Transcript from an Interview with Dan Bell
..Music came to me at some early age in my life through a folk song by Burl Ives... something about little ducks in a pond. Later on I remember hearing 'O Come, O Come Emanuel' at mass and I was never the same. It was haunting. Then, one summer during a trip to South Carolina when I was 13 years old, the hit on the pop radio was one by link Wray, his version of the classic 'Jack The Ripper'. I asked my mother to go out and buy the 45 (an analog vinyl format for those who remember). I wonder if she ever knew what indeed she was doing in bringing that tune home to me. That wrenching guitar... da, dadadadada... I was even more not the same. I did not however pick up the guitar however until I was seventeen and just leaving high school for reasons do sometimes cause me some remorse. However, I have never stopped playing and writing since... You can do the math by finding out when 'Jack The Ripper' was a hit.
The very first thing I remember trying to play was the solo melody to Scarborough Fair... by ear of course. I base a lot of my musicality in that I only learned to read music and study harmony later... first, it was all from the heart, and ears and fingers.
I feel myself to be a singer-songwriter but I am pursuing a PhD at the University of Maine in Biology. Go figure... Art and Science in my opinion are after the identical great unknown 'thing', but they travel in different lanes and at greatly different velocities. Moreover, I believe, and others say I am writing the best I ever have.
I hope some hear these songs that for me come from the center of whoever I am...
Why this name?
I didn't.
Do you play live?
I've done some performances at coffee houses, a wedding reception for a friend, and open mikes in Portland, Maine.
For me, getting that perfect take that you can never yourself duplicate is the best high.
How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?
It makes it easy to steal it.
Would you sign a record contract with a major label?
I would like voices to contact me... K.D. Lang and others. Mandy Patinkin needs a great, new original song. Here I am, Mandy. I have the songs. Folk ballads and some that could be uptempo if so performed.
Your influences?
Burl Ives, Harry Belafonte, Keith Jarrett, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Mozart, Leo Kotke, Yip Harburg, Dave Brubeck, Maurice Ravel... And especially, with near reverence, John Lennon and Bob Dylan. Lennon seemed to be such a jerk... but those aural images are wrapped around my soul. He's the one if you ask me.
Favorite spot?
San Francisco.
Equipment used:
Taylor 814CE. Korg, Korg, Korg. Fender Lead II. Art Pre-Amps/Tube Compression. Audio-Technica Mics. And a Roland patch (JV-2080)series for 'Euro Classic' piano. …My voice.