songwriter's monthly, april '11, #135 - dana fuchs

8/7/2019 Songwriter's Monthly, April '11, #135 - Dana Fuchs

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hen Dana Fuchs sings it is a spiritualperience. he is incapable of holdingything back. he taps into something

rger than herself some collective aace here e are all connected. Alle hurt all the love all the joy allose ra and primal emotions find antlet in her an escape. They usena. er body trembles she falls to

the stage and her voice roars ith spo er that she has to pullmicrophone back other ise she midro n out the entire band eithout the mic that is still a very rpossibility. Then she slo ly climbsher feet . . . or maybe she only mait as far as sitting at the edge ofstage ith her feet dangling inaudience and a story so deep so traand so personal tumbles from her lThen she cries.hen you think her body and her vocan endure no more that she has gievery ounce of herself over tomusic and it has used her completDana springs to her feet renerevitali ed and recharged she appeto be even more dynamic and a

Jon and I went intothis being so sick ofa producer coming in

and saying, Okay,

you have to soundlike this.
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an she as hen she first steppedto the stage Then unbelievablyna takes it to an even higher level.at s hat you get hen you see Danae an e perience that transcends are performance. Think revival.is eek Dana released her debut Don Ruf Records. n Aprilth she ill celebrateat release ith aecial sho case ate o r k i t y s

ighline Ballroom. Iught up ith Danafore a sho at thellersville Theater innn s y l van i a . oniamond her guitarist and ritingrtner had just pulled up in a largehite van containing all the gear ande band. hile the guys unloaded andt up for soundcheck Dana and Ittled into a sparsely furnished yetmeho co y room just off-stage tonduct the intervie . The Theater hadovided Fuchs and the band ith aread of ine crackers cheeses andher refreshments but she opted forater.ana as remarkably rela ed andsual her trademark cascade of ildrty blonde locks had been tamed andlled back. he stretched her long legst as she reclined slightly on the couchd asked me several uestions hile It up the recording gear. er voiceas deep husky and rich ith a armlor. Even after the long drive to thenue it crackled ith an engagingtality. The emptiness of the roomovided a mild echo a natural reverb

hich gave the illusion that Danvoice as coming from every hereonce in the small space.I pulled out my notes and a copy ofD. ince this debut contained ritfrom a ide span of time I as curihere Dana had ound up artisticaby the end of the project. hich isne est song on here? I began.

Dana picked upD from the coa n d s t a r tscrutini ing the trlist on the back covet me looksaid absently hdeciding. There sfe I rote in the same time frame jbefore e started recording . . .ould be either et It n Fireolden Eyes or ummersong.never really even planned to recummersong because it asunfinished but on came into the stuand said o no no e have tothis and e orked it out right therummersong as my current favotrack. The song contains a mellsoulful vibe and a cool easy-gomelody that sets it apart sonicafrom the rest of the album.

It s a departure she agreed. I reanted to give it the tender treatmthat I thought it needed. e eretour all last year in Europe and I asthis Al reen musical diet for soreason before every sho I ould hmy iPod and that as my centermusic before the sho s. I d alloved Al reen and I ve listened to h

The music didnthave to have

boundaries, it didnthave to be one

thing.
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er the years but for some reason Ist found his music to be really greatr that one particular tour. o henn came to me and played sort of thisthing for umersong I had no

ords nothing but I kept thinking Aleen. I said e should think of thate illie Mitchell and then on ofurse kne e actly hat to do. otehear ong riter s Monthly e clusivedio of Dana talking in more depthout umersong visit: http://w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ?

=QSPauArdeXc&feature=channel_vide_title

hat s the great thing she continuedhat s hy the songs are so different.e minute it s blues one minute it sassic rock one minute R& or kind offolky singer/song riter . . . e rea ing on all our country blues andots influences. on and I both listeneverything all these different veinshe kne e actly here to go ithat Al reen thing and I literally justnged out the lyrics. ut e ve neverne anything like this so that s hyally it s the ne est one.eepsake is the other one that as atle bit of a departure she pointedt. e rote that a little over a year

ago and e thought ell yeahs eet and it s kind of folky but hdoes it fit in?If you didn t have the slo er tracksobserved then the gutsy onouldn t feel as strong they provcontrast.That s a great point Dana agree all have a bunch of different siat least e hope e do so I didant everything to be me screamiInterestingly before e made this Ddid go into the studio ith a reallykno n producer a brilliant guy andanted everything to be mello . Ahile I really enjoyed doing thatbecause I d never done anythingthat before after it as all done athe hypnosis of being in the projore off I stepped out and I thougThis is only one side of me for

hole record . . . and it s so borinhe laughed a deep robust laugh.peaking of a sort of hypnosis oproject I ondered do you thplaying anis oplin in the off- roadproduction of and spend18 months as adie hile filmchanged ymusic or your approach to music?

