Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
ARTS&LIFE
November 9, 2005
By Vicki L. Kroll
Toledo Free Press Staff Writer
events@toledofreepress.com
Jeff Daschbach was going to get his nails
done last Friday.
“I’ve got long acrylic nails. I get a great
deal because they’re only on one hand,” said
the guitarist/singer/songwriter from his Chi-
cago home. “It’s a freaky thing to have unless
it’s Halloween, but it completely changed the
dynamics of playing for me.”
His explosive, passionate playing style
features finger-picking and slap and tap tech-
niques. Flick Flack, the title track of his lat-
est CD, showcases his flying fingers and fine
fretwork. The acoustic instrumental received
widespread exposure on National Public Ra-
dio’s “All Songs Considered Open Mic.”
Daschbach recorded the song at Zeta Stu-
dios in Toledo.
“I was in town for the holidays about a year
ago. It was a one-take thing,” he said. “I had
lots of musical ideas and just stuck them to-
gether on the fly. Initially, it was just meant to
be a demo. Surprisingly, it just took off. It’s the
song most identified with me.”
He considers “Flick Flack” a generic term
for his playing style. “It was kind of inspired
by flick and pick, slap and tap, and there’s an
homage to Béla Fleck in there.”
He was born in Indiana; his family moved
to Toledo before he hit his teens. He started
taking guitar lessons at Durdel’s Music when
he was 11 after listening to Jimmy Page and
Led Zeppelin.
“Led Zeppelin really introduced me to so
many types of music. The catalog they have
ranged from blues to Eastern Indian music,”
he said. “The open tunings throughout Zeppe-
lin’s tunes really opened up the guitar for me.”
Daschbach went to Ohio State University
and was the lead singer of Antidote. After
the college band broke up, he moved to Ann
Arbor, where he explored the folk scene and
worked at a guitar studio. He learned the new
style of playing, complete with acrylic nails.
Released four months ago, Flick Flack
features original compositions and a cover of
“Hollywood Nights.”
“Growing up in Toledo listening to 104.7
FM, it seemed like there was a loop of Bob
Seger songs on,” Daschbach said. “Seger is
the Dylan of Michigan.”
He will play a free show at Brewed Awaken-
ings, 2636 W. Central Ave., at 8:30 p.m. Nov. 18.
ON THE WEB
www.jeffdaschbach.com
Former Toledoan to showcase guitar
IN CONCERT
JEFF DASCHBACH - Toledo Free Press
Discography
Jeff Daschbach "Flick Flack" 2005
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
All about Jeff...
If you hear his music first, you might be surprised when you meet Jeff Daschbach in person. His short, stocky build and ruddy complexion don’t seem to match the gentle finger picking on “Changes” a song he recorded for “Live” at Uncommon Ground in Chicago. At times, his vocals are reminiscent of Robert Plant and Sting, but the bridge section eventually draws into a primal, minor, descending melody that somehow sounds like Jeff looks – troubled, Irish . . . and seriously sunburned.
“The other night I went out drinking in Toledo with the guys from Booze Money, and the next day we spent about five hours at Centennial Quarry. Those dudes can hang in f*@! sun like you would not believe. I could hear myself sizzling, but I was so hung over that applying sunscreen was like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube. I don’t have any business leaving the house in weather like this, let alone sunbathing with those bronzed bastards.”
Jeff’s lobster-red face and neck stand out sharply against his pasty white forearms, which look as though they received an uneven slathering of SPF 30. The guitarist/singer/songwriter’s streaky sunburn is like his latest demo – characterized by contrast – light against shade. His ethereal picking gives way to a hard, manic slap-funk, his voice rising from a whisper to a scream.
Daschbach’s early years were spent as the towheaded lead singer of Antidote. Slugging away at the Columbus, Ohio bar scene just before OSU’s campus became the commercial strip mall it is today, the band played basement dives and charged as little as $1 for admission. “We were just trying to get someone to hear us . . . we had no clue what we were doing, but we always had an amazing time.” Line up changes and the resulting tension among members eventually tore Antidote apart shortly after the band recorded its swan song, Applause. “We had a longer run than most college bands, but I’ve always wondered if we could have taken it to the next level.”
Antidote’s break-up sent Jeff into a five-year hiatus from live performance. He moved from Columbus to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he worked at the Herb David Guitar Studio and explored the city’s folk scene. He quietly reinvented himself as a solo acoustic finger stylist, and after relocating to Chicago he returned to the studio alone. “It’s just me and my guitar this time – no effects and no band,” Jeff explains. “I am bringing back the blonde hair though,” he says, running his fingers through his newly dyed and closely shorn coif. Then, wistfully, “In the old days I used to wear it long, but my wife tells me I can’t quite pull that off anymore.”
Daschbach’s music is equal parts funk, rock, classical, and jam. It’s Zeppelin meets the Flecktones, or Michael Hedges meets Jeff Buckley. Songs like ‘Lemon Drop’ sound like jumping off the edge of a quarry in the late summer. The fall is inevitable but summer is still hot as hell.
Jeff’s instrumental thump “Flick Flack” recently dominated on National Public Radio’s “All Songs Considered Open Mic.” The song was recorded in one take, with one of Booze Money’s Martin D-16’s at Zeta Studios in Toledo Ohio. “Chris (Skull, Engineer) basically stuck a microphone in front of me and I played. I was such a wreck when we did it – I’m lucky that NPR didn’t just throw it out.”
Self-deprecatory remarks like these are typical for Daschbach. He tends to downplay his guitar prowess and he often leans on his rock background for street credibility. “It’s weird that I’m suddenly this NPR, coffee-shop guy. I’m not, really. Most of my shows still have me pounding back as many Guinness as the bar will give me. I probably have more in common with Chicago’s derelicts than it’s yuppies. On the other hand, I do enjoy a good latte once in awhile.”
Vera Doggherty
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