Dan Israel has been a mainstay in the local music scene for years and years. There are fifteen albums listed on his website, that’s a whole bunch of albums to put out.
His newest album, You’re Free is another romp in the rocking singer-songwriter genre, and while Israel’s influences aren’t hidden, he comes through with style all his own.
While I don’t have a ton of time to do full-blown interviews these days, I know with Israel throwing a few questions his way is an easy way to fill up a page.
You can see his passion for his music and what it takes to make music. After he sent me the answers, he followed up with permission to edit, and make him sound less long-winded. He also thought he came off a bit jerkish about Kickstarter.
I think what he said about Kickstarter is cool, you have to walk before you run, and people need to invest in themselves first before they ask others to invest in them.
So here is the interview in all its glory, It’s Dan Israel, and his music and his opinion, in my opinion, what draws me and many others to him.
RIFT: You have been pretty busy lately, how does it feel getting and how is it going getting the album out.
DAN: It feels pretty good. I have been in “full promo mode” – I am trying to get the word out about something that has taken up a LOT of my life the past couple years. Sometimes I feel like I’m possessed. It’s a lot to take on, especially these days. So many ways to get the word out, but which ones do you spend your finite amount of time and energy on? You have to prioritize.
I did this (making music, putting out records, playing lots of shows, and most importantly, being a Dad to two great kids) for over 20 years while also working a demanding day job at the Minnesota Legislature. Last year, I finally quit the job.
Lately, I have been wondering how on earth I ever did all of what I’m doing now AND worked a day job (in St. Paul, no less, while I live in St. Louis Park – the commute had gotten just brutal over the years) – a day job that, in some months of the year, January to May (the legislative session), became a night job and a weekend job sometimes too!
So that was a lot – and even without the job, it’s still a lot. Trying to stay focused and not lose my mind. I have some great people helping me – Dave Russ and Rich Mattson helped me make a record (the new album “You’re Free,” my 14th studio album) that I’m really proud of.
I have a great band, with Dave on drums, Mike Lane on bass, and Jim O’Neill on keys, and on the new record (and at the release show on Wednesday at the Cedar) we will have some of the great musicians and vocalists who have played on my records – including Dan Neale on guitar, Katie Gearty on vocals, Paul Odegaard on trumpet, Pete Sands on keys, Jenny Russ on vocals, and my friend Tommy Bentz helping out with guitar tech stuff and sitting in on a couple songs on guitar too – and on top of that, Rich Mattson is not only opening the show with his band Rich Mattson and the Northstars, but Rich is also going to sit in with us on lead guitar, and he and Dan Neale are going to re-create some of the guitar “heroics” (and harmonies!) that are on the recent records. I’m really excited about it.
Putting out a new record these days as an independent artist is no small task. I have quite a team – Dylan Hicks wrote the liner notes for the album, Jon Hunt did an amazing job on the cover art design, and Krista at Tinderbox is helping with promotion. Then there is local music photographer/videographer Steve Cohen, who runs my website, takes photos for publicity stuff for me, and has shot and edited some amazing music videos over the last few years – all on my website at http://www.danisraelmusic.com – and Steve also helps with advice/strategy, and just basically is also my friend and has been very supportive for many, many years. I couldn’t do it without all of these talented, hard-working people.
I have worked especially hard to get people to pay attention to this album because I really believe in it. It is starting to pay off, regarding people responding to the music, buying it or downloading it or streaming it, talking it up, coming to shows, etc. The radio is starting to pay attention too – that’s nice, and can be an especially high bar to clear sometimes, so I’m grateful for any and all radio spins this album gets.
RIFT: You have done an album with Kickstarter and plenty without. What are the differences, and are their positives and negatives about both?
DAN: I’m a believer in Kickstarter, at least to an extent. In this day and age, it has almost become a necessity. I had some things fall into place for me personally with this particular record where I did not feel I needed to do a Kickstarter or PledgeMusic campaign with this record (and I actually didn’t do it with the last record either, “Dan” in 2015), which was a nice luxury – but I did do a Kickstarter in 2013 for my album “Live On” and it was so successful that I was also able to release the 2-LP “best of Dan Israel” vinyl compilation “Danthology” – I’m very grateful to my fans and friends and family for their generosity in making that project possible (and by the way, the new album “You’re Free” will be available on vinyl too, excited about that, since it’s the first album of new material that I’ve ever released on vinyl (as well as on CD and as a download card and all the other streaming services and such).
