Soren Daniels is a difficult man to track down. After several weeks
of phone tag and four cancelled meetings, I finally caught up with
him over lunch at Max's, a hole-in-the-wall diner at the edge of the
warehouse district.
Soren Daniels is a difficult man to track down. After several weeks
of phone tag and four cancelled meetings, I finally caught up with
him over lunch at Max's, a hole-in-the-wall diner at the edge of the
warehouse district.
He arrives late ("Stuck in a meeting. We're still arguing over the liner notes," he explains) and orders black coffee and a carrot bran muffin. He seems tired and a little edgy, but he dismisses inquiry about his personal well-being with a polite-but-terse "I'll be fine once this weather clears up." It is easy to see why he has gained a reputation among Happenstance's fans as "the inscrutable one". As soon as the conversation turns to music, however, he becomes much more animated -- so we talk about music for a while.
Independent Spirit: Word on the street is that you spent more than twice as much time in the studio for this album than for any of your previous albums. What makes this album different?
Soren Daniels: Our sound has always been fueled by a lot of raw emotion, so historically our approach in the studio has been to work ourselves into the right emotional state and then get the song in only a couple of takes. This time, we're trying to achieve a similar emotional edge with a higher level of craftsmanship. We did a lot more overdubbing, a lot more layering. I think the emotional content on this album is more complex, so we've needed to make the music more complex to capture those ideas.
IS: Happenstance's previous two albums [Bloodthunder and Panicatlas] have dealt with some pretty dark subject matter. Does the new album explore similar themes?
SD: Last Night is all about endings and beginnings. A lot of the songs on it are as dark as anything we've done before -- the penultimate track is even called "Armageddon" -- but there's an undercurrent of hope running through a lot of the album.
IS: Why all the darkness?
SD: As a band and as individuals, we've dealt with some pretty rough times over the last few years -- especially Folly, who has always been our principle songwriter. In the space of less than two years, she lost her father to cancer, she got stabbed pretty badly by a stalker, and a dear friend of ours [opera singer Ianna Gish] was murdered. We're living in dark times, and I think our music has reflected that.
IS: Where, then, does the 'undercurrent of hope' come from?
SD: For the first time since [former drummer] Syd [Chance] left, most of the songs on the album were written as collaborations among two or more members, so the feeling of isolation thatpermeated Panicatlas isn't really in evidence this time around. We're relying on each other more, not just musically, but also personally. And we've added a new member [acoustic guitarist Tjaden Yorke] who is so young and full of energy and life that I think her optimism has really challenged us to push our songs in new directions.
In the last couple of years, I think we've gotten more contemplative, more mature. The last couple of albums were full of raw emotion and primal screams: "Why is this happening? Make it stop!" Now we've started to ask what we can do about it, how we can live through last night and make it to today. "Snap" [from Panicatlas] talked about violent crime and victimization with a sense of visceral immediacy. This time around, we've got Folly's song "Scar Maps", about wearing your past -- no matter how bad -- like a badge of honor. Then there's Haven's beautiful tribute "Ianna", about recognizing the beauty in a life even when it has been cut short. Even the rawest track on the album, "Armageddon" -- a six minute percussion jam -- segues into "First Light," the delicate album ender. That one was a collaboration among Folly, Haven, and Tjaden, with lyrics by Ianna's eleven-year-old daughter, and it bursts with more feminine energy than all our other albums put together.
IS: With the last few albums, you've been in the difficult position of taking over on drums for a former member widely believed to be one of the best in the business. How have you dealt with the pressure of trying to replace Syd, and how do you respond to critics who suggest the band will never be as good without him?
SD: No one could ever replace Syd. He was one-of-a-kind. [laughs] He's a phenomenal drummer -- truly the best I've ever known -- but I think the real secret to the band's early success was the incredible synergy between him and Folly. Sometimes it was almost like they were sharing a brain. I don't think any other drummer, no matter how good, is ever going to be able to capture that. My main advantage is that I've known Folly for so long -- almost twenty years now -- that I think I come closer to it than anyone else. We've played with other drummers since then -- some of them really good, too -- but I always end up rotating back into that slot because the flow just isn't right with anyone else.
And, yeah, if Syd were to re-join the band tomorrow, we'd definitely be better for it -- but on the other hand, I don't think it's accurate to say that we aren't as good now as we were six years ago. We've grown so much, individually and as a group, that I think overall we're back at the top of our game. I think the new album is going to prove that.
IS: Syd's mysterious disappearance has become a thing of legend. One of the more popular and persistent rumors was that he quit after you and he had a falling-out over a romantic rivalry for the affections of another band member. Can you shed any more light onto what really happened?
SD: Well, in the first place, Syd's a charismatic guy. Do you really believe that if he and I were competing for a girl, he would've been the one to leave? I will say that his reasons for leaving were personal rather than musical, but they had nothing to do with anyone in the band.
IS: Yet both you and he have been romantically linked to Folly, haven't you?
SD: If you've met Folly, you know that she does things her own way. Her relationships -- I mean all her relationships -- defy categorization along conventional lines. In twenty years, I've never heard her refer to anyone as her 'boyfriend'. She loves us all, in her own way.
IS: In other words, you're ducking the question.
SD: Damn straight. [smiles]
IS: Moving back to the upcoming album, then: Do you think Last Night will finally bring you the commercial success that has evaded the band so far?
SD: I think a better question is, Do we want it to? From the beginning, we've been in this for the music, not for the fame or the money. I think at some level, we're almost afraid of getting too big, because we don't want the music to be compromised. That's the reason we've always been self-produced and self-funded. We've actually been offered studio contracts on more than one occasion, but we don't want to feel that anyone else has a say in what we do. As long as we're earning enough to keep it going, we're content.
But, yeah, even though I think Last Night is about as musically accessible as Panicatlas -- the same experimentation with rhythm and meter, the same eclecticism -- I think the emotional content of this album will have a broader appeal. On the other hand, it only has a couple of "radio friendly" tracks on it. To get the full impact of the album, you really need to listen to the whole thing, front to back. It may not be hugely commercial, but I think it'll get good word of mouth. I expect our fans will be playing for their friends.
IS: Where do you see yourself, and the band, in ten years?
SD: I hope we continue to grow and challenge each other. There's no telling what the music will sound like, but I hope we'll still be playing it. This band is my life, those guys are my family. I can't imagine doing anything else.