SURREY — This is a homecoming month for Surrey-raised guitar player Daniel Sveinson, the one-time “Rock and Roll Kid” now working the local music scene as an adult.
Sveinson, 24, and his prog-funk band, Brass Camel, will headline a concert this Friday night (March 9) at the rebranded Blackbird Hall – formerly Pancho’s rock club – at the Flamingo hotel, with support from The Vidos, Mike Machado Trio and Saltwater City.
“If you’re in Surrey this will be a bill not to miss,” Sveinson, known professionally as Daniel James, raved on his Facebook page.
(STORY CONTINUES BELOW)
Later this month, on Friday, March 23, the same venue on King George Boulevard will host Aviator Shades, the classic-rock band that features Sveinson along with singer/bassist Dave Gorman, guitarist George Baker drummer Spencer Tomlinson. That gig will also include performances by Redwoods, Nine O’Clock Gun and Joey Chaos.
Thirteen years ago, when he toured with the Danny S. Band as a pre-teen, Sveinson was dubbed “The Rock and Roll Kid,” the title of an hour-long 2006 documentary movie about a spunky, gifted Surrey boy who’d already played the famed Apollo Theater in New York and shared a stage with guitar icon Les Paul.
(STORY CONTINUES BELOW)
Inspired to play guitar after hearing Angus Young’s work with AC/DC, and urged on by proud parents Darwin and Jean, the young Guildford-area resident turned heads in the mid-2000s with his solos and riffs.
For the time being, Sveinson’s side gigs, with the likes of Lee Aaron and Heart tribute band Barracuda, have been shelved. Also behind him are the good ol’ days of Sonic City, Mad Shadow and The Led Zeppelin Show, bands that kept Sveinson busy in his teens, as a student at Johnston Heights Secondary.
• READ MORE: Surrey’s ‘Rock and Roll Kid’ is all grown up, and he’s even more awesome on guitar, from Nov. 2017.
• ALSO: Surrey’s Flamingo rocks again, first in renovated/repurposed strip club, from Jan. 3, 2018.
“This year I really haven’t looked for many gigs because I’ve really taken so many years off from playing my original stuff and writing,” Sveinson told the Now-Leader last fall. “While I’m still in my early 20s here, it’s time to write some songs and try that out again, because it’s a totally different experience.”
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram and follow Tom on Twitter