Dan Vapid-Don't Over Think it!

Dan Vapid has been a punk rock musician since 1987 and has played and written songs with Screeching Weasel, Riverdales, Mopes, Sludgeworth, Methadones, Noise by numbers and  his latest project Dan Vapid and the Cheats. To date, Dan Vapid has written or co-written over 300 songs and has performed on 24 full length records.

I asked Dan what it’s all about.

“My goal as a musician/singer/songwriter is to try to take every component I love about music and deliver it in an honest, simple but effective way. I tend to enjoy songs with a mixture of straight forwardness and dynamics most. I try to make music I would want to listen to. This has always been what I've tried to accomplish from the very beginning.  Sometimes I succeed and other times not. But, I almost always have lots of fun trying.
I have no musical training but have been an avid music fan since I was about 5 years old."

The Self Taught Punk.

Dan doesn’t play or write as if he has no musical training. He has a sense of melody that is so simply delivered, yet so unmistakable; I am not so sure he would still be Dan Vapid had he been classically trained.




  

Return of the Power Chord.

“I play what feels and sounds right. In the past when I've tried reading music it slows me down. I didn't enjoy the process and found that it stifled creativity. When I learned the power chord on the guitar I started playing along to records I enjoyed like the Ramones, Misfits, etc…. It wasn't until many years later I started playing around with open chords, minor chords,  7ths, etc…The power chord and Marshal amp sound is ingrained in me at this point. 

In my view, analytic theory based musicians have their place in the world but find that many of them only play what's on the page. A great musician will interpret what notes are written on the page and give them expression. It would be like the difference between a Morgan Freeman narration in a film versus you or I.”   

Walk us through the early history of Dan Vapid. 
"In 1987 I started singing in a hardcore band called Generation Waste. We were influenced by bands like 7 seconds, Minor threat, AOF, etc…We got lots of great shows, was having fun and the experience was awesome. But, deep down I kept hoping Generation Waste would write songs with more melody to it like Bad Religion and Social Distortion.  At that time, I was just a singer and our guitarist was writing the lyrics and co-writing music with our bass player.  I was discovering the early punk rock bands and it was becoming clear to me what i truly wanted to play. When I heard Ramones and Naked Raygun I was forever changed and knew I wanted to take music much more seriously. GW broke up by 1988 and for about a year I tried to form a melodic punk band (the term "Pop punk" not invented yet) but nothing worthwhile came out of it.  In 1989,  Ben Weasel asked if i wanted to join his band Screeching Weasel. I gladly accepted as I was already a huge fan of the band's latest record "boogada boogada boogada" In 1990 I formed Sludgeworth during SW year long hiatus. At that point,  I felt like I was finally getting it right and wanted to push forward." 

Pros and Cons 

“The advantage of doing what I do is that people know who I am mainly from Screeching Weasel/ Riverdales. There are some perks that come with that and I'm glad to have made worthy contributions to bands people hold in high regard. The disadvantage is "pop punk" has waned a lot in popularity.  That, and sometimes people only want to talk to me about my past and not the present.”

In your musical career, what has been the single most significant, defining event and why?
“I don't have a single defining moment.  I do have a few that stand out and were important. Aside from early days of picking up the guitar and having something "click', working on Screeching Weasel "My brain hurts" was very important. It was the first record I collaborated on and my bandmates and producer liked my ideas. That encouragement produced confidence to keep at it. There was also the first time my mom saw me play live with Sludgeworth.  We opened for Naked Raygun. There were about 2,200 people there and were very well received. After our set my mom and older brother were escorted backstage. She looked so impressed and proud and kept smiling.  Seeing that in the same day opening for Naked Raygun was priceless. I wasn't especially great at sports and felt like such an outcast growing up. I felt like I never gave her much to be proud of and that I finally achieved something. Playing Cobo Hall with the Riverdales in Detroit with Green Day was another. The Kiss Alive record was recorded there. When I was about 6 or 7 years old I would listen to that record non-stop and stare at the people on the back cover.  I remember walking on stage being extra nervous because that Kiss record was all I thought about.  It was so surreal. There's also the first time hearing a song I wrote in a movie. That was also surreal.”   

