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| HD: What genre? Mine? DA: Yeah. HD: Yeah, sure. Everyone's music is. It's kind of an individual thing. Genre has always kinda bothered me because I think every artist is different, so categorizing them is sometimes difficult for me. DA: During some periods in history (particularly the sixties and seventies), a lot of popular music was written in response to the political climate of the time. Do you often find yourself writing in response to those kinds of external stimuli, or do you write more from just your own experiences and emotions? HD: I think it's more from my own experiences and emotions, but it doesn't necessarily mean that things that happen externally, in the world, don't affect it, because I think they do. I mean, obviously something like September 11th or something, it affects you very personally, but it's not something that I've written directly about. I think it's almost like if you think about the movie Titanic, or something like that: the movie was about a major, major disaster and this really huge thing that was happening, but the focus was kind of on two people. So I think it's kinda like that. For me anyway. I don't like to get too political-or too opinionated-with songwriting, 'cause that's just kind of like journalism or something. DA: Do you think it's possible for a musician to become commercially successful without compromising any of the things that compelled him, originally, to make music? HD: Yeah. DA: How does one go about doing that? HD: I don't know. Staying true to yourself, that's what I'm trying to do. I think it can be done. I think it's not done as often, but there are certainly those artists, you just kinda know who they are, that have just completely blazed their own trail, and kind of been their own the whole time. So I think it kinda pays off in the end, because I think it's obvious. But it definitely is more difficult. DA: With everything going on right now in the country, there are a lot of people, I'm sure, who would say that music is an unnecessary luxury. I assume you would disagree with that. I disagree with it. But practitioners of art often have to justify their careers to the people that support those careers. So how would you justify getting up on stage every night and playing a guitar? HD: Wow. That's a deep question. [laughs] Um... you know, I don't know. It's just what I do. I don't feel like I really do have to justify it. I just kind of ... it's there for the offering, in a way. DA: My last question: where would you like to see yourself in twenty-five years? HD: Let's see. I'll be Forty-six. Ummm... what does Howie want to be doing when he's forty-six. I don't know. How about, um.... I dunno. That's a long ways off. I tend to kinda make my goals more like a year or two ahead, and then the long-term ones are like five years ahead. Forty-six, God, I have no idea. I think I'm gonna change so much between now and then, and I really have no idea what I'm gonna want then. [laughs] I probably couldn't predict that accurately right now. |
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