Years in the making

Okay, let's have a talk...

At age 9, my Dad bought a drum set for the entire family. My four older brothers, my Dad and I would play this set probably every single day since the time he bought it. At age 10, my Dad bought me my first electric guitar. As any aspiring musician would, I practice every single day for a half hour to an hour for about 2 to 3 months til my heart was content with the basic chords I had learned. With in the first 2 weeks of picking up the guitar I wrote my first song called "Thinking of You". Wasn't superb, seeing that I was only 10. I went on to write surf style music. No vocals. With my brother Dennis on drums, we started performing at my elementary school's assemblies on Friday mornings. Went onto Middle School and performed at small gatherings and a few lunch time concerts in the Mutli Purpose Room. At this point I had my own band. Started out with my brother, and then met some musicians in Junior High and formed a band here and there. In this moment in my life, I began to perform at recreational venues all over the Inland Empire. By the time I hit the end of Sophomore year in high school, I was in the band Unforgotten. and had performed at least an under-exaggerated 150 shows. Began to perform solo at every coffee shop and street fair possible. Created a band called Xanimo with a few friends and went "balls out". We performed every place imaginable around all of Southern California. I quit the band and continued with my solo career as a singer/song writer. About 2 years later I joined the greatest band I've ever came in contact with....Understated. With in a year we changed our name to Fiasco!. Fiasco! has changed my life immensely. Instantly we went on our very own "Poor Tour 2007", and a year after that booking shows at House of Blues, Glasshouse, and every venue you can think of on the strip in Hollywood. Summer of 2009, we were asked to go on The Vans Warped Tour '09. Since then we haven't stopped hustling, and here I am now.

Every show that was performed above, for the most part, was "Pay To Play". Which means the band I was in, never got paid for what we did, we sold tickets or literally paid a venue to perform. Because you've gotta put in the time and effort before someone notices you and see's that you're worth the money they're putting up. In the career I'm headed for....I am nowhere near what I want to be doing. BUT, I love every minute of this and I appreciate everything I come across, and I understand that it takes time, money, effort, passion and persistency to obtain what I crave. And I will not stop. I literally will reach fame or die trying. I haven't changed my mindset since I was 10 years young.

I didn't wake up one morning....let's say a year or two...or three ago, and say "Hey, I play guitar.....I'm gonna find some friends who play and sing too, and form a band and walk into a venue and just get shit handed to us." It doesn't work that way. Fiasco! has obtained so much in the past 2 years that we're finally getting recognition and I love it. It's the greatest feeling to see all of your hard work pay off, even if you're not getting paid. Now I will say, now days, we get paid for what we do. Even if it's small amounts. I just love seeing the change, the turning point in a career. Especially one of which is part of the artistic field. Again, I'm taking in every moment now and appreciate aht I have, and just love watching it all unravel. It took years to get to where I am now....and it's going to take a lot more to get to where I'm going.

With that said, thanks to every single family member, every single friend and every single fan that has supported me and my bands since day one. Even if you just discovered Fiasco! at the last House of Blues show....you have no idea how much it means to me that you now have love and support for us. With out any of you....I CAN'T do what I do. I cannot. There would be no reason to perform live if it weren't for you. Thank you so much. I will never forget you. So long as you never forget me =)


And for those of you who read my blog posts....thanks. I use this site to blog my thoughts and moments in life...as well as venting to "no one". But turns out, I check out my profile views and see that I have a coupe followers and I love it. Means a lot.

Daniel Durston