and The News , CCR and Montrose guitarist ) as well as Jazz guitarist Archie Williams .
Tal ’ s wife Amber Morris was also my vocal coach . Vernon had taught me how important it was to sing as well as play . You are more valuable as a musician if you can do both !
[ WM ] After high school you continued to learn and play churches and youth camps with your Worship group WithinReach , and your Dad was on drums . That must have been a great “ testing ground ” for you both musically and in ministry ?
[ Daniel ] Yes , it was a great time in my life . It was a blast playing with my Dad and some of my best friends still to this day . I learned a lot of things that would prepare me for touring later on . Things like getting a good guitar sound in all kinds of venues and churches . Learning how to travel and adapt in different situations . Dad and I definitely had and still have a very special bond as a result of ministering to people through worship music .
[ WM ] Another thing that impressed me was that you became a guitar tech for Mr . Big ’ s frontman Eric Martin . Which meant you also would ’ ve been influenced by the guitar playing of Paul Gilbert . How did that come about and what was that like ?
[ Daniel ] My vocal coach Amber Morris was singing background vocals for Eric at the time . She invited me to guitar tech for Eric and his lead guitar player Mark Holley . These were Eric ’ s solo shows he was doing in the Bay Area . I absolutely loved it ! Eric is a monster vocalist and entertainer . It was also a little nerve wracking handing him his guitars and making sure they were in tune ! Eric was kind enough to bring me on stage the last night to play a song with him .
Paul Gilbert was a huge influence on my playing as well as Richie Kotzen who also played in Mr . Big . They both have this mix of Rock , Funk , and R & B that I really dig .
[ WM ] The way you auditioned and landed the gig with Sidewalk Prophets was unusual too . Tell us how that came about ?
[ Daniel ] In 2014 a friend on our worship team at church had seen SWP ’ s Facebook post announcing that they were having open online auditions for a new lead guitar player . He encouraged me to do the audition . We looked at the post and the due date had passed . Later that afternoon my Mom actually looked up the post and they had extended the deadline , so I rushed back to church to grab my gear to make my video audition .
Three weeks had gone by and I had completely forgotten about the audition . To my surprise I got an email back that I was chosen with five others to do a second audition in Nashville with the band . I couldn ’ t believe that I was going to go to Nashville . As soon as I got that email I started learning every song that the band had put out . Tal and Amber Morris really helped me with preparing for the audition . The day