MA: How did you feel when you started recording?
DZ: I was apprehensive; part of me was thinking that maybe there's a reason no one's making this kind of music. Maybe it's too hard, maybe it just doesn't work, maybe it sounds corny no matter what.
Well, the way it turned out, everything I had wanted from my solo record (Cool Down Time) but didn't get I wound up getting from this cassette I was giving out to families: people wanted more, they passed the tape around to friends, they were getting excited. I started playing some shows in parks and began having fun for the first time in a while. With the solo record, I was working my ass off, it was a crowded field and there wasn't a lot of good will in the air at the time. But with this, everyone seemed to enjoy it; families were listening to it together, which was very gratifying and has become a source of pride for me. Somewhere along the line, kids music became this thing you had to endure for a few years before getting into "grown-up" music. Well, why? Why can't everyone listen to music together?
MA: Was the project always meant to be a DIY thing? Did you ever contemplate approaching major labels?
DZ: Somewhere along the way, Rykodisc expressed an interest in putting the record out. I thought about it. But I realized I'd made five records up to that point and had never really had control over a single one of them. Not that I had bad feelings about the music business � I really don't � but it just is what it is. You've gotta accept a lot of things if you want to deal in the music business and I just didn't have the stomach for it anymore. Someone said, "Why don't you just put it out on your own?" And that was it. That's all I had to hear. I'd just renovated a house � how much harder could putting out a record be?
And now, I'm that much prouder having done it on my own, though I've had tons of help. It's been totally grass roots: just me and Barbara (Broussal, singer-songwriter) working away. We rely on the kindness of strangers, people giving us ideas for stores that might carry it and that kind of thing. The press has been great and that's helped a lot. We don't know what we're doing but we're doing it ourselves.
MA: How else have people helped?
DZ: My friend Judy McGrath is the President of MTV. She really believes in what I'm doing; it has nothing to do with what she does during the day. But she wanted to throw a record release party for me. And she invited everyone she knew. It helped a lot!
MA: I saw the pictures of that party on your website. They're great.
DZ: Yeah! It was in Annie Leibowitz's studio. A big groovy affair for such a lowdown thing. So people have been remarkably supportive. I feel like I had a good idea and I worked hard on it, but it's been such a team effort. Everybody's pitched in in whatever way they can. It feels greatI am the lucky recipient of a lot of good will.
MA: Let me ask you a couple crass questions about being a self-sufficient musician. A lot of famous people � Sheryl Crow, G.E. Smith, Suzanne Vega, for example � appear on your record. Was this just a matter of calling in favors? Do you have to pay them scale? Do you have to somehow appease their record companies and managers and agents?
DZ: In the case of Sheryl, I had taken her over to the studio where I had space and she wound up making a record there. So she was around everyday and I asked her if she would come sing "Polly Wolly Doodle" and she said, "No problem." And that was it. With Suzanne and the others, it was the same thing: I just said, "This is what I'm doing for kids in the neighborhood. Do you want to be a part of it?"
Now, after the whole thing was done, I had to go back to them and say, "You know that tape? Well, I want to start a record company and put it out." I didn't want anyone to think I'd tricked them into making a "real" record under the guise of this casual thing. But they're my friends � they were fine about it. My lawyers had to spend a little time dealing with their record companies. But we put an offer on the table that, I felt, reflected my gratitude for their participation and would let them share in anything good that came along.
Having them play and sing was greatgreat for the record and great fun. I mean, they're all so talented: Sheryl, Suzanne, G.E. Smith, Simon Kirke and everyone else. I wanted everyone to feel acknowledged.
MA: They really made their presence felt.
DZ: Yeah. Another thing is, I like to hear these people out of context. I like to hear Sheryl, for example, sing in that way, in that setting, doing a kids' song. And having her and Suzanne on the record is also a way to throw the grown-ups a bone.
Having lots of guests is an idea that's carried over to the new record (Family Dance). We have some more interesting people on it: Rosanne Cash, Loudon Wainwright III and Sandra Bernhard.
MA: Sandra Bernhard? That must have been fun.
DZ: Oh, yeah. She's on this song I wrote called "Thrift Shop." It ends with a long musical tail and over that she and I are having a comic dialogue as if we're shopping in the thrift shop. She was here recording in my basement and I was really nervous. I was thinking, "Who do I think I am that I'm going to be telling Sandra Bernhard about comic timing?" But she was wonderful to work with.
