounds out of his eclectic influences.
His first album in 2006 was "Halloween Baby", a rock n' roll album with a couple surprise piano tracks. After "Come Home", the next album will be a full-length collection of Folk-Hop tunes to be released in fall 2008.
Dan is an independent musician, having quit his corporate music job in January 2006. He works as a sound engineer, a recording engineer, a piano player, an open-mic host, and occasionally as an album producer. Sometimes he staples and stuffs envelopes. He's a member of the Freelancers Union and various arts organizations. He has toured as a solo act, with Creaky Boards, and with fellow songwriter Brook Pridemore, playing shows all over the Northeast and the Midwest, and to the UK. He's off on a 30-day train trip through the US and Canada.
Dan recently moved into a live/work space called The Brooklyn Tea Party, where he and his housemates host local and touring acts at private parties. There's a stage in the living room.
Dan is in ten bands.
The Other, Less Crucial Facts.
Born on 10/31 and a theatrical performer since the age of five, Dan's been all over the country in embarrassing costumes. He is not related to Elvis Costello but thanks you for asking. He is however related to Ethan Allen (of the Green Mountain Boys).
Through his politically active parents, Dan heard socially conscious music ranging from Woody Guthrie's "Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti" to Pete Seeger and Phil Ochs at an early age. He was admittedly "raised on Dylan by my PH.D of a father" while he "sang showtunes quite loudly in the kitchen with my mother" He went to folk festivals every summer, sometimes working as a member of the business crew. By the time he was 12, he'd added N.W.A., Public Enemy and DMX to his catalogue. As an early teenager in a predominantly Black middle school, Dan began singing Gospel and playing Jazz saxophone and keyboard. He wrote his first song, "Dan's Blues" for the All-City Orchestra in Albany, NY at the age of thirteen. Dan starred in community and regional stage productions throughout his teenage years.
Dan attended Syracuse University, where he learned the meaning of debt and heard the towers fall on the radio. He produced a stage version of Pink Floyd's The Wall, and through his own student-organized production company, created adaptations of The Who's Tommy and The Rocky Horror Show. He composed a theatrical song cycle and produced a workshop production. He graduated in May 2003 with a BFA in Drama and moved to New York City that fall.
Dan is always performing in New York, either his own music or in the bands Creaky Boards and Soft Black, sometimes with other projects. He's been onstage at Sidewalk Cafe, CBGB's, the Bitter End, Laila Lounge, Rockwood Music Hall, The Creek and The Cave, Bar Matchless and several holes in the wall. In 2006 Dan ventured to England for Brighton's Summer Antifest and a show at London's 12 Bar. Last year he produced the New York Antifolk Festival where he had the pleasure of emceeing and working sound for Suzanne Vega. Today he plays in five great bands (Creaky Boards, The Valley Cubs, Eric Wolfson and The War Cabinet, Daniel Bernstein and the Happy Zealots, and his own band, Costello.) He is currently seeking cheap health insurance.
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