Thank you for taking the time to have this interview with IMAAI.
Tell us about your music.
It’s as if Prince, Queen, Sticks, Mahler and Kitaro had a baby. A little bit of rock and roll meets some funk with classical and new age influences. For so long, artists have been boxed into genres. But look at your iPad or your record collection: do you have JUST one style? Generally not. Why shouldn’t an artist also follow the creative path they feel called to? Well, I did choose to do that. It makes it harder to label, but it’s all about the music not the label.
When did you start performing?
When I was a kid, I loved singing and dancing along to records in my living room (it’s surprising I didn’t become a drag queen… I was pretty good at it). I joined the church choir at a young age and in High School was in the swing choir. Music was something that made me feel alive—I loved singing and dancing. When it came time to go to college, the only thing I could think to do was music. I applied to several colleges and Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, gave me an impressive scholarship. So, I set my sights on being a school music teacher.
While at school, I was one of the only drummers at the time and kept getting pulled to all the ensembles to play—and I found I really didn’t like kids much—so I changed my major from education to performance.
I fell in love with a large cousin of the xylophone, the marimba, and spent hours perfecting my craft. I was going to be the first world class marimbaists with a purple mohawk. It was the 1980’s and I loved messing with my hair. For my junior percussion recital, I had finished directing my church choir for the morning, went to the mall and had them shave my hair into a mohawk and color it purple. I walked on stage with a purple mohawk in a black tuxedo—I thought it was stunning. It was a good thing I could play, because the classically focused faculty was not thrilled with the theatrics. The jazz and pop teachers were more supportive.
During college, I shed my protected, suburban background and began to discover who Paul David was—or was supposed to be. I, quite by accident, discovered my sexuality was not what I thought it was going to be. At college, I met my soul mate and tussled with my queerness bouncing from girlfriend to boyfriend as I discovered who, and how, I loved.
I truly loved my college experience. It was everything college should be. However, when I graduated, I found not everyone was beating down my door for a purple mohawked classical marimbaist.
So I got a day job and made music on the side—mostly in church settings, where I was very comfortable. I also found I had something to say. And in my heart, I was really a rock and roll baby. While working for the Metropolitan Community Church in Minneapolis, I sold my marimba and bought an electric keyboard that I could program with percussion, bass, horns—all the things I needed to take the music ministry I was working with to a higher level. In fact, that is still my main keyboard 25 years later in my home studio.
While working with the church, I got to write and arrange a lot—and work with volunteers. I polished my skills in not just composition and performance, but team building. That career path resonated with my soul.
However, the Universe decided it was time for Paul David to grow. I left that role for financial reasons and over the next two years, all I knew in my personal life was to be torn down to make a new creation. I ended a 15-year relationship when my partner got into drugs. That adventure ended up with losing not only my relationship, but my home. The music went dormant for a while too. I was playing in a few pit orchestras, but the personal music creating was put on hold until I was asked by the local LGBT orchestra to write something for them. 2006 saw the birth and world premiere of “Emergence”—a tone poem inspired by the coming out process written specifically for the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra. Shortly after that, I met the man who I would marry, Tom.
As we put our life together, I began writing again and took a role with another church in their music department. When the pandemic hit, I had a lot of time to work in my studio and began churning out the music I am releasing today.
What do you consider to be your hometown and how does that affect your music?
My hometown in Bloomington, Minnesota. It’s the city where the Mall of America is located. It is a quiet Minneapolis suburb. When I grew up, I wasn’t exposed to a ton of live music other than the church choir. My parents had records, but were not into what we would now call classic rock. My dad had a strong love for the music of the 1940’s. Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman and their ilk were always on his radio. My mom was more into the easy listening styles of The Carpenters. Even though classic rock has a STRONG presence in my sound, I didn’t get into that until I got my first job and the team would play classic rock after we closed the restaurant.
Of course, being from Minneapolis, I fell in love with Prince’s music. I had the privilege of working with Matt Fink (Dr. Fink of Prince and the Revolution) on one of my songs, “Superhuman”. I think I get my love of layers and variety of styles from Prince. I KNOW I grew up dancing to his major hits in the 1980’s… how could that NOT influence me?
What performers have been your inspiration?
A lot of my music is reminiscent of the styles I grew up listening to. As I mentioned, my dad was really into 1940’s swing—Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman—so I have a strong influence of that swing band horn sound. My mom was really into The Carpenter’s and the “Easy Listening” sounds of the 1970’s, so that finds its way in. I RARELY heard what we call “classic rock” when I was growing up—that didn’t happen until later, but you’ll find a heavy influence of that rock guitar in what I do. I DID get into STYX and QUEEN in high school, so you hear that influence for sure.
Being from Minneapolis, Prince played an ENORMOUS roll in influencing me as a writer, arranger, producer, etc. That Minneapolis Sound is not always top of mind when I write, but the work ethic and desire to experiment with sound and ideas is there.
But I do get influenced by what I hear today—Robyn, The Teddybears, Walk the Moon, Lizzo—all find their way into what I am writing
What do you base your success on?
I didn’t stop. It’s really that simple. We all have dreams as kids–what we want to be when we grow up. As we get “into the real world”, many adults give up on their dreams and settle for a life that provides a job, a house, a car, a spouse, possible offspring… and their dreams die.
