Danny Pentin
Alt-Rock Singer-Songwriter, Danny Pentin’s first single for London Tone Music is called Opened Up the Blinds. The genesis of the song was the breakup of his Seattle-based band, The Mob Law, after 5 years of recording, performing and traveling across the country together. With offers from at least three separate substantial record labels on the table, this ahead-of their-time high-energy rock, hip hop, and reggae group broke up abruptly, as tensions about direction and focus tore the band members apart.
“I was devastated,” Danny recalls, “the band was my whole life for five years.” Depressed and struggling with what to do next, he wrote, Opened Up the Blinds, a song about the hurt he felt, as he “opened up the blinds” and had to deal with the reality of losing what he spent so much time building.
Danny Pentin, however, doesn’t shy away from a challenge. “Change is hard but it is cathartic. I don’t really do easy. Chasing the impossible dream is just a whole lot more fun.” When asked to sum up how he’s feeling right now about his life and his music, he quotes one of his favorite Blind Melon songs, 'Change' (coincidentally, also recorded at London Bridge Studio), reciting, “…when your deepest thoughts are broken, keep on dreaming boy, cause when you stop dreamin’ it’s time to die.”
Opened Up the Blinds is actually from an unreleased solo project that Danny recorded with producer/engineer, Jonathan Plum at London Bridge Studio a couple of years ago. After releasing 5 records over ten years with two different bands, the song and project represents a new direction for Danny as an artist. Opened Up the Blinds is completely stripped down with just Danny on piano and award-winning television and film composer, Erik Aho, writing and arranging an eight-piece string section.
“Releasing this song is really my way of telling the world, and myself, that I am not done chasing this dream.” His first instrument was the trombone and then he taught himself how to play piano. At 14, Danny picked up the guitar after a cousin showed him how to play Puff the Magic Dragon and Feelin’ Groovy. He was hooked. As a teen, he was rebellious and angry and often retreated to his room when things got rough. Danny confided, “I spent a lot of time, alone, teaching myself guitar and writing songs. Music has always been my refuge. When I am happy, I write songs and, when I am down, I write songs. ” Danny’s music is hard to pigeonhole, as he likes exploring different genres. “In some ways, that may have held me back”, Danny says, “but music is the easiest way for me to express myself and I like to express myself in different ways.”
A lot changed for Danny since the breakup of the band and the production of the solo recording project. Danny runs a very large restaurant east of Seattle, while raising a young family. While not performing as much as he’d like to, Danny has reconnected with Jarrod Keith, his longtime collaborator from The Mob Law, and music is never too far away. “Things have come full circle since I wrote this song,” he says. “I have never been more excited about music. Whether we perform as a band or solo artists, Jarrod and I are a team and we’re going to chase this dream together.”
