Biography
The Music
Within Sundrown’s music is a blend of hard rock and blues with a psychedelic twist. The music features raspy lead vocals and dark lyrics, yet it is almost light and open at the same time. Their willingness to expand musically is manifested in the pounding drums, the 70s influenced guitar riffs, and the aggressive bass lines. They refuse to be pegged to one genre.
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The Product
Sundrown reached over 6,000 song downloads in 36 countries. All Sundrown albums are now discontinued, with the exception of the album Recollection, which of course is a collection of the groups’ most popular songs and is available for purchase in the audio section of this site as well as Amazon.com, and other major online music retailers.
Sundrown lasted from 2007 until 2010, when drummer Daniel Namias, and bassist Heather Gainey, who played on Sundrown’s second and third albums, each moved to different parts of the U.S., giving Hartsell the opportunity to continue Sundrown on his own once again. The first Sundrown release, As We Watch the Sun Drown, and the last release, Situation Down, were written and recorded by Hartsell and guest musicians.
Hartsell has moved on to his next solo album, which will be out in the fall of 2011. More information can be found at www.vanhartsell.com
Hartsell’s statement in regards to the group, “The dynamics of the group, with the crazy drumming of Danny and the melodic bass and back-up vocals of Heather, gave Sundrown a certain element for the type of music composed, which for the most part was rather aggressive. So if I would have continued with Sundrown on my own again, the dynamics would be off. So I decided to let Sundrown be, and go back to writing under my name again, which is very liberating. However I am proud of Sundrown and still plan on performing some of the Sundrown material live.”
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.