MUSIC INTERVIEW: DANIELLE ATE THE SANDWICH

Danielle Anderson - From The Mountains To The Main Stage

By: Team Buzzine

January 21, 2011

Danielle Anderson is a Colorado-based singer-songwriter who is becoming a dominant force via her distinctive and quirky music videos on YouTube (four million plays and counting) and beyond. Using her Internet base as a weapon of mass attraction, she has toured from coast to coast several times, shared a stage with artists as diverse as Weezer and Grace Potter, and been dubbed ‘Joni Mitchell meets Sarah Silverman.’  Buzzine caught up with her at the Mile High Music Festival in Denver, Colorado to talk about her music, her latest album Two Bedroom Apartment, and to find out what time it is.

Scott Roon: How did you go from playing coffee shops up in your mountain hometown of Loveland, CO to sharing a stage with Weezer?

Danielle: I feel like I’ve been really lucky, and my story isn’t common among musicians. I feel like a lot of musicians work harder and longer than I have had to. I have only been playing for about three or four years locally, and the first two years it was kind of casual. I played shows here and there, and then in 2009 I finally bit the bullet and dropped my job and became a musician full-time, and it’s just been a shot up from there. I have a lot of fans on YouTube and I think the Colorado scene has been impressed with that, so that’s helped me build my fan-base around here, as well as around everywhere else. But just playing shows in Fort Collins and Denver, Colorado Springs, hitting all the markets and making a presence and making your name known and getting to know other musicians and the venues, and just being seen I think is the biggest thing you have to do. And then obviously be good. And I’m good. We all know it. I’m good. [laughs]

SR: That’s what I was going to ask you: why are you so good? Do you have classical training or just natural genius?

D: My classical training is… I was the kid who was always in choir and band. I never took serious professional vocal coach training or anything. I just kind of sang along to the radio and wrote songs in secret and I finally bloomed as an individual. And then I started performing in front of people. I have no training. I’m the person who doesn’t really bring anything to the table except for what I do and what I know. So I have no impressive skills or talents. I’m just good naturally…it’s a natural thing.

SR: You brought other musicians onboard now, right? Because when I went to see your shows before, it used to be just you and a guitar…now it’s you, a guitar and...who else do you have with you?

D: Nowadays, I play most commonly with a standup bass player--a big bass, and a violin player, Chris [Jusell] and Dennis [Bigelow]. They played on my new record Two Bedroom Apartment with me, so it feels natural to incorporate them into the live show so people know what they’re getting and know how I’m moving forward. And I did start out playing just solo shows--me and the guitar and it felt very small, very compact on stage, so it’s good, especially at gigs like this that are a huge stage… Did you see the stage [today]? It is huge. So it’s good to have other people just so I feel like I’m filling out physically, as well as the sound waves, you know? It just is funner for me and for the audiences who have been watching me. I think its fun to give them something new and different and obviously just to grow as a musician. I still like performing solo, but it’s fun to have some support.

I find it ironic that you have a clock around your neck, and you were totally late…

D: Was I? You know what? I have no idea what’s going on today. I’m just going where people tell me, but I am such a late person. I am so tardy, always. I’m that person that you have to lie to me and tell me to be there 15 minutes before I actually need to be there, and I might be there on time.

SR: How does one go about making a Danielle Ate The Sandwich Clock?

D: I made this clock last night. I bought this clock at Target, if we’re able to name-drop here…I just tore it apart, and then I went through a series of cutting and pasting, I thought I’d hand-draw… I’d make a pizza, and then I was like no, no, no. I’ll just print it out. And then, of course, I just used Microsoft Word (as all good graphic designers do), and just tried to space it out evenly enough so I could get the perfect "Danielle Ate The Sandwich Time!" clock-face. And then I put it back together, and for some reason, thought it would be acceptable to put it on a chain and wear it.

SR: Like Flavor-Flav. I like it…

D: Does Flavor-Flav have a catch phase?

SR: I think he just says ‘Flavor-Flav’ a lot…

D: Flavor-Flav!

Danielle Ate The Sandwich’s ‘Two Bedroom Apartment’ is available now on Youngest Daughter Records at http://danielleatethesandwich.net. So is the clock.