One of our most anticipated sets of Treefort 2026 was Dan English. English is based in New York, and last year he released “Sky Record,” one of my favorite releases of 2025. We had the pleasure of talking with English before he took the stage with his band Porches about his early inspirations, artistic output and life as a musician.
K-UTE: I would love to ask you a little about your show and your music. During your show, you mentioned your cousin Melody, and you played a cover of hers … I know your dad played the harmonica on your album, too. Is your whole family musical? How do those relationships influence your music?
Dan English: It is complicated. Everyone is into music. Everybody’s obsessed with music or engaging with it to some degree. [Melody’s] dad is a drummer, and our other cousins … there are three brothers above us. One of them is a bass player. He plays all the time in Iowa City, in blues bands and rock bands, like a few times a week, gigging.
There are too many stories … My dad didn’t really play music, but he’s obsessed with records, bootlegging, recording live content and collecting stuff. I have two older brothers who kind of raised me. Both of them are obsessed with music. So coming up in the late 90s-early 2000s, it was very much MTV and Eminem, and AdamAnt … Especially in Iowa, in a small town, life is just movies and video games. There wasn’t anything but going to school and then coming home, watching TV or playing video games. Nothing was happening. It felt like life was basically just Harry Potter, Linkin Park, Spider-Man and X-Men.
K-UTE: What’s the appeal of fantasy or sci-fi, even in your music? Do you find a certain freedom in occupying that headspace?
DE: Escaping real life … I took a class in college called ‘Life in the Universe.’ It was about finding extraterrestrial life, like the search for aliens. But really, what we learned in that class was how life on Earth came to be, and what makes Earth a habitable planet. So sci-fi and stuff like that have always been really interesting, because it presents another example of the way that things could be, the way politics could be, the way that life could be. Just a skewed version of what life on Earth is like.
So not only is it an escape, but it’s like a way to illuminate the way things are, and the way you wish things were different. But for the most part, it’s just like, ‘work sucks. I’d rather go hang out in Middle-earth, there’s a war happening, and you’re like, ‘let’s please think about something else.’
K-UTE: You named some of those movies and other art that inspires you. Would you ever consider composing soundtracks for something like that?
DE: For sure, yeah. I’ve talked about this a few times. I don’t know if I would make a movie. Film is my other love. But, you know, I’ve had such a complicated relationship with music, as it’s become my life and my job. Music is still the most important thing to me ever. But the way that movies make me feel is the way that music used to make me feel. I don’t want to lose that, you know.
K-UTE: I know you’ve animated some music videos. Do you have any favorite music videos?
DE: Favorite music videos? Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘Can’t Stop’ …‘The Rip’ by Portishead. It’s like, all hand drawn animation, and it’s completely non-linear. It’s really trippy. ‘Helena’ by MCR came to mind …
We’ll leave you by asking, what’s been the most rewarding thing about making music for you so far?
DE: Touring and meeting people make life worthwhile. And I can’t imagine a life where I go to work and come home … I’ve lived that kind of life, but I’ve always had [music] as my pastime and my hobby, and now it’s my life. It’s different, but it’s still beautiful. It connects people and makes for a lot of special evenings. Concerts and gatherings, spending time with people and experiencing the same thing together. It’s still my favorite thing to do. Playing a show makes me happy, super happy.
You can listen to Dan English on all streaming platforms and explore more of his work here.