Over 300 songs in the books, loads of tours, shows, albums, etc… What keeps you going?
“Simple. I really love writing songs.  That more than anything is what keeps me moving forward after all these years. There's always some song idea going through my head. When an idea pops in my head I feel compelled to flush it out and see where it goes. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But it's that feeling of creating something that I truly love.”

Dan Vapid’s Musical Struggles 

“#1  Sometimes I see bands I believe are talentless becoming successful for reasons I view as stupid. And I start thinking why does such and such band have great things happening for them? They are a terrible. What is wrong with people?? And I relate it to my experience and irritation and envy subtly creeps in. These types of thoughts only produce a negative and unhealthy mindset and nothing else.  Over the years, I've become more aware of this mindset and have gotten better at letting that go.


#2 Not over thinking shit. Letting things happen naturally and resisting the urge to perfect everything. What usually happens when you over think and try perfecting things too much is all the charm and life gets sucked out. If you want a song to have life, let it breath.  Don't choke the shit out of it.


#3 Have the courage to be yourself. Find your true voice and reach your potential. I'll never be able to write like my favorite songwriters and that's perfectly fine.  Being you is what's unique. It's kinda like a fingerprint. Nobody has the same.


#4 Writing lyrics.  Lyrics are the hardest part for me. I don't like writing lyrics before I hear the music because I find that it has a "slapped on" feel to it. So, I write lyrics to melody and the words usually take a long time to hone. I could write chord structures with melodies all day long. To me, that's the easy part.” 

What have you learned from playing punk for decades?

“Lots. In many ways I've come full circle. I started playing a genre of music that was unpopular, reach a level of success, become watered down, and end up right back where it started. I've learned that musical trends are cyclical. I've learned that substance is more important than style.  I've learned to trust my instincts. I've learned that modest musicians are often the most talented and vice versa. Sadly, I learned I was a naive kid when I believed Punk Rock would be a great outlet and escape from the assholes and creeps of the world. Ironically, some people in the "punk" scene are worse than the asshole jocks I went to High School with. At least they talked shit to my face. Now, we have anonymity with the internet. But, I also don't mean to sound so negative here, just trying to be as accurate as I can. By and large my experiences have been very rewarding and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.”  

Meant to Be-Describe the perfect song
"Something where lyrics and music merge in a perfect marriage, like they were meant to be.  Something where the sum is more than its parts. Something that soars in the air, Something that gives you chills, goosebumps, speaking on a deep and visceral level. Something that takes you to places you didn't know existed. Something that makes you air drum without being conscious of it. All of this. "

Ah-ha! Dan Vapid describes his musical Ah-ha moment.

Remember, songs are just reworked versions of other songs, take his advice and “Don’t over think it!”

 "I remember listening to a Social Distortion song when I was about 16 or 17 and switching the chord progression around slightly while singing my own words. What I found was I just wrote a song. And it didn't sound like a Social Distortion song at all. It sounded like my song and it wasn't half bad." 

Prove it!

Let’s pick on Social Distortion for a sec. Dan has a good point about scrambling up the same chords from one song and therefore creating another song. “Story of my life” uses G-C-D, a I-IV-V progression in G major. The G chord is the key, or “Home base.”

(Read about I-IV-V progressions here, they literally are why we like songs, whether you like Mozart or the Ramones, our ear doesn’t lie!)

“Making Believe” uses the same exact chords, just slightly scrambled up in comparison to “Story of my life.” I said it, our ear does not lie. These chords are pleasing, regardless of the package you deliver them in, with whatever vocal melody, beat, or bass line you put to it, these chords encourage tonality. Tonality creates memorable songs. Musicians! I challenge you to take these three chords, and write a song today. Send me a link to what you come up with and I’ll post it. Hail Ramones!

Back to Dan Vapid...
If you could get everyone you care about to listen to one song, album, ensemble or band, what would it be and why should everyone you know check this out?

"I would say open a guitar book by the Beatles or Beach boys to see what kind of chords they use. There are so many great nuances that went into the writing of those songs.  Learning them and playing along makes you appreciate them much more."

It was hard to pick an example to share with you, but I picked "I'm the man," because Dan's voice sounds great on it! Buy his music here.