Blake Dantier I'd Do It Again Interview

Blake Dantier has done it again with his new single 'I'd Do It Again'.

It comes in the wake of his single 'Ash & Dust', which spent nine weeks in The Music Network's Country Hot 50 Airplay Charts, and two weeks in the Country Track's Chart. A fitting reward for an artist who was recently awarded the Country Rock Song of the Year at the Tamworth Songwriters Salute Awards. It's been a wild ride for Dantier, but this new release proves that he's not a flash in the pan; instead, he'll do it again and again.

'I'd Do It Again', Dantier says, 'is about growing up, falling in love and making mistakes. It's about owning those mistakes despite how much it might have messed you up at the time and being proud of who you are because of them.'

The writing of the song was quite different to Dantier's normal process. 'If I've got a musical idea for a song but haven't written the lyrics yet, I'll often sing something random to get an idea for a melody' says Dantier, 'but what comes out are normally nonsense ramblings. This time, I thought that it actually made sense, so I kept running with it. Every line in this song is whatever came into my head in the moment and it somehow managed to form a coherent lyric. I didn't rewrite anything either to sort of honour the process.'

The single was recorded with Simon Johnson from Hillbilly Hut studios, who also took on bass guitar duties. He brought in Duncan Toombs on electric guitar, Rod Motbey on acoustic and Brad Bergen on drums, while Cass Hopetoun laid down the backing vocals. It's a merry band for what seems like a personal song, but Dantier is adamant that his songs 'don't necessarily reflect my personal life – I tend to hear things out in the world and form ideas for songs around them.'

That said, Dantier always uses his personal experiences to help flesh out a story or concept. 'Sometimes there's only a little bit of me in there, but in this case, there's probably more me in there than in any other song that I've written.'

The music video was filmed with Michael Carpenter, who set up a camera on each musician while they played the song as they normally would've. 'Everything you see in the video is well and truly live,' says Dantier. 'It's exactly the way we recorded it.'

It's just as well that the video stayed true to the recording as Dantier, it's turned out, is an incredibly compelling and emotional storyteller. His single 'Ash & Dust' was described as 'an incredibly heartfelt and emotive track' by Good Call Live, who also admitted to having tears in their eyes the first time they listened to it. And while touring the new single is off the cards for now, there's no doubt that listeners will be experiencing some emotive responses to 'I'd Do It Again'.

Interview with Blake Dantier

Question: How would you describe your music?

Blake Dantier: I like to think of it as somewhere between the neo-trad Country of the 90s, the Outlaw Country of the 70s and the stuff coming out of Nashville now, with some hints of Alt-Country here and there. To put it more simply though, it's Country music – not today's Pop Country, where acoustic instruments have been traded for synths and snap tracks – just good old, bona fide Country music.


Question: What inspired I'd Do It Again?

Blake Dantier: I couldn't really tell you – It kind of just came out one night. I sat down with the guitar and I could hear the melody in my head but had no words. So I just sang whatever popped into my head. After singing a few lines I stopped and thought "hey, that actually made sense". So I wrote it down and kept going. Pretty soon I had a whole song.

In the end it turned out the be a story about messing up but owning your mistakes because they made you who you are.


Question: Can you tell us about the videoclip?

Blake Dantier: Sure can! We filmed the tracking session live as we recorded it. The videographer, Michael Carpenter, just put a camera on each muso and away we went. Voila! Quick and dirty music video.


Question: Is there a particular message you hope listeners take from your music?

Blake Dantier: I don't think I have anything particularly profound to say. But I'd like people to know that old school country aint dead!


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Blake Dantier: You know that's a tough question… I love the exploratory possibilities of the studio and hearing a song find its legs. But whilst playing live you get to rock out and really experience the music. They're both pretty great, so I'm glad I can do both.


Question: Which is your favourite song to perform live and why?

Blake Dantier: I love a good barn burner. I don't think I have a favourite at the moment, but anything set to a fast train beat gets me pretty excited.


Question: If you could have anyone, in the world, attend a show, who would it be?

Blake Dantier: I've got plenty of heroes – Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Albert Lee, Brooks and Dunn, Chris Stapleton, Keith Urban… the list continues. But I don't think I'd like any of them to come to my show, man too much pressure. Just somebody who loves my music + 1000 of their closest friends.

Question: What motivates you most when writing music?

Blake Dantier: It probably varies based on where I'm at with a song, but I'd say most of the time it's a musical idea. I play a bunch of instruments but I'll often start songs in my head, just thinking up a melody. Sometimes I can be really inspired by these and then I pick up a guitar and make it a song. Other times I might have a title that I think is the bee's knees and I'm quite driven to by completing the lyrics. Also just the idea that I could make a new song is pretty engaging and somewhat therapeutic – It's always a great day if I got a song out that day.


Question: What was your first performance?

Blake Dantier: I honestly couldn't tell you. There were some when I was about 13 or 14 playing with some friends from school – they're probably my earliest memories from a stage. I CAN tell you about the first time I ever played music with those friends from school though…

They'd asked me to join in on one of their band practices after school, with a view to joining the band. They wanted me to sing – at this point that's all I knew how to do musically. We crammed into a bedroom size room down the back of one of the guys' house. We had a drummer, bass player, two electric guitarists and me. They started up on a Kings of Leon song that I kind of knew and as soon as the noise started I was taken somewhere else man. The music hit me hard. Something about standing in a room surrounded by the raw sound of drums booming and guitars twanging – I'd never felt anything like it. I'm sure a lot of musicians can relate. I joined the band and we played together for about 5-6 years. But that first day in that room was pivotal for me.


Question: How does it feel to hear your song played all over the airwaves?

Blake Dantier: Pretty cool. I think the further along the journey I get, the less cool things become, unfortunately. If you told me five years ago my song was on the radio I'd lose my shit, but I'm reservedly excited about it now. I'm so grateful though – when you put it into perspective it is pretty damn cool.


Question: Was there a moment you contemplated throwing in the towel?

Blake Dantier: Ha, only every other day. People quit all the time in this business because it's hard – you often work your butt off for little to no gain, you start out hardly making any money and you face constant rejection and disappointment. That's not how it goes for everybody, but it is for a lot of people. So I've had plenty of times where I've thought "is it even worth it?" "Should I just get a different job?" But I love making music and I don't think I'd rather do anything else. I keep going because as crazy as it sounds, the positives do outweigh the negatives.


Question: What's a typical day like?

Blake Dantier: Well, since COVID-19 hit my typical day has become a lot less structured… It used to be get up, play guitar, do admin stuff, maybe write a song, play more guitar and if it's the weekend, do a gig. Now it's get up (even that isn't rock solid some days), play guitar, go for a bushwalk, play mandolin, play Pokémon, watch TV, play PlayStation, maybe do admin stuff if there is any, walk to the shop to buy ingredients for some very specific meal I've never made before, learn a new cocktail, start homebrewing a beer, drink some of the beer a brewed a month ago, play guitar etc.


Question: What's next, for you?

Blake Dantier: Well I've been thinking about brewing a Pale Ale but I want to do it completely from scratch, so I need to start thinking about my grain bill… oh, you mean with music? That old thing, man that's so 2019. But for real, I'm pretty keen to finish up my album. All the songs are pretty much recorded but we're going to take our time mixing them and just focus on releasing singles for now. The album will definitely drop in 2021 though!


Question: Can you share your socials? (links please)

Blake Dantier: Website  
Instagram  
Facebook  
YouTube  


Interview by Gwen van Montfort