We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Daniel Durston a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Daniel, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
I actually have a lot of projects in waiting at all times so when I do get bored or a little burnt out on one specific project I can refresh my mindset by switching over to another. This was never planned, but by chance the way my career has lead me and a means to survive in the business, I’ve gone onto create multiple projects. It helps to know enough about music production, video editing and script writing to jump back and forth between mediums.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Originally born and raised in the Inland Empire, California – I moved to Las Vegas because my career evolved from being a punk-rock kid in bands, to Broadway musical tours and now an Elvis Tribute Artist. I never thought that would be my career trajectory but sometimes life takes you in a direction you never saw before you. When taking on the career I made it a point to honor him and only perform to the best of my abilities and never mock him or portray his likeness in a cheesy way, he’s much more than the “chubby guy in a white jumpsuit”. Although performing as Elvis in Las Vegas is quite the honor it’s definitely not the finish line. My heart continues to create and I’m hoping to take on the writing/producing world starting with my musical “1996: A Bink-182 Musical.” Unfortunately there’s not a need or want for musicals here in Las Vegas, so it’s time to venture out.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
There’s no doubt playing guitar and writing songs my entire life plays huge part in everything I do, but more specifically in writing musicals and recreating already well-known songs. I began playing guitar at 10 years old and I still refer back on those days when writing and performing. As for qualities, I owe it to my Dad who insisted I keep my head down i the books and stay focused on the outcome. Since a very young age, I never let the outside world influence what I was hoping to accomplish. For better or worse, I stayed focused on the end goal and that has been instilled in me in everything I do. And as of recent, I’d say I’ve learned that ultimately nobody is going to do the thing for you. Whatever it is. It’s great to have the support of family, friends and eventually fans, but they’re not the ones who are waking up to push your work to get picked up and seen. Rarely do those people even share your work on social media (shout out to the six people or so who actually do), but nobody actually cares about you til you’re a success. And getting to that point is the hard part because there’s no “how to” on that no matter what you’re doing artistically. In the words of Travis Barker. “Nobody cares, go harder.”
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I’ve been in search for a Producer who gives a shit. Somebody who can look at my vision online or at a live show and go “Yeah, I get it, what can I do to make this happen?” You have so many friends reach out about helping produce the show here and there but they have no idea that $30K is the starting point and then they wouldn’t know what to do from a producer standpoint from there on. After years of studying, even I have the smallest idea of how exactly musicals get fully produced. How do you even get someone to trust you and believe in you, let alone invest a ton of money to get the story seen and heard. The 1990’s are at the peak of their comeback right now and rock musicals are always of interest, there’s no reason why a Blink-182 musical can’t be offered the chance to prove itself on a professional stage. So if you’re that producer or investor who wants to take a chance on a fully written and completed new work, you can reach out at [email protected].
Contact Info:
- Website: www.danieldurston.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danieldurston/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@daniel.durston
- Other: www.1996musical.com https://www.instagram.com/1996musical/
Image Credits
All Photos: Taylor Mercado | Taylor Paige Photos Headshot: Julia Cox | Darling Juliet
