In Conversation With... Dan Mangan
Setting out on his most recent North American tour Dan Mangan continues to build a following and gain recognition for his sophomore record Nice, Nice, Very Nice. In the past year XM Satellite's The Verge has named Mangan Artist of the Year and his single "Robots" was hailed by the CBC as Best Song and Best Vocals of 2009. The morning prior to our interview, Mangan's name was announced on the short list for Canada's 2010 Polaris Music Prize alongside 9 other nominees including Broken Social Scene and Tegan & Sara, .
Shattered Vinyl spoke with Dan after his long drive through construction from Portland, Oregon to his home in Vancouver. The groggy but humble and warm singer-songwriter chatted with us about his latest record, touring and recent nomination for the Polaris Music Prize.
What song or moment gave life to the record?
I made the first album in the summer of 2005 independently and started writing songs for this record just after I released the album. The record is inadvertently about Vancouver, I was touring six to seven months a year for four years and away from home so I was thinking about it a lot. I wasn't there so it was a long distance relay with my girlfriend and family and it came out in the record. There are a lot of subtle references and imagery of the city.
The record seems to transition with ease between different styles indie-rock, alt-country to folk. Is that a reflection of your interest in various sounds and elements?
I listen to a lot of music and am inspired by a lot. I'm a little bit of a scatter brain that way, when I hear something, I think I want to sound like that. It was written over four years, I was exposed to different artists and cities that influenced the sound of the record, there was time for the songs to gestate and develop over time.
Your lyrics are often very witty and full of imagery is there a deliberate effort to find that when you write?
I'm glad you noticed that, it's usually a stream of consciousness. I'll spit out lyrics and then spend two months editing, I'm a meticulous editor. I mean I'm a pretty easygoing guy, though the music may suggest otherwise. Some call the record fairly dramatic but I think you have to be able to laugh at yourself, I think the lyrics show all sides of your personality.
What inspired "You Silly Git"?
It's actually one of the more personal songs, I was in London [England] and I had called my girlfriend complaining about something and she basically said...well get over it, you know, you're in London doing what you want to do, so I tried writing the song from another angle, appreciating what I've got. I remember hearing that saying and was having a Monty Python moment, appreciating John Cleese's humour.
What challenges when writing/recording do you enjoy most?
The obsessiveness of going into the studio and burying your head for weeks. That obsessive compulsiveness of when you focus on something for six weeks that you're consumed by it. It's a roller coaster, one minute you think you're making something great, the next you think it's a total piece of crap. It's a double-edged sword, it's exhausting and draining but the feeling when you finish the process, you take a bit of time and want to do it again.
What's your favourite song on Nice, Nice, Very Nice?
On the road it's day to day the song changes, sometimes a song fits the mood better. I'm quite proud of the song "Basket", it came together after my grandfather died, I was able to put my inner thoughts and emotions into words rather quickly.
What has the response been to the album on the road?
Really good. Here in Canada, to play the opening bars of a song and have people cheer, it never gets less awesome and weird. Everywhere you go you have to start from the ground up, from bigger shows in Canada to a crowd of thirty to fourty in Germany you have to be level-headed. People have been responding well.
How did it feel to hear you were on the short list for the Polaris Music Prize?
Man, it was amazing. I was over the moon, I mean I thought we had a pretty good chance at the long list but the short list is even more insane, the quality of the award is the company it keeps. I can't even think about the gala, you know, I just approach it with zero expectation, it's just great.
