Dan Mangan Is Cooler Than You

In the last two posts, I celebrated the present by living in the past. Keeping in that vein, I'll once again post an interview that I did back at the end of October. I assure you, this will be the last time, because I think I might have some new material to write. However, usually when I think that, I disappoint myself when I realize that I don't actually have anything new to write. It's during that realization that I ask myself, "Is my life really that devoid of incidents worthy of notation?" Sadly, my life mostly consists of school work and drinking, and nobody cares to read about those banal exploits. Unless they involve you, right?

In any case, here is another interview that I was extremely lucky to conduct. It was with Dan Mangan, who is pretty much the coolest and talented guy I've met in the last few years. I was able to sit down with him at the end of his last Canadian tour in the fall, and if you want to talk about people who will go places, Dan will be going places. And we'll be lucky to go along for the ride as fans. If you aren't doing anything this Friday, go to Dan's early show at the Haven Social Club (the later show is sold out). It's what all the cool kids and some of us semi-cool kids are doing.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NAIT NUGGET ON NOVEMBER 19, 2009.

NO ROAD REGRETS WITH DAN MANGAN

By Tyler Daignault

Dan Mangan and I are sitting in the backroom of the Haven Social Club, in an area no bigger than a moderately sized cubicle, lit conspicuously by a multitude of black ultraviolet lights. The Vancouver singer/songwriter’s last show of his month-long tour has just come to a close, and thoughts of enjoying two much-needed nights’ rest in his own bed aren’t far from his thoughts. He’s dog-tired, whereas I’m wired with excitement by the amazing show I just witnessed. I try not to gush praise on the talented musician, but it’s hard not to dole out compliments when he’s so deserving of them. Mangan’s hauntingly sweet musical notes guided by sandpaper-rough vocals are fresh sounds in the stale, auto-tune wasteland of present music. By this point, however, the heaps of good word must seem like broken-record platitudes to Mangan, who has garnered great critical acclaim for his sophomore album, Nice, Nice, Very Nice. He’s riding an unbridled wave of good fortune across the nation, a ride few indie folk artists can claim. In the mere three months since NNVN hit the shelves, Mangan has been crowned the indie king of Vancouver, toured Australia and Europe, and most importantly, won the XM Verge Artist of the Year award, netting a cool $25,000.

But Mangan is his usual humble, affable self. When discussing how the album came to be, he is quick to note that it’s not he who’s the catalyst for success, but others. NNVN employed a host of friends, colleagues and contemporaries from the indie music scene to add depth, talent and experience to Mangan’s own ample repertoire. “I always tried to surround myself with people that I thought were better than me,” he states. “Naturally, you gravitate towards people who are talented and creative... and they can bring their own taste. Veda Hille, Mark Berube Justin Rutledge all brought their own flavour to the songs. For me, it was mostly an exercise in humility, bringing in these people, watching them do great work, and then fawning over them.” Mangan’s triumphs haven’t gone to his head. Even while playing sold-out shows across the country, he still is amazed. “It’s hard to have a bad time on stage when you have a crowd like tonight (in Edmonton). I tend to grin a lot on stage, because I can’t help it. I just look out at the crowd and I start giggling. It’s still all very surreal.”

The sold-out crowds on this tour are due in large part to the melodic collection of rock/roots/pop tunes Mangan has under his belt. Audiences across the country have been humming and singing along, and reacting strongly to his captivating stage presence. Mangan is enthralling to watch perform and his effect on the audience is palpable. Here in Edmonton, he could have sung the phonebook, and the audience would still have been mesmerized by his sheer talent. In songs like “Road Regrets”, “Basket” and “The Indie Queens Are Waiting”, Mangan grabs hold of your emotions and sweeps you along with anthems of rollicking road journeys, mournful affections, and subtle social comment. And with “Robots”, you can’t help but join Mangan in an almost epic sing-along that overtakes the entire room.

What does Dan do for an encore performance? After his two-day respite at home, he’s off to Dubai for a couple of shows and then back to Europe. He’s writing a little bit here and there, and he might explore his side project, Poor Places. For the time being, Dan’s enjoying a nice, nice, very nice year. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

Apologies and GravyTrains

Wow.

Three months.

No posts.

I apologize to anyone who reads this blog once in a while, out of pity, or simply by chance after clicking the "random" button on Blogspot. I kind of took an extended leave of absence from writing. I kind of just effed off, and I didn't say why. I'm sorry.

