Week of May 29, 2008, Issue #658
MUSIC
Dan Mangan
Oh Dan Mangan! Stand on guard for me
CAROLYN NIKODYM / carolyn@vueweekly.com
Certain career choices elicit skepticism. You can test that theory yourself. Try telling your folks you want to be an artist, a writer or a musician.
Those same types of careers, however, have commonly recognized milestones: showing at a major gallery, seeing your name in print, or getting on the cover of Rolling Stone. These milestones provide tangible evidence not only of your talents, but also of your broader acceptance—and bragging rights for those who know you.
Vancouver singer-songwriter Dan Mangan had already released a record and an EP; he had played gigs as far as Australia. It wasn’t until he showed up on the rink at GM Place last January, though, to open a Canucks game with the Canadian anthem that aunts and uncles, old high school friends, could take his pursuits seriously. That kind acceptance was only a by-product, however.
“It was a total rush. I mean I kind of felt electric after,” Mangan says while finding a parking spot in Duncan, BC. “It’s one of those things that you don’t really expect to do along the way, and then someone calls and says, ‘Hey, do you want to do this?’ And you say, ‘Fuck, yeah!’”
If you’re not a hockey fan and missed the performance, you may be happy to know that Mangan represented the country well, not only with a voice as rich as maple syrup, but also in his fashion sense.
“I wore my most Canadian thing possible,” he says, “which would be the flannel, plaid lumberjack shirt that I have.”
If you’re familiar with Mangan, the lumberjack shirt surely won’t surprise you. It goes well with the scruff on his face and the gruff in his voice, and his songs are as comforting as its flannel.
Even while winning comparisons to Woody Guthrie and fellow Canuck troubadour Hayden, however, Mangan has found it difficult to register in the Canadian consciousness. Like other musicians before him, he’s found that garnering fans and gigs around the globe has been substantially easier.
“When you’re booking a tour somewhere, all you really have to say is that you’re from Canada and people open their doors,” he admits. “It’s amazing. Everywhere you go, there’s this appreciation for Canadian music.”
Touring Australia and listening to the country’s national radio station, Triple J, for instance he’d hear music from Tokyo Police Club, Broken Social Scene and Tegan and Sara, Canadian bands getting the kind of airplay they don’t always enjoy at home.
While he wants to make it clear that he’s not bashing Canada, he does try to explain why Canadians tend to accept (and reclaim) their artists after they get larger acceptance.
“Vancouver’s a very small scene and it’s even hard, at times, to get publicity in Vancouver until you’ve gone to Toronto, say,” he says. “And then once you’ve gotten some great press in Toronto, then you get press in Vancouver. And that happens on a small-scale level, between Vancouver and Montréal or Toronto, and then it also happens on a country scale, so ... I think it’s kind of the Canadian way.”
Maybe Canadians are like the skeptical parents of an emerging artist. We might believe that our child is talented, but that belief is mixed with a touch of worry about how that child is going to make it in the world. And when they do, we can let out a sigh of relief and finally tell our friends what our baby has been up to. V
Sat, May 31 (8 pm)
Dan Mangan
With the Wheatpool, Jon Lovell
Sugarbowl, FREE
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