Producer and artist Daniel Allan releases his brand-new EP, Overstimulated, featuring “Say What You Want,” featuring DEEGAN, “Feel Like That” with Idarose, and “Too Close” with Bloody White.
Talking about the EP, Daniel shares, “‘Overstimulated’ is a project that comments on my personal journey and its overwhelming nature. When life gets hectic, my primary coping mechanism is to lock myself in a room and work it out with music. Sometimes I don’t really know how to communicate, so I suppose this project is my way of sharing that experience with the world.”
Produced, mixed, and mastered by Daniel, the Overstimulated EP is not only captivating music but also a visionary junction of music and NFTs. The Overstimulated EP campaign was crowdfunded using crypto through Mirror – raising 50 ETH, or approximately $190k in a day from fans. Backers purchased NFTs with exclusive benefits like VIP tickets and received $OVERSTIM tokens to participate in governance. Time’s Andrew R. Chow covered Daniel’s entry into the “creator economy.”
CelebMix caught up with Daniel Allan to discover more about the person behind the music, his inspiration, his writing process, and his influences.
At the moment, what are three things you can’t live without?
Wow, this is a great question to start an interview with. I’d say the three things I can’t live without the most right now are my MacBook, outdoor runs to keep my sanity, and discord.
You’ve mentioned that “Too Close” is the epitome of your upcoming EP. Can you elaborate on that?
Everyone has their go-to coping mechanisms for when they get overwhelmed with things in my life. For me, that’s locking the room to my studio and spending way too much time away from friends and loved ones. While Too Close is a record that talks about how some of those people close to me are affected by my habits, the entire project tries to put into music what I couldn’t put into words – what I do when I feel overstimulated.
Your new EP Overstimulated drops on January 7th and you’ve received a fair amount of hype around it. What’s the significance behind it for you?
This project is definitely my most prized musical session on the Daniel Allan side of things. I’ve always loved listening through to projects that have a deeper narrative and story behind them, and this feels like my first one that makes sense listening to from start to back while telling an honest story about myself. I’m also super stoked about the production because I feel like I pushed a lot of my own boundaries in the creative process of the project: whether you like electronic music, pop, indie, or rap, I really feel like you can find something in this that you’ll enjoy listening to.
You were recently featured in Time Magazine for pioneering a new way for artists to deliver music via NFTs/crowdfunding. For those who aren’t familiar, can you explain how it works in laymen’s terms?
For sure! So basically, instead of going with the traditional label route, I decided to make my fans my label and do it on the blockchain. By giving up half of my share on the ownership of the songs we were able to raise 50 Eth (roughly $200,000) to independently fund the project.
Take us back to the beginning. How/why did you get started in music?
I first got started working on music in middle school. I noticed a few local rappers performing in the hallways and eventually mustered up enough courage to ask one of them if they’d be down to let me record them in my closet. Later on, in high school, I went to Lollapalooza (entirely on a whim) and that was definitely the catalyst that got me more into the production side of things.
Are there artists/musicians that have impacted your sound and style?
In no particular order, I’d say my biggest musical influences are Kanye West, Flume, Odesza, and most recently I’ve been on a pretty extensive Fred Again kick.
Which artists in your opinion are the ones to watch at the moment?
My favorite up-and-coming artists are DLG., Bloody White, and DEEGAN. These are all some of my closest friends and I’m stoked to be creating art with them. While they’re a big part of my project their solo music is absolutely incredible and definitely worth a listen.
Would you say your sound developed naturally or did you push it deliberately in a certain direction?
Oooo this is also a sick question. I think in a lot of ways my sound has developed naturally but I also think in a lot of ways I’ve been scared to make the music I’m most passionate about and being independent and doing things on my own terms has really unlocked what that looks like for me. I’m stoked to put out my most authentic music next year.
Any advice for young artists just getting started?
Keep going. Do what you in 5 years would want you to do.
A new EP, a new year, establishing yourself as the face of the independent artist/NFT movement… what’s next for Daniel Allan?
I’m honestly most focused on just overall development right now. As long as I’m waking up every day and trying my best to make something cool, I feel like I’m pretty happy with that. Also doing a writing camp in Malibu first few weeks of next year to make my next project – that’s always been a pipe dream of mine so I’m really amped I get to do that!!
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