Dan Zanes...continued
M
Misha
(view)
MA: How did you feel when you started recording?
DZ: I was apprehensive; part of me was thinking that maybe there's a reason no one's making this kind of music. Maybe it's too hard, maybe it just doesn't work, maybe it sounds corny no matter what.
Well, the way it turned out, everything I had wanted from my solo record (Cool Down Time) but didn't get I wound up getting from this cassette I was giving out to families: people wanted more, they passed the tape around to friends, they were getting excited. I started playing some shows in parks and began having fun for the first time in a while. With the solo record, I was working my ass off, it was a crowded field and there wasn't a lot of good will in the air at the time. But with this, everyone seemed to enjoy it; families were listening to it together, which was very gratifying and has become a source of pride for me. Somewhere along the line, kids music became this thing you had to endure for a few years before getting into "grown-up" music. Well, why? Why can't everyone listen to music together?
MA: Was the project always meant to be a DIY thing? Did you ever contemplate approaching major labels?
DZ: Somewhere along the way, Rykodisc expressed an interest in putting the record out. I thought about it. But I realized I'd made five records up to that point and had never really had control over a single one of them. Not that I had bad feelings about the music business � I really don't � but it just is what it is. You've gotta accept a lot of things if you want to deal in the music business and I just didn't have the stomach for it anymore. Someone said, "Why don't you just put it out on your own?" And that was it. That's all I had to hear. I'd just renovated a house � how much harder could putting out a record be?
And now, I'm that much prouder having done it on my own, though I've had tons of help. It's been totally grass roots: just me and Barbara (Broussal, singer-songwriter) working away. We rely on the kindness of strangers, people giving us ideas for stores that might carry it and that kind of thing. The press has been great and that's helped a lot. We don't know what we're doing but we're doing it ourselves.
MA: How else have people helped?
DZ: My friend Judy McGrath is the President of MTV. She really believes in what I'm doing; it has nothing to do with what she does during the day. But she wanted to throw a record release party for me. And she invited everyone she knew. It helped a lot!
MA: I saw the pictures of that party on your website. They're great.
DZ: Yeah! It was in Annie Leibowitz's studio. A big groovy affair for such a lowdown thing. So people have been remarkably supportive. I feel like I had a good idea and I worked hard on it, but it's been such a team effort. Everybody's pitched in in whatever way they can. It feels greatI am the lucky recipient of a lot of good will.
MA: Let me ask you a couple crass questions about being a self-sufficient musician. A lot of famous people � Sheryl Crow, G.E. Smith, Suzanne Vega, for example � appear on your record. Was this just a matter of calling in favors? Do you have to pay them scale? Do you have to somehow appease their record companies and managers and agents?
DZ: In the case of Sheryl, I had taken her over to the studio where I had space and she wound up making a record there. So she was around everyday and I asked her if she would come sing "Polly Wolly Doodle" and she said, "No problem." And that was it. With Suzanne and the others, it was the same thing: I just said, "This is what I'm doing for kids in the neighborhood. Do you want to be a part of it?"
Now, after the whole thing was done, I had to go back to them and say, "You know that tape? Well, I want to start a record company and put it out." I didn't want anyone to think I'd tricked them into making a "real" record under the guise of this casual thing. But they're my friends � they were fine about it. My lawyers had to spend a little time dealing with their record companies. But we put an offer on the table that, I felt, reflected my gratitude for their participation and would let them share in anything good that came along.
Having them play and sing was greatgreat for the record and great fun. I mean, they're all so talented: Sheryl, Suzanne, G.E. Smith, Simon Kirke and everyone else. I wanted everyone to feel acknowledged.
MA: They really made their presence felt.
DZ: Yeah. Another thing is, I like to hear these people out of context. I like to hear Sheryl, for example, sing in that way, in that setting, doing a kids' song. And having her and Suzanne on the record is also a way to throw the grown-ups a bone.
Having lots of guests is an idea that's carried over to the new record (Family Dance). We have some more interesting people on it: Rosanne Cash, Loudon Wainwright III and Sandra Bernhard.
MA: Sandra Bernhard? That must have been fun.
DZ: Oh, yeah. She's on this song I wrote called "Thrift Shop." It ends with a long musical tail and over that she and I are having a comic dialogue as if we're shopping in the thrift shop. She was here recording in my basement and I was really nervous. I was thinking, "Who do I think I am that I'm going to be telling Sandra Bernhard about comic timing?" But she was wonderful to work with.
