Today we’d like to introduce you to Dean Batten.
Hi Dean, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I come from a musical family and have been playing music as long as I can remember. My weirdo biker uncle turned me onto a lot of strange rock music from the ‘60s and ‘70s when I was a kid, Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show or Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, that sort of thing. I’ve been writing songs since I was 13 and it’s done more for my development and intellect than public schooling ever did. I had some indie rock/punkish bands in high school and did a lot of bad Dylan-esque folky stuff, had a long love affair with the music and character of Elliott Smith. I was a jazz drummer for the high school jazz ensemble and wasn’t the greatest. I’ve been releasing music solo as Dean Batten since 2015, and my musicianship has improved wildly since then.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has been bumpy for a host of reasons that change from season to season, but then, I’ve never met anyone who’s had an easy go of it with anything.
I wasted a lot of time being extraordinarily depressed and grappling with suicide, and it really affected my music, making it unlistenably purple. That long slide to the bottom came to a head in February of 2017 while I was living in Cleveland, OH.
When I started to come out the other side of that, it still took me a few years to really commit to music the way I needed to. I’ve been making some real headway in the last couple of years now that I’m approaching each aspect of it the right way; as a writer, performer and self-manager. Finally passed 1000 followers on Instagram, which was pretty cool. I’ve got a new album coming out soonish, release date TBA. Made the record in Nashville with a really amazing mystery producer, name also to-be-revealed.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I’ve always thought of myself in the terms of the singer/songwriter type. I blur a lot of genre borders while keeping things more or less related. If I hear some music and it gives me some inspiration, I’ll roll with it and probably incorporate some element of that music into whatever song it inspires me to make. I listen to anything from Gillian Welch to John Coltrane to Opeth in a given day, and it all shows up in my work, one way or another.
Regular folks seem to really respond to my lyrics, music heads seem to respond to my chord changes on albums like “Aries,” and some of my more subtly odd movement decisions in more recent songs like “Dennis” or my use of droning extensions in songs like “Magdelenda Shudders.”
I had a goth friend of mine say he only likes harmonica when I play it, which was pretty high praise.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
Heck, I feel like I’m still just starting out. I may have one solid piece of advice, though; it’s certainly where all my advantages have come from since I adopted this approach:
Your songs aren’t a diary. Throw that idea away immediately; it’s a limitation. You absolutely should use your lived experience to inform and give weight to your music, but the songs shouldn’t exist solely for your self-reflection or aggrandizement. All art is a communicative exercise. You are offering something to an audience; the audience receiving the thing conveyed is the whole point. If you’re writing songs to seem cool, they won’t get it, and it doesn’t help them. If you’re writing songs to talk about how much you hate life, that doesn’t help them, and they won’t get it, or worse it might make a few select listeners jump off the cliff with you.
However, if you’re making music to give the audience something, they’ll get it, and it will help them. It could be anything; a good time, consolation in a time of deep loss, a way to be intimate with the one they love, intimations of meaning, some description about what it can be like to be a person both good and bad, that sort of thing. If the audience doesn’t get it that isn’t their fault but yours. Try again, try better. So long as the purpose of the art is to offer it to an audience and help them, it works and is also more healing and fruitful for the artist. It will take you farther if you’re writing to reach someone else.
Pricing:
- I have an online store with shirts, stickers, etc. Average shirt price is $30.
- You can download my singles, EPs, and albums at deanbatten.bandcamp.com. Average album price is $14.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.deanbatten.com
- Instagram: @deanbattenbrofficial
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/deanbattenbrofficial
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCtJrGjK12jBX5bolPaNLqkQ
- Other: www.linktr.ee/DeanBatten
Image Credits
@maggiekimbro
