It was April 1993, The Bluebells were at number 1 in the charts with ‘Young at Heart’, England World Cup winner Bobby Moore had recently passed away, Bill Clinton had not long since been voted in as the president of the USA and a 9 year old skinny boy was making an idiot out of himself by turning up at Haydock Youth Brass Band with his Mum’s old trumpet – causing great looks of disgust from all.
Not helping matters, Danny pretended to know what he was doing and subsequently began to stare at the other young players’ valves. He thought that by blowing and copying their valve movements a good 2 seconds after theirs that no-one would notice that he didn’t have a clue. After about 5 seconds of cluelessness he was taken to one side by a chap called Ste Roscoe who showed him what a C major scale was, how to read it and how to actually play it!
From then Danny played tenor horn until the age of 14 for Dave Chadwick’s Haydock Youth Band before moving to Greenalls Brass Band on solo horn. He had to switch onto baritone as a result of getting braces on his teeth before moving back to Haydock Youth Band on Bb Bass (Danny admits to being an awful bass player)! It was at this time that Danny was eventually given chance to have a go on Solo Euphonium and has since never looked back!
With Haydock Youth Brass Band (later Valley Brass (Haydock) Band) Danny contributed to winning numerous contests, most notably the National Youth Championships of Great Britain and the 4th Section National Finals in 2005. He also had the pleasure of performing in front of more than 11,000 people at the grand opening of the Liverpool Echo Arena!
Danny has played for numerous bands at many contests and concerts around the country. Some of his most enjoyable moments in banding have been going to different countries including performances in Italy, Holland, France, Luxembourg with the Young Ambassador’s Band of Great Britain, Germany and, er, Wales.
After studying music for 3 years at Salford University Danny graduated with honours in 2009. Whilst studying there he was honoured to be Salford University Brass Band’s Solo Euphonium player under the direction of numerous names held in high brass-banding esteem, names such Professor David King, Dr. Roy Newsome and Dr. Howard Evans.
Other permanent bands since that time include a short stint with Bolton Hoover Band, Flixton Band, Blackburn & Darwen Band and, most recently, he jumped at the chance to rejoin the famous Flixton Band in 2017.
As a conductor, Danny has experience in band training having conducted Valley Brass Youth Band, North Ashton Brass Band and, of course, Flixton Community Brass Band since 2013. He enjoys conducting and training bands and is a skill that he is hoping to develop and gain more experience of in the future.
