Safe // Sound was able to chat with Daniel Bachman on the eve before his show in Savannah! We were able to figure out a little bit more about the uber talented, elusive twenty-two year old. Here's what he had to say:
It
goes without saying, but Hi:
Hey!
Seven
Pines is so atmospheric and evocative, do you attribute your
songs to a specific place, region or memory? Is your hometown, Fredricksburg, the Mountains?
Fredericksburg
Isn't in the mountains - its about halfway between DC and Richmond on
95 and an hour to the east the bay and an hour to the west some
pretty serious foothills. But its still very nice around here
in town and around the counties - not completely taken over by DC
yet.
more below --->
That
whole scene was really big for me when I was a teenager - when all of
it was coming out. I don't think that I really fit in to it,
especially because its been some years since it was a major thing -
but I've been lucky enough to play and get to know some of those
people that really hit me when my 16 year old girlfriend burned me
all those CDs, haha.
Do particular songs elicit a personal memory, some visual from your past?
Absolutely.
A lot of the titles and tunes are from specific nights I've had
good or bad that carried some weight with my personal life or things
from when I was a kid. I'm a total sentimental sap sometimes -
especially with tunes.
I read that you have an
obsession with the Civil War, why is this?
My
parents house is on an old camp site - we used to dig up stuff all
the time - I think its less about the civil war and more just that I
really love and feel a connection of the history of that area.
(Fredericksburg - Map, 1862)
I
believe you wrote and recorded Seven Pines while in
a new city (Philadelphia!) - it, at times, provokes an aching
lonesomeness, and I wonder how much of this is your response to being
away from "home"?
I recorded it in Philly last May. Philly was a great move for
me - I had wanted to move there since I was around 16 or 17 - all my
favorite music came out of there and I just wanted to be a part of
it. It was rough for the first 6 months - I had a real job -
that worked the hell out of me - but I kinda used not having a lot of
friends and working and saving to just play a lot and I kinda got
better that year. I love that city - and have more friends
there than anywhere else now - but I think I got what I needed out of
the experience - it was one of the better years I think I've ever had.
Where
are you living now?
How does this affect your music?
How does this affect your music?
I'm
in Fredericksburg until tour starts tomorrow - then back for 4 days
and then I'm moving to Chapel Hill Durham area in NC and hoping to
make that my permanent home. I think it's really
important to me to have a place like that - to come home to and rest
and then have the comfort in a place to continue to work on stuff.
I'm not good at writing on the road so when I come home I turn
out 4 or 5 songs in a couple weeks and then take them out. If I
didnt have a space I'd be touring the same bullshit year round - which
was kind of the problem the last 6 months of constantly being on the
road.
You
started touring when you were 17 - that's incredibly young. I
am sure those road experiences helped build your character in so many
fundamental ways. It feels like it would force you into very
adult situations, with a lot of homesickness in between. Any
good wide-eyed stories? (I picture, for some reason, young
Daniel some night at a lonely desolate bar, where an unsuspecting
woman buys you a beer, drives you around the town, and the rest is
~history~). Did you meet many interesting creatures on the
road?
Oh
my god yes. That first tour was bleak - February in the
northeast. Almost drove into a frozen river - stuck in
snowstorms and no one at show. No one at shows for a long time
actually. I had a lot of problems with panic attacks and
anxiety when I was younger and it was a way for me to work through
that shit directly. So thats really why I started touring -
that and I wanted to see Vermont - it wasn't really about playing
music for people until a couple years later - I just kept doing it
and got deeper and deeper into it. Now Im sunk pretty deep.
But, yeah I left highschool when I was 17 and my parents were ok
with me traveling - it absolutely opened my eyes to a lot that I
hadn't seen before and I'm a much stronger person now - although tired
and stressed. But, it's been amazing and I never thought that I
would ever keep this shit going. I love touring and I think its
so important - don't think I could do it forever but I have another 10
years left on it - hopefully.
Performing
is a fascinating thing, for you're able to channel whatever personas
that you wish - but your performances seem pretty
wrapped up in concentration (duh) and I wonder if you still have the
feeling that you are both Daniel Bachman, but also an additional
identity (think of a spiritual medium). Who do you think you
channel/transmit?
During
live gigs I'm really just trying to play as hard as I can. In
the past Ive tried to emulate other players or tricks and
sometimes it comes off a little bit fake - not trying to sound cheesy
or anything but I feel comfortable with the way I play finally and I
think at least that I'm just trying to be me as much as I can.
Finally,
Would
a dream tour be up the Appalachian trail - maybe along the trail
towns?
But,
I imagine, you'd have to do it alone.
I've
actually only walked very short bits of it in the past - but i'm not
opposed to the idea at all.
Wonder if the heads would come out.
COME SEE DANIEL PLAY ON THURSDAY AUG. 29TH @ SAFE // SOUND GALLERY
with Pale Grasses and Richard Leo Johnson
8 PM / $ 5 DONATION
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