Interview: Dan Atta

Self Introduction

“My Name is Dan Atta, I am a singer-songwriter. I grew up loving a lot of music from the 60s, The Beatles, a very original band to love, they were an inspiration growing up, along with The Stones, The Kinks, and Bob Dylan and David Bowie, so I write a lot in that and try to do something that is in the style of 2021. I just write songs and let them out there.”

Who are some of your most prominent influences?

“I kind of covered that in my introduction, but I can go further into it. In addition to those 60’s groups, I also really loved Oasis. I still love Oasis. Noel Gallagher’s songwriting and melodies were a really big influence. They were a really important influence on me when I was in high school. Also, The Strokes were an enormous influence on me in high school, and Arctic Monkeys and guys like that. That whole era of grunge revival. When The Strokes came out, no one sounded like them and they made me want to really pick up a guitar and start writing my own songs.”

What pushed you into the music industry?

“I love writing songs, it's what I do to relax and have fun. I was always sitting around writing songs and playing the guitar and I built up this big catalog of songs that I wasn’t doing anything with, so I decided to go and record them and put them up. The five songs on Spotify now are the first five songs I recorded in a studio and now I’m planning on recording the next set of songs that I’ve been working on since the pandemic. I guess the inspiration to do this was because I was spending so much time doing this outside of work, I felt like I owed it to myself to record it and let it out into the world.”

What is your songwriting process?

“My process is pretty traditional. I know I mentioned The Beatles, but when The Beatles traveled to India in 1968, they just brought their modern guitars and wrote most of The White Album out there when doing their mediation. For me, I like to write on acoustic guitar. The process is just sitting down and playing chords and seeing what melodies pop into my head. The process is some days you sit down and play the same chord sequence and hear a cool melody and other days you sit down and play and you don’t hear a cool melody. You never know what's going to come your way depending on when you sit down, so that's kind of why I play the guitar. That's how I write, on a guitar, nothing too fancy. When I have something that I like, that's when I’ll sit down and fine-tune the lyrics. I care a lot about the lyrics and it is the longest part of the process. That part of the process for me is largely when after the song is written, so that means more the chords and the melody.” 

What other Instruments do you play, if any?

“I first learned how to play bass and I think I’m a better bass player than a guitarist, but I started playing bass when I was in high school, because I wanted to be in a band, but I felt that a lot of guys play guitar and there are a lot of drummers. Usually, the guys in the band who play bass are guys who play guitar, but they weren’t the lead guy, so I thought ‘what if I make bass my primary instrument?’ maybe it’d be my way of making it into the band. So I started learning the bass and I was falling in love with The Beatles, and their music. Paul McCartney’s bass lines are super melodic and really [especially in later work] is almost like he’s an independent melody, the bass is just so melodic and it's not like he’s playing groove notes, so I was really inspired by that style.

I did end up playing bass in a band in high school, but later I really wanted to start writing my own songs, so I needed to learn how to play guitar because it's really hard to make a melody on bass. I play a little bit of piano, but I prefer to write on my guitar.”

What Career Would You Have Chosen if Not Music?

“I work at a film production company for my day job. I’m the in-house story editor, so I read a lot of scripts and help writers with notes on how to improve the script. I really like reading, writing, and editing, a lot of my lyrics are inspired by what I read. I read a lot of poetry and novels and watch a lot of films.”

What Song of Yours Would You Want to Go Viral?

“With the first batch of songs I recorded, they’re all me, but they’re all a little sonically different. I was trying to find the best sound of each song to show my craftsmanship as a writer, so I think this time around I’d like to find a more cohesive sound. I plan to spend more time in the studio to find a more unifying sound, so the answer to that question is that I don’t know. I have to see how things feel and sound in the studio because some songs you hear a certain way and once in the studio I might feel a different way and take it in another direction sonically. Once everything is finished I think I would have a better idea of what feels the most like a single. Generally, something more upbeat and fast with a catchy chorus, but maybe not, I don’t know yet.”

How Would You Describe Your Music to New Listeners?

“I do love a lot of 60’s stuff, so people always surprise me when they say you sound like this band or that. Death Cab for Cutie is one I get a lot, probably because the lead singer and I have a similar tonal quality in our voice, same with America, but I don’t necessarily hear it myself, so it's hard to describe a sound. I like things that incorporate melody and lyrics that are rooted in my love for 60’s music but I’m also trying to do new things and write songs that I like and haven’t heard yet. It's hard for me to articulate my sound, so I’m always intrigued to hear what listeners have to say.”

What is Your Favorite Song Right Now?

“There’s a band in the UK called Pastel that just came out with a song called Deeper than Holy. Its super early nineties, it has the attitude of early Oasis, the singer, and Richard Ashcroft from the Verve. It has that early nineties vibe, great vocals, great baselines, great attitude. A friend sent it to me, it's the second song they’ve released and I thought it was pretty good, so if you haven’t heard it, it is Deeper than Holy by Pastel.”

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