Dan Fishback has always been a motivated and industrious man. When he first arrived in NYC, he quickly became well-loved in many creative circles, performing both solo and with his adorable and intelligent band Cheese on Bread. He has since taken as well to the world of theater, writing and performing in many compelling solo and ensemble pieces and festivals throughout the city.
CS: How long have you been working on your latest epic You Will Experience Silence, and where will it take us? Please start from the very beginning.
DF: I became obsessed with the Chanukah story in 2005, and knew I wanted to write a play about it. I started thinking about two of the characters in March 2006, and wrote lots of notes. I got really serious about it in late 2006, when I was applying for the Six Points Fellowship. When I received that in January 2007, I started working constantly, and wrote about eight completely different versions before settling on the current basic structure last summer. So: where will it take you? It will take you to a gymnasium in ancient Israel, where two horny gay teenagers are watching hot Greek guys wrestling. If I told you any more, I’d spoil it for you.
You perform music as well, covering a wide range of themes. Which do you usually fall back on? And, do you ever think about switching to different topics?
I’ve always seen songwriting as a very specific, personal form of theater. Every time someone sings a song on stage, it is, in a way, a play about a person singing a song. It’s a monologue. So, when I’m songwriting, I’m very aware that the words are coming out of a single person’s body. That format seems to lend itself to intimate, personal themes. Even when I write a song about a broader political topic, I try to focus it through the lens of a single person’s experience. Otherwise, it will feel like a lecture instead of a monologue. So I don’t think as much about theme as I do about personal experience. Not necessarily *my* personal experience, but something intimate, as seen from a single perspective.
How has being part of the Antifolk scene influenced you as an artist? Have other NYC art scenes shaped you as well?
When I moved here in 2003, I sat through so many Anti-Hoots, and it was like a crash-course in songwriting. As many amazing songs and performers as I got to see, the biggest lessons came from the BAD songs and BAD performers. I learned exactly what NOT to do. When you see great anti-folk performers juxtaposed with cheesy folksingers, you gain this new disdain for sentimentality and platitudes. When you see someone like Toby Goodshank walk on stage after some douchbag just sang a misogynist lovesong about his girlfriend, you go, “Ohhh. Songs don’t have to suck.” That’s probably the biggest way the anti-folk community influenced my craft — it just raised my standards.
Also, the Art Star scene really broadened my sense of acceptable speech. I remember seeing performances by folks like Jessica Delfino, The O’Debra Twins and Touching You that genuinely offended me, but I’ve always been so grateful, because it helped expand and define my own beliefs, and my own limits of what I’m allowed to talk about. I love those guys so much for that. The first time I heard Jessica tell a joke about rape, I couldn’t stop talking about it for months. I had no idea what I thought. Was it a feminist joke? Was it mean? It made me think so hard. What more could you want from a performer?
Aside from anti-folk, I’m probably most involved in the queer performance art scene. Folks like Joseph Keckler, Glenn Marla and Erin Markey mostly inspire me to be more myself. I kinda hate the expression “be yourself,” but the personalities in that scene are so specific, it reminds you how specific you are, and forces you to celebrate that specificity.
You were very involved in politics back in college. Are you still as involved now, and if so, how does that manifest itself in your craft (and if not, then why not)?
This is a consistent source of shame for me. I am not nearly as politically engaged as I was in college. I ask myself, on a daily basis, why I am making art instead of dedicating my life directly to social justice. I always tell myself that my art will make a bigger difference in the long run, but I’m skeptical of that rationale. Once in a while, I’ll hear that my art inspired someone to do something really radical and really productive, and that helps. But any day now I could snap and join an NGO.
After this play’s run ends, I am assuming that you will spend the rest of the year just sitting around and not doing anything. True or False. Please elaborate.
soce, this is a really good idea, and I think about it constantly. The really messed-up thing, considering how many projects I do at the same time, is that I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and have to spend a lot of time doing nothing against my will. It’s not the fun kind of “nothing.” I yearn for fun nothing. I miss fun nothing. That said, fun something is fun too. In June I get to go to the MacDowell Artist Colony to work on my new play, “The Material World.” In August, I fly to California to perform the marriage of Sara FitzSimmons and Kevin Kelly (my bandmates from Cheese On Bread). And in the fall, me and Casey Holford are going to finish my solo record, “Mammal,” which we started in 2005. Then, I’m going to pursue some fun nothing.
(Photos by Eric Lippe.)
Catch Dan’s play You Will Experience Silence on April 17, 18, 21 and 22 at Dixon Place on 161 Chrystie Street (between Rivington & Delancey). Purchase tickets.
Andrew Singer performs all over the NYC as comedic rapper “soce, the elemental wizard.” He has toured Europe and the U.S., and been featured on numerous media outlets, including MTV, VH1, Here TV, Logo, The Source, Out, Howard Stern and Sirius Shade 45. His music is available on CD Baby and iTunes.
Last 5 posts by Andrew Singer
- Vodka Shoes - March 4th, 2010
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