I don’t begrudge anyone for doing a Kickstarter. Frankly, a lot of times, it’s the best way to get people to actually buy your music these days – the pre-order aspect of it – you are essentially just stating a fact – that the music biz has lost most if not all of its profitability in terms of record sales and so the only way to sustain it, for many people tackling new music projects, is to reach out to your fan base for support. That’s all a good thing.
Now, if there is a down side, it’s that there is a certain amount of Kickstarter/PledgeMusic “fatigue” starting to occur – it’s inevitable. There are a lot of “GoFundMe” campaigns to raise money for various individuals who need help too – I understand those too. It’s a tough world, and it’s ok to ask for help from your friends when you need it.
But it’s that last part that sometimes becomes a problem – the glut of crowd-funding campaigns is undeniable. Have we reached peak crowdfunding? Are people getting tired of it? I am afraid so, a bit. Not that artists who are really dedicated to their craft don’t have the right to ask their fans to help – I fully embrace that idea, and am well aware that it is often the ONLY way these days to raise funds to make a record.
But honestly, not everyone should run a crowd-funding campaign, and not every campaign should be asking for as much money as some do. I think we can all point to (privately) a few campaigns we’ve seen that seemed to be asking for too much, too soon.
Not to sound all “cranky old man” about it, but there was a time when you did have to try to pay for some of your recording/promotion costs yourself. I sure did. Maybe I should have asked for more help, but, before Kickstarter and everything, there really was no way to do that. I am concerned that it’s getting too easy to do and that there is a certain value in learning on your own how hard the music business can really be, so you toughen up a bit for the long haul. I ran up a lot of credit card debt for a lot of years in putting out my albums. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I didn’t have much choice, if I wanted to get my music out there, back then.
Yes, people who are your friends are going to want to support you, and for a good reason. But if you go back to them multiple times for crowd-funding campaigns without also putting in the hard career work, the self-promotion, the gigging, the elbow grease….I fear that there will be fatigue with a lot of those fans over time, which could negatively impact the entirety of crowd-funding, to the point where people might not want to contribute to very worthy campaigns either because they are just burnt out by the process, jaded about some bands that seemed to have a party with the money instead of carefully accounting for every penny, etc. So there is that danger, and I worry about that ruining the whole thing.
RIFT: When I hear your music, I hear hints Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and a few others. Are their bands or musicians you listen to that inspire you but don’t necessarily fit into your genre.
DAN: Yes. I listen to everything – jazz, blues, country, punk, you name it. Heavy metal (the old kind). I love Judas Priest, and I love the Clash and the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, but you maybe wouldn’t guess that just from listening to the music. I love some rap – old school rap, when rap met rock and roll a little more (Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, etc.). I would not say I’m a “hip-hop fan,” but I can appreciate it. I try to keep an open mind, and not just listen to “my genre,” whatever that is. I’m inspired by anyone who says what they have to say with conviction and honesty, and I’m always a sucker for a good melodic hook, regardless of genre. I listen to women and African-American artists as much as possible; I try to not just listen to “white guys playing rock” even if that is, admittedly, my genre!
RIFT: You probably come up with the songs yourself, but when you get with the band to record are you telling them what to do, or do they come up with parts themselves or is it both?
DAN: It’s both. I leave a lot of leeway for input from the band. I give as much direction as I feel I need to but I also like to let great musicians “do their thing,” and I try not to step on creative toes. Sometimes I have definite parts in mind, but often I allow for a fair amount of discretion from the musicians. They have great ideas, and I don’t like to stop that creative flow from individuals if at all possible.
RIFT: If you could give a piece of advice about anything to anyone what would it be?
DAN: Do what you love. Do it with passion and intensity. Be yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you how to write songs. They may be able to give you confidence and direction, but songwriting and originality come from within. Trust yourself and love yourself and allow yourself to fail. Trial and error. That’s so important. Every great songwriter also writes some crap. Let yourself write the crap and then maybe the good ones will fall into place, but don’t be afraid to fail. And be persistent. Let rejection roll off your back as much as possible. Work hard – nobody is going to hand you anything in the music business in 2018 – or at least that’s been my experience. You might get a lucky break or two, but odds are you are going to have to work REALLY hard to get anywhere in the music biz these days – there are an AWFUL LOT OF PEOPLE putting out music, so you are going to have to work that much harder to stand out amidst the glut. Be prepared to do so. And then go for it, and don’t look back.
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