Macatier: The DIY musician bringing a taste of American rock to the city of Bristol

Dan Dudek-Brown is Macatier, an indie-punk musician based in Horfield.

After growing up in Surrey, Dan moved to Bristol in 2010 to study history and politics at university and never left. With a lot of time on his hands during university, the singer tried his hand at songwriter and, like staying in Bristol, he’s never looked back.

“I started experimenting with songwriting and recording demos with my housemate who was a music production student”, Dan tells Bristol24/7.

“After uploading a few demos to Soundcloud, I took those songs down to The Blue Lagoon’s open mic night on Gloucester Road, and it pretty much started from there.”

Since his first release in 2012, his debut EP, A Year From Now, Dan has since released several singles and EPs under his moniker Macatier, culminating in his full-length album, Native Noise, which was released in 2020.

The singer-songwriter is influenced by local, national and international artists throughout the years: “I grew up listening to a lot of American pop-punk bands like Blink-182, NoFX and Green Day.

“Then over the years I became inspired by more British music such as Ben Howard, Jamie T and The Streets. There’s also a great Cheltenham-based band called Jim Lockey & The Solemn Sun whose music I’ve been listening to for years, which I found has influenced my songwriting.”

Releasing his first EP on October 20, the first since his debut album, Dark Patterns promises a newer, and subtly darker, sound from the musician, with the EP including a cover of Nirvana’s Polly. 

“I’m using more electronic drums [in the EP]. I bought a Korg Volca drum machine and thought it would be interesting to layer acoustic instruments on top of it,” Dan explains.

The EP includes some personal themes alongside influences from novels he’s reading: “Themes include struggling with OCD, and I’ve also found myself reading a lot too. One song in particular was inspired by a fantastic book called A Little Life.”

The EP was primarily recorded in Horfield, where he lives. Most of the work being done by the singer himself, with the exception of the single, Neutral Thoughts, which was recorded with Tony Salter, who’s based in St Andrews.

Self-described as a DIY musician, Dan is used to working solo for the majority of his releases – the reason for this? “That way I have a lot more control over everything and if something goes wrong, I’ve only got myself to blame!”

“I pretty much do everything myself; the recording, producing, promo, artwork, and distribution,” Dan tells us. “I try to do as much of it as possible.”

Despite the EP yet being released, Dan promises he’s always working on new music.

“Whether it’s for a release or not, I find I never really stop recording. That’s one of the huge advantages of making music in the digital age – as long as you have a laptop, an audio interface and the software, you can record as much as you want, whenever you want. I find I’m always writing and making demos.”

Main photo: Macatier

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