Near death experience inspires Derry man's musical marathon
A Derry musician has set himself the mammoth task of releasing a song every day this year after suffering a terrifying near death experience.
Daveit Ferris was struck down with a rare virus two years ago that caused his throat to swell closed and almost lead to him suffocating.
“It was called ‘supraglottitis’ and around 60 per cent of people who get will die,” explained Daveit.
“In struck in just one day - the doctor said to me in hospital if you had left it an hour longer you wouldn’t have made it.”
Daveit was so terrified by what was happening to him he was convinced he was going to die.
“My girlfriend was with me the entire time and I was saying to her ‘make sure my guitars go to this person’
“I felt like I was only a few minutes from happening.
“I thought afterwards ‘that was a close call’ maybe I should look at what I’m doing.”
While he was recuperating Daveit decided to a record a song every day in 2014 and release one every day in 2015.
And he decided to play all the instruments, record all the songs, design a website and all of the graphic design by himself.
“I’ve been in bands my whole life and being completely broke it was either learn it yourself or not have it,” he explained.
“I’m not an expert web designer but I know enough to get me by.
“When I look back it was just me setting myself a really big challenge”
Daveit’s music has already been picked up BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio Foyle and Rock Source Magazine to name a few.
He describes his style as “eclectic” and has turned his hand to rock, acoustic, rap and dance to reach his 365 song target.
His next challenge is to bring his music to the stage.
“It’s been years and years since I’ve played live,” he admitted.
“They say there two types of musicians- studio guys and guys that like to play live.
He joked: “I’m definitely a studio guy.”
Daveit has now secured sponsorship from 35 companies, including Marshall Amps, to help him
make his next dream a reality.
To listen to Daveit’s songs log on to 365sparks.com