Danielle Nicole will visit the Frequency Saturday while promoting the debut of her second studio album, Cry No More.
The album debuted Feb. 23 and is accompanied by a tour across the U.S.
Nicole was previously in the band Trampled Under Foot (named after the Led Zeppelin track of the same title, off the album Physical Graffiti), with her brothers Nick and Kris Schnebelen.
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Nicole looked back on Trampled Under Foot fondly.
“It’s funny because when we first started playing as Trampled Under Foot we didn’t do any ‘Zepplin.’ In fact… people would come up to us and say ‘you’re good, but you didn’t play any Zepplin’,” she said.
From Kansas City, Missouri, the bassist-singer-writer holds a steady rhythm on the bass while singing in key. As an artist, Nicole has been progressing with each new project.
With Wolf Den, Nicole describes most of the songs as being influenced by her time with Trampled Under Foot. But, then on Cry No More, she answers what many fans hope for, and fully breaks into her own sound.
“With this record, I branched out as much as I possibly could, that’s why ‘Bobby’ sounds like nothing I’d ever written before,” Nicole said.
Which is true, Nicole can honestly say that she has found her style — her niche in the vast chasm that is music.
And she’s right. It is apparent on “Bobby,” which is a ballad about the life of her late father, that Nicole has found her style.
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Nicole explains how she came upon the motivation behind the highly emotional track.
“The story of Bobby is about his childhood and not having a father and trying to fill that role somehow and not knowing how to,” Nicole said. “Who he was as a child [had] conditioned him to be who he was growing up. And recognizing that… you can let it define you or you can move on and take a different path.”
While there were hints of resentment in Nicole’s voice describing her history with her father, she is not callous to just how important her father was to her.
She even acknowledges a parallel between the relationships of her and her father as well as the relationship between her father and grandfather.
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“Coming from the pain of what our childhoods were, but [also] coming from a different perspective of compassion for him and how difficult his [childhood] was and it kind of changed him into becoming that person,” Nicole said.
She completely understood where her father was coming from, and she attributes that as one of the reasons why the song took her so long to write.
Who can blame her? It’s hard to open yourself up to the ruthlessness that is the music business. But Nicole does this effortlessly and delivers a story sure to strengthen any bond between father and child.
“What am I going to say? It’s very cathartic when I sing it too, it’s hard,” Nicole said.
Nicole understands what she is doing is not easy, and leaves us with very sound advice for anyone wanting to pursue their dreams.
Nicole has a strong belief in following her gut. That’s what she’s always known. She doesn’t mistake an instinct for being scared. She knows herself in a way that only she can.
“If you have a burning desire to do something and you feel positive about it then do it. Follow your gut and be a good person,” Nicole said.
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The show at the Frequency starts at 6 p.m., and will be for a 18+ crowd with tickets starting at $10.