I had good reasons. I was busy. I was busy with school, busy with life, busy with trying to make sense of the world. Actually, just busy with the first one. The first term of my second post-secondary engagement required some serious attention.

But now that my first semester of radio school is complete, I will try to get back to doing what I love: writing about nostalgic pop-culture crap, posting movie trailers and thinking about the old days when liquor was cheap and personal responsibility was a basic human right.

To get back on track, I'll sort of cop-out and post some articles that I wrote for the NAIT Nugget while at school, like the post before this one. Sure, they're not recent, but they're original. The first post is an interview I had with Tim Doiron and April Mullen, the incredibly talented auteurs behind Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Way of the Tosser and their most recent work, GravyTrain. These artists are two of the coolest people I've met, and their films should be entered into the canon of national treasures. Enjoy!

Originally published in the NAIT Nugget on October 22, 2009

COME ON RIDE THE GRAVYTRAIN

by Tyler Daignault

“It’s kind of like Starsky and Hutch meet David Lynch doing Twin Peaks, if David Lynch had more of a sense of humour.”

Tim Doiron’s description of GravyTrain, the new feature-length film by him and his creative partner, April Mullen, could not be more spot-on. Chosen as the closing night gala film at the Edmonton International Film Festival this past Saturday, the film is a far cry from the pair’s first theatrical foray, the mockumentary Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Way Of The Tosser. Whereas RPS played it pseudo-straight with great effect, GravyTrain “is just a real good time. Wacky, even, I guess you could say”, says Doiron. “Eccentric, too” declares Mullen.

In GravyTrain, Doiron plays Charles “Chuck” Gravytrain, a ne’er-do-well cop bent on putting the serial-killing villain, Jimmy Fish Eyes, behind bars in the small town of Gypsy Creek. Mullen plays his newly minted partner, big city cop Miss Uma Booma, who greater competence hides her own sordid past. Also involved are big and small screen veterans like Canadians Colin Mochrie, Jennifer Dale and Peter Keleghan. Even Canadian rock legend Alan Frew, former lead singer of Glass Tiger is on board, and probably most surprisingly, Saturday Night Live alum Tim Meadows. How did Doiron and Mullen secure such talent for a small Canadian film? It helps if you’ve worked with the actor before. Mullen, whose first film credit is as “Teen Lover” in Meadows’ SNL skit-turned-feature, The Ladies Man, approached Meadows’ manager. As Mullen recounts, “I approached (the manager) and said ‘I was 16 when I did The Ladies Man and could Tim just read the script?’ And he loved it! And it was easy after that, because the role was written for him.”

GravyTrain is a visually pleasing trip into semi-70s buddy cop parody, but the discussion of its creation does require a look into its creation pedigree. Rock, Paper, Scissors and its subsequent DVD distribution through Alliance Atlantis, one of Canada’s biggest distribution companies, allowed Doiron and Mullen entrance into uncharted territory – a larger budget for their next picture. And that larger budget allowed them not only a larger and more identifiable cast, but more time to flex their filmmaking skills, skills they developed while creating RPS. “The training we had with RPS with the seven-day shoot definitely came in handy when dealing with so many variables, like stars and other people, because it can get hairy at times, ” relates Doiron. The hardest part, they say, was getting RPS seen. Doiron and Mullen, costumes and attitudes in tow, did all of the promotions themselves. They toured the country coast-to-coast, showcased at festivals, did every media interview they could get, and conducted screenings and tournaments at colleges. As a result, the film became a critical and audience hit and had widespread recognition, almost unheard of for an independent Canadian film, even in its home country.

Though the creative duo achieved great heights with Rock, Paper, Scissors all over Canada and even in the US and the UK, there is one city that they credit with having a major influence on their success: Edmonton. “It’s our second home!” exclaims Mullen, to which Doiron adds, “We love E-Town. Edmonton took a risk on us with our first film and we owe all of our success up to date to Edmonton. We met people who loved the film, and that led to meeting people at Telefilm, then Alliance, and that enabled us to get distribution and the ability to make our next film. ”

It’s been a long, arduous, but fruitful journey for the once grad class president and former Miss Teen Niagara, but the journey won’t stop to rest on its laurels. “We’ve already started writing our next one and we’re really excited”, reveals Mullen. Doiron adds, “I think we’re just going to stick to movies for a while. I think my days of trying to run a classroom are over, although I think April may give another run for Miss Canada.”