Today we’d like to introduce you to Danny Kit (they/them).
Hi Danny, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Music has ruled my life for as long as I can remember, but I never saw a future for myself in it. I sang, I joined marching band, I did community theatre, but I grew up in rural Ohio. Small towns just don’t have the spaces and resources for young people to express themselves artistically. I didn’t even realize teenagers could actually be in bands; that was just something I daydreamed about. The only places in walking distance were fast food restaurants off the highway. There weren’t local shows or art galleries to see. Maybe if I had been more confident as a kid I would’ve made my own spaces, but I didn’t feel like I had permission.
So, as it usually goes for small town kids, I had a repressive upbringing—and it followed me to my adulthood in Cleveland. Despite going to college for music composition, classical studies left me just as desperate to keep a low profile. I love classical music, but I love rock music too. And pop, and electronica, and folk, and noise, it goes on. So many people in music academia have managed to intersect these things, but I never found my voice there.
It wasn’t until after college, when I got involved in the DIY music scene, that something changed. Suddenly I saw a community and a space that doesn’t need me to be “good enough” to do it, all I needed to do was try. I finally felt allowed to make something that was *mine*.
And so Sugardeer finally came to be, my main music project. I’m never sure what genre to call it. It’s indie rock, but kind of “chamber pop,” “piano rock”, or even “cinematic pop”, but whatever it is, it’s unapologetically me. We released our debut EP, Good Names for Strays, in November 2023, and it’s been a lot of fun. Since then we’ve played a lot of shows and worked on other projects. And I hope we release our first LP this winter!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course not, I don’t think any music career is! I’m severely afraid of failure and it often holds me back. I’d known I wanted to write, sing, and perform my own songs since I was 12 years old, but I was stiff as a board whenever I sang publicly, and I wasn’t a natural on piano. I thought I would dodge the performance part entirely, but after a couple years of solely focusing on composition, I found I really missed the stage. It’s where you get to really engage with music, and doing it with a band and with an audience heightens the stakes to something so exciting when you’re in it. Not doing it wasn’t an option, so I had to do it afraid.
So I worked my ass off. I started practicing piano like I never have before, I joined multiple bands, I learned guitar and bass guitar, I wrote an EP and rewrote it a million times until it felt good enough to record.
We’ve played a lot of shows now, and it gets easier and better every time. My bandmates, Ben, Jenny, and Micaela, are an important part of that growth. Having such incredible performers to lean on makes me feel safe on a stage, and it ends up being that much more fun to do. My self-doubt still shows its face sometimes, but my friends always help me through it, and I’m really grateful for that.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Oh this question is hard! As a band, we might be known for having a pretty weird lineup. I’d describe it as a rock band, but electric guitar isn’t a central figure in the sound. Instead that space is taken up by piano and viola, held together by a tight rhythm section and a lot of vocal harmonies. You’ll hear a lot of that instrumentation on Good Names for Strays, too. Plus a lot of clarinet. Guitars are here and there on the record, courtesy of Ben and Jenny, but I try not to lean on that tonal profile when I write.
I specialize in orchestration, and I’ve always gravitated towards contrasts. I think that’s why my arrangements sit on the quirkier side. Subjects that don’t necessarily “mesh” create problems and solutions I find really compelling. Something about this approach helps me work through serious stuff (my fears, my grief, my guilt) — it turns it into a puzzle I’m able to solve. And when I don’t at least I get a silly song out of it!
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
It might be a surprise that I do almost every single thing in this project. Writing, recording, production, mixing, album art, animations, photos and videos, website, graphics, merch, booking, stage design, promotion, I’ve done all of it. Ben, my bassist, handles most of the mixing and mastering, and I have some photographer friends that help with videos and photos. I’m lucky to get the help that I do, but I like seeing what I can do on my own. It’s freeing.
To be real, I don’t think this should actually be surprising. DIY is called that for a reason. Our inner circles lend a hand where they can, but we can’t afford to have management and media teams that do this stuff. And I kind of like it that way, I’m a control freak. The only reason this might be surprising is the fact I’m nonbinary (i.e. Not A Man), and this tends to discredit my work ethic. I used to go as far as avoiding sparkly outfits when I perform. I thought being nonchalant would get people to respect me. That got boring, so I dress pretty loud now.
Especially on the production side, rock music is a field dominated by white men. If you’re black, female, or trans, you push yourself to the brink to get your work noticed. Sometimes it pays off; a lot of times you’re still passed up. But I love doing this work, and I’ll keep doing it for as long as I can.
Pricing:
- $8 for a CD of Good Name for Strays, available on bandcamp
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sugardeer.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sugard33r/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sugardeerdotcom
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Ng2p6hWLgpeXiRbsXzKEi
- Other: https://sugardeer.bandcamp.com/album/good-names-for-strays
