Folk. Classical. Gypsy Jazz.
These are just some of the genres Dan Anderson, a musician in Plattsburgh, listens to.
“I listen to music,” Anderson said. “I enjoy all forms.”
The only music he claims that he doesn’t listen to is “most country, and most rap.”
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Anderson’s musical preferences is that he doesn’t listen to funk music.
Anderson, a senior double-majoring in audio production and music at Plattsburgh State University, plays in a funk band called Eat.Sleep.Funk.
“I never saw myself playing with a funk band,” Anderson said. “I didn’t think that I was going to be playing that kind of music ever, and I have so much fun doing it.”
Anderson first joined the band on a tryout basis, as he came down and played his alto saxophone for the members at the time. After that, he was asked to join the band.
The band has played at the hookah lounge in downtown Plattsburgh at least five times, and will look to continue playing there as well as other venues in the near future.
Eat.Sleep.Funk. has brought its funky style to the Monopole every Wednesday night since the Fall semester started at PSUC; and they’ve played two full four hour shows at the venue.
What those listening to the band wouldn’t be able to guess is that Anderson, who plays alto saxophone and does a portion of vocals, only started getting serious about music his senior year of high school, about four years ago.
“You would never be able to tell that he started playing so late in high school,” Matt Dotson, a musician who’s worked with Anderson on many different things. “His talents are very respectable, and he impresses me a lot every time we play together.”
“When I was growing up, with guitar, I wasn’t really trained in anyway just listening to songs and picking them up by ear and looking at tabs,” Anderson said. “I wasn’t really doing anything sophisticated”
On top of playing in Eat.Sleep.Funk., Anderson has taken on a new project with Dotson, and a violinist.
“It’s been over the past 3 years that Dan and I have been trying and planning to bring something unique to the Plattsburgh music scene,” Dotson said. “We discovered this other musician on campus named Mike Underwood who plays violin, and is very talented at what he does, so we decided this year we would take some initiative and invite Mike to jam with us.
After a “phenomenal” and “esoteric” jam session as Dotson described it, that “had very progressive elements of looping guitar parts and looping violin, but an undertone of folk and almost Russian themed melodies,” they decided that they’d continue to make music together.
Anderson, a man of many hats, plays accordion in the group.
“So far it's just a jam band,” Anderson said. “However, I think there’s a lot of potential there.”
Along with playing alto saxophone, electric guitar and accordion, Anderson plays acoustic, bass guitar, baritone and tenor saxophone, piano, and melodica.
When Anderson graduated high school, playing music was not something he thought would be a huge part of his college life.
“I came in just as audio production, I did a semester, and I was really missing playing music,” the Burlington native said.
His intentions as an audio production major were to eventually end up producing music.
Getting back into playing started with saxophone ensembles directed by Daniel Gordon, a music professor at PSUC, as well as taking some music classes.
By the end of Anderson’s sophomore year, he had added music as a major.
Anderson hopes to make a career out of music now, not only playing, but teaching it. After graduating from PSUC, he hopes to take a semester off and then go to graduate school in hopes of one day becoming a professor at an undergraduate level.
“He'll make a good teacher, he'll be one of those weird teachers that makes you do it on your own; he won’t tell you what he wants for an assignment so you have to actually be creative about it,” Kristin McGuire, a fellow music major at PSUC, said. “He'll be funny. I’ll audit those classes, they'd be hilarious.”
Reflecting upon everything-music in his life, Anderson has a hard time picking an event or performance that stands out as his most memorable.
“Playing with all the other kids in the music program – every time when it's not planned and music just happens, that’s been a lot of fun and that’s what’s inspired me to keep going,” Anderson said.
“I'm still waiting for more to happen; it’s all been pretty great so far.”
Credit: Kristin McGuire/Apostrophe Photography
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