Brian Dalton, 32, received his first guitar for Christmas at the age of 13 and has been hooked on riffs ever since.

Dalton of Chaffee, Missouri, said he has been fascinated by the music scene since a young age. His mother's side of the family is musically inclined, he explained, which led to his interest in rock at an early age.

He remembers as a teenager taking his new guitar and Metallica CD to Shivelbine's Music in Cape Girardeau, and then walking out after realizing the complexity of learning the necessary chords.

"So I put it down for a year," Dalton said, "then taught myself by ear."

Dalton said he can pick out and write melodies on piano, but considers chords "basically tools to write music." He comes up with skeleton riffs and melodies in his head, he said, and then takes them to the studio to work with a producer.

"We go through everything. I tell him what I have in mind, and we build what it sounds like to me and we go from there," Dalton said.

At the end of 2014, he released his first EP "The Fall," which was heavily influenced by bands he grew up with, Dalton said.

Dalton grew up listening to bands such as Metallica, he said, but then it evolved into Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin and Red -- that's how he learned to do the "raspy, scream-sing."

"I would basically just scream my lungs out to Three Days Grace until I couldn't talk," Dalton said.

The first six songs Dalton released were homage to the music he grew up with, he said, and helped to influence the whole "rock thing."

Since then, Dalton said his music taste has branched out, including more "electronic-type stuff, not necessarily EDM, but just the euphoric-type."

Dalton explained he doesn't feel like there has been a good blend of rock with that style.

"I feel like when you introduce rock into that, you get mostly the angst of rock that overshadows any kind of positive vibe that comes with the electronic feel," he said.

Dalton's current project includes three new songs incorporating an idea, he said, involving blending an uplifting and a distorted guitar sound.

He strives to create something "I haven't really heard before," by bringing two genres together that he loves, in an effort to "do it differently."

"I'm going to release it in singles for now," Dalton said. "We're in preproduction on it now. Hopefully it will be out within the next couple of months."

Dalton said he's focusing on getting the new songs recorded and "bringing these ideas to life," with an emphasis on the live-show aspect.

He recently signed a contract with Milwaukee Junction Records as part of a new marketing deal aimed at pushing his music to new opportunities. Dalton said he still works with Brothers Walker, who produced Dalton's single "Drown" and the accompanying music video.

"'Drown' evolved through such a long process, but it gave the idea time to mature," he said. "Lyrically and musically, when we first developed it, it was very much just about physical attraction between two people."

The idea for the "Drown" music video evolved after a late night of Netflix and hanging out with Coty Walker and Jake Bond from Adelaide, he said. The decision soon became a theme of an "in-your-face" video concept.

"The way we did it was a very raw, interface way of showing a guy who's thinking about a failed relationship," Dalton said, "and basically the end signifying the end of the relationship. It's moreso the idea of what they were."

Dalton agreed his career began to take off around 2015 when he came to realize what he was doing and loved to do, others enjoyed as well.

"It just let me know I was on the right track," he said.

Dalton said he feels like since the debut of "Drown," it has "taken this thing to a whole new level."

Black Velvet Radio in Anthens, Greece, has contacted him and he said his single "Drown" has been featured on their blog.

"They're playing it over there. I've been talking with them," Dalton said. "I would love to do a tour over there."

Dalton said he thinks European countries are "more into the rock style," so he said it's not uncommon for an artist to pick up there and then build steam in the United States.

He said everything is going into recording right now for sure, but he is hoping to do a United Kingdom tour next year.

"We'll see how that goes," Dalton said.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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