An amiable chat with modest singer-songwriter genius DAN PIERCE
1. HI DAN, HOW ARE THINGS?
I'm very well thanks. Things are beginning to get going for us with the new band. It's a different way of doing things but I prefer it.
2. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO SINCE THE RELEASE OF YOUR SUBTLY EXHILARATING DEBUT ALBUM 'SAY SOMETHING DUMB'?
Not a lot musically speaking. Work has pinched my creative veins over the last year. We didn't play much or anything but we made enough off that project to reinvest into what we're doing now.
3. YOU COLLABORATED ON THERE WITH VARIOUS MUSICIANS INCLUDING GEORGE MOOREY (WHO ALSO PRODUCED IT) AND DANCE COMBO ROCOCO. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?
I met George a few years ago by chance and discovered that he only lived around the corner from where I was studying. We became good friends through our shared love of music and that got the ball rolling. Every other musician who gifted us with their presence on the album either went to school or college with George.
4. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE CURRENT ACOUSTIC SINGER-SONGWRITER SCENE, AND WHO DO YOU MOST ADMIRE WITHIN SUCH A GENRE OF MUSIC?
It's good that a scene still exists but there are a lot of medioce artists making a buck off this apparent acoustic revival with thinly veiled pop songs. I'm not going to be a snob, pop isn't a dirty word, but I don't like anything that is pitched at me as one thing when it is disguising something else. Just because you replace loops and synthesisers with real drums and acoustic guitars doesn't make you a singer songwriter. Equally, if some of these supposedly acoustic acts spent as much time on their lyrics as they do dicking around with samples and swirly noises there'd be a wealth of quality to choose from. Should I stop ranting and answer the question... who do I admire? Damien Rice and Kate Rusby are the pick of the bunch by a country mile.
5. HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU FIRST PICKED UP A GUITAR, AND ARE YOU NATURALLY MUSICAL OR DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO WORK AT IT?
I was about eight when I first picked up a guitar but didn't really get into it until I was much older. I got to playing at a pretty good standard by the time I was sixteen and don't feel as though I've got any better since although I probably have. I am naturally musical but I could certainly benefit from a harder work ethic. I didn't start song writing until a few years ago.
6. WHICH COMES THE EASIEST... LYRICS OR MUSIC?
It depends from song to song. Lyrics probably. I'm just glad when anything comes. I'm not a very prolific songwriter. More Leonard Cohen than Bob Dylan in that respect. George used to get fed up with me tampering with songs but he knows that two out of three times it's better off that way.
7. DO YOU HAVE ONE OUTSTANDING LYRIC THAT YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF?
The lyrics for Sharks Have Fins are my favourite. It's a different kind of narrative to the other songs. There's not one throw away line or wasted word. I wrote it while we were camping around Devon and Cornwell where I grew up. It's my childhood in song. Other than that, if you want just a line then it would have to be from 'Ruined' - "God is due in, what am I doing, we broke it all apart but it's not ruined" I am very optimistic.
8. YOU SAY YOU ARE APPROACHING YOUR CURRENT MATERIAL SLIGHTLY DIFFERENTLY TO THE WAY YOU WROTE AND RECORDED 'SAY SOMETHING DUMB.' HOW SO?...
For a start we are going under a band name 'Ghosting'. George is having more to do with the songwriting process and I'm looking to be more involved in production. The music is as mellow if not mellower than on 'Say Something Dumb' but the difference is that this time we are letting ourselves be comfortable with that.
9. YOU LIVE IN GLOUCESTER. IS THERE MUCH OF A LIVE MUSIC SCENE AROUND THERE... AND, IF NOT, DO YOU INTEND TO MAKE ONE AS SUCH?
Unfortunately there isn't much of a scene here and we'd do well just to get our own stuff together let alone anybody elses. Who knows though, maybe something will come out of it. We won't neglect our town when we start to play live later in the year.
10. IF YOU HAD THREE WISHES, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
World peace, fair trade and as many more wishes as I like. Boom Boom. I'm sorry. So astonishingly unoriginal I'm not sure how I can consider myself a creative person. (Rest assured, Dan is - 'Juxta')
11. WHERE CAN WE GET HOLD OF YOUR MUSIC, AND HOW CAN WE CONTACT YOU IF SO COMPELLED?
Regularly updated information about us can be found on...
www.ghosting.info