Most people are familiar with Dan Holmes and his unique on-stage persona from his appearances with Duke Tumatoe & the Power Trio on the Bob and Tom Show, but he’s been a fixture of the Indianapolis music scene for a decade. As the founder of the Dan Holmes Group, the owner and operator of the Soup Kitchen recording studio and record label, and the keyboardist in many local and touring bands, Holmes has entertained audiences nationwide. He describes his group’s musical style as “Piano driven, New Orleans-ish blues rock.”
Examiner.com spoke with Holmes recently about his diverse projects, his approach to songwriting, and the catharsis of the blues.
E: You’ve stated that songwriting is very important to you. Can you describe your approach to songwriting?
DH: Absolutely. I usually approach songwriting from one of two ways, the first being from strange dreams. I don’t sleep well, so a lot of my ideas come out of dreams – they usually include a storyline or a concept, although sometimes music comes out of my dreams too. Then I flesh out that idea until it’s solid. I try to match the lyrics and music for whatever feels right, so the two match.
The other way I approach writing comes directly from playing. When I’m playing and enjoying that style I’ll write lyrics based on that – the feelings that come from playing. Basically, music inspires feelings and feelings inspire music.
E: What sort of feelings do you try to express in your music?
DH: To me, music is extremely positive and I try to express that in my playing and in my lyrics. Pure joy, really. Or even if I’m expressing something darker there are still elements of hope in there – I always want to express something positive one way or the other.
E: Is that how you would describe your take on the blues?
DH: Absolutely. Blues is 100% feelings-based. The idea of the blues is to sing your troubles away, release them that way. It’s a lot easier to deal with your troubles when they’re being expressed and out in the open. That’s why I like New Orleans-influenced blues, it’s very positive; second-line rhythms are prominent in that style.
A lot of that actually came out of funeral marches in New Orleans – funerals were viewed as being very positive in that culture. So that’s the same idea – taking something that might be considered negative and making it better through music so it’s uplifting.
E: Are there any themes that surface in your music consistently?
DH: Not necessarily themes. My approach is through storytelling, so there’s not necessarily a specific subject matter so much as a way I tell something. It depends on the specific song – sometimes it’s really just a story, other times it might be an idea or a theme masked by a story.
E: How long have you been playing with Duke Tumatoe?
DH: Off and on for about ten years now. I started playing with him at the end of ’99 and started doing the Bob and Tom show around that time as well.
E: How far away do your tours with Duke take you?
DH: Duke is basically a Midwestern-based act. We’ll play shows in Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin… I tour a little farther with the Dan Holmes Group. We basically play about anywhere, we’ve been playing in New Orleans a few times each year.
E: How did you get your start as a professional musician?
DH: When I was about 19 years old I was invited to play a party with a blues band. I didn’t know at the time that it would turn into a group (Catfish) that I would play with pretty consistently for a couple of years.
E: You’re working on a new album with the Dan Holmes Group. When will that be coming out?
DH: Right now it’s looking like August of next year. We’re working with Hi Studios out of Memphis, and it looks like Boo Mitchell (son of Willie Mitchell, who co-wrote and produced Al Green's hits) is going to be doing the production work on it. We’ve been working with Hi Studios for our last three records for post-production, but this time around it’s looking like they’ll actually be doing some of the recording. It’s a work in progress.
E: Your band has released 6 albums. Which one would you recommend for neophyte listeners?
DH: Definitely “Mismatched and Disheveled,” which came out in 2006.
"Holmes
excels at New Orleans-style jazz, introspective pop, psycobilly
blues and Talking Head-ish shaggy-dog stories. He can never
be accused of writing dull material"
"Although it is
just two musicians (Dan and excellent bass player Bill Ritter),
the music fills the room and many diners have commented on the
fact that they sounded like a much larger band. Dan is very
animated when he plays and his back and forth with the crowd
is energizing. They love what they do and it shows.
They are cranking out some righteous original music and I'm
sure someday soon I will be down to occasional postcard status.
So I'll just savor them while I have them."
