I don’t want to write a bio. Let’s just get that out of the way. But I need to put something here. Shit. OK.

Again, this isn’t a bio. But I guess I will try to explain myself.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a lot of things. Farmer. Pilot. Movie Director. Honestly I was all over the place. But when I got to around high school age, I figured it out: I wanted to be a Rock Drummer.

From a very early age I was pretty obsessed with music. And I always found the drums in particular to be interesting. I remember really focusing on them right away. Some of the first music that I really liked and felt like it was speaking to me were things like Run DMC, Alice in Chains, Misfits, Beastie Boys, Motley Crue. You know, the good stuff. I loved how in-your-face and intense it all was. And I remember listening to the drums (and guitar) and thinking about how it looked to play them. Like, picturing it in my head as I was listening to it. I had seen what it actually looked like in music videos, which were a pretty new thing in those days. But by constantly “watching” the imaginary musicians in my head, I sort of internalized it and started “playing along” and really got a feel for it and knew that it was something I wanted to do more.

I was constantly (and still am to this day) playing the drums on everything. But buying a drum set was not something I could imaging doing. And after trying out an electric guitar at my neighbors house and then finding one at a thrift shop that my parents could afford, I decided that playing guitar was just as fun and cool as playing the drums (at least until I could somehow afford my own kit).

From then on I spent most of my free time in my bedroom with my tiny little practice amp playing along to all my favorite albums and teaching myself how to play guitar.

Anyway, I eventually ended up acquiring a drum set and joining a band. Well, actually I was already playing guitar in the band and just switched to drums. There were a few more member changes and then we decided we would be called Sinch. It took a while but I was finally a Rock Drummer in a Rock Band.

A bunch of other stuff happened and then someone we knew in the local Philly music scene reached out to us from his new A&R position at Roadrunner Records. That eventually led to a record deal and before long I had quit my new tech job to focus on writing and recording an album for what was about to become a major label.

As far as I was concerned, this was it. I had made it. Set for life. From here on out I’d be doing whatever I wanted and getting paid to do it. Come to find out, that’s not how this works. But still, I thought I was in a pretty good place compared to most people I knew at the time. It was fun! We lived in another city and worked in the studio every day! On our own music! Then we went on tour! And played real shows in front of real fans who knew who we were because they heard our music on the radio!

But that ended up not working out. Turns out the label didn’t want us to make any more albums and sent us on our way. I don’t think they really knew what to do with us. But we soldiered on, recording and releasing several more albums independently. None of that was paying the bills though so I returned to my previous day job, building websites and interactive experiences for business clients (every Rock Drummer’s ultimate end goal).

…

OLD CRAP BELOW

My name is Daniel McFarland. I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1977, which anyone will tell you is one of the coolest years to be born in. Also, it was July. The BEST month, hands down.

I’ve been working in the creative field since 1995 with a focus on music and interactive design/development. I play(ed) the drums in the bands Sinch and Val de Val. I’m currently Head of Design at Quire in Doylestown, PA.

I live in Perkasie, PA with my wife Alison, my step-son Gregory, and our daughter Maisie.

You can find out more about my work experience on LinkedIn.

You can follow me on Twitter if you’re into that sort of thing. I don’t always tweet, but when I do I prefer that it’s either funny or useful or both or neither.