US act DYONISOS is the creative vehicle of composer and multi-instrumentalist Dan Cowans. When not performing or recording for other projects this is is musical outlet, and since the first Dyonisos production in 1999 a total of four full length productions have seen the light of day. The most recent effort by Cowans is a revamped version of his 2001 digital production Juxtaposition, released in 2010.
I got in touch with Dan and here is his story.
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When and why did you set up
Dyonisos ? Which other projects do you play in ? Why did you choose
that name and which bands were you influenced by ?
I got the name from a scene in the
movie, "La Vallee", the 1972 French movie about a group of
adventurers in Papua New Guinea. Pink Floyd did the music for it,
which became their album "Obscured By Clouds". Several
months after releasing my first album, "Haiku", I stumbled
across a French band called "Dionysos", who also have an
album entitled "Haiku". Talk about a coincidence! This has
been the source of more than a little confusion over the years, but
I've stuck with the name because I kind of like it. Thankfully, the
two spellings are at least different!
In terms of influence, Pink Floyd is
probably number one, followed by lots of other classic bands,
including early Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles, Moody Blues, Jethro Tull,
Caravan, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff
Beck, to name just a few.
I've playing in numerous other
relatively nondescript bands over the years: Strypes, Indica, Dusty
Angel, Yung Devals, Rockin' Horse, and Problem Child. Problem Child
is an AC/DC tribute band touted as the "best AC/DC tribute band
in the world". I was their "Angus" for a year or so,
until they found a younger, more energetic "Angus" and the
rest is, as they say, istory. No regrets. It was fun pretending to be
Angus and I got a lot of exercise in the process!
How is the local music scene in
your area now ?
The music scene in this area has seen
better days. Many live music venues have closed, others have cut back
(switching to karaoke or DJ). At the same time, there has been no
decrease in the number of bands competing for the dwindling number of
available gigs. It has become sort of a cutthroat situation. Not
conducive at all to feeling good about one's musical prospects.
Over to your albums. Please tell
us more about ….....
Haiku from 1999
I recorded this start to finish in
about six months, the first half of 1999. I bought a keyboard, an
Alesis SR-16 drum machine, and Cakewalk Pro Audio, and went at it. My
goal was to create a "concept album", to the best of my
ability. So I came up with a story and used the songs to tell the
story musically. It's basically about a guy who flies over to
Honolulu (former stomping ground), looks up a former girlfriend, and
invites her on a hike to the Haiku Stairs (also known as Hawaii's
"stairway to heaven". I tried hard to establish a certain
mood, and then maintain that mood till the end of the album.
Juxtaposition from 2001
The story behind this one is a bit more
involved than Haiku. So Juxtaposition is also a concept album:
"Juxtaposition is the code name of
a secret multi-national experiment to warp time and space by shifting
the path of totality of an eclipse at the same time a rainbow
directly over Kahumana Farm's Mandala Garden traverses Waianai Valley
(located on the leeward side of the island of Oahu). This is
accomplished via the tightly-synchronized interactions of a large
guitar mounted on a hill near Makakilo, the orbiting Space Station
Publius, a fake escalator control room in Pearl Ridge Shopping
Center, the re-fitted Haiku Omega Station, and oscillations generated
and modulated by two agency operatives (KVB and 2325) attending the
annual Mt. Hagen Cultural Show in PNG. A test pilot is flying an
agency aircraft over Kahumana Farm at exactly the time the eclipse
enters totality. Suddenly, seconds after the pilot reports the
presence of a strange cloud and rainbow, radar and radio contact with
the plane is lost. Several tense minutes later, the test aircraft
breaks out of clouds over the North Weald Aerodrome in England, and
the pilot establishes contact with local air traffic controllers.
Jubilant agency representatives in London report to the BBC that the
success of the experiment has exceeded their most optimistic
expectations. KVB and 2325 receive the good news aboard an agency
helicopter after leaving the Mt. Hagen show grounds to escape a riot
that had just broken out."
