Warrel Dane (; born Warrel George Baker; March 7, 1961 – December 13, 2017) was an American musician and the lead singer for the heavy metal bands Sanctuary and Nevermore. He was a natural baritone; though he was initially known for his high-pitched vocals with Serpent's Knight and on the first two Sanctuary albums. Later in his career, Dane became more recognized for his distinctively deep, dramatic voice.
Career
Despite his later reputation as a vocalist, Dane initially performed as both a guitarist and singer in his first band, Warhed. He initially played guitar, and after failing to secure a singer, he took on the duty of singing as well. Warhed performed covers of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and others.
Dane began taking vocal lessons at the age of twelve because he believed that he could not sing. He trained as an opera singer for five years in the Cornish Institute of Arts in Seattle. He talked multiple times about an Irish teacher who he considered rather unorthodox, but very good and kind. Dane developed a broad vocal range, some say that it spanned from notes as low as G♯ below low C, or G♯1, to notes as high as the B♭ below soprano C, or B♭5. While his high head voice vocals were more prominent in the Sanctuary albums, he occasionally employed them in his work with Nevermore as well. Sanctuary's 2014 comeback album, The Year the Sun Died, features these higher passages on three songs.
He later became the vocalist of the Seattle metal band Serpent's Knight. Around 1985, Dane joined Sanctuary. Lenny Rutledge and Sean Blosl were looking for a singer and had heard about Dane, who had recently left Serpent's Knight. Knowing that he liked dark/mystical music, they wrote a piece they called "Wally's Song", specifically with him in mind. Dane liked it and joined the band. Once Dane joined, Sanctuary abandoned playing covers and concentrated on original material.
Dane's early work with Sanctuary was characterised by extensive use of his upper register. During the writing of Into the Mirror Black, however, the band concluded that constant high-register singing no longer suited its material; Dane described the resulting change as a natural development and said that he had found his own distinctive vocal style.
After Sanctuary disbanded and Jeff Loomis relocated from Appleton, Dane, Jim Sheppard and Loomis shared a small flat/house on Queen Anne in Seattle. Sheppard worked long shifts whilst Dane and Loomis remained at home writing music. Loomis and Dane didn't have a strict separation of concerns while writing songs; Dane described himself as having more considerable musical input than people generally assumed. For example, he said that on "Believe in Nothing" he wrote the chorus and guitar solo, whilst Loomis supplied other sections. He also described writing melody/lyrics before guitar parts in some cases, such as "Garden of Grey". Dane regarded the Nevermore sound as substantially the product of himself and Loomis working together. In 2010 he said it would be difficult for listeners not to compare either man's solo work to Nevermore because, in his view, the Nevermore sound came from both of them.
The first Nevermore album was recorded as two sets of demos. Originally the band wanted to re-record their songs after signing to Century Media, but were persuaded that they were already sufficiently strong, and so the tracks were simply modified instead for release.
During much of Nevermore's history, its members had to have a second job. Dane worked as a chef. Only after around 10 years Nevermore eventually became financially sustainable and following the Century Media contractual renegotiation around Enemies of Reality/This Godless Endeavor, the band finally reached the point where the musicians could live from their music without the financial struggles of the previous decade.
Dane's first solo album, Praises to the War Machine, was released on May 13, 2008, by Century Media Records.
In 2014 Dane revealed that Century Media had proposed making his second solo album a covers record, possibly entirely of 1990s alternative music. While he had begun selecting songs, the concept was ultimately abandoned, and his second solo project became Shadow Work.
By 2016, Dane was spending increasing periods in Brazil, where he was developing his second solo album with local musicians. He described his Brazilian solo work as his immediate priority, while Sanctuary sent him new material electronically. At the time of his death, he was working on a second album, which he stated would differ from his first solo effort: "Some of it is just brutally heavy", Dane said. In March 2016, the title of the album was revealed to be Shadow Work. The recording session was initially scheduled for October 2016.
Dane provided the voice of Candynose Twinskins in the musical comedy Metalocalypse on Adult Swim.
Influences
Music Dane's chief musical influences included Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, and The Doors, while his primary vocal inspirations were Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford, George Strait, and Bruce Dickinson. Dane performed covers as guitarist and vocalist in Warhed. He said King Diamond was his "absolute idol" when he was young; he travelled from Seattle to Portland to see Mercyful Fate and met King at an in-store appearance.
In an interview published in Dragon Breath Fanzine, Dane specifically identified Rob Halford as his greatest vocal influence.
