Daniel Taylor is a Chico, California drummer who has performed in Northern California heavy and post-rock bands that toured through the Sacramento scene, including West By Swan and Cold Blue Mountain.[1][2] He is documented as a drummer rather than as a Sacramento native, and his bands originate from Chico, placing him in the broader Northern California regional scene that orbits Sacramento's venues.[2] Taylor came to drums relatively late: he played piano as a child and guitar as a teenager, and only took up drums at age 19 while in college in Chico, after joining a punk band — he did not grow up as a drummer.[3]
At a glance
Role in the scene
Across the Submerge corpus, Daniel Taylor is identified specifically as a drummer. In a 2008 live review of a Java Lounge (Javalounge) show in Sacramento, he is named as the drummer of West By Swan, with the band's rhythm section described as Taylor on drums alongside Conrad Nystrom on bass.[1] West By Swan is explicitly described as being "out of Chico."[1]
By 2009 he was part of the group that became Cold Blue Mountain. According to the band's own first-person account published by Submerge, Cold Blue Mountain was started in 2009 in Chico by songwriter/guitarist Will McGahan and a bassist, and was "joined by friend, funnyman and drummer Daniel Taylor" along with guitarist Sesar Sanchez, forming an instrumental metal band that played local shows.[2] Taylor is also credited on the band's release Old Blood with an "emotionally driven piano track" that opens the song "Seed of Dissent."[2]
Cold Blue Mountain
Taylor took part in Submerge's interview about Cold Blue Mountain's album Old Blood, speaking as one of the band's members.[2] He described the band's evolution from an instrumental trio into a fuller group with a dedicated vocalist (Brandon Squyres) and additional members, noting the music stayed "true to a hybrid of having melody, riffs and being catchy."[2] He also detailed the recording process for Old Blood, including roughly half a year of work, pre-production recorded at the band's practice space by Greg Hopkins, and studio tracking with producer Chris Keene.[2] On touring, Taylor contrasted hometown shows ("more of a hobby") with being on the road, where he said he tends to "have more focus and play better."[2]
Lineup
When Taylor joined Cold Blue Mountain, the full lineup comprised guitarist and principal songwriter Will McGahan, guitarist Sesar Sanchez, vocalist Brandon Squyres, and bassist Adrian Hammons — with Squyres and Hammons having previously played in the hardcore band The Makai on Seventh Rule Recordings.[4] According to a 2013 On the Radar piece by The Obelisk, Taylor's drumming was singled out for praise: his tom fills were described as "no less thick than any of the other tones presented," with his playing complementing the band's heavy guitar tones.[4]
Discography
Self-titled debut (2012). Cold Blue Mountain's first album was released in 2012 on Gogmagogical Records, issued on blue and white vinyl, cassette, and digital formats. According to The Obelisk, it was recorded by Scott Barwick at Origami Lounge in Chico.[4]
Old Blood (2014). The band's second album was released on October 7, 2014, via Halo of Flies Records.[5] Taylor described the album's direction as the band taking the different styles explored on the first record — "doom, sludge, post rock, fucked up '90s grunge" — and making them "gel into a cohesive, heavy melodic sound."[5]
Touring
Following the release of Old Blood, Cold Blue Mountain executed a full US tour in early 2015, which included a show at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn.[3] According to The Obelisk's 2023 questionnaire, Taylor (then 34 years old) had semi-quit his job before the tour and quit it completely by the end — marking a significant personal commitment to the band.[3]
Local status
Taylor's bands are repeatedly tied to Chico, not the Greater Sacramento region: West By Swan is described as "out of Chico,"[1] and Cold Blue Mountain is recounted as having formed in Chico in 2009.[2] Chico lies outside the Greater Sacramento area, so on origin grounds Taylor is best classified as a regional (Northern California) figure who performed at Sacramento venues such as Java Lounge and the Starlite Lounge,[1][2] rather than a Sacramento local. The corpus contains no claim that he is from Sacramento.
Note on attribution
"Daniel Taylor" also appears as a tag on several other Submerge articles in this corpus (interviews with Henry Rollins, Incredible Me, Cage the Elephant, Torche, The Get Up Kids, Chrch and Black Cobra). In those pieces he is not a subject and no biographical detail is given; the tag is consistent with a writer byline rather than coverage of Taylor as a musician. Only the West By Swan review and the Cold Blue Mountain feature substantively document him as a performer.[1][2]