Daniel Alexander Kessler

Daniel Kessler

In 2015
Background information
Birth name Daniel Alexander Kessler
Born (1974-09-25) 25 September 1974
United Kingdom London, England
Genres Indie rock
Post-punk revival
Instruments Guitar, Vocals, Bass Guitar, Piano
Years active 1997–present
Labels Capitol
EMI
Associated acts Interpol, Big Noble, Datach'i
Notable instruments
Epiphone Casino
Gibson ES-330
Rickenbacker 330 Jetglo

Daniel Alexander Kessler (born 25 September 1974, London, England) is the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the New York City-based band Interpol. He was raised in the United States.

Biography

Interpol

It was Kessler's desire to play in a real band which made him approach Carlos Dengler, with whom he attended a history class in New York University. Kessler knew lead singer Paul Banks from a summer program in Paris, France, and asked him to join the band when he ran into him in New York. Kessler's dormmate Greg Drudy was Interpol's first drummer. When Drudy left the band, Kessler asked his friend Sam Fogarino to replace him.[1]

Kessler had prior experience in the music industry while working for Domino Records, and his knowledge of the business was very helpful to the band in their early years. He brought all the members together, and has said that he was looking mostly for specific personal qualities each member could bring to the group rather than just musical talent. He is a graduate of New York University's (NYU) Gallatin School of Individualized Study in French, film and literature. Kessler has been known as the member of the band who has been the most active in the New York underground rock scene, which included his jobs at multiple record labels, such as Domino Records and trading their early demo tape around to various bands and labels.

Big Noble

In 2014, Kessler announced a new side project with sound designer Joseph Fraioli of Datach'i called Big Noble.[2] Their debut album "First Light" was released on February 2nd 2015.[3]

Gear

In the band's early days, he was seen playing a red Rickenbacker and a sunburst Telecaster, but has since performed with a sunburst Epiphone Casino and a cherry Gibson ES-330 as his main onstage guitars. The red Rickenbacker apparently belonged to Interpol's first keyboardist. He also owned another Casino in a cherry red, that was stolen from their green room alongside one of Banks' guitars by a drug addict in Vancouver while the band was touring in support of Turn on the Bright Lights. Following Interpol's third album, Daniel has also been seen on stage playing a sunburst Gretsch 6117-TH Anniversary on the track 'The Lighthouse' and also on their self-titled album 'Interpol'.

He states in an interview around 2006, following the release of Antics, that he plays through an old Fender Twin amplifier combined with a Fender Pro Reverb.

His pedalboard includes:

Personal life

Since 2006, Kessler resides in a loft in the Lower East Side, and is the only band member who is a pescetarian (formerly having been a vegetarian) and does not smoke. He also is fluent in French, having lived in Europe - growing up in a village outside of Paris - until the age of 11. Kessler is co-owner of the Brooklyn restaurant Bergen Hill, and is an investor in numerous New York City area bars.[4]

References

  1. Archived July 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. Gordon, Jeremy (October 2, 2014). "Interpol's Daniel Kessler Launches Side Project Big Noble". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  3. "First Light - Big Noble". iTunes. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  4. "Food is the New Rock — Check out Food is the New Rock Episode #105 w/". Foodisthenewrock.com. 2014-08-06. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daniel Alexander Kessler.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.