This time I had the opportunity to pose some questions to one of Vancouver’s most promising musicians at the moment, Dan Mangan. Although little known here in Germany, he is starting to make a name for himself in the music scene. With his energetic sound and talent that is second to none, he has already managed to sweep away Canada’s listeners and it won’t be long until the rest of the world follows suit.
Originally a singer-songwriter, he is now taking a dip into the indie-rock/experimental scene. His long anticipated album Oh Fortune will mark this turning point and give us the chance to experience a completely new side of Dan Mangan.
I interviewed Dan during his last visit after his fantastic gig at Rosi’s on the 10th of June.
The show was just amazing and the reception of the audience was incredibly enthusiastic but it wasn’t always like this. How long did it take you to get here?
I’ve been touring pretty solidly for about six years and when you start you take any gigs that you can get. You basically play to small little crowds, coffee shops and things like that. I did that solo for about four years, maybe three and a half. Only in the last couple of years I’ve been grabbing players, bands and mates to play with me and kind of figuring out who and if, I can afford to bring on each tour and things like that. It’s been really nice to bring the band along.
Everything happens really slowly. Then again it happens quickly in a sense. Six years is not that long but it happens really slowly in that every little tiny baby step ads up when you put them all together. We had an incredible couple of years where we’ve gone up from playing little bars through places like this (Rosi’s) to playing really large theatres in Canada. Now traveling around Europe we’re back in the small bars and it’s really fun. It’s where we came from and what we are used to. It’s very familiar to come back and play in a dank basement and do a dark rock show. This venue (Rosi’s) is just unbelievable and it has so much character. It’s one of the coolest venues I’ve ever been to.
Looking back would you change anything? Sometimes when success comes too easily we take it for granted. Do you think it is necessary to take the slow path?
I think when it happens slowly there is more foundation to it. There is more structure to it. When things happen overnight, really quickly they have a tendency to end quickly as well. It’s hard to maintain success if you thrive on incredibly quick and intense amount of buzz and excitement. That buzz and excitement can die out
