 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| |
|
WANDERLUST:
Dayna Kurtz
by Brenda Kahn |
 |
|
|
| |
|
| [The
traditional A&R guys] knew that high selling crap justified keeping
a low earning genius/legend/prestige artist on board. A Patti Smith,
a Laura Nyro, Tom Waits, an Aretha Franklin. They cared that the
world saw their labels as a place where big records AND important
records were made. When Patti Smith got dropped, I knew there'd
never be a chance in hell for good music on majors. It's done. An
artist - particularly a solo artist - is just much, much better
off indie or alone. Our overhead is low enough, and there's a burgeoning
middle class among touring singer-songwriters. It's doable now.
It's just a fuck of a lot of hard work. -- Dayna Kurtz
|
|
| |
|
WOMANROCK:
Your record is so beautiful and soulful. Where do you find the inspiration
for your work both lyrically and melodically?
DAYNA:
Gosh. Thank you... dunno. I'm doing so much business these days
that I forgot where inspiration comes from. Also, this album has
about 4 years worth of material, so my influences changed over that
time... there was this Eastern European cabaret thing going on 3
years ago (Paterson, Miss Liberty) I hear some Jeff Buckley, Leonard
Cohen, and obscure Italian accordion music that I was listening
to quite a bit influencing those tunes. And I've also gone through
a classic country/country blues/alt country thing that I can see
being expressed in some of the record. I wish I could tell you where
my inspiration comes from - I'd go chasing that fucker down right
now. I'd wring its little neck for toying with me so. It helps to
have a couple of records that I love so much it borders on obsession.
I haven't found one I love so much in way too long.
WOMANROCK:
When did you start playing music and when did it become a professional
career?
DAYNA:
I started in my teens, and started gigging seriously in my early-mid-20's.
I started touring around then.
WOMANROCK:
When was your first tour, to where?
DAYNA:
I've done quite a lot of touring - until I got in a bummer of a
car wreck 3 years ago, I was on the road 7 or 8 months out of the
year. My first tour was in 1990 down south. It's still my favorite
run. I do 2 or 3 southern tours a year, then various tours and single
dates out elsewhere.
WOMANROCK:
Do you like being on the road?
DAYNA:
I love being on the road. More than almost anything really. I love
the adventure of it. I love not knowing exactly what's gonna come
your way. I love being able to leave a town with my middle finger
out the window after a shitty gig and stay and make merry with new
or old friends after a great gig. I love looking for old junk stores
on country roads. If you have wanderlust, being a solo touring artist
is a great way to express it without being wealthy.
WOMANROCK:
What was the most unexpected gig you've played?
DAYNA:
Unexpected gig... hmm. I don't know what you mean by unexpected.
I've played some strange gigs. One of my first big gigs was opening
up for a hard-core band in the early 80's at UMass. A good friend
of mine managed the band, and invited me to open. I was a hard core,
Joni Mitchell-lovin'-granola-hippy-folksinger then. There were these
punks there (this is pre-lollapalooza, mind you) shaved head, piercings,
Doc Martins - much scarier look/lifestyle than it is now. I was
terrified and they were too - really pained, am-I-in-the-right-room
looks on their faces. At least they didn't boo. They could have
booed.
WOMANROCK:
Did you start out booking your own shows? And now?
DAYNA:
I started out booking myself. Every once in awhile I hook up with
an agent. Don't have one now and I really really need one now. Booking
is the one thing in particular I'd just love to hand to someone
else. Lately it's gotten a little too big for me to handle.
WOMANROCK:
How did you hook up with Richie Havens' tour? Do you enjoy opening
for him?
DAYNA:
I opened for him a few times, (just getting paired with him by club
bookers, as it seemed appropriate, music-wise), and his manager
and he decided it was a good match, and they started offering me
gigs as they got them. I love playing with Richie. It's a joy to
hang with someone who enjoys his life as much as he does. He's really,
really happy doing what he does. I mean, anyone in the business
as long as he is has been reamed by a million scumbag managers/labels/promoters.
I've met/opened for so many bitter divas and he ain't the least
bit of either. He's got a young heart, he's still filled with wonder.
He just lets all the bullshit just roll off his back, and let's
it all be about the music, and about bringing beauty and connection
into the world. It's inspiring. He's a beautiful soul, a good egg,
and a great hang besides. I feel very lucky to know the guy.
WOMANROCK:
I noticed that Bug Music is the administrator for your songs. Have
they been proactive in placing your songs for film or television?
Have you seen a benefit in having them on your team?
DAYNA:
They seem to be proactive as long as I'm proactive... when you're
a small time indie artist that doesn't have money movie gigs chasing
you down, you have to be a squeaky wheel in a company with that
many small time indie artists. That said, I have a few real fans
at that company that have done well by me in terms of time and attention,
and have become friends besides. Yup, they are a benefit on my team,
if for no other reason than their name being so well respected.
It gets me in the door, to a certain extent. Fact is, they signed
me thinking that I was a sure thing, major deal wise. The fact is,
they still give me time and attention after they've banged their
head against that wall too many times, trying to get me heard by
the powers that be. Well, I'm lucky there. They have no solid reason
to have faith in my economic potential. So god bless 'em, I say.
WOMANROCK:
What has your experience been with the major labels?