Dyonisos from 2006
This was my first CD after signing with
the Russian label "MALS", and is actually both Haiku and
Juxtaposition combined onto one CD. Two CDs worth of music at a very
reasonable price.
An Incidental Collection from 2007
This album is a collection of songs
written between 2001 and 2005. No "concept" here, just a
bunch of songs. Abstract Visions, Leaving Home, and When Silence Has
Spoken were semi-collaborative, in that I worked via the interent
with a vocalist/lyricist named Joe Hartvilla. The rest were done
entirely by me, except for "Pasture in Kahaluu", which
featured some percussion recorded by an old friend from the Strypes
days, Ron Thunman.
Ages High from 2008
As with "Incidental Collection",
"Ages High" is a collection of songs I wrote (1999 through
2008) that did not appear on previous albums. It should have been
titled "Aces High", but the typo wasn't discovered until
all the CDs and artwork were already in the can, so it was left as
"Ages High".
There are some talk about a
re-recording of Juxtaposition which has been released or is about to
be released. Please clarify this for us.
I have made Juxtaposition and Haiku
available again as separate CDs, at CD Baby. Very few changes were
made to the songs. I may have mixed the vocals a little louder.
What is the Dyonisos ethos ?
Basically, the Dyonisos ethos is to
create the best music possible within the limits of my ability and
limited resources, and to make that music available to anyone who is
interested. It's not about making a lot of money or becoming famous.
I'm just interested in writing/recording the music and getting it out
there.
For those of us unfamiliar with
your music; how would you describe your music and which bands would
you compare yourself with ?
I would describe my music as laid-back
psychedelic, with the occasional rocker or semi-progressive tune
thrown in. I've never been into trying to prove that I'm a musical
virtuoso, or the fastest guitar player on the planet. That will never
happen and those accolades do not interest me. My "thing"
is to just write songs that sound interesting to me, and which might
also be interesting to others who like the same kind of music I that
I enjoy. Dyonisos has been described as "progressive", but
I've never set out to create progressive-type music. My music doesn't
showcase the kind of complexity one expects when thinking of
progressive music. It's much simpler, with fewer twists and turns. I
like it that way.
My sound has mostly been described as
sounding "Floyd-ish", and I thinks that's because of the
type of songs I write, instruments used (organs, cleaner guitar,
slide guitar, ARP Solaris strings, electric piano, etc), reverb-heavy
vocals, special effects, and the general mood imparted by the songs.
My top three influences when I was learning to play guitar were The
Beatles, Moody Blues, and Pink Floyd.
What have you been up to since the
release of Aces High, what is your current status and what are your
plans for this year and beyond ?
I have a new CD all but finished, with
very little left to do before making it available at CD Baby. It is
called "Ghost Ship", and will include songs I've been
working on for the last three years. I've done a lot of writing over
that period, so this CD will be jam-packed with as many songs as I
can fit on it. Musically, I'm very pleased with the songs and feel
that this will be one of my best CDs to date.
Other than that, I keep busy working on
new songs, and helping friends with their projects. I don't currently
have a band for my original music, or I'd mention tour dates! I still
play in a couple of local classic rock cover bands, which helps me
keep my guitar "chops" and vocals in serviceable condition.
To wrap up this interview, is
there anything you want to add to this interview ?
I'd just like to say thanks to everyone
out there who enjoys my music. To know that it IS enjoyed makes the
effort worthwile. My reviews have been all over the map, good and
bad. I am responsible for probably 99.9% of what you hear when
listening to Dyonisos: the recording, mixing, mastering, and all of
the vocals and instruments. It's very much a solo, low-budget effort,
so I take full responsibility for what's good and bad about it, and
bear no ill-will to anyone who may have given me an unfavorable
review. A person has to take all feedback and use it to do a better
job on the next effort. That's how I approach the process.
Again, look for my new CD "Ghost
Ship" someday soon. I think you'll enjoy it. Thanks for giving
me the opportunity to discuss my music!
Thank you to Dan for this interview
The PA profile is here and the homepage is here
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Dyonisos
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