Jersey City musician Dante – she prefers just one name – is in the studio with her band recording her first full-length album, Elephantasia. Dante describes the band’s sound as a mix of pop, rock, blues, jazz, and Latin. You can decide for yourself at their upcoming gig this Saturday at the St. Anne’s Festival in Jersey City (see “On Stage”). Dante has also been on the airwaves recently, appearing on “The Lightshow” on WBAI-FM, New York’s Pacifica Radio station.A North Carolina native, Dante has lived in Jersey City for seven years. She makes her home in the Heights, along with her cat and an ever-expanding collection of unusual instruments.
What are your musical influences?
Everything form Bach to Zappa!
You’re a classically trained musician. When did you first start lessons?
I started music lessons when I was 5, but my family had a piano, so I was plunking around on that earlier.
What kind of music lessons did you take as a child?
Classical piano, viola, and voice.
You have a degree in music from NYU. What did you study?
I studied voice and piano at NYU, as well as basic audio engineering. I’m not qualified to be an engineer because the equipment changes so rapidly, but I can communicate with them in their language.
Who’s in your band and where do they live?
Brian Hussey is our guitarist, vocalist, and mandolin player; he lives in Newport. Eric Johnson, our drummer, lives in downtown Jersey City; and José Moura, our bassist, lives in Brooklyn.
What are your day jobs?
Brian Hussey is an audio engineer; Eric Johnson is an engineer and producer; José Moura is a music teacher; and I am a Jane-of-all-trades. I have mainly worked in music stores and rehearsal studios – the rehearsal studios were the most fun. One day you could have an opera teacher in one room, a punk band in the next, and an avant-garde jazz trio in the other room. I got to hear a great klezmer band, as well as a truly excellent Caribbean singer, Emeline Michelle.
Where have you performed?
We have performed for the New York City Marathon, as well as many New York clubs – C-Note, Continental, Elbow Room, ACME Underground, Hogs & Heifers, The Bitter End, Finally Fred’s. And we have played at Rodeo-Ristra in Hoboken.
Tell us a little about one of your favorite gigs.
Performing on the radio was a lot of fun. We were all squashed into a tiny sound room with all our instruments. We were very sweaty!
That was an acoustic performance. Tell us more about your experience at the WBAI taping.
We recorded 11 songs in just under two hours. Our guitarist Brian Hussey did all the audio engineering. I played a vintage Fender Rhodes electric piano; Eric Johnson, our drummer, played congas, guiro, afuche, and various percussion; and Brian Hussey played a great acoustic/electric guitar.
Tell us about some of the more unusual instruments you use.
We are using a lot of unusual instruments on our new recording! I have used a vintage [1960s] Moog synthesizer, Korg Vocoder, Fender Rhodes Electric piano, vibraslap, and kalimba. Brian Hussey, our guitarist, has played the guitar, mandolin, as well as a Mutron and many vintage effects. Our bassist, José Moura, used an awesome Sadowski five-string bass, perfect for extra low end! Eric Johnson, our drummer, used a variety of sticks, brushes, and mallets, as well as guiro, tambourine, afuche, and African shakers.
Uh … what are some of those things?
A Korg Vocoder is a keyboard that combines voice and synthesizer – Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder have used this on their recordings. You can make the voice sound like an organ speaking, or you can really mess with it and sound like you are from Mars!
A vibraslap has a wooden ball, a spring, and another small piece of wood. When you hit the ball, it vibrates sounding like a castanet, and then the sound fades out in volume. It has been used on Bonnie Raitt’s recordings, as well as Santana’s.
What’s your favorite day of the week?
Sunday. I have the whole day off, so I jam and write all day.
How’d you come up with the name “Elephantasia”?
I have a new song, “Elephants,” on the album. Brian suggested “Elephantasia” for the album title, and it stuck.
How is Elephantasia different from your previous work?
Elephantasia is a collection of songs I wrote, that I have always wanted perfect recordings of – they are songs that I could sing every day of my life. Most are new; we have also recorded a few that are very popular with our audience. And we are re-recording “Songbird,” a song that won several awards.
On Stage
When: Saturday, July 24, at 9:45 p.m.
Where: St. Anne’s Festival, Congress and Kennedy Blvd., Jersey City
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