I have much of that: a job, a house, a car, a spouse–but I am still going to be a rock star when I grow up! I never let that dream die. Sure, I won’t be a Madonna or Mick Jagger, but that isn’t my calling. I have been blessed to be able to do some really cool things from my place in this world.
I am constantly creating new and exciting music from Rock and Roll songs to handpan contemplative pieces to my last composition for RAV Vast and choir–the first in the world!
I just never stopped doing the things I love to do… in fact, it has increased as I have gotten older!
What was your latest musical release?
My latest release is a “non-EP” EP: “Artist’s Prayer”. It is a collection of four songs that showcase four different styles of music. The title track, “Artist’s Prayer” is just that: a prayer. It’s a vibe that is VERY chill… 55 beats a minute, which is SLOW. It’s like a chant, repeating an ostinato pattern on guitar to entrain your brain to a meditative space. There is something that happens to the human brain when subjected to repetition—it puts you in connection with higher consciousness.
My hope is people (who give it a chance) will notice how this “prayer” is a prayer that every artist says as they stare at a blank page, a blank canvas, an empty stage—whatever your discipline—“I know I am not all that I could be, inspire me just the same, oh muse of creation.”
The song then blossoms into this amazing section where the singer finds that inspiration and their overflows and spreads to the world—which is what we ALL hope our art does: touches someone.
I wrote the lyrics back in 1993 and put them in my folder of lines/lyrics/quotes that I have around and forgot about it. I was looking for something to add to a song recently—and I don’t remember which one—and I came across them again. I was moved by the thought of what “an artist’s eye” might be and what became the bridge really inspired me. So I sat at my piano and started playing and very quickly “Artist’s Prayer” emerged.
In this song, you get to hear way more of those lush vocal parts that were influenced by The Carpenters or Queen. There are a lot of “me” singing in the background! LOL I mixed them higher to give a “male chorus” vibe to the piece.
I am very blessed to work with the amazing Alex Maiers (www.alexmaiers.com) on guitar. He plays on all my recent pieces. He added such a great ostinato (repeated) pattern to the beginning and those guitar flourishes, forget about it!! Very k.d. lang!
Also, on the non-EP EP is “Sunrise Fanfare”. I was playing around with the changes to “Artist’s Prayer” and came up with this cool instrumental… think of it as a prelude to “Artist’s Prayer”. It’s kind of a lite Americana-vibe piece. I see this as the sunrise on a summer day… you can feel the warm dewy air and then the sun breaks the horizon, and you just KNOW today is gonna ROCK!
I also included two bonus tracks—“Sunshine (after the Rain) alt. version” and “Together We”. The second one I wrote for work as a theme for a virtual conference. …but the theme is really good—together we can change the world—so I thought that should be out there in the universe.
“Sunshine (after the Rain) alt. version” is an alternate verse and chorus to my previous single. I wrote the song in honor of my husband. Throughout the song, there are, buy construction, these cheesy little comparisons all followed by some found audio “God Bless America”. While writing it, I had this great idea to start a rhyme “You’re the hook from a killer song”. …well, the ONLY thing I could think to follow that was “You’re a hit from my favorite bong.”
My husband wasn’t thrilled with that line as we don’t smoke… so he had me change it. But it was so fun, I wanted it out in the world. I also thought about re-working the chorus, so both of those things are put together for this alt. version.
Do you have any news to share?
I just released a live version of the first ever song for RAV Vast (a tongue drum from the handpan family) and Choir called “Stardust Once Again”. I found this really funny internet meme about death and how we all go back to space dust and have great adventures, and how cool it is until we land on your sandwich. I expanded the lyrics and created quite an epic 6 minute ride that is deep, exciting, funny and beautiful. I was blessed to work with MPLS (imPulse) on this project. My hope is to get in the studio this summer and lay down a proper recording of it.
I am finishing up an new RAV Vast piece called “The Persistent Movement of Water” which is in a minimalist vibe.
I have reached out to Matt Fink again about laying down a new dance/big band influenced track I have written called “Gotta Un-F**k Myself”, which is a tune about unlearning the things that we have learned that take us away from our true nature.
How can fans find you?
The best way to find me is on my website: PaulDavidMusic.net
You can also connect on my socials:
Reverbnation
You Tube
www.youtube.com/channel/UCcpGOh9Uy0RmDOOj88xhPrw
BandCamp
pauldavid.bandcamp.com
Soundcloud
Twitter
twitter.com/PaulDvd69
Instagram
www.instagram.com/pauldvd69/
TikTok
www.tiktok.com/@pauldvd69
Spotify
Apple Music
music.apple.com/us/artist/paul-david/1546176735
Facebook
www.facebook.com/PaulDavidSongs
Linked IN
www.linkedin.com/in/paul-david-stanko-8729729/
Lastly, please share some final words with the fans.
Support independent music. Those of us doing this are doing it all by ourselves. There is nothing wrong with listening to the big names, but take a deep dive on Spotify or Bandcamp and find a local artist you’ve never heard of and buy their single: don’t just stream it, because we make less than a quarter of a cent per 100 streams… SPEND THE $1! That money goes right to the artist to allow them to create more music. Some of it will surprise you!