Vancouver singer/songwriter Dan Mangan has a certain air of intense calm and openness that permeates any conversation. Before getting into the interview itself, I chatted with him about life on the road, and it became clear that this was certainly not his first time out touring. He spoke the way your favorite pair of old jeans would: warmly, comfortably. We at Impact 89FM caught up with him about his latest album Nice, Nice, Very Nice, the Vancouver scene, and life on the road.
Matt Revers: Your songs are a really interesting blend of poeticism and casual conversation. How would you explain your writing process?
Dan Mangan: Iʼve heard other people describe it as almost like a train of thought. Iʼve never been good at writing things like devotion songs, you know, kind of love songs, so most of my stuff ends up being kind of conversational. Kind of like “here are a bunch of my thoughts in a row,” and sometimes itʼs more serious, and sometimes itʼs a little bit more kind of tongue-in-cheek. In general I just kind of like taking the piss out of humanity. I think that weʼre very fickle creatures, and weʼre doomed to make some of the same mistakes over and over again. I aim to rib human kind without being a jerk about it. I think overall Iʼd like to spread a message of optimism, but I do enjoy taking the piss, for sure.