Scenestar

BY CHERYL CHENG
PHOTOS BY DANGEROUS MUSE

Rejecting the Norm

www.dangerousmuse.com
www.myspace.com/dangerousmuse

It was at Downtown L.A.’s Los Angeles Theatre, following an art show/runway event, that the equally fashionable New York duo Dangerous Muse took the stage … in its second performance ever. Yet most of the crowd was visibly excited, and when Dangerous Muse performed its single, “The Rejection,” many were singing, as well as dancing, along.

Tom Napek and Mike Furey, a.k.a. Dangerous Muse, could be characterized as yet another Internet success story, as their “Rejection” single became the No. 2 selling song on iTunes’ dance chart. But how the two formed their dark, electro-trash sound was more a series of happy accidents.

Tom: [Mike and I] were both doing theater, and we basically found out that we didn’t really want to be doing theater. That both of us mutually didn’t want to be doing theater. We wanted to be doing music instead.

Mike: We were cast in a show together. That’s kind of how we met. We both write music. He was writing music. I was writing music. But we weren’t writing music together. And there was one friend of ours who happened to be a mutual friend, and she was like, “Why don’t we all write music together?” And at first we were like, “What? Should we listen to her?” And then we were like, “Alright, let’s fucking try it.” Our friend really wanted to do this band. She really wanted to make something happen. And she put us together. And then she ditched. [Laughs]

Tom: She really is responsible for making us hold hands in such a way. And in the trials and tribulations of writing songs and trying to get shit together, you know, sometimes people can’t handle sticking together. We had the glue and we were kind of able to stick together despite the problems with that, and she couldn’t. She moved back home after college, and we stayed together, and we started writing more music. And actually, the first song we wrote, “The Rejection,” that was the song that got us signed. It was something like two months after she left; we got our demo heard by Seymour Stein [of Sire Records].

Soon after, Dangerous Muse released its first EP, The Rejection, through Cordless Recordings, a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. And without radio play, “The Rejection” became a hit single on the Internet, staying on iTunes’ dance charts for several weeks. Dangerous Muse attributes the success to accessibility.

Mike: The Internet is great because anyone can find anything that they want to be a part of. It’s just a web. It’s so much easier finding things than it would have been 20 years ago. Now you’re connected to people you’ve never met. The Internet has been great for us. I’m sure if the Internet had been around a long time ago, bands would have been popular that didn’t make it because they couldn’t find the base. But we found a great fan base because we’re out there and it’s accessible. It’s accessibility that’s great.

In line with their Web savvy, digital EP Give Me Danger was released last October through iTunes.

Tom: And then in a month, we will have remixes of Give Me Danger. Peter Rauhofer did a mix. Blazing Lazers. Silverspirit. Some up-and-coming remixers. It should be good.

For its full-length LP, Dangerous Muse is already at work.

Mike: All the demos are in. They’ve all been approved and through the system.

Tom: The album is done but the producers and that whole thing is being solidified.

Mike: We’re shooting to have our first single out in stores by June of this summer. It’s still up in the air.

But when asked what’s next on the schedule for them, both are more elusive.

Tom: We’re going to go on some form of a tour this summer.

Mike: We can’t really say right now, but it’s something really exciting. That is on the forefront.

For a band already on the forefront of music distribution, that sounds about right.