Dan Bern – HuffPost 7.27.11

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?

Dan Bern: (laughs) I guess I feel like if you need advice, then maybe you’re in the wrong field, you know? Because if you’re going to do it, then you don’t need any advice–you’ll do it despite what anybody says. I heard more people saying, “Do something else,” than, “You must do this.” I don’t know–develop a thick skin because it’s tough out there. What can I say? You’ve got to like to drive. Try to hold off having a bunch of responsibility for as long as you can.

MR: And a lot of artists can’t do that balance.

DB: If you can live in a van for long periods of time and not be hurting anybody else doing it, you’re in pretty good shape for the long haul. It’s all about the long haul. Anybody looking for a quick strike is putting themselves in a pretty tough place. But if you can somehow set things up so that if you make fifteen bucks a night for a while, then you’re probably going to be fine.

MR: It also seems necessary nowadays, in order to be heard above the din of everything else that’s out there, to be using the social networks and other marketing angles efficiently. But above all, it seems like you’ve got to have something unique, or something about yourself that you’re pumping. Do you feel like finding that element of yourself that is not like anybody else, especially if that’s what makes you happiest about your craft, is the thing that artists should really discover about themselves and focus on?

DB: Well, I think having something to say, which comes from way down deep, and is very individual–the kind of thing that you might find if you go away by yourself to a mountain cave–just having some strong thing that you have to express and that is going to carry you along. They always talk about “the voice.” Usually, it’s the narrative voice, almost a metaphor for something. But with singers, it’s also the actual voice, you’re singing voice, your instrument, and what’s going to convey all these great thoughts and ideas you have. Just develop that because that’s what is going to feed into your writing voice.