Warrel Dane also enjoyed Gothic Rock. He often openly expressed a deep admiration for classic goth and post-punk pioneers like Bauhaus, Peter Murphy, and The Sisters of Mercy. In 2008 in an interview to the Vampster, Dane mentions this influence and how his enjoyment of the album Floodlands by The Sisters of Mercy led to his decision to cover Lucretia my Reflection in his first solo album, Praises to the War Machine. Dane was also the driving force behind recording a studio medley covering the iconic Bauhaus tracks "Silent Hedges" and "Double Dare" on Nevermore's 1996 EP [In Memory] and shortly before his passing, Dane recorded a cover of The Cure's "The Hanging Garden", which was included on his posthumously released 2018 solo album, Shadow Work.
Multiple sources suggest that Warrel Dane's musical tastes were very varied. He mentioned Purple Rain by Prince as his favourite album, and his favourite song being Across the Universe by The Beatles. Asked for the best live performance he'd ever witnessed, Dane answered that Pink Floyd in Vancouver. He was also a fan of Simon & Garfunkel, The Doors, classical music, death and black metal, and 1990s alternative music. During his memorial, guitarist Tracy Moody mentions that Dane introduced him to Peter Murphy/Bauhaus and Concrete Blonde. Thiago Oliveira later recalled Dane's enthusiasm for The Cure, Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, David Bowie and Depeche Mode, while other associates remembered his love of death metal.
Books and cinema Among Dane's greatest inspirations as a lyricist there were books and films. He loved going to the cinema and repeatedly watched films to notice details that could inspire lyrics. He reportedly saw The Crow thirteen times at the cinema and his favourite film at that point was David Lynch's Blue Velvet. Dane recalled in an interview secretly staying awake at ten or eleven years old to watch Seattle's late-night Nightmare Theatre, developing a particular affection for older atmospheric horror. Friends also recalled frequently discussing films with him, and Dane described himself in a 2015 interview as a devoted Star Wars fan. Lenny Rutledge said in 1987 that "Soldiers of Steel" was inspired by The Keep.
Amongst books, Dane said that his favourite genre was horror. He also said his older siblings had lived through the psychedelic era and their stories prompted him to read extensively about it. Although he did experience drugs in high school, he said that he did not use drugs afterwards, except for alcohol. His interest in Timothy Leary's writings, rather than drug experimentation, influenced The Politics of Ecstasy and "The Seven Tongues of God".
Religion and personal philosophy Dane rejected conventional organised religion but also explicitly rejected the idea that this made him an occultist. He described himself as having his own personal philosophy, arguing that individuals should develop their own values and beliefs. He said the amulet he sometimes wore represented strength, not occultism.
Dreams In an interview in 1999, Dane revealed that he frequently drew lyrical ideas from dreams and kept a notepad beside his bed to record them upon waking up.
Narrative ideas Dane wanted lyrics to make people think. Discussing "Eden Lies Obscured" in 1991, he explained its themes of humanity, warfare and the search for an ideal world, adding that he hoped his lyrics would at least give some listeners something to think about.
There was apparently a broader conceptual continuity in Dane's writing. Dane explained that themes in Nevermore's lyrics continued and evolved across records, and envisaged an eventual final Nevermore album bringing aspects of that development together. This idea also extended into the lyrics from Sanctuary. For example, in the song "This Sacrament" from Nevermore, the passage that says "Lucy in the sky, long since dark" is a direct reference to the song "Long Since Dark" from Sanctuary.
Personal life Warrel Dane was born Warrel George Baker, nicknamed "Wally" by friends and family. He was the son of Warrel Clinton Baker and Virginia Baker.
Family He was the youngest of several siblings, with his brother, Denny Baker, around twenty years older than him. His older sisters introduced him at a young age to much of the 1960s music that later shaped his songwriting.
Due to the large age gap, Dane felt he never developed the close relationship with his brother that a younger boy might hope for; in 2008 he said they essentially had no relationship at all, in contrast to his sisters, who remained close to their brother.
His father, Warrel Clinton Baker, sang in a church choir and frequently sang at home, and exposed Dane to opera records during his childhood. He had a large collection of opera records and often sang at home. A formative memory from his youth was being at the hospital with his brother when their father died; his brother told him he was too young to be going through it. Dane said the experience "emotionally scarred" him and later inspired the song "Brother," released on his solo album Praises to the War Machine.
The song "This Old Man" from the same album was based on an elderly friend of Dane's mother whom he frequently visited as a child. The man's wife had recently died and his adult children had moved away, so he was lonely. Dane recalled listening to his stories about his youth, his wife and his children, and credited him with teaching him about the value and impermanence of life.
Dane's mother initially disapproved of his interest in metal, once confiscating and breaking his copy of Mercyful Fate's "Black Funeral." Years later, while touring with Mercyful Fate in Nevermore, he called her to point out the irony. He also joked that he eventually won her over to heavy metal via Accept's "Balls to the Wall."
After his father's death, Dane grew close to Vincenzo, the Neapolitan man who taught him Italian cooking, who became a mentor and one of his closest friends.