After the overwhelming success of ‘Roller Coaster’, Danny Vera’s musical career skyrocketed. The song broke all the records, topped all the charts and is approaching 100 million streams on Spotify. During the first year of the Covid pandemic, the Netherlands collectively found comfort in the song’s hopeful message, which landed Danny Vera the number one spot in the Top 2000, one of the country’s most prestigious annual song charts. Twenty years of hard work finally paid off in the form of platina records and a sold-out Ziggo Dome. And that all on his own terms, without sacrificing any of the vintage aesthetics.

Whoever thinks Danny Vera is taking it easy, though, would be severely mistaken. His mission is far from fulfilled. He sets out to keep carrying the torch of the American country, blues and rock ‘n’ roll traditions. It’s in his DNA.

His new album ‘DNA’ came to be in a way that’s different from how he usually operates. “Where I normally take two to three years to finish twenty songs, I now wrote them in two months”, Danny says. “Everything came out very spontaneously”.

The vibe of the album is significantly different from the last. “I soon found that the atmosphere and feeling of the new songs was different, compared to ‘The New Now’. It was a little more authentically rock ‘n’ roll and blues – and that’s how I wanted the songs to sound, as authentic as possible.”

In a time where ChatGPT can spit out a complete sheet of lyrics in a matter of seconds and all the rough edges can be smoothed out in professional recording studios, Danny Vera actually found it very refreshing to work this fast and hands-on. “That’s how they did it back in the days and that’s why those records sounded so good, full of life and joy. The imperfections made it perfect.”

Ultimately, sixteen songs would end up on the new record. Because the songwriter didn’t want to be away from his young daughter for too long, he decided to record the whole album in his hometown Middelburg. The local theatre ended up being the setting of choice. The theatre season had come to a close, and so the venue had time and space available for other activities. “I contacted them to see if I could rent the place, and I could.” When the location was set in stone, he brought in producer Frans Hagenaars with a portable studio and they set out to assemble an arsenal of as much old gear as possible, such as vintage microphones and guitars.

‘DNA’ has become an album on which Danny Vera returns to his bakermat, with songs rooted in the American musical traditions of yore. Without click tracks, autotune or involvement of a writer’s camp. Just solid songs, varying from classic Danny Vera ballads to fresh, uptempo rock ‘n’ roll. A record that’s rough around the edges, but above all a record filled with great music.