From the northwest subarbs of Chicago, a musician, performer and songwriter of his own, Daniel Rausch has taken the stage, taken our attention and neither are letting go.

When I first came to Millikin, it was something of awe that I felt meeting Rausch. For a performance at the 2014 Talent Show, put on by UCB, he had gathered a handful of musician friends to play his own song with him. The crowd went berserk. Multiple social media platforms were bumping with his name. “Who is Daniel Rausch?” students were asking. Others who already knew him were simply proud of a talented and hard-working friend.

I had heard good things of the boy, but never had the chance to meet him until the talent show. Backstage, his group had just performed and was chatting about how they thought they had done. I sat down, just close enough to not bother their space, and offered my compliments. They were all appreciative, yet seemingly a little taken back, so I decided to leave the group to themselves; Millikin is small, and I was sure I’d have another chance to meet them.

Later that year, Nick Gaines put on a house show for the release of his EP Subject To Change, and Daniel Rausch had been asked to open. In addition, Rausch had even been a guest artist in one of Gain’s most popular songs, “Walls.” There was no chance I would miss this moment of glory. And after a night of comfy seating, a truly interested crowd, killer performances and many chills, I was about ready to put the money I didn’t have on Rausch’s obvious future of musical success.

One year and a half later, I have discovered an even lovelier side to Daniel; his caring and loving side and his friendly and accountable side. These attributes were always apparent through his performances, but now I get to experience them first-hand as his friend. Shown in the following interview, Rausch was generous enough to sit down with me to talk about his musical endeavors and how he got to where he is now.

Give us some background about you.

I am from a town called Woodstock, Ill. Growing up, music has always been a big part of my life, partly because my dad was my music teacher in high school. He put us all in choir and piano at a really early age. And growing up with three older brothers who all were enveloped in music, it really made me love it.

When did you first start getting involved with the arts?

My dad supposedly tells me that when I was very young, I would be on his shoulders and he would sing a pitch and I would sing the same pitch back. But I didn’t really start getting into it until elementary school. I’d played classical piano my entire life, and I did choir whenever I could. Also, musicals were a big part of my life. During the summer, a bunch of my friends and I would go audition for this musical which was with kids fourth grade through eighth grade. It was really fun to be with kids our age, making art.

When did you start writing your own music?

I’ve always had lyrics in my mind, but I never wrote them down until freshman year of college. I heard about this songwriting competition, and I thought, “I could do that.” So I sat in a room a week before the competition and […] came out with a song that I wasn’t really sure about. All I knew was that I connected to it at some point, so if I connected to it, chances are somebody else would too. So I performed at the songwriting competition, and then I won. I wasn’t expecting that at all.

You’re in SAE. How has SAE influenced you as a songwriter?

There are a lot of really talented people who are here, a lot of people motivated to do well and there are a lot of musicians here as well. So it makes it really easy to be inspired. We have these Coffee Houses that we do as philanthropy events, and a bunch of my friends go up and perform. Just hearing everybody sing and put their heart into their own music really inspires me to do the same.

What’s in the foreseeable future for you?

I am going to try to keep writing and, if I can, I’m going to try to come out with an EP. I just want some solid framework of my music. If I had an actual copy of something that I can give people, then I think that would make me stand out.