Absolutely Fuchs declared ithhesitation. I think it changed

One minute its

blues, one minuteits classic rock, oneminute R&B or kindof a folky singer/songwriter . . .

Were drawing on

all our country, bluesand roots

influences.
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edom of approach especially playingnis oplin every night. I stepped intor shoes and I got to be her. he as

very risky person It as just so easytake all the risks under the guise ofnis. Then I as like hy doesn tna just take more risks? It reallyaped me first and foremost as arformer it definitely got my voice intter shape. I reali ed man I ve got at to learn. he as really that

brilliant I didn t kno it beforesho . I had been compared to her aasked to do her music play her insho but that as ay before I ereally listened to her.Then ith the film hich asloosely based anis role I felt likgave me permission to just saykno hat there are no boundariesuninhibited There are times hthat s hard like hen you re sittingfront of an audience for the first timMy golden rule is Don t try to be cbecause that s so uncool. ust spill itout spill your guts do hat you godo and let it be real.ave you ever ritten a song athought This is not for me?

I do have avulnerable, tender

side. I have a shyand quiet side.
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na leaned back and laughed. ouve great uestions nobody asks thatuff es e ve ritten a fe songshere I think Maybe that s formeone else. I almost did that itheepsake because I couldn t find aay to get to the s eetness of theorus at f i rs t . I t as a l i t t leallenging. I had toarn ho to reign inme of my po ercause I do have alnerable tenderde. I have a shy andet side.ust not on stage I thre out.actly she admitted. And I antedcapture that. I remember on and Icorded it acoustically in a series ofmos e ere making before e entto the studio . . . I just remembertting tears in my eyes hile singing itd thinking o this is striking aord I can be this too.as hat ou ee really rittenout the music industry?es. o did you kno that?caught you saying something at theginning of one of your videos I

a looked a little confused.out a minute prior an unassumingy in a hat and glasses had shuffledto the room ith us. urrently heas digging through the beveragesemingly una are that anyone elseas there let alone in the middle of an

i n t e r v i e . e h a d a k i n ddisconnected coolness about him. Thcould have been a gun fight going onthat little room and I surmisedould have been oblivious. et asslipped out he half mumbled Thea c o u s t i c s t u f f e f f e c t i v edemonstrating that not only asfully a are butas uick and shadef t ly putt ingfinger on e actlyI as talking abithout hesitation.h yeah that s right Dana recallthe understanding flooding intoeyes. That s on Diamond by themy co- riter and music partnerintroduced but the mystery man halready moved on headed back tostage to continue preparingsoundcheck.es the song is about the muindustry Dana picked the conversatthread back up but also it s abpeople listening ith their eyesspeaking ith their ears. People juon a band agon and either saylike this or I don t like this becathey are aiting to see hat everyoelse says. I think almost every musicout there has gone through somethlike this at one point or another. I thevery person has . . . Dana trailedhe fell silent collecting her thoughhe sat for ard and hen scontinued there as a hushed urgeto her voice like she as reveasomething of vital importance.kno everybody s aiting to seeeverybody else thinks before theyon-board. The song is saying o

Just spill it all out,spill your guts, dowhat you gotta do.


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go ith your gut take a chance orn t aste my time. I rote it inflection after doing about 20 000 gigsr the same labels. All the sho s ereld out the audience as singing thengs and yet the labels ere stillsure they ere looking aroundaiting for someone else to make thest move . . .

