An Interview with Danny Malone

I recently was offered the opportunity to discuss his new album, troubled past and his thoughts on the music industry.

You’ve previously stated that you tried living in New York but it wasn’t for you. And you were quoted in a 2010 interview in Austin Sound as saying, “Southern is in my bones.” Is that still true – does your heart really reside in Texas?

No. I don’t know why I said that.   My mind is so strange.  Maybe I felt that then.  And maybe I thought I couldn’t handle NYC.  But today, answering this question, I think I could live in NYC, and I really don’t feel any connection to being “southern”.  I think I could live anywhere really.  No matter where I am, I’m somewhere deep in my brain, halfway in another dimension, talking to ghosts, or remembering the future.  I think what you’re asking is if I feel like any certain place is my “home”.  I have a response to this:

Wherever she is, that is where I want to be.  Probably where I NEED to be.  She is home.  And home is where my heart resides.

There’s a lot of chatter currently about the art that musicians create and the value that it holds. Taylor Swift has seemingly waged a war on Spotify about just that. What are your thoughts?

I honestly just don’t really think about this kind of stuff.  What does my opinion really matter?   This machine quite incredibly far removed from me and my ability to change anything.  Instead, I just think about what is directly tangible, or related to my little quiet life.  Doesn’t it seem like everything is just kinda fucked?   I just make art to affect myself and the people in my life who I love.  I think I make art for a maximum of 7 people.  If it reaches more, that’s great, but it’s not my intention by any means.  I’d rather leave those money-grubbing battles to the pop-star fakes and Bono.

I’ve been a fan since I saw the music video for “Baby Bleu” on YouTube back in 2008. You’ve got to tell me: I’ve heard everything from Baby Bleu was your brother’s dog to a beloved car of yours. Who – or what – is Baby Bleu?

Thank you for being a fan! I get this question quite a lot. Bleu was my brother’s dog. They lived in Paris for a while, so he used the French spelling of “Blue”. She was a wonderful creature. And she is sorely missed.

How would you say your music has changed since that album (Cuddlebug)?

Well, I think I’m better now. That’s one thing. My voice is better. I’m further inside my mind than I’ve ever been before. So I’m more emotionally connected to a deeper undercurrent of truth and perspective. I am ever closer to portraying who I really am in my music. Which is scary and sad to me, but for some reason more and more listenable. I’m less pop, and more… timeless. I’m slowly leaving this world entirely.

…I know. I have a knowing. It’s not something I’ve chosen.

This album is called SpeedDreamer. What’s the significance behind the title?

Well, I don’t know who invented this term, but when I was at a juvenile correctional facility in Georgia for 2 years, some of the other inmates got me to partake in something called a speeddream. Here’s the deal: You hyperventilate; then you have a friend choke you out to unconsciousness. You are out for about 5 seconds generally, but while you’re out, you have a dream that seems to last literally MONTHS. I know that sounds exaggerated, but I’m telling you, in good faith, it’s no lie. I only did this a couple times. But the dreams I had are still incredibly vivid and detailed. I won’t go into detail because the dreams were just too weird to even try to explain. But whatever, that’s a SpeedDream. So, when I wrote the song of the same name, I knew I was also naming my album, simultaneously. It correlates to the limbo my life was in at that time. It was a real low point. For many reasons. And while it may have only been a few months that had passed in real time, it felt like lifetimes had passed. And who’s to say they hadn’t? So, you can see the parallel to that crazy shit we did in Juvenile Detention. We had to do SOMETHING to pass the time. And most of us were trying to get inebriated in whatever way we could. The irony is: speeddreams actually ADDED time to our respective sentences, or at least they seemed to. Don’t try it. That’s my advice. It’s a shitty feeling.

Right now, with the release of this album, who is Danny Malone? Who are you hoping to reach with SpeedDreamer?

Danny Malone is me! I don’t know how else to answer that question. I’m hoping to reach my friends and my parents and stuff. The people close to me. I can’t really comprehend anything beyond that. I just keep it simple. And I don’t let my mind think too big, because then life is overwhelming. And I’m so tired of being overwhelmed. If it reaches the entire world, that’s fine. That’s fantastic. But I’m not worried about it. I’m happy just printing a few copies and handing them out to my friends and my family and Falcon.