Dan Israel is keeping busy these days writing and recording new songs at home for an upcoming solo acoustic record, and presumably changing some diapers, too. It's been six years since Israel's last stripped-down release, so it seemed about time to try it again, Israel says. That said, being a busy parent doesn't leave much time -- or money -- for proper studio endeavors. We recently corresponded over e-mail with Dan about how things are going.
Q: How much of your decision to record a solo record at home was for artistic reasons versus practical ones?
Dan Israel: It's almost all for practical reasons right now...with a 3-year-old son, a two-month-old baby daughter, a day job, and even a few gigs to play, I don't have a spare moment to record anywhere else - or a spare dollar to SPEND on recording anywhere else. Nevertheless, I haven't made a real solo acoustic record since "Dan Who?" in 2000 and "Cedar Lake" in 2002, and my last several records have been rather highly produced, with full instrumentation, and, with the last one, "Turning," with tons of special guests. I wanted to strip it down anyway, and now, hey, it just so happens I have no CHOICE but to strip it down right now!
Q: What are you using to record? How's it going?
DI: I've had a 16-track Yamaha machine for about 5 years....have done at least some of every record since "Time I Get Home" on it. I don't use 90% of the features on it - I just pretty much set up a mic and record and keep it real basic, but it's great for that too. It has all kinds of bells and whistles that I never learned how to use anyway. I'm a techno-idiot. I was half-tempted to record this on an old-fashioned cassette tape recorder - no, not even a 4-track, a TAPE recorder. But I decided it would be nice if the audio quality was a tad better than that.
Q: How do you think having kids has affected your songwriting?
DI: It's made my songs shorter, because I don't have time to write long songs! No, only partly kidding there.... I think it's changed my outlook quite a bit. I think I write less about "my struggles in the music business" these days and am a bit more concerned with the day-to-day struggles of life - of joy and pain and trying to be a good parent while still trying to hang onto some of that rock and roll spirit that made me want to make music in the first place. A lot of the songs on "Turning" were about that tension.... I don't think I've resolved the dilemma, and perhaps I never will.
One of my main worries, actually, about doing an acoustic album right now is that my son Isaac will hate it - he only likes songs with drums on them. This wouldn't be such a big deal, except Isaac is perhaps my biggest fan in the entire world, and insists on my music being the only music that is ever played in the house or the car (I'm 100% serious - I've started to just put my foot down and demand that we listen to the radio....or silence....or something else, some of the time, because I'm so sick of hearing my own songs). Then again, maybe this is a clever move on my part, since I won't have to listen to this acoustic album in the car every time we get in the car. Hah!
Q: You've said your son Isaac is the world's biggest Dan Israel fan ever. What song does he want to hear most often lately?
DI: Yes, it really is true. If I could clone Isaac, I would beat out Michael Jackson and Fleetwood Mac as the all-time biggest record seller in the world. His favorite song lately is "Windowsill" on "Time I Get Home" - he loves the build-up to when the the drums come in, and when they do come in, Zeppelin-style, he always exclaims "whoa!". Too cute.
Dan Israel plays a solo show on Sunday, Sept. 28, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts as part of the Acoustic Sunrise series. 11am. No cover. All-ages. Also: See Dan open for Loudon Wainwright III at the Guthrie Theater on Nov. 17.
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