DAN REED NETWORK:
DATELINE
1979: Dan Reed and drummer Dan Pred meet in a music store, Engle's Music, in Aberdeen, South Dakota. They form a band called Nightwing and win the annual high school talent contest. Nightwing performs in pool halls and high school proms. [Webmaster Scott Prinzing forms Glacier with Pat Goebel and Sam Easley]
1981: Dan Reed leaves South Dakota for Portland. Soon after, he begins making contacts within the Portland music scene. Dan Pred finishes high school in South Dakota. [Rick DiGiallonardo is playing keyboards in Portland band Pilot]
1982: Dan Reed joins the bar band Nimble Darts as a keyboard player and guitar player. The band performs on the college and club scene. Dan Pred moves to Los Angeles and enrolls in the Percussion Institute of Technology (PIT). [Pilot join forces with Marv & Rindy Ross of Seafood Mama to form Quarterflash]
1983: While still playing for Nimble Darts, Dan begins to put together the ground work for what will become Dan Reed Network. Dan Pred is still living in L.A. and attending PIT [Dan Reed catches Glacier live at Lung Fung's Dragon Room].
1984: Nimble Darts disband. Reed pursues his own project, aiming at a broader audience than the beer-drinking, partying crowd of the local clubs. Dan Pred finishes school and moves to Portland. Using the production staff from Nimble Darts and a former crew member from The Doobie Brothers & Fleetwood Mac, Dan looks to catch the attention of his new audience with new stage production and a wall of sound. He meets guitarist Brion James, who plays for a Top-40 band in Seattle, and convinces him to move to Portland. James, bassist Melvin Brannon, Jr. and keyboard player Jeff Siri join the band. They debut at the Brasserie Monmarte in downtown Portland, followed soon after by a "real" show at the now defunct Last Hurrah. The band's stylized act mixes infectious dance music with a choreographed stage show [Scott Prinzing goes to college in Minnesota].
1985: Word-of-mouth and Dan's savvy publicity work bring in big club crowds to see the band. Tony Demicoli , Alf Rider and Cheryl Hodgson begin managing the band [Dan Reed, recognizing Scott Prinzing from Glacier, introduces himself at Apple Music and puts him on the list for that night's show at Key Largo, now "Ohm" & owned by Dan! "Come To Me" b/w "Eye On You" is released as a 7" 45rpm single in Portland; Dan sings on Pride of Portland's "Keep Giving To the World," and "Eye On You" is included on the album]. Jeff Siri leaves and Rick DiGiallonardo, formerly of Quarterflash, replaces him [actually, Rick displaces him!]. The band plays a showcase at the Palace in Los Angeles opening for the Busboys. Seven label representatives catch the show, but no deals result. Blake Sakamoto sees the band in February for the first time and likes them!
1986: Under the sole direction of Cheyl Hodgson, the band continues to rack up respectable club dates in Portland and Seattle [childhood friends Scott Prinzing & Mike Buys give Rick a ride back home in Portland from a gig at Hall of Fame in Seattle & and begin a long friendship]. Producer Marlon McClain, along with partner Michael Morales, helps Dan finance the recording of an Ep for the band in an attempt to gain more national recognition [Dan gives Scott Prinzing a pre-release demo tape of the Ep, since Scott is leaving for school before the release date]. The resulting work, Breathless, increases the band's popularity in Oregon and Washington, and the single "Steal Me" [co-written by Rick DiGiallonardo] gets significant airplay. The band averages five shows a week through the rest of the year and into 1987 [while home for Christmas, Scott Prinzing goes with Rick to the soundcheck for the New Year's Eve show at Last Hurrah & hears "Get To You" before its first public performance!].
1987: Polygram/Mercury Records representative, Derek Schulman, sees the band peform at Hall of Fame in Seattle. Schulman signs the band to the label and management is taken over by rock promoter Bill Graham. Rick DiGiallonardo is replaced by keyboardist Blake Sakamoto from the L.A. based band [of Portlanders!] Dear Mr. President. Band records debut album at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, BC with producer Bruce Fairbairn (who previously worked with Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and Loverboy) [and most recently produced the latest Yes album before he passed away in 1999].
1988: DRN releases its first album [if you look close, there's a special thanks to Jeff Siri & Rick D. in the liner notes on the Lp] and hits the road for a tour of America, appearing on the "Late Show" on Fox TV. The first single, "Ritual," goes Top-40 and the album gets a favorable review in Rolling Stone [British metal mag, KERRANG! rates it as a top ten for the year!]. The album sells well in the UK and Europe. The band tours as an opening act for UB40 in the States and heads to Europe for a club tour. DRN also opens for Run-DMC, The Jets, Eddie Money, and headlines at the Marquee in London [after an early evening show at Minneapolis' First Ave., Scott Prinzing & his guitarist in Wedlock, Mark Roebke, hang out with Melvin & Brion, who shows them a tape of the Late Show performance and forces them to listen to Kingdom Come & the latest Thomas Dolby; Brion talks Scott out of his prized Rail vest for $20 & his lamenated stage pass; they go see local band Riff Raff at Nibs, now Mirage].
1989: Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch of Q-Prime Management in New York (who handle Queensryche, Metallica and Def Leppard) take over managing the band after DRN and Graham split amicably. The band heads to New York to record Slam with producer Nile Rogers (who previously worked with Madonna, David Bowie, Duran Duran and the B-52s) [and was also a founding member of '70s dance-funk band Chic. Remember "Le Freak"?]. The album draws critical praise and does well in Europe. The band releases "Tiger In A Dress" and "Rainbow Child" in Europe. The band tours Europe and the UK with Bon Jovi.
1990: The band begins writing songs for their third album, but puts it on hold to tour Europe & the UK as support for The Rolling Stones' Urban Jungle/Steel Wheels tour. Opening dates with David Bowie & Midnight Oil are added. [Scott & Kris Prinzing sing "Stronger Than Steel" to each other at their wedding w/ Steve Green "The Guitarmachine" on acoustic!]
1991: DRN records The Heat at Little Mountain Studios in Vancouver, BC. The album is co-produced by Bruce Fairbairn & Dan Reed. DRN slams 21 cities in a US Summer tour [Scott Prinzing is living in Minneapolis, but is in Portland when DRN plays there! Dan gives his friend a hug for him at the show...Thanks, Dan!]. The band performs on an ABC show, Into the Night. Dan Reed directs video for "Long Way To Go" [and makes us wonder why they didn't let him direct all their videos...?]. Dan Pred learns to change diapers with the birth of daughter, Amanda.
1992: The band travels down under to the Land of Oz as support for Australian-based Baby Animals. DRN tours Seattle area for the first time in two years. Dan Reed stars in a local production of Beirut. The band & Q-Prime split amicably. Dan's dream of producing other bands becomes reality with the opening of Hypedreamz Studios.
1993: Steve Hoffman of Lewis Levin Management take over management of the band. Brion James attends a film scoring seminar in L.A. Blake Sakamoto works with Michael Morales (of Polydor) on Cleveland guitarist, Neil Zaza's album. Following Dan Pred's example, Blake also learns to change diapers after the birth of son, Zachary. Hypedreamz starts own record label for alternative bands. DRN releases compilation album Mixin' It Up in the UK & Europe & schedules overseas late summer tour.
The Rest is yet to come.
To be continued...
