Dan Rose
... is a captivating songwriter and performer who expresses his views on topics such as sustainability, climate action and minimalism through his acoustic guitar and his distinctive DIY approach.
Rose’s songs are like modern protest songs, and he does not shy away from sharing his feelings of insecurity or his anger about the state of the world with his listeners - always with a touch of down to earth charm and warm presence.
How did Dan Rose become an artist and what is his personal background?
Ha, well I guess he evolved into an artist over time, whatever that means. I started writing songs back when I realized that music and songs had the power to convey a message, in idea, something of value, rather than just being something people did to get attention, haha. I was really cynical, I guess. Through the years I've gotten to know myself better, I hope that goes for most people, that you learn more about yourself and that you're open to personal growth. Somewhere along the way I found a balance that works for me and let me do music for artistic and enthusiastic reasons, rather than a do-or-die career path. Success comes in many shapes and sizes and I try not to compare myself to others, because I want to do my music my own way regardless of streaming numbers or trends. Is that artistic? Wait, don't answer that! Haha, I hope you know what I mean.
What inspired you to create your latest release, “No Music On A Dead Planet”?
The climate crisis. Well, to be more precise there's an environmental group of artists, music industry professionals and organizations called Music Declares Emergency which had a campaign with that title. They are uniting artists and music lovers in the cause for positive climate action, for keeping the conversation alive and for actual progress to be made. I am one of many artists who have signed their declaration and joined forces with others.
Together, stronger, you know. So, I wrote the song as a tribute to finding a community and a sense of unity. It can be really to try and do your best to live more sustainably, questioning your own actions and beliefs, so I wanted to share some of my thoughts and feelings about that, letting anyone out there with doubts or climate-anxiety know that they are not alone. Things are bleak, maybe there's hope, but at the very least we're not alone.
How would you describe your upcoming album, which features the track “No Music On A Dead Planet”?
Very DIY, very lo-fi. It's mainly acoustic guitar and vocals in some kind of alternative indie-folk protest-singer vibe. It's raw and mostly consists of one-takes and zero auto-tune. Not radio-friendly. I made this album "This House Is On Fire" as an artistic statement, to show the world who I really am and what I truly sound like. I didn't want to go into a studio and work with a bunch of popular plug-ins and have everything sound shiny. These songs reflect how I see the world and it's not always pretty. It made sense to me that this album should be very immediate and have an anti-mainstream song and I'm actually very pleased with the outcome. I hope that everyone out there who's looking for something honest and truthful beyond the many layers of mainstream and trends finds this album and appreciates it for its insistence on being different.
You confront listeners with a topic that people often shy away from in your songs. What are your views on the climate and ecological crisis?
We can do better. For many people it's easier to assume that it's not really that bad, rather than acknowledging the situation and just go on with our daily lives like normal. That's basically how it is, right? I think we need to realize that we can't just go on like everything's normal, we have to address the issues and not just speak about them like it's a trending topic. Silencing the topic won't make the problems go away or resolve anything.
I'm starting to really understand "preppers", people who prepare for catastrophic events, because they believe that we are not collectively ready to deal with the problems ahead, so they make their own preparations, hoping to be safe. I myself cling to being an optimist, believing that the global population will unite in demanding change and those in high power will agree, I'm sure there will be some very difficult decisions to be made that won't be popular everywhere, but it needs to happen. I have hope, but I also have that really dark feeling that maybe it's too late and that the consequences are too terrible to imagine.
But hey, nothing gets better if we give up so I hope to be able to inspire a positive vibe towards climate activism and climate-positive change. It's all about seeing this as an opportunity to make our world a better place, rather than trying to keep it the way it is.
How do you feel about, small actions from everyone can make a difference vs. only the big but delayed actions from the industries/politics can help or is it more a combination like, a lot of small actions trigger a big one?
This world was never perfect, but we have the power to make things better step by step, person by person, action by action. I truly believe that every action counts and exists instead of a non-action or a negative action. The nihilist in me is having a tough time with this positive outlook I have, I bet he's cringing his toes right now, haha. But I really do believe that public opinion has power, we've seen that time and time again. So if we can continue building a common understanding of how we need to turn things around, I'm sure that will seep through in some way and force some real hard actions that will really start making some powerful progress. If you're out there and are feeling hopeless and down about all this, I hope you find some kind of new perspective in my songs. Feel free to reach out to me as well.
Back to music, how do you balance your time as an Indie artist?
"Balance" is the key word here, right? I think most of us these days are balancing our time very carefully, or very messy in some cases, because we do so many things and are occupied with a lot. I personally plan ahead as much as I can, I like that. I'm very organized. I balance my time for music so I have time to write and create the music that I want to, but also have time to promote it and play live gigs, rehearsing and so on. I really do enjoy being an "indie" artist.
What are some of the upcoming projects or plans that you have in the works or that you are excited about?
Right now I'm very excited about the whole album release. I have released a few songs for it and have opened up for pre-orders of a very special cassette-tape version of the album along with some totally unique pieces of merchandise to go along with it.
Again, it's all coming from a very artistic and "indie" place and I'm enjoying that. I also love to play live and sometimes even be invited to give a talk in relation to playing my songs about those issues of climate activism and the climate crisis, my hopes for a sustainable future and a minimalist approach to modern life.
As you can tell, I do like to talk and engage with people, so I do that with my live shows and on Instagram as well, it's always interesting to open up my DMs, haha. But yeah, there's music coming out, I'll be playing live and I'm gonna be playing some international gigs again in the not too distant future. Ever since the pandemic I've only toured within my own country, so I think it's about time that I brought my songs and stories on the road again. If you're reading this, let me know where I should visit, okay? Thanks!
