Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dante Maes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Dante, thank you so much for making time for us today. Let’s jump right into a question so many in our community are looking for answers to – how to overcome creativity blocks, writer’s block, etc. We’d love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.
When I’m faced with Writer’s Block, I find that giving myself time is the best way to overcome this reoccurring obstacle. What I mean is just letting the thought sit. There’ve been plenty of works – co-writes and personal, original works alike – where if I just let the idea simmer, I’ll usually be able to come at it from a different angle. Such a hypothetical angle usually proves effective when the song, riff, lyric, arrangement, or whatever musical-related issue gets enough time to sit away and find its place and its proper truth. Without time to just stop staring at a problem, I find myself constantly scratching at a scab – causing me to poorly edit and haphazardly deconstruct pieces of my work that aren’t related to the root problem at hand. So when the going gets tough, I just sit back and give my work some space, while giving myself sometime to breathe. Eventually it all pans out so long as I’m patient enough to see the end goal through.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m really just a tangled mess of spliced wires and hacksawed components firing off electrical impulses that end up creating my own version of the universal language that is music. I’m a channel for it, but I can also focus where and how the current flows. All this to say, I’m no robot. I pride myself to be an emotional, empathetic creature striving to effectively communicate my frustrations, complexities, and vulnerabilities. And through my perspective, I hope someone will resonate with my art. Even if that means that their interpretation has nothing to do with MY initial meaning. I love people and love the freedom people have to interpret my work and art as a whole and as they see fit.
My focus is my art, my music, and the ability to eventually establish myself and my passion in a lucrative way. The end game isn’t to even have a day job. I want this to be my day job. I want this pursuit to be more heavy-handed in my life as a whole. That includes racking up more engineering gigs at studios, establishing my own professional home studio, producing walls of records, writing with and for the next wave of artists, writing for myself, and overall just capturing the feeling that’s this starry-eyed kid finding and viciously defending his purpose in life.
I’m a musician, and I’m a artist to the core. I feel like I’m always writing and always thinking of where I’m going to find the next thin, gold thread binding me to another piece of my Grand Design. I’ve got one album released (with two interpretations of the same ideas – “Magpie” and “Magpie MKII”) and another on the way titled, “Crème Brûlée.” I’ve got the first single, ‘Old Western,’ planned for digital release on September 15th, 2023. And that’s not even the half of it. I have a third album I’m already working on. All this to say, I’m just excited that I keep staying excited about my work and what lies ahead. The world’s a stage and I’m happy to be on it.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
So I always come back to tenacity, willingness to learn from everything and everyone – even your own mistakes, and to be open to the ebb and flow within yourself. When I mention the whole “ebb and flow” thing, I just mean to work through the weird stuff. Let yourself express yourself, feel something. If you’re always hiding from yourself, you’ll never grow as an artist. Just the same, you don’t have all the answers all the time. Considering the experiences of others and the things they’ve learned will only help you create a more well-rounded version of yourself and your artist’s self. But above all, you gotta have guts. Not everyone’s going to believe in you. You’ve gotta be your biggest fan, your sweetest caretaker, and your strongest soldier.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Right now the biggest challenge is just making ends meet, while simultaneously working on seriously pursuing my artist’s path. I’m in a decent financial position now with my current day job; but with rising costs, inflation, and just random blows to quality of life, things can get pretty tricky. All this to say, I’m keeping my head held high.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/supercult.band/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/supercult.band/
Image Credits
Emily Duncko, Kira Ivanich, Jesse Lee Fulton
