Walking into the Kimia Lounge, 14 W. Mifflin St., on a Tuesday night for their 2-for-1 martini special, there is a friendly, bowtie-clad gentleman up in the front corner with a lone guitar keeping the martini-sippers entertained.
This man is Sean Michael Dargan, and he has come to entertain with his gentle blend of alternative rock, pop and country folk. He brings a sound to Madison that is unique in its originality as well as its route of creation.
Starting at age four, Dargan classically trained as a bagpiper in addition to picking up on his parents' love of classical and jazz music, and his sister's Bob Dylan and Beatles albums. While the setting of a small Virginian liberal arts college led to further musical ambitions in the early '90s, playing music professionally became a realistic prospect when law school did not pan out. Dargan found himself living in Washington D.C. and New York playing six nights a week at venues spanning across the mid-Atlantic states.
On the coattails of a well-received album, Dargan garnered heightened levels of fame.
\It was '97 when we opened for The Who, and opened for Paula Cole after she had won her Grammy, so really big, crazy shows. ... We actually played with Hootie and the Blowfish after their big record broke, also in '97. It was definitely a good year,"" Dargan said.
By the next year, Dargan became restless with the scene he knew so well. Even though accolades were building around him, he decided to move on.
""You know, I had a really, really nice momentum brewing for some reason,""
Dargan said. ""You can't tell people what they should do ... and I decided I needed a change of pace.""
Dargan moved to Dallas and took a hiatus from playing full-time. ""I had been playing five or six shows a week up and down the east coast within four or five hours drive... So when I moved to Dallas, I moved to playing like one or two shows a month.""
While in Dallas, Dargan took a position working race logistics for AIDS research and relocated to Los Angeles. Traveling the United States and internationally to work on bike races had a certain allure to Dargan in ways that music could not provide, such as a steady paycheck and health benefits, in addition to participating in something that made a societal difference.
""I was definitely very supportive of the [AIDS] cause. I have a lot of friends that live in the gay community and quite a few, sadly, too many friends that are affected by HIV and AIDS. ... I loved it. And I would have kept doing it, but I came to a conclusion in late 2000, early 2001 that ... I needed to get back to music [full time]."" So, with an 18-month exit strategy in place, Dargan continued with races, while keeping an eye out for picking up his music again.
While planning Wisconsin's annual bike ride for Camp Heartland in the summer of 2001, a young, pretty, spirited woman from Madison caught Dargan's eye. After a courtship of e-mails and phone calls, the couple got married and Dargan left Los Angeles for Madison and a new life.
Since moving from the bustle of Los Angeles, Dargan has found Madison to be an exciting and intellectual atmosphere to pick his music back up. With an unfinished home basement that was calling out to his imagination, Dargan built a home recording studio and relished the possibilities it presented to him as a self-sustaining artist. This spring he self-produced his third album, titled If You Wanna See the Big Picture You Gotta Take One Step Back.
Based on Madison's response to his music, Dargan is in the process of booking a nationwide tour. As scheduling, playing and production takes considerable time and commitment to organize, Dargan declares with honesty, ""I definitely treat this as my job.""
While the resources of a major record label could help him, Dargan is not necessarily looking for major-label attention.
""It's a blessing and a curse to be on a major label,"" Dargan said, ""At one point in my career I really wanted it badly because I was very easily seduced by all the good things it can do, but I really never had to make any real artistic compromises because I didn't have anybody saying to me 'Hey, we'd like to put this out on Warner Bros. Records, just sign on the dotted line.' Now, at my current age and status, I'm glad I didn't have to do that, because I've put out three records now that I feel really proud of.""
As a continuing part of the Local Band Series, The Daily Cardinal takes a look at rock-comedy group The Gomers on April 15, and the punk-ska band, I Voted for Kodos, on April 22.
