STAYING HUNGRY FOR THE MUSIC
HOW DANTE DECARO KEEPS HIS VIGOR FOR LIFE
After a year of touring with the newly reunited Wolf Parade, Dante Decaro seems to have no intentions of slowing down. While music for his November 4th EP release, Kill Your Boyfriend, had been pre-recorded from years past, he spent the better part of this year creating new music for an upcoming solo LP and committing to his bandβs revival. He takes a rare few moments mid-studio session with the group to sit down and talk all things Dante. Despite proving his own motto that βlife is chaosβ in the scope of his career, Decaro presents incredibly low key and impressively humble. His no frills approach to music creation crosses the visuals of hometown hero and struggling romantic artist.
βI live in a really small town and I built a studio there out of an old barn. So I spend most of my time when Iβm home in there and itβs full of instruments and itβs kind of always ready to record. I just go in there and I mill aroundβ¦β
This methodology led to an incredibly diverse set of sounds on Kill Your Boyfriend. Making heavy use of synthesizers and keyboard effects, Decaro creates the illusion of a massive cast behind the solo record.
βMy process. Well I guess it depends. Sometimes itβs just a guitar, and other ones Iβll just start. The oldest one is Rwanda. That was the first one I think I recorded from that whole era and the way I did thatβ¦β He trails off. βI had just moved home to my small town from Vancouver, from out of this relationship and miserable period of my life and I was just like, well I gotta make music or Iβm just going to be miserable. It was hard to function, so I had a drum machine and I just made what is like the simplest beat in the worldβ¦ And I just pressed record and I caught my breath for four minutes. AndΒ then I got up and I attached it to a synthesizer soΒ it would sync the timing, and then put the baseline over top of that. And I was just making it up as I went along and remarkably it just seemed that the drums ended right when I would have ended the music anyway, so I thought thatβs pretty cool, imagine that. So then I put on another little part and it just seemed to work perfectlyβ¦ Thatβs kinda what got me off my sheetsβ¦β
Going through a rough time in his life led Dante Decaro to his pained lyrics and striking album title.
Dante Decaro – Kill Your Boyfriend Album Review
βItβs kind of a sick joke. The boyfriend is meβ¦ I was just in this really horrid relationship, the person I was dating was just so brutal to me, and I just thought, God, just kill me and put me out of my misery. I canβt do this any longer. So thatβs what thatβs about. And I thought it was, you know after time had past, I thought it was funny. And I thought it was a good way to catch peopleβs attention.β
While a broken heart and deflated affect are his impetuses to creation, Decaro has a few requirements to kicking off a good performance. He insists on at least one drink prior to going on stage, though he never cares to pick his poison. When it comes to food he tries not to eat for at least 3 hours before playing. βI like being hungry on stage. Being full zaps my vigor for life and it slows me down. Iβm a little too satisfied maybe. I donβt really care about playing a show after a big meal.β
The obvious double meaning of βbeing hungry on stageβ lies in Decaroβs push towards his art. Always starving for more, Decaro has never let alone with his career. Heβs been part of bands Johnny and the Moon, Hot Hot Heat and Wolf Parade, all the while solo writing. Even in the years apart from Wolf Parade, Decaro was always in collaboration with the bandβs other members which ultimately led to the groupβs revival this year.
βWe never really said we were done. We just needed to stop. We all lived in dramatically different parts of the world for the in between periodβ¦ I opened for Spencer on one of his tours playing these songs [Kill Your Boyfriend] about 3 years ago, playing guitar and singingβ¦ We did just a few shows on the West Coast. At the time we were in San Jose and that we stayed with Arlen and it was the first time the three of us had been together in a while. And we sorta talked about how we werenβt opposed to starting up again. And there were was some other chance meeting where we talked about it again and then the three of us wound up back on Vancouver island, and Dan is actually from there and we were just like βwhy donβt we get together and try itβ. We started getting together every few months and jamming and then I donβt know, each time we did it, it just seemed more real and then we got a manager. So we did the tour and then we got to start making this EP so this sorta happened very organically over time.β
Leading up to a May release of Wolf Paradeβs new EP and Dante Decaroβs TBD βoptimistic time in [his] lifeβ LP, you can check out the tracks of Kill Your Boyfriend and look out for a few chance shows. While Decaro couldnβt commit to a favorite track today, he suggests Rachel as his top pick if asked a while back.
βI know in the past I would have said the song Rachel because I wasΒ pretty impressed with myselfβ he laughs βthe arrangement was so dense and it evolves. Like it isnβt a verse, chorus, verse. But it still worksβ¦ It was ambitious. Now I have no feelings, but thatβs what I would have said so thatβs what Iβll say today.β
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