The hushed delivery of hat she hjust related hit hard. The intensitynot so much in hat she said as itin ho she said it. It made me reaho much control Dana had oversubtleties of her voice and himportant it as to her careermaintain that control. he could mjust as strong of an impact ithhisper as she couldyell. o do you tcare of your voice?b l u r ted . Do youanything special to msure it remains in shnight after night?he settled back intocouch ell I nesmoked she began ade f end ing her r i cgraveled husky voionestly hen e retour no matter hat eif I m offered 20 0dollars to do a shocan t get at least siseven hours of sleepnight before I on t tit because people illa bad sho .

Dana reconsideredo r d c h o i c e t hcorrected Maybe nobad sho but itcumulatively reck mleep is really the mimportant thing. I m nob i g d r i n k e r I d osmoke . . . I do haveincredible gem of a humbeing for a voice coahen I as t enty ye

Dont try to be cool,because thats so

uncool.


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d I ent to hear this ama ing singershe had been a back-up singer forie and teely Dan and she asing her first solo gig. I couldn tlieve the lo s to the highs hen Iked o do you do that? she saido see this man im arson heought my voice back from the gravedo ork ith him and I do scalesen if it s just five minutes a day Iem every day to keep the musclesing it s like any muscle in the bodyu gotta use it or lose it.na s band had obviously finishedtting up their gearcause no theye r e t e s t i ng ou tu n d s p e d a l svels etc. The roar from just the otherde of the dressing room all asther inhibitive for conducting antervie . I suggested that maybe itas time to rap up but Fuchs got upsappeared through the door and

ddenly there as silence. he cameck in almost grinning and stated Ist told them to hold off.ill I remained a little concernedou t cu t t i ng i n t o t he band sundcheck time so I asked my typicalosing uestion Is there anythingu d like to bring up that e haven tlked about yet?he thing that I do like about thisbum is it really came into beingithout any parameters. Initially it asself-financed D she revealed.

eah the label loved it and pickedup but on and I ent into this beso sick of a producer coming in asaying kay you have to soundthis or a label giving us a demo dand saying ou have to do it like th

e just told everybody o e doant your loans or your demo dee re doing this on our o n. y doso e really got to say ou knhat there s our country influenthere s our b luinfluence there sclassic rock influenThe music didn t hto have boundaries it didn t have toone thing. e re coming from all thplaces and if one song gets playedashville radio hile another is onblues station that s great It as vfreeing. It doesn t all have to be e athe same genre . . . that oulduntrue to ho I am.Despite the image that kept replayin my head of an impatient band pacabout the stage glaring at the dressroom door aiting for us to be donethey could resume their soundcheckhad to ask o if you could only pone song to represent you hat oit be?Dana stared blankly for a moment the claimed h hat an unfair cruest ion he dre in a lonmeasured breath. o you knhat . . . I ould probably have to sand it s not my favorite song on thebut I think . . . Arrgh That s re

Take a chance!

Be uninhibited!

Let it be real!


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utal. I ould say . . .parently tired of aiting soundcheckddenly resumed. The guitar spun asty lick that rattled the alls of theall room. I orried an ans er ouldt materiali e.omething some here bet eenrive and ove to eg Fuchs finallycided because they ve got sort ofat soulful bluesy classic rock ith atle bit of southern rock thro n in.I stood to shut off the recorder Ifered a final casual comment. I veticed that hen you perform youn t necessarily move to the music souch as the music rises up from insideu and your body just moves as itleases the song. It s almost like yourdy is singing does that make any

ice I love that she replied.nd it does make sense. In t ever consciously try toa dance move I m terribleit And you kno it snny you re bringing that upcause that s hy ulieymor gave me the part in. hed hired me to sing a songat had nothing to do ithe movie it as this Indianant the oddess of Deathd Destruction that sheas doing for a part she hadped Tina Turner ould playmeday. I fell in love ithe song and I as in theudio singing and moving andeating . . . and she as out

there laughing he asked an I vidyou? ater she told me aboutmovie and that s hat inspired heroffer me the partI have to really feel a songconcluded. If I m not moving like ththen I m cheating the audience becaI m not connecting.e said our goodbyes and I hurriedthe door and past the stage fearfuthe glares I might receive for cuttinto the band s soundcheck. utguys ere oblivious already lostnoodling testing levels and preparfor that night s sho . . . hich byay as phenomenal

For more information on Dana Fucher ne release andu p c om i n g t o u r v i s i t : h t t pdanafuchs.com.

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songwriter's monthly, april '11, #135 - dana fuchs

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