Bio

Dangermaker’s anticipated 2012 debut LP “Black Dream” is a bit dark and mysterious at times, yet also pervasively upbeat, catchy and fun, filled with “lots of energy, cool, dark, angular melodies” (David Bash of IPO). The album represents a true progression for the band musically, the new songs straddle Indie Dance Rock & Classic Alternative, somewhere between 70′s Bowie, The Clash & The Stooges, and The Stills, Spoon & Interpol. Inspired by this wide pool of influence, their recent personal struggle, and the desire to create a blend of musical styles that resonates with audiences, this core of passionate musicians has crafted a provocative debut album which has led to recent showcases at SXSW and CMJ, propelling the band forward into 2012.
Dangermaker emerged from San Francisco, CA when singer/songwriter Adam Burnett unveiled a series of unfinished home demos to drummer Carlos Rodrigues. They collaborated to create edgier sounding songs than either had previously, resulting in a widely reviewed 5-track EP including the Owl Mag naming Dangermaker “One of my top 5 favorite Indie bands in the Bay Area”. However, the band was still an incomplete duo until bassist Peter Ruecktenwald rode his bike across the country to San Francisco and keyboardist David DeAngelis left the Arkansas Delta to see what the West Coast had to offer. While all four members began as complete strangers, they were brought together by a shared passion and need to create music reflective of their diverse backgrounds, tastes, and influences, a need that came to fruition when they went into Studio SQ to record “Black Dream” with producers John Flores and Justin Sachs.
What they could not have imagined was that during the first week of tracking, Adam’s father suffered a fatal accident and suddenly passed away. Dangermaker gained direct insight into a parable that artists have held throughout time – human experience is the substance from which honest and true works of art are formed. While the recording process nearly ground to a halt, the band ultimately used the tragedy as creative motivation and admit that “Without realizing it the experience influenced many of the new songs found on the record. Writing and recording became a process that brought us all together.”
- by John Flores, Studio SQ
Dangermaker is:
ADAM BURNETT • LEAD VOCALS, GUITARS, HARMONICA, PERCUSSION
	I grew up in California playing one instrument or another since the age of seven. Following a childhood of classically trained violin and parents into jazz, mixed with a steady diet of 70’s and 80’s Rock, Pop & early Punk and Hip-Hop, I was torn between two often conflicting musical worlds. Around age 12 my father recognized that I really wanted to just play guitar, saved up some money, drove down to a pawnshop in L.A. somewhere and bought a cheap Fender knockoff for $100 or so… I kept journals all through childhood and then threw them all away later when I read back, they pissed me off. I was a quiet but moody kid, spent a lot of time alone or with my brother. I used to fantasize about being an explorer, a pirate, a traveler. Once I got lost in Honolulu as a kid by myself, wandered around for hours, convinced I’d never see anyone I knew again. I was kind of let down when they found me. Used to ride the bus all over Los Angeles with friends for no real reason. We would sleep on the beach and buy booze for winos. We nicked stuff for kicks. We would start driving and end up in Mexico. We were bored. A friend gave me a tape of Bad Religion’s “Suffer” which I played to death. Seeing The Clash on TV did something to me, probably the first time I really saw punk rock. Since then I’ve branched out a lot more into Dance, Electronica, Flamenco, Reggae, Folk, Funk, etc, etc, but always seem to come back to edgy Alternative Rock and Dance music I listen to and aspire to write myself…
CARLOS RODRIGUES • DRUMS, PERCUSSION, BG VOCALS
	I’m a massive football fan and wanted to make it as a footballer when I was a kid, but when I got into drumming things really changed for me. I sometimes had a tendency to tap on the tables at school when I was about 9 or 10, and my teachers would say, “Carlos, this is not the time for drum lessons!” I initially tried playing drums when I was 11, but wasn’t very confident or outgoing, so I lost interest. I eventually picked up the sticks again at the age of 17. One day during a lesson with Phil Flack he asked me “How does it feel to be better than the average drummer?” I knew then I wanted to go on and become a serious musician. I got serious about drums around the time my older brother Mark was having success with his band the Crayons. My first real gig was a one-off performance playing a duet with Mark who sang and played keys. After being in and out of a few groups in the Hastings area, the first band that I had a long stint with was a university band in Medway. I played with them for 4 years and later became the new drummer for the Crayons, before beginning my musical adventures in the US…
PETE RUECKTENWALD • BASS GUITAR, TRUMPET, BG VOCALS
	Born and raised in New Jersey with a musically deep-rooted family; classical. Needless to say, I was very rambunctious as a child and still as an adult. I found myself in front of my first electric bass when I was 11. The feeling was that of King Arthur when he retrieved the sword from the stone. First songs learned were from Green Day, Jimmy Hendrix, and Cream before I started to explore the bass in a non-traditional manner. I found myself torn between playing music and playing chance with serious pain or death my whole life, for fun of course. Regardless, I went to and graduated from Berklee College of Music, met up with these three knuckleheads and here I am. Fact, I only joined the band because of the name. When I am not playing music you can find me falling through the sky or wading in the rivers and such…
DAVE DEANGELIS • KEYBOARDS, PERCUSSION, VIOLIN, TROMBONE, BG VOCALS
	I’m originally from Connecticut and started taking piano lessons when I was 5 and violin when I was 7. Most of my early musical experiences were strictly classical, and I was probably the only kid in 8th grade who listed Tchaikovsky as his favorite musician in the yearbook. Thanks to some good friends and the discovery of my dad’s old Grateful Dead record collection when I was in high school, I finally started branching out from my classical roots and began playing in a band with some high school friends. After college, I took my music down south for a few years to the Delta, where I was a high school choir director in a small town in Arkansas. In the land of the blues, I honed my keyboard skills in an 80′s cover band in Memphis, where we were regulars on Beale St. and the surrounding area. While that was a great experience, I needed a change from the South, and found my way out to the West Coast in the summer of 2010 and soon after found these guys…