World-renowned blues rock guitarist Dan Patlansky is excited to see how fans take to his new album, “Movin’ On”.
In his 11th offering, the SA-born artist wanted to keep things as natural as possible with very little editing and post production done. He wanted it to sound as close to a live performance as possible.
Patlansky’s album tour started in Durban on March 6 and he’ll be heading to a number of other provinces including Johannesburg, Cape Town and PE in the upcoming weeks, before touring the UK.
He said this offering is one that he’s been wanting to make for over a decade. Finally he decided to take a leap of faith and make it.
“It’s an album that I’ve wanted to make for at least the last decade, in a sense that it very much reflects our live sound, the rawness of it, the realness of it. The production is angled towards the band playing live, instead of fancy production tricks.
“For me it’s a great representation and an album that I’d be happy to be remembered by. That’s why I wanted to record this album for so many year now,” said the “Hounds Loose” hitmaker.
Patlansky, who resides in Johannesburg, said it took this long to make because he was scared. He eventually gathered the courage and got to work.
“I suppose with age you get to the point where you say, ‘I’m actually going to make the album that I want to make now and not for radio or a certain audience’. It’s an album that I would buy if I wasn’t the artist. It was just that point in my life.”
About the inspiration of the album, he said, “The main inspiration was to full circle back to what I love doing the most. Writing the song, the performance, the production, everything, that was really the theme of the album. Getting back to my roots.”
The title track, “Movin On”, is a dedication to a phrase his father often told him as a young boy.
“As a kid, when I wanted to give up and stop doing something or having a hard day, he would always tell me ‘just keep moving on’.
“Its a philosophy that stayed with me all these years and something that goes through my mind all the time.
“It seemed to be a great title track for the album and one of the first tracks written for the album, so it just seemed fitting to be a title track. It really is moving on back to my roots.”
The blues guitarist started writing the songs back in January 2023 and then tested them out on audience in Europe, before tweaking it and getting it ready for release.
“The fans took to it fantastically. Obviously we made changes to arrangements and parts of songs, but overall the response and reactions to the songs live was the best yet, so we kinda knew we were heading in the right direction.
“A lot of people were keen for me to move back to my roots, which I have done, so I hope the existing fans can recognise that, and because blues is all about the emotion and the music, and because it’s recorded in the fashion it is, I hope that that will come across on the album when listening to it at home or in the car.
Now that the album is out, Patlansky is thrilled that he made the decision to make it because fans are loving it.
“The reaction has been exactly what I’ve hope for. When you record an album, you never quite know how it’s going to be received, so it was more of a relief than anything, that I took this leap of faith in doing the album I’ve wanted to do and the feedback has been absolutely amazing,” he said.
He said if the could chose an album to be remembered by it would definitely be “Movin’ On”.
“I’ve got no problems with the other albums. I’m very proud and happy with those.
“I headed in a particular direction and had other producers on a lot of these albums kinda steering the ship.
“I’ve learnt a ton from them and enjoyed making those albums, but at my heart ‘Movin’ On’ is what I wanted to make. If I want to leave something behind in this world, it’s not the other albums, it’s this one.
Speaking about his upcoming gigs around the country he said: “Every time we tour a different city or town it tends to be the best show of the tour.
“There are so many factors that make it the best show, you never know which one it’s going to be. I’m just really excited to play these days. I’m looking forward to playing everywhere.
“I’ve been in the industry for 24 years and I’m more excited now than I’ve ever been, especially after the pandemic.”