Never heard of Danielle Deckard? You should, if her new single ‘I Lied’ is any indication.
Plucked from her 2015 ‘End Of The World’ EP, the track has just been given another lease on life, with added help from a music video, which premiered late last week.
So who is Danielle Deckard? And what does she want with us? Get To Know her in our latest feature.
Name : Danielle Deckard.
Where are you based? Sydney, Australia.
How did you get your start in music? I was always playing and writing when I was young, but I don’t think I realised it was something serious until I was 17 and decided to go to music college. Before that I had always assumed I would go to college and study something ‘normal.’ I’m not sure why, because I doubt normal would have been very satisfying for me.
Give us five words to best describe you as an artist. Honest. Emotional. Genuine. Confident. Resilient.
Tell us a little bit about your sound and how it developed. In the beginning my sound was more in the raw, acoustic singer/songwriter vein. I had done a few recordings while I was in college, pretty simple sessions with a rhythm section and some strings. For my debut EP ‘End Of The World’, I really wanted to experiment with a lot of different elements. We explored every sound we could think of… lush strings and horns, vintage synthesisers, drum machines, banjos, Hammond organ. We just followed our creativity and figured out how to realise it.
Who have been your musical influences? Ingrid Michaelson, Sara Bareilles, Bruce Springsteen, Ryan Adams.
What are your favourite songs of all time? ‘Highway Patrolman’ by Bruce Springsteen, ‘Basket Case’ by Sara Bareilles, ‘Open Hands’ by Ingrid Michaelson, ‘Go Your Own Way’ by Fleetwood Mac. Today anyway…
What was the first album you bought? This is really lame, but I have no idea. My childhood was in the ’90s and everyone had CDs. But I was the youngest of four, so I had a ton of hand-me-down CDs. The ones that spring to mind visually in my CD player are Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Surfacing’, Jewel’s ‘Pieces Of You’, and the Robyn single ‘Show Me Love’. Also a green disc (I can’t remember the name of the album) by Lisa Loeb.
Give us a little fun fact about yourself that people might not know. I was a competitive swimmer until I quit at 16. I was practicing before and after school, over 20 hours a week, so it was pretty intense. And when you quit something like that in a small town, people flip out! The high school team was on a state championship winning streak, so people acted like swimming was the be-all and end-all. But hey, at the end of the day it’s just a sport. And I pretty much despise all sport. You’d be surprised at some of the reactions from friends’ parents! You’d think I was somehow directly affecting their lives.
What would your chosen career be if music wasn’t an option? Writing television scripts. Or creating TV shows. So basically getting into an industry that I know nothing about, but am fascinated by. I can never pick the easy path.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given in your career? Learn the difference between a distraction and an opportunity.
Tell us about your latest release. I put out a six song EP called ‘End Of The World’ and I just released the first music video for the song ‘I Lied’. The song is a piano ballad, of the very emotional variety. It’s an “I miss you” song, pure and simple. The video was shot in Hibernian House in Sydney which is this awesome old converted warehouse. I’ve actually played a few shows there in the past year. We shot it as a performance style clip, so it’s nice and simple, which really suits the song.
What do your future plans involve? I’m making another two videos for songs from the EP which will both be coming out in the next two months. In June I’m also releasing a deluxe version of the EP with acoustic tracks and a never-before-heard bonus track. Also, a brand new single later this year!
Where can our audience catch you live? I’m going on tour in July and playing some awesome small, intimate venues in Sydney, Wollongong, Canberra, and Melbourne. Tickets here: https://DDM.lnk.to/EOTWtour
WEBSITE : www.danielledeckard.com
FACEBOOK : www.facebook.com/danielledeckard
TWITTER : www.twitter.com/danielledeckard
INSTAGRAM : www.instagram.com/danielledeckard
SOUNDCLOUD : www.soundcloud.com/danielledeckard
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