This is an interview that I conducted with Daniel Smith, lead singer of the Danielson Famile at the 1997 Tom Fest in Washington. The band is made up of Daniel, his four siblings (Rachel, Megan, David and Andrew) and honorary family member Chris Palladino. The band has so far put out three albums on Tooth & Nail records, with a forth album, Tri-Danielson!!! Omega slated for release in November of 1998.

How long has Danielson been around for?
Since 1994.

That was just you when it started? Not the Danielson Famile?
That was the beginning of the Famile performing together at a senior thesis show of mine. I'd actually written the songs for the first album a couple of years before that. They were all four-track recordings.

I heard a rumor that for this tour you'd constructed a giant tree that you'd be playing in.
Not for the tour. I did construct a tree that I played the Cornerstone festival in. But the tree is sixteen feet wide and fourteen feet high so it's impossible to fit inside clubs. I have to revamp that invention. But that will be the future of one facet of Danielson.

So what other things will be happening in the future of Danielson?
We're recording a new album which will contain three EPs (the first part of this album, Tri-Danielson Alpha is out as you read this, with plans to release Tri-Danielson Omega, the second part of the album, at the end of this year). One of each type of Danielson, one including the Famile, like the last record, one EP will be Brother Danielson, who is the one who performs in the tree on acoustic guitar, and the other EP will be the Danielson Sonship, which will be more of a crew of family and friends mixed and matched and recorded in a different fashion then the other two. It will be more of a sampler if you will.

Of the three different flavors of Danielson?
I would say sides, not flavors.

Any interesting stories from this tour? Any weird happenings?
Mostly wonderful happenings. Just touring with Soul Junk has been a wonderful relationship. We definitely connect in the deepest of ways. We got to get together on stage a couple of nights ago and jam out together on a song, which was a lot of fun. Playing shows together, and traveling together and talking together. More wonderful then weird.

Any good ministry opportunities on this tour?
The entire thing is. When I talk about wonderful things that what I mean. That's all that matters. To see the spirit move and the truth to come forth. People being released and set free. That's precisely what I'm talking about.

Do you think you get a lot of non-Christians that show up to your shows?
That's a bigger audience then our Christian audience I'd say. We've been getting quite a bit of attention from that side of things. But, they're people, we're people, that's the bottom line. That's what this music is for. If you breathe, that's the only qualification, that's where the line is drawn.