Interview with Danielle Doyle - CD release Sat 13th @ Lizard Lounge
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Deli: What is one of your first memories of hearing music that really moved you?
Danielle Doyle: Josh Ritter has been my absolute favorite singer-songwriter for a very, very long time. For me, there's just no one out there doing it better right now. He's so incredibly talented. Seeing him live is life changing - I've never seen someone so happy, so passionate, so humble and appreciative of what he gets to do for a living. You see him live and you're like damn, I want that. So - I'm trying to.
Deli: When did you decide to go public with your art?
DD: When I was at Oberlin I founded and ran an open mic night at the music venue I worked at. I remember the first time I played, my friend in the audience gasped - a really, positive encouraging gasp. So I started playing every week. Thanks for gasping, Sam Sax.
Deli: Is the upcoming tour your first big tour? Are you excited about the CD release? What are the steps that lead you to this wonderful accomplishment?
DD: A whole lot of firsts for me - first CD and a huge CD release party at the Lizard Lounge, first tour. It's really exciting and I couldn't be happier. It's a lot of work but I really love all of it. I've taken a lot of classes at the Passim School of Music and I've interned and worked for some of my favorite artists' managers - so I'd like to think I know what I'm doing - but I'm learning every step of the way. As for the CD - I'm really happy with it. So many of my friends donated their time and their talent to making it happen and I couldn't have done it without them. Everyone who played on the album will be playing with me for my songs and playing with their respective bands throughout the night - and they're all fantastic!
Deli: What did you want to be when you grew up when you were a little kid?
DD: When I was little I would dress up and hide in the other room and I'd make my grandfather announce me: "Live from Las Vegas, it's Ms. Mary Mustard!" then I'd run in and sing and dance around their living room. So, I guess I'm doing pretty much the same thing now, except I think the songs I write are a little better now.
Deli: What are some "outside" influences on your songwriting? (i.e. pottery, Kubrick Movies, maps)
DD: "Salome" is (loosely) based on a Lovis Corinth painting. (I was an art history major in college.) "Pompeii" is about the end of the world, but the visual I get when I sing it is Mary Louise Parker riding a Segway out of Agrestic in the third season finale of Weeds. I'm a TV junkie. "Sky" is about the Trail of Tears - inspired by a Comparative American Studies course I took at Oberlin. Only a couple songs on the album are actually based on my life... because my life isn't too terribly interesting.
DD: Most supportive human being EVER. Seriously, I don't know if I ever would have pursued playing music for real without all the support and encouragement I get from Tom.
Deli: What advice do you have for young female performers who are looking to pursue a career in music?
DD: Meet Tom Bianchi. If you're good - he'll take care of you.
Tickets can be purchased here: ($8 in advanced, 10 at the door)
--Interview by Meghan Chiampa
Published on March 09, 2010
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Which act should be the next New England Artist of the Month?
Psychedelic swirling lures, introducing Forest People with atmospheric effects, slide guitar and nebulous, distant vocals. It builds softly before dropping dead into one crunchy, snarled-lip guitar lick. The band kicks it aside with the verse, Daniel Tortoledo's vocals immediately in the high-register, the rhythm guitar jiving like 70's funk. It's as hypnotizing an opener as this listener has encountered in a very long time. But The Highway, much as the name suggests, isn't content to idle in one place. "Frozen Sun" cruises away from a desert sunset and a troubled past; there's defeat in the lyrics, but it's accepted, calm, soothed by the breeze and the knowledge that tomorrow is a new day. The title track reminds what a spell a well thought out chord progression and back-up vocals can weave - it's a stunning, down-tempo meditation. "Song for the World" is utterly beautiful; if you're the type to let music touch you, this one will, and it's thanks to plumb ingenious song-writing: An entrancingly bittersweet opening gives way to one hell of a surprising French interlude (yes, both linguistically and musically); the song loops back on itself, gaining weight and fleshing out, and by the end, you might not know whether to laugh, cry, or sing along - even though they've switched languages again, this time to Spanish. Now, I know I'm a bit of a sap, but the raw emotionality of the record is worth noting because it's a field in which psychedelically-minded rock 'n roll rarely succeeds. But it's rock and roll, after all, so fear not if you just want to put your fist in the air - there's attitude in abundance, sharp and edgy soloing, inspired rhythm changes; hell, there's even a sing-along drum-and-vocal break. There's still some residue of the "rock is dead" prophesying, some grumbling that rock and roll is all, at this point, recycled goods, and that the new breed of rock is not really "rock" so much as indie, as experimental, as post-this or that-core. Buy Forest People. And then buy it for anyone you know who buys that sh*t.
- Cullen Corley
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