Brett Dennen, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter, has won attention worldwide for his mix of soulful, mellow jams, world grooves, and poignant lyrics (think Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Jack Johnson combined). The first stop of the American leg of his Hope for the Hopeless tour will be Nashville on November 13. Staff writer Patrick McBride and a few other writers from schools around the country caught up with him in between shows on his European tour.
Versus Magazine: I hear you’re in Europe, thank you for taking the time in between getting ready to play a show to talk to all of us.
Brett Dennen: Oh, that’s quite all right, thank you.
VM: So what kind of venue are you playing tonight in Europe? Is it quite different from American venues?
BD: It’s a little bit more scaled down, I mean we’re out here as a trio – a drummer and a keyboard and me – we’re playing small clubs. Like tonight we’re gonna play a small club.
VM: Yeah it sounds like it’d be different from the stadium-kind of venues that America has to offer.
BD: It’s different, but it’s fun. The crowds are kind of different too. They’re very respectful.
VM: Have you had bad experiences with crowds elsewhere?
BD: No, I’ve had great experiences. It’s just a different kind of energy. They’ll clap loud in between songs but they’re really quite and respectful during songs. At least here in Holland that’s how it is.
VM: Speaking of energy at venues and all, when I was reading up about you I heard you’d done various music festivals, for instance Rothbury – you played the first year that Rothbury ever existed – what has playing at a festival been like, compared to playing at a venue?
BD: Well, when they’re new I think the promoters and the people who put them on really try to go all out and I think the people who come to the festival all feel like they’re being a part of something new, and there’s a sense of you can make it whatever you want it to be. But I think just a festival in general, sometimes I have a lot more fun at festivals, mostly because it’s outside, and it’s great to be outside, and you hope there’s good weather. But for me I get to play for a lot more people than I normally would at a festival because there’s just, everybody’s there, you know. And people who might not come see me when I come to town, they’ll come see me because, you know, they might not have anything else to do during that time slot, and you get people who pass by that had never heard of me before, maybe some people heard of me and just wanted to come check me out or something. It’s really cool – a great way to make new fans.
VM: Really generally, what would you say you strive to achieve in your music?
BD: Well I try to feel good, and I try to make other people feel good, you know? I try to be in the moment and try to have a lot of fun because if I’m having a lot of fun while I’m singing and playing, that shows, and it makes the other people feel good. I mean, it’s pretty much just as simple as that, you know, I just want to make people feel good.
VM: You were included on Rolling Stone’s list of artists to watch in 2007. How has the increased attention you’ve been receiving lately affected you and your music?
BD: Well, I don’t know. I mean, I’m always, every year, every time I put an album out or something, the attention grows more and more. I mean that was like two years ago, so, I mean, a lot’s happened since then. You know, it hasn’t really changed my life or hasn’t changed my music at all. It all grows at a pace where I can keep up with it, so I can’t really tell you, you know, that I’ve changed very much or that my life has changed. It’s all been really steady.
VM: How would you describe your musical influences and your sound to someone who’s unfamiliar with you?
BD: Well I’d start out by saying I’m a singer-songwriter, so whatever that conjures up in people’s minds. Hopefully they’ll think of sort of the folky-Americana music that I think most people think of when they hear that term. But then, I would maybe add in, you know, the fact that I’m just a big fan of a lot of world music, so maybe some of that comes through – some of the grooves and some of the melodies.
VM: Sure. Can you explain kind of the philosophy behind your music? What do you see as the goal of your music and how it relates to your social activism?
BD: I don’t think I think about it that much. I’m just a musician; I write songs, and I write songs about what I’m interested in. So, like, if I fall in love, I want to write a song about falling in love. If I break up with somebody I’m gonna write a song about how much it hurts to break up. I also care a lot about the world and things that are going on, and there’s a lot of things that I don’t like that are happening in the world, so I include those in my songs also. I don’t think I’m making my mission to be political or to have a message or anything like that. I think I just, I’m just a writer. When I write I try to write about everything I’m thinking about and everything I care about and let it all come out.
VM: I recently heard this Pepe Romero quote from yesterday, and he said when he makes music it is an action of like transmitting or receiving with your subconscious. When you’re making music, do you sit down and write out a song or do you just feel like a song finds you? Or is it a mixture of both?
BD: Definitely, it’s both. I think, for a song to really find you, to like receive a song, I think, you have to be in a much, um, in a state that I really can’t get to. I think you have to be in a real meditative state or something like that, and I’m not really good at getting there. But definitely in the moment of inspiration I’m there, but that doesn’t all come through in a finished form. I have to kind of take that inspiration and try and write different things and see what impresses me or see what feels good or sounds good to me or not, and sometimes it takes a lot of work, and sometimes it’s really easy. It always comes from a moment of feeling really inspired, though, like a moment like you’re talking about, like you’re receiving, but then it always ends with me actually putting some work into it.