DAYNA:
Every couple of years I have a flurry of interest, and invariably,
some bean counter/marketing genius with some sense talks to the
brass to inform them that they know of absolutely no way to break
me to commercial radio. Generally, the A&R folks I've dealt with
are real music fans with jobs more suitable for car salesmen and
circus hucksters. It's a shitty job if you have any taste or ethics
at all, and I don't envy them a bit. I know it's hip to demonize
A&R guys, but most of them started out because they were geeky college
radio Deejays, or huge fans of (fill in the blank) and just wanted
to find a job where it was their duty to find music they thought
was just amazing and bring it to the world. The corporatization
of the music business has fucked them as much as artists and consumers.
They either have to start looking for the next big lowest common
denominator act, and pray it gives them enough power to sign something
good, or they get fired. Or they go work for very low pay at an
indie label. The Clive Davis's and Mo and Lennys and Jerry Moss's
of the world may have been capitalist pigs, may have given out standardized,
typical artist slave contracts, but they also actually gave a shit
about good music. They knew that Warrent/Britney/whatever was crap.
But they also knew that high selling crap justified keeping a low
earning genius/legend/prestige artist on board. A Patti Smith, a
Laura Nyro, Tom Waits, an Aretha Franklin. They cared that the world
saw their labels as a place where big records AND important records
were made. When Patti Smith got dropped, I knew there'd never be
a chance in hell for good music on majors. It's done. An artist
- particularly a solo artist - is just much, much better off indie
or alone. Our overhead is low enough, and there's a burgeoning middle
class among touring singer-songwriters. It's doable now. It's just
a fuck of a lot of hard work.
WOMANROCK:
Have you ever done a label deal (big or small) before this album?
DAYNA:
Development deals with a couple of majors, lots of negotiation.
I was negotiating a contract with Private Music the week they folded.
I've been kind of unlucky (or lucky, depending on who you talk to).
WOMANROCK:
Tell me about Kismet Records - what's the label like, how did it
start?
DAYNA:
Kismet is a label Jeff Pachman wanted to start forever. We met when
he was a creative manager at Bug. He's a music industry vet, got
loads of experience in all areas of record making/promoting. So,
when my last big deal fell through in the 9th hour, we talked it
over, and looked at our meager finances, and said "fuck it, spanky
- let's start a label." We hired Tracy Mann to help publicize the
launch of the new record, and we maxed out our credit cards and
are at present crossing our fingers. So far, it's going great. I'm
lucky.
WOMANROCK:
I read in one of your interviews that songwriting is "putting yourself
in a state of mindfulness". The comment has a reflection of Buddhist
philosophy. Do you study Buddhism? If not can you expand on this
idea?
DAYNA:
No, I'm not much of anything, religion wise, though I borrow ideas
from Buddhism all the time. Like mindfulness. Mindfulness in writing
or performing, for me, is just being as observant of yourself, in
a non-judgmental way as possible. It's knowing yourself well enough
to know when to take a break, or when to push through harder, or
noticing that you're racing for a bag of cookies, or the TV remote
right when you're on to something good. Can't say it always keeps
me from the cookies, but when I actually am in a writing phase,
it helps. Writing can be scary, sometimes, when it's real, you know
what I mean. I feel really exposed and emotional, and I'm not particularly
comfortable with just sitting with that in my regular life - I've
always been kind of masculine that way - not really at ease with
depth of feeling. Learning the little I know from books, from yoga
practice, about breathing, and just allowing what's going on keeps
me from running away from myself.
WOMANROCK:
How do you feel about the changes coming about in the music industry
because of Internet technology?
DAYNA:
Changes in the Sony/WEA music industry, I have no idea. Changes
in my music industry, well... it's changed the way we communicate
with one another, and therefore the way we do business with each
other. On an indie level, it's made this whole world of connection
with folks with similar goals/ideas/tastes. Which is necessary given
how all my favorite records lately are independent releases. I hear
about music I'd like through the grapevine, and a big part of the
grapevine is online now. The more out of touch and centralized the
music business gets, the more folks are finding shit on their own,
through alternative media, through gossip, through message boards.
Boy, that sounds more optimistic than I thought I ever was. But
it's certainly changed my career an awful lot, and mostly in good
ways. Phone bills are lower when I'm booking Europe, for sure.
WOMANROCK:
Do you have any advice or words of wisdom to impart from your experiences
as a blues heroine road warrior?
DAYNA:
Get a AAA plus membership, cause they'll tow you up to a hundred
miles instead of just 5. Also, CB radios are the poor man's cell
phone, and lonely truckers are great company on a lonely highway.
Just don't tell them you'll get a cup of coffee with 'em - your
imagination is much much prettier.
WOMANROCK:
What else do we need to know about Dayna Kurtz?
DAYNA:
That my biggest pet peeve in the whole world is girls who hover
and pee all over toilet seats in public restrooms. Ladies, if your
ass is too precious to sit down, then lift the damn seat. I've been
wanting a public forum for that rant my entire adult life. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
_________________________________
 Dayna
Kurtz's new release
Postcards from Downtown, is now available
at the WOMANROCK
Music Shop or visit:
http://www.daynakurtz.com/ |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
_________________________________
Brenda Kahn
is a New York recording artist and the editor of WOMANROCK.com.
Past notes from the Editor. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
