Talking with Dan Robinson of Danny and the Darlings

Dan Robinson

In an earlier blog post, I wrote about Jukebox Musical by Danny and the Darlings, an official soundtrack for Tales of Illuminatus No. 2. The album consists of punk rock style renderings of various 1950s rock and roll tunes. In that post, I annotated the songs and provided a link for downloading the album. The download is free, although a vintage-style collector's item cassette tape also can be purchased. 

But when I wrote the post, I was a bit frustrated because I could not find much information on the Internet about Wilmington, Delaware musician Dan Robinson, the Bobby Campbell pal who was behind the project. So via Bobby I got contact information for Dan, and he agreed to talk to me about his main rock band, The Headies, and his Danny and the Darlings side project. Read on!

RAWIllumination: Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and about your band?

Dan Robinson: My name is Dan Robinson and I’m from Wilmington, Delaware. I’ve been writing and playing my own music since I was 15 years old, back in the late 1990’s.  I’m both self-aware AND a punk rocker, a huge fan of super hero comics, old cartoons, and all rock and roll. 

I used to be evangelical about rock and roll.  I see it as the true American religion.  I spent my 20’s giving super-liminal instruction, intended to share the freedom that I felt that the music had given me… what I had seen.  But I realized that the subtleties of what I was shown are difficult to share, and like certain Buddhists who shall remain nameless I rejected dogma and moved into metaphor to express that which is difficult to express.  I called this Meta-Pop.

My main gig is singing and playing guitar in the Headies, a punk band with power-pop and bubblegum tendencies.  We’ve been playing together since 2008, and we’re all best friends.  All of us write and the sum of our albums reflects the interaction of five positive personalities.  We just finished recording our next full-length album, out this spring on vinyl LP from Bloated Kat Records.

But the Headies consists of real people with real lives outside of rock and roll.  I needed a little bit more… I needed 24 Hour Rock and Roll.

Danny and the Darlings is my solo project in which I write everything and play all the instruments.  This way every step I take is a rock and roll step.  I’m inspired by the sidewalks in my neighborhood, every sacred brick, every blade of grass so holy.  Sometimes I get so into writing I think god is telling me what to sing. 

RAWIllumination: Can you tell me how "Jukebox Musical" came about and became an official tie-in album for "Tales of Illuminatus No. 2"?

Dan Robinson: Bobby Campbell and I have been causing trouble together since ‘98, co-creating comics and general guerrilla rock, always with an eye towards the romantic and hopeful.  He asked me to record “Rock Around the Clock” as a plot device for issue two.  (We’ve always “soundtracked” our comics, an affectation lifted from Chynna Clugston’s “Blue Monday” and Jim Mahfood’s “Grrrl Scouts” etc…) 

The idea was that the song would appear in the narrative as well as on a somehow magical mixtape that’s circulating and exists BOTH in the story and in the world of the reader.  Earth Prime haha.

My background in rock and roll has led me to this moment.  I populated the cassette with first wave gems, not the biggest hits but meaningful numbers that spoke to me.  Fan fiction of the first chapter in a holy book.

The Headies 

From left: Grant Robinson - keyboards and vocals, Todd Purse - drums, Danny Robinson - vocals and guitar, Billy Frolic - guitar and vocal and Justin Vavala - bass guitar. "This was taken at our practice space (Todd’s garage) in North Wilmington, Delaware 12/24, before we played the Newark Punk Rock Flea Market."

RAWIllumination:  Is there a particular Headies album you want to recommend to someone new to the band?

Dan Robinson:  If I had to pick one Headies album to share I’d say Growing Up in the Multiverse… my overall favorite group of songs and we’re all very very in the pocket.  Meta-Pop has been our most popular record, but Multiverse could be our best.

RAWIllumination: You say that rock and roll is a religion for you. Who are some of the important "gods of rock" in your pantheon?

Dan Robinson: I used to say that I feel about the Ramones the way religious people feel about Jesus.  They were sent to save us.  The first album is a promise fulfilled, the ultimate modernist rock and roll album, utterly reverent towards what came before, what they were building on, but distilled, truer, spritely.  The world is a better place for it.

But what came before?  LITTLE RICHARD.  Without whom none of this is possible, but the entire first wave… sure Elvis, but Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran.  It didn’t need to be a phenomenon or the zeitgeist to have the value it presented…. a real freedom, not “won” by an army.  A freedom they couldn’t even imagine.  

Lou Reed said, “Rock and roll is so great, people should start dying for it. The music gave you back your beat so you could dream. A whole generation running with a Fender bass…”

The Velvets and the Stooges and the MC5 and the New York Dolls.

It was thick in the air back then.  More people could taste it.  But it never ever goes away.  And what’s the problem with being a true believer???

Best Lookout Records band - The Mr. T Experience.

Most formative band for me - Plow United 

DAN ROBINSON DISCOGRAPHY

ninja attak - “my first time” 7” (1996)

ninja attak/the Crash split 7” (1997)

Power of IV - “Walking Distance” LP (1999)

Power of IV - “Slight Rebellion Off Madison” LP (2002, rereleased 2024)

Power of IV - “Massive Psychic Damage” 7” lathe cut picture disc (2025)

Endless Mike Jambox - “Another Hot Freshy-Freshy” LP (2005)

THE HEADIES

“It's a Superman's World” EP (2008) 

“Sugar and Spice (and Everything’s Fucked)” LP (2008)

“Black Bubblegum” LP (2010) 

“Impostors” split 7” w/the Boys Club (2012)

“Meta-Pop” LP (2012)

“Last Show at My Parent's House” Live Album (2013)

The Headies/Plow United split 7” (2015)

The Headies/Wringer split 7” (2015)

“(Every Little Thing Breaks My) Punk Rock Heart” 7” (2015)

“Growing Up in the Multiverse” LP (2020)

“Meanwhile…” EP (2024)

 and upcoming!

“Contempo Casuals” LP (2026)

DANNY AND THE DARLINGS

“Heavy Cream” EP 2024)

“Operation: Golden Goose” LP (2024)

“Wilmington Optimist” LP (2025)

“Jukebox Musical” cassette (2025)