Dan Wuensch    by Jeff Reid

Ever since Dan Wuensch got his first snare drum in third grade, he has been living for music. As a junior at Ashley High School and member of the school band, Dan’s passion for music has led him to play many instruments such as the guitar, bass and keyboards.  “After playing drums in bands for a few years, a lot of ideas for songs and riffs were running through my head,” he recalls. “So I decided to pick up the guitar and have never put it down since.”

Listing heroes like his Dad – “he taught me to play guitar and really is the main reason I got into music” and Paul Gilbert from the obscure 80’s metal band Racer X – “he really shreds”, Dan’s music is different from the mainstream. Technicality, his debut CD, has some of the general new age grind/thrash metal of the day backed by doses of screaming guitars. “I wanted to completely step back from the commercial music world and create an instrumental album that tells its story through the music itself.” That being said, listeners will find a refreshing blend of material there: rap beats, drumline beats, ambient techo, acoustic rock, world rock, progressive, symphonic and piano genres. “I don’t hold back any stylistic ideas for the sake of commercial success.  It’s all about giving my real music to the world,” he admits.  One aspect of his style that stands out in the music of Technicality is the use of drumline music. Although growing in popularity, it has never been fully incorporated into the mainstream music scene. Several of Technicality tracks either are a drumline-style song or lend itself to that feel. 

Over the years, Dan has played with different local bands, but presently he is working with the metal band Degeneration and a jam/improv group Interpretive Chaos. “It’s fun to live and play music in Wilmington.  The town is small enough to make an impression with your talent and yet big enough to have the crowds and gigs,” he explains. And to him, Wilmington’s music scene is impressive. He continues, “There’s a lot of talent showing up in the area as well as some killer places to play. From a musician’s standpoint, I’d have to say Lucky’s is the most fun place to play... the atmosphere is really chill and yet professional. The Soapbox is by far the best spot to actually watch live music here in Wilmington.”  When it comes to bands, he says that there are a lot of cool sounds being made around 910 Noise Collective and heavy metal is taking off again.

Despite his age, Dan Wuensch has packed a lot of music into his life and shares a philosophy well beyond his years. “My philosophy is that no one should hold back,” he confesses, “especially, when it pertains to music.  Express yourself any way you can, always looking for a way to help out a friend, but never lose track of who you really are.”  Seeing a lot of people acting out of fear, jealousy, hate and insecurity, Dan believes he has a key to making the world a better place.  “First, it is to recognize how we are acting out and then choose a different behavior based on something a little more positive.”  For Dan Wuensch, that positive behavior is in his music.