Biography
Daniel Lewis Diedrich (1982-2016) was a songwriter, musician, and visual-artist based in Omaha, Nebraska, and Wichita, Kansas. His music is often compared with early Beck, and The Magnetic Fields. He was a reoccurring member of the Kansas City indie-pop group Electric Needle Room and co-founder of both Spiders For Love/S4L, and Thee Tapeheads. Other noteable projects included Elfsquad, and The Black Out Sounds. Diedrich was also known by an array of solo monikers, some of which were MC DL, Tommy Tapehead, and Hugh Manitee. His earliest influences range from classic country-western singers, such as Johnny Cash, and 90's alternative a'la Nirvana, and The Pixies. Growing up in Wichita, Kansas, Diedrich began writing music at the age of twelve, when he bought his first electric guitar at a pawn shop. He formed a lo-fi noise band called Silver Man with his best friend, and soon released a full length cassette titled "What Is This??," which they passed out in their school. They later changed their name to Scrape With a K, upon finding a drummer. The group was relatively short lived, and played only one show at a friend's birthday party. Diedrich went on to play in several punk and metal bands (namely The Strange Mechanics, Gutwrench), before decidedly going solo. By 2005 he had begun playing in local venues, and releasing original material through websites like Myspace. Eventually, he took his music on the road and later found himself in Omaha, where he lived for about a decade, or so. Upon relocating, he founded a D.I.Y. record label called Hell-o Ferocious, which featured music by many of his friends. It was dismantled after a few years, and in 2009 he founded Highway 81 Records, which is now mostly exclusive to Diedrich's own projects. In 2010 he put out the first release for the label, titled "December Seasons", a series of impromptu recordings from the previous year. Several e.p.'s, and demos followed, including "Chicago Sessions", "Hey Seuss", and a 7-song redux album, titled "Where Have You Been." Diedrich returned to Wichita and continued to record and occasionally play live shows around town. In 2015, he released "Phoney Pony Vol.1," a session of songs recorded from his phone, and he collaborated again with Electric Needle Room, releasing a split EP called "We're 3.5 Years Ahead of Our Time," in which Diedrich covered ENR and they covered him.
Most of Diedrich's work is available for free at http://dldiedrich.bandcamp.com
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