Alex A'd me something

"This may be an odd question but I've read somewhere online that you are friends with Nickelback's Ryan Peake. Is this true? And have you met a celebrity which you have always wanted to meet?"

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Dear Ryan,

You are correct!

Ryan Peake from Nickelback is just about as lovely a human as you will find on this planet. He is calm, kind and generous of spirit. I came to know him and his wife Treana through their work at Obakki Foundation. They do impactful “on the ground” work in some of the most vulnerable and hurting communities on the planet. It was in their backyard that I met (and fell in love with) Michael Bublé.

In terms of OTHER celebrity meets, there have been a few wild ones over the years…

I one time sat on Willie Nelson’s tour bus at Glastonbury with Snoop Dogg. No lie. I was blindsided on the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast and found myself sitting next to Sarah Silverman and Nick Kroll. I once had dinner with Elijah Wood at SXSW. I visited Dave Grohl in his home and he offered to play drums on my song Vessel (for reasons that seem alien to me now, I said “thanks but no thanks”, and it still hurts).

BUT - the most special and memorable encounter of this nature was with Colin Greenwood of Radiohead…

Anyone who knows me well knows that Radiohead has been my favourite band since I was 14. It’s as if they’re not even playing the same sport as the rest of us.

In 2006 or so, I was on tour in the UK and staying with some family friends in Oxford. They mentioned that they were pals with John O’Brien, father to Ed O’Brien (guitarist in Radiohead). I left them with a copy of my first album Postcards & Daydreaming and half-jokingly asked them to pass it along to John or Ed.

Roughly six months later, I received an email from John O’Brien. He had in fact received the CD and given it to Ed, who had listened and responded with some succinct, thoughtful, and candidly critical feedback. He had some tough but sincere (and correct) words about the music and some encouragement for me.

Sidebar: I just spent an hour trying to locate this email from The O’Briens but it predates cloud storage and is gone, baby gone.

I absolutely could not believe that Ed O’Brien had heard my record. I took every word of that email to heart and did my best to apply his wisdom in the making of my next album (2009’s Nice, Nice, Very Nice).

Some months later, I wrote John and told him I’d be staying with my family friends once again in Oxford. He suggested I keep the morning open after my Oxford show. He came round and picked me up about 8am. He said that Ed was busy with family but that Colin was happy to meet me. It was so plainly clear that he’d known all these lads since they were teenagers. I was giddy.

Colin’s home was a beautifully restored farmhouse just outside of Oxford on a lovely (but entirely un-pretentious) bit of farmland. He greeted us at the door - “Hey mate, I’m Colin”. I knew exactly who he was.

Colin, John and I sat at the kitchen table for about an hour. Colin made a french press of coffee. We spoke of Radiohead, of the industry, of music. Colin mentioned that there was a meeting with “The Head” later that day and that they were to discuss mixes of their new songs they’d been working on, but that he hadn’t had time to really listen yet. HE ASKED IF I WOULD MIND TAKING A MOMENT TO LISTEN TO SOME UNFINISHED RADIOHEAD SONGS.

So, yeah… I heard Weird Fishes and Videotape before you did. Non-final mixes In Colin’s Greenwood’s kitchen.

I’d sold out of CDs the night before and had nothing to leave with him, so I asked if I could play something. He grabbed a parlor-sized Taylor guitar from the next room and I sang a song I’d just written weeks prior called Fair Verona. He said he loved it and he wished his wife Molly had heard it.

He gave me and John a tour of his property. He mentioned that he wanted to throw a BBQ of sorts in this big old barn and have some live music - asked if I’d like to be a part of it. Uh… yes. I did want to be a part of that.

We’d had such a perfect visit. I don’t know whether my Canadian manners got in the way or if my melting brain simply forgot, but - when it was time to leave, I failed to ask for any kind of contact info to keep in touch. So that was it. I haven’t connected Colin since that dewy morning. What a wonderfully kind, gentle genius

I remember calling my mom afterward and telling her that there was grace at the top. I remember seeing The Lives of Others alone that same evening at a cinema in Oxford. It’s one of the best films ever made. As the credits rolled, I just sat and cried. It was a big day.

For some years, John continued to be a benevolent middleman between me and my heroes. He once had me and Kirsten to his home for dinner in Oxford. We drank a lot of wine and stayed over, crashing in Ed’s old bed. He arranged for some after-show passes to Radiohead at Thunderbird Stadium in 2008 - which was without a doubt the most incredible concert I have seen in my entire life. I did get to meet Ed backstage that night for a lovely chat. He sipped English tea like a proper dude.

John didn’t have to be so generous to me, but he chose to be. I still don’t really know why he would go to such lengths for a friend-of-a-friend aspiring guitar dude. I hope I haven’t been a bother to him or to Ed or Colin. I still mail him CDs every time I put an album out.

Thanks for spurring this reminisce, Alex.

Much love,
Dan