Meet Daniel and Gabriel Traknyak: From the Band Sky Orchid

We had the good fortune of connecting with Daniel and Gabriel Traknyak and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniel & Gabriel, what matters most to you?
Love what you do. This is the most valuable principle to us because it fuels the entire artistic process. We love writing, recording, and releasing our music. That’s the whole reason why we do it. Nothing to us is really more satisfying or releases more dopamine than playing music. Moreover playing music in front of our fans creates even more emotions. You can’t get that kind of feeling anywhere else. Of course you aren’t always going to love every moment in the process or journey but it’s important to remind yourself why you’re doing it in the first place. We’ve spent countless hours in the studio doing tedious editing that nobody sees. The end result is a masterpiece and we heartily understand why we are doing it. 

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
You cannot strangle a chimpanzee then wonder why it doesn’t want to hug you. In other words, art doesn’t want to be controlled or tamed. You just have to let it be. It’s one of the most challenging things to do to be so emotionally attached to something and to be the biggest critique at the same time. Yes you have to practice everyday and record as much as you can but you also need the will to step back and say, “this song sucks”. We record 30+ songs for one album and only 10 end up making it. It takes years to finish an album and it’s always a hard choice to scratch a song that you love just because you can’t make it the way you envisioned it to be. Just like a chimpanzee, art doesn’t like to be strangled. You need to take a breath and step back for a moment. And then maybe after more rapport you can give it hug.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We just started going to the studios/galleries over at 2000 Edwards St. in Houston, Texas. Every second Saturday of the month they open the art studios and have dozens of local artists selling and sharing their art. Our friend who owns Bohemian Photography also had us play a show there where we met a lot of great, equal-minded people.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As a band of two brothers, Gabriel and Daniel Traknyak, we’d like to dedicate our Shoutout to our parents, Frank and Zuleyka Traknyak. They believed in us when we were little shits and they stayed with us late at bars when we were playing gigs underage. Our dad also had us patent our first album, which as you may know in the music industry is extremely important. We wouldn’t be at the level we are now without them. We owe the most to our parents.

Website: https://skyorchid.net
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skyorchidofficial/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sky-orchid-8274a6106
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/skyorchidband
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/skyorchidofficial
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SkyOrchid
Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2zMX75RmoWwiZJEpugLy9i?si=Q63nBYipTIySQMgb6ix67A

Image Credits
Marius Klovning, Joe Dooling