Award win nice, nice, very nice for Dan Mangan
By Lindsey Rivait
Arts Editor
September 30, 2009
 Vancouver’s Dan Mangan is officially out of debt thanks to his recent win of the XM Verge Music Award for artist of the year.
“It’s just one thing after another. Kind of a little overwhelming,” Mangan said in an interview with The Lance the day after his win.
Also included with the award is a cheque for $25,000, something Mangan appreciates quite a bit.
Since he was 16-years-old, Mangan has been in debt from crashing his parents’ car. “In one fell swoop I’m no longer in debt, so that’s pretty incredible,” he said.
Mangan is now busy heading across Canada, and then Europe afterward for six weeks.
“I’ve never actually done more than seven weeks on the road straight, so this is going to be the first. We’ll see how we do,” said Mangan.
For this tour, Mangan is playing with a four-piece band. “Included in those four players is going to be everything from upright bass to banjo to guitar to trumpet to piano to violin. It’s going to be a pretty eclectic collection of instruments,” said Mangan, whose album, Nice, Nice, Very Nice was the most-downloaded singer-songwriter album on iTunes Canada as of last week.
Nice, Nice, Very Nice was recorded in Toronto with producer John Critchley, who has also worked with Elliott Brood. “It’s a great city. A lot of people in Vancouver have a bit of a hate on for Toronto, but I love it,” said Mangan.
The new album is more of a collaborative effort than his previous releases. “The first time around, it was a simpler record. The music was a little more sombre, I think. With this one, we wanted it to be a little bit lighter and a little more loose and celebratory,” Mangan explained.
Mangan contacted musicians he held in high regard, such as Veda Hille, Justin Rutledge, Mark Berube, and members of Elliott Brood, to join in. “Their collaborative talents combined and gave the album a certain sound,” Mangan said.
Although Nice, Nice, Very Nice was just released last month, Mangan is already looking forward to his next album, which he hopes to start recording next spring.
“I want to try to go in a bit of a different direction. It’s important to me to never make the same record twice. I want to keep growing and evolving,” he said.
If all this hasn’t kept Mangan busy enough, he’s also working on an indie rock project called Poor Places. While the band, comprised of artists also in other bands (Miles Bruce, Peter Carruthers, Josh McNorton, and Robbie Tornroos) has not recorded an EP, they do plan to do so when time permits.
“Hopefully in the spring we can get an EP together and put that out,” said Mangan.
In the meantime, songs are available on the band’s MySpace. Mangan for one is excited about the music itself. “It’s completely and totally different from what I normally do. It’s kind of nice to express another side of the writing.”
The group met through playing in the Vancouver music scene.
“Last year we did a New Years gig and about 12 musicians collaborated and played Beatles covers and stuff. We had such a good time we ended up recruiting some of the people from there and putting together this collective of musicians,” Mangan said.
Catch Dan Mangan Oct. 9 at Phog Lounge.
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