About the Band
Hi. I'm Dan. I started The Dark Clan in 1998 as an outlet for all the songwriting detritus I couldn't get out in my other bands, and as an excuse to learn electronic music composition techniques. In short, I wanted to write some tunes that would make people wanna shake their asses, and while I can't be 100% certain I'm pretty sure my first efforts failed in this regard.
Or did they? At first TDC was just me goofin' around but then I heard that one of my tracks was getting club play. Awesome! I then set a goal of doing a record so I could be on a friend's radio show. In 2004 this goal was met when I finished Oh, but the stars still shine... Shortly after that I got asked to do a couple live shows, which unfortunately consisted of just me and an iPod. It was...fine, I suppose, but it wasn't ideal. I'm a live, full band kind of dude so that was what I wanted to do. Anyway in early 2005 I put out the Vampires Dance! EP, and then all my time for the rest of '05 and all of 2006 was taken up playing and touring with Null Device and Stromkern.
In 2007 ideas for a new TDC record began to take shape, and I was asked to play the Reverence Festival in Madison, which is an amazing festival and a great time and sure as hell was not gonna see me take the stage with an iPod as my band. So I wrangled a band together and rocked the show and just...kept on rocking shows. In early 2008 I put out The Vampire Wore White and did a bunch of tour dates behind it, but my original live lineup, formed in haste and maintained under the duress of a constant gigging schedule, was beginning to show cracks. So at the end of 2008 I cleaned house and started over, assembling the version of TDC that is still working today, and whose members you can read more about below.
The end of 2008 saw me put out a bunch of remixes, and 2009 began with Perspectives, a companion piece to tVWW that contained remixes, b-sides and live tracks, including the popular single A Flight Of Scarlet, then the year ended with what was for me a minor triumph; the Goths on a Boat EP, the title track for which became the theme song for All Genre Travel, purveyors of the (in)famous Gothic Cruise. Most recently, I released Fade/Dance Magic Dance, a double album and easily the best thing I've ever done. Oh and I'm starting to release a bunch of Free Stuff, too.
I told myself I wasn't gonna put a bunch of date-specific shit in this page 'cos it always gets stale really fast, but it's hard to avoid when you're writing a history, know what I'm sayin'? So instead of saying some shit like IN 2014 OUR AWESOMENESS IS AWESOME AND POISED TO CONQUER THE WORLD WITH ITS AWESOMEOSITY or something equally regrettable, I'll just say that we continue puttin' out records, and I continue to try to write tracks that rock, tracks that soar, tracks that wail, and tracks that make people wanna shake their asses.
I'm getting better at it, honest!
Biography
While the band continues to basically be me, that's changed somewhat. The core of The Dark Clan is:
- Dan Clark (me, the guy typing this): unrepenetant shred-head (one of our records has a Racer X cover for chrissakes), lover of big beats and big glorious vocal harmonies, species counterpoint, and awesome hooks. I play guitar and sing live, but I also do keys and bass and programming in the studio and I do all the recording and engineering and mixing and all that jazz. If you like how TDC sounds, contact me! I do freelance stuff; mixing, mastering, production, etc.
- Lane Ellen (the redhead stage left in the giant, so-big-people-will-complain-about-it photo up above): singer, keyboardist, dancer, writer, poet, pirate queen, scourge of the seven seas, and so much more. Contributes vocals and plenty of lyrics to the recordings and live keys and vox. She's also usually everyone's favorite band member at live shows. Owns a lot of hats, which I feel is somehow significant.
- Mercy Skye (the not-redhead stage right in the pic up above): singer, keyboardist, writer, poet, plant- and cat lover, keeper of the keys and guardian of the sacred flame of Aranion. Contributes vocals and keys and vocal arrangements to the recordings and does live keys and vox. She's also a great editor, whip-cracker in the rehearsal studio, and harmony checker. Owns a lot of comfortable shoes, which I feel is somehow significant.