VM: Yeah, definitely. So, as for inspiration, I noticed on your Myspace that you’ve collaborated with a few different artists. How did you go about that, like did they first inspire you, or did you inspire them and they contacted you?
BD: Yeah. I think so too. I think, you know, it’s happened differently in different situations. Sometimes I’ll have a song that I’m just looking for somebody and then all of a sudden I’ll just be like oh, maybe that would be good. And then other times somebody will just bug me and pester me and be like I want to do something with you, and I’ll say okay and then we’ll do it.
A lot of times I’ll collaborate with other people on their, like people will ask me to sing on something of theirs, and usually when people ask me I always say yes because I’m like you – I think it’s cool when people collaborate, you know. I always am honored when people ask me to sing on their song or play on their song. I’m usually really into it. And I hope that when I ask people like Jason [Mraz] or Natalie [Merchant], they’ll say yes.
VM: So, Brett, what’s different about Hope for the Hopeless compared to your other albums?
BD: Well, I think this is a lot more time put into just working on the arrangements of the songs, you know, and the instrumentation and the collection of musicians playing together – really just trying to give it a smooth, well-rehearsed, produced sound. And in terms of the writing, I think I spent a lot more time really trying to simplify the song writing, just to get to the point of things quicker, where I think the other albums are a little more loose and a little more raw and maybe a little more open or a little less arranged.
VM: Do you think it kind of shows your maturation?
BD: My maturation? Yeah, I don’t know. I think maybe it could be maturing or it could be just, I don’t know. I remember when I was younger and I wrote songs I wanted them to be really long or have lots of words or be just a couple of chords but then, you know, as you’re singing them every night on stage I’d get kind of bored with them or I’d forget the lyrics because they’re so hard to remember and I think it comes a lot from being on stage.
When I’m on stage I like to play up tempo songs and I like the songs that have a really strong melody so that they’re really fun to sing. I think my earlier music, the melodies weren’t, you know, as strong and diverse, and I just have a lot more fun when the songs are really melodic and they’re more up tempo and they have less words, so I think that’s where it comes from.
VM: So I’m guessing touring invigorates you rather than drains you?
BD: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there are moments when I might fall asleep on the couch or something or fall asleep during dinner or whatever, but it’s always great to play in front of an audience, and it’s always great to travel to different cities. I absolutely love it, and you know, it’s like I said. It’s really inspiring – not only for songs, but for living, you know. I think it’s good to get out and see other places and lucky for me I get to make a life out of it.
VM: Brett, we’re very excited here in Nashville to be your first tour stop back in the States.
BD: Oh, cool. Yeah, I’m a little nervous for that show.
VM: Well, can you tell me a little bit about that, like what you’re looking forward to about coming back from Europe?
BD: Well, we’re playing as a three-piece right now in Europe, so when we get to Nashville the rest of the band is joining up with us, and we’ll have not really rehearsed, and we’re taking our whole show, in terms of production and everything, to another level, and I don’t know if all the stuff is going to work – like I told everyone in the band they had to go out and buy a suit, so we’re all wearing suits on stage, and we’ve got some lights and stuff, and I don’t know if it’s all gonna look good and work, and I don’t know if the band is gonna be rusty or not. But, I think any situation like that, just the newness of everybody getting back together, and it will all be such a thrill, you know, so I think we’ll probably ride off of that adrenaline rush.
VM: What are your thoughts about performing with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals?
BD: Oh, I think it’s going to be incredible. She’s amazing. Her band is really tight, and I think it’s a good match for the fans, you know, her fans and my fans. A lot this year I’ve been touring with bands that are other sort of like singer-songwriters that have been kind of like more mellow, and it’s been great, but I’m ready to have a band open for us that’s rocking, you know. And she’s as about as rocking as it gets. By the time I walk out on stage everybody’s gonna be all jazzed and ready to go, so I think it’s going to be rad.
VM: That’s awesome. I’m looking forward to it. To kind of highlight what a phenomenal songwriter you are, can you tell me a little about specifically the song “There Is So Much More”? It’s a very good example of your songwriting, and it’s something that people I know who listen to you always kind of talk about, especially the tree metaphor. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
BD: Yeah. You know, I don’t know. It’s something that I write about a lot, and it always comes out differently, but it’s really about trying to figure out who you are, you know, trying to make sense of yourself, trying to make sense of the world, trying to make sense of the universe and like your place in it, what your purpose in life is supposed to be and how you’re compared to other people and what you have, the privileges and resources, the wealth or whatever that you have compared to other people and how it’s all connected, trying to be thankful for what you have and trying, you know what I mean?
There’s a lot of things going on, and there’s a lot of sadness in there, too, and just being comfortable with that sadness, and I think it’s about pain and fear and courage and strength and weakness and insecurity. It’s all kind of in there together.
Brett Dennen will play at the Cannery Ballroom Friday, 11/13 with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Show starts at 8:30, tickets are $20 advance and $22 day of the show.
