User:TheDankeSchonsFan/The Danke Schöns

The Danke Schöns are an American Rock Band, from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 2006, the band currently consists of frontman Adam Smith (lead vocals, synth, flugelhorn), Jack West (guitar), Sammy Samuel (bass) and Steven Fernandez (drums, percussion).

Former members include the late “Whistling Jim” Turner, L.A’s pioneering mouth-noise artist and artisan-patisserie owner, who collaborated with The Danke Schons on their early EP “Stop! Or My Mom Will Flute!”, an early and ultimately unsuccessful foray into the indie-woodwind genre.

The Danke Schons can currently be seen in Virgin Holidays’ new promotional campaign, which followed the band as they enjoyed the trappings of a Virgin Holiday while on hiatus between their second and third albums.

Formation and early years:
In 2006, after shunning the family prosthetic-limb workshop and fleeing Idaho, Adam Smith settled in Los Angeles, with $147 and a dream. A dream of harmony, melody and brotherhood that would echo through the ages. It was here, on a Wednesday afternoon shift at the dive-bar that paid his rent, that he met guitarist and future bandmate Jack West. The connection was immediate. Smith remembers, “he was pale, so very pale…yet golden. Golden with the luminescence of spirit, the hue of a man with music in his heart. We bonded over drinks. Him whiskey-sours, me a soya latte…after all, I was working…and at that point my dairy tolerance was at an all-time low. It was then that I realised I had found a co-driver for the bullet train of my imagination.”

After forming a partnership, a flurry of intense activity followed, adding bass player Sammy Samuel by chance when he delivered a 27” Vegetarian Meat Feast Pizza to the burgeoning duo’s rehearsal space. Smith remembers their first meeting… “he had the grin of a sex-addict and the eyes of a murderer; we simply had to have him.” Disappointed with the group’s lack of facial hair, they posted want-ads across the record stores of Los Angeles, looking for a drummer with “less than 8% visible visage.”  Steven Fernandez replied and the rest was hirsute history.

Early years and album one:
After a flurry of live activity in 2007, including New Year’s Eve’s now legendary semi-nude live performance at the San Francisco “Bear Bar” and the untimely loss of sometime collaborator “Whistling Jim” Turner (who choked on a piccolo en route to the afore-mentioned gig after Samuel drove the band’s hire van over a sleeping policemen at 77 miles per hour), the band were signed by LA label Play These Records and retreated to the San Fernando Valley, ensconcing themselves in a recording studio to lay down initial tracks for their first studio album, 2008's "The Last Resört". Reviews were mixed, Los Angeles bi-quarterly music periodical “Flamejet” called it “A mixed bag. Erotic in parts. Confusing in others. West’s guitar blazes while Samuel’s bass soaks. That said, any band in possession of a beard like that should go somewhere, and in Adam Smith’s lyrics and aesthetic, The Danke Schons have found a frontman who blends Morrissey, Axl Rose and George Michael into a cocktail of poetic contradiction.”

Album 2:
After the triumphant success of their inaugural European tour, the band returned to the studio to record their second record. Samuel remembers: “We were burned out. Adam and Jack weren’t on speaking terms. Steven had only just had the full body cast removed and my skin was a mess. I mean, sure, Europe’s great, but try finding exfoliating products in Lithuania. It’s just not gonna happen.” The sessions were shambolic. West barely attended, preferring instead to hole himself away in his grandmother’s basement “eating cheese-whiz straight from the can” rather than performing. And so, as the record company deadline and budget limits approached, the album was rushed to release. 2009’s “The Umlaut Discussion” was a critical and commercial flop. Poor radio play, limited sales and an unsold shipment of “The Danke Schons” branded novelty double-tipped pens centred around Smith’s misguided belief that umlauts would soon “adorn every vowel on every teenage schoolbook across the country” meant that it was time for a radical change.

Pre third album. Virgin Holidays Advertising Campaign :
It was in May 2010 that the record company decided a radical upheaval was needed. The band’s possibilities remained unquestioned. But their relationships were strained. It was decided that they should be sent on vacation together, in order to regain their friendships, enjoy some time together and get away from the spotlight. It was on this trip that the band came to the attention of a small documentary crew. The assembled footage can be seen in a Virgin Holidays advertising campaign on UK television from May 2010.

Upon completion of their trip, the band returned to L.A, eager to start their third album, preliminarily entitled “Tusk, Tusk” a reference, according to Smith, to his “chastising of a record label employee by phone, whilst onboard an elephant.”

The album is set for release in fall 2010.

Band Members

 * Adam Smith - Lead vocals, synth, flugelhorn (2006-present)
 * Jack West - Guitar (2006 - present)
 * Sammy Samuel - Bass (2006 - present)
 * Steven Fernandez - Drums, percussion (2006-present)


 * Former members


 * “Whistling Jim” Turner - Mouth Noise, Recorder, Piccolo (2006-2007)

Discography

 * The Last Resört (2008)
 * The Umlaut Discussion (2009)