DZ: I was apprehensive; part of me was thinking that maybe there's a reason no one's making this kind of music. Maybe it's too hard, maybe it just doesn't work, maybe it sounds corny no matter what.
Well, the way it turned out, everything I had wanted from my solo record (Cool Down Time) but didn't get I wound up getting from this cassette I was giving out to families: people wanted more, they passed the tape around to friends, they were getting excited. I started playing some shows in parks and began having fun for the first time in a while. With the solo record, I was working my ass off, it was a crowded field and there wasn't a lot of good will in the air at the time. But with this, everyone seemed to enjoy it; families were listening to it together, which was very gratifying and has become a source of pride for me. Somewhere along the line, kids music became this thing you had to endure for a few years before getting into "grown-up" music. Well, why? Why can't everyone listen to music together?
MA: Was the project always meant to be a DIY thing? Did you ever contemplate approaching major labels?
DZ: Somewhere along the way, Rykodisc expressed an interest in putting the record out. I thought about it. But I realized I'd made five records up to that point and had never really had control over a single one of them. Not that I had bad feelings about the music business � I really don't � but it just is what it is. You've gotta accept a lot of things if you want to deal in the music business and I just didn't have the stomach for it anymore. Someone said, "Why don't you just put it out on your own?" And that was it. That's all I had to hear. I'd just renovated a house � how much harder could putting out a record be?
And now, I'm that much prouder having done it on my own, though I've had tons of help. It's been totally grass roots: just me and Barbara (Broussal, singer-songwriter) working away. We rely on the kindness of strangers, people giving us ideas for stores that might carry it and that kind of thing. The press has been great and that's helped a lot. We don't know what we're doing but we're doing it ourselves.
MA: How else have people helped?
DZ: My friend Judy McGrath is the President of MTV. She really believes in what I'm doing; it has nothing to do with what she does during the day. But she wanted to throw a record release party for me. And she invited everyone she knew. It helped a lot!
MA: I saw the pictures of that party on your website. They're great.
DZ: Yeah! It was in Annie Leibowitz's studio. A big groovy affair for such a lowdown thing. So people have been remarkably supportive. I feel like I had a good idea and I worked hard on it, but it's been such a team effort. Everybody's pitched in in whatever way they can. It feels greatI am the lucky recipient of a lot of good will.
MA: Let me ask you a couple crass questions about being a self-sufficient musician. A lot of famous people � Sheryl Crow, G.E. Smith, Suzanne Vega, for example � appear on your record. Was this just a matter of calling in favors? Do you have to pay them scale? Do you have to somehow appease their record companies and managers and agents?
DZ: In the case of Sheryl, I had taken her over to the studio where I had space and she wound up making a record there. So she was around everyday and I asked her if she would come sing "Polly Wolly Doodle" and she said, "No problem." And that was it. With Suzanne and the others, it was the same thing: I just said, "This is what I'm doing for kids in the neighborhood. Do you want to be a part of it?"
Now, after the whole thing was done, I had to go back to them and say, "You know that tape? Well, I want to start a record company and put it out." I didn't want anyone to think I'd tricked them into making a "real" record under the guise of this casual thing. But they're my friends � they were fine about it. My lawyers had to spend a little time dealing with their record companies. But we put an offer on the table that, I felt, reflected my gratitude for their participation and would let them share in anything good that came along.
Having them play and sing was greatgreat for the record and great fun. I mean, they're all so talented: Sheryl, Suzanne, G.E. Smith, Simon Kirke and everyone else. I wanted everyone to feel acknowledged.
MA: They really made their presence felt.
DZ: Yeah. Another thing is, I like to hear these people out of context. I like to hear Sheryl, for example, sing in that way, in that setting, doing a kids' song. And having her and Suzanne on the record is also a way to throw the grown-ups a bone.
Having lots of guests is an idea that's carried over to the new record (Family Dance). We have some more interesting people on it: Rosanne Cash, Loudon Wainwright III and Sandra Bernhard.
MA: Sandra Bernhard? That must have been fun.
DZ: Oh, yeah. She's on this song I wrote called "Thrift Shop." It ends with a long musical tail and over that she and I are having a comic dialogue as if we're shopping in the thrift shop. She was here recording in my basement and I was really nervous. I was thinking, "Who do I think I am that I'm going to be telling Sandra Bernhard about comic timing?" But she was wonderful to work with.
