Now Spinning Music Magazine - Artist Interviews and Music Reviews · Phil Aston

Danny Vaughn on Closer to the Sun – Hope, Heart & New Tyketto

·36 min·2 clips

Danny Vaughan says Tyketto wanted Closer to the Sun to keep the hope of Don't Come Easy alive without copying it.

1. Now Spinning Music Magazine's Danny Vaughan interview centers on Tyketto's album Closer to the Sun and the band's April UK tour. 2. Phil Aston hosts Danny Vaughan, and Vaughan matters because he fronts Tyketto and sings on the new record. 3. The episode asks how Tyketto made Closer to the Sun after 10 years, 35 years after Don't Come Easy, and after COVID. 4. Vaughan says the band wanted an uplifting record that could offer relief from darkness rather than dwell on it. 5. Aston points to 'Higher Than High' as the opening single, with a Zeppelin-esque riff and a harmonica solo. 6. Vaughan says the album version of 'Higher Than High' includes guitar, bass, and drum moments that the single edit leaves out. 7. Vaughan explains that many Tyketto songs begin acoustically, then get handed to other players to turn into rock arrangements. 8. He says 'We Rise' keeps its acoustic intro off the single because he did not want listeners to assume it was only a ballad. 9. Vaughan describes 'Don't Know What It Is' as a feel-good honky-tonk, swampy blues-rock shuffle with no heavy message. 10. He says 'Closer to the Sun' and 'The Picture' came from a demo sent by two musicians from Boston 15 or 20 years ago. 11. Vaughan says he had already written 'The Picture' and then realized the title track needed to be completed from that old material. 12. He describes 'Closer to the Sun' as a track that came together quickly once he heard the demo again. 13. Vaughan explains that he keeps his voice in shape through no smoking, little drinking, reflux treatment, diet changes, and warm-ups. 14. He says he was vegan for eight years after a doctor put him on a restricted diet following a serious voice scare. 15. Vaughan notes that 'Harley's and Indians' is Tyketto's first-ever cover song and comes from a Rockset B-side. 16. He says 'The Picture' may need to be dropped a key live, and he references Don Henley's approach to writing high vocal climaxes. 17. The conversation stays practical and detailed, with Aston reacting to arrangement choices, studio workflow, and live set decisions. 18. Vaughan talks through Rockfield, Flip Flop, and home overdubs, describing a band-in-the-room approach that shaped the sound. 19. Listeners who like melodic hard rock, Tyketto, and studio stories about vocal craft. 20. Skip it if you want only brief, non-musical conversation.

As heard by us

A song-first Tyketto conversation that stays close to how Closer to the Sun was made.

Danny Vaughan turns Closer to the Sun into a straight look at what Tyketto were after: melody, power, and feeling, with songs that still carry enough lift to connect to everyday life.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Hear Danny Vaughan talk through Tyketto's Closer to the Sun, song by song, with a real eye on flow and live playability.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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