Danny Groenland is one of those Irish artists who, when you spend a lot of the time on the Irish music scene, feels a bit underappreciated because he’s simply always there. The man is a massive talent; a soulful vocalist capable of performing in numerous guises, ruminating on numerous diverse topics, and of taking on all kinds of different stylistic approaches.
On his latest, ‘Burning Rome’, he goes into something of an exploration of the world as he sees it, which it’s fair to say is on the dark side. With lots of hefty political elements and ample depth of meaning, he also maintains imaginative musical angles and a great turn of phrase. It’s effortlessly memorable. He’s very good at that thing where a track is superficially upbeat, but hides layers of moody depth.
A small aside while I’m here: I put effort into the questions I ask musicians. I think it’s the least I can do when I’m asking for their time. Sometimes that effort is reciprocated, and sometimes it isn’t. This very definitely falls quite firmly into the first category. Thanks for the effort, Danny, it made this a great read.
First of all, can you tell me the story behind ‘Burning Rome’ and how it developed for you?
For a while now, I’ve been concerned with social issues. Anxiety about the environment particularly, but also inequality, war, homelessness, police brutality, mental health etc. And the realisation that all of these things are connected. I didn’t realise at the time that it would be an album of songs with a connected theme. I kept recording the songs one by one until the picture became complete. The album title was the last piece of the puzzle, realised after all of the songs were mixed. It comes from the story about the emperor Nero playing music while Rome burned. Doing something trivial in the face of a catastrophic event, which is what humanity is doing right now.
You’re doing a ‘waterfall’ release of the record on streaming. What prompted that, and how has it worked out so far?
The waterfall release strategy for streaming platforms is prompted by social media. I figured if I released the full album at once, I’d get tired of promoting it week after week. Whereas this way, releasing a song a month, I have something ‘new’ to share and there’s a sense of momentum. It also gives me time to get music videos together, plan gigs around certain releases and generally just get more out of the album. If people want to hear the full album, it’s on Bandcamp already. But if you use streaming services, you’ll get one song a month. I don’t know if this is a good idea but I’ve come to realise that no one in the music industry really has a clue what they’re doing and everyone’s just making it up as they go along, so why not try something different?
Do you think there’s an issue with albums being less respected these days next to individual songs, compared to in the past?
Albums are definitely not being listened to as much. We’ve had the entire history of recorded music at our fingertips now for about 10 years. This has changed how we value music, our listening habits, and even how artists approach songwriting. I grew up listening to albums so that’s how I process music. I appreciate the craft that goes into the planning, production, sequencing and mood of a body of work as much as the individual songs themselves. I feel like there are still dedicated groups of music lovers that share this appreciation, particularly those who have the physical records. You listen to the songs in the order the artist intended, with a natural break in the middle to flip to the B side. If this sounds familiar, then my album is for you!
A ten-piece is a sizable band. How do you write for that many people, and what does it involve?
I find that 90% of it is playing with great musicians. And not just great at their instruments, but sound people and sensitive players who understand what the songs need, knowing when to sit back and when to rock out. My instructions are minimal, I just show the lads the chords and the general groove and they make it sound sophisticated. I struggle with writing horn parts though. I studied music in college so I really should be better at theory. In terms of backing vocals I try to keep it as simple as possible. It’s better to have people singing something simple confidently than something complicated and hesitant. My main role apart from singing the songs is to cue when the changes happen, I just stick my hand up in the air and shout like a crazy person.
Let’s talk about the economic system that is at the root of your record. It’s obviously a huge subject for you. What made you decide to make it the subject of a record?
A couple of years ago I discovered social engineer Jacque Fresco and was then lucky enough to meet him in person before he died. He talked about the monetary system as the root of basically every problem on Earth and how it distorts our values, creates billionaires and makes poverty, scarcity and war an inevitability. It changed my entire perspective. I became more of an activist and started to make this the focus of my music. Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On (1971) is a huge influence too. The themes on that album – war, addiction, police brutality, pollution etc were way ahead of the curve. He managed to write beautiful music that makes you feel good but also has an important message, and that’s what I’m aspiring to do. I want people to listen to this album and get angry, to question existing systems, to protest, but also to be filled with hope and the possibility of a better future.
Out of curiosity, what would you do to fix these issues?
I don’t claim to have the answers but I do like some of Fresco’s ideas. We have enough food to feed the Earth’s population 3 times over and yet a third of the global population lives in poverty. This is entirely preventable. If the barrier is money, then let’s get rid of it! A resource-based economy would declare the world’s resources as the common heritage of the Earth’s people. It will require cooperation and trust on a global level which we’ve never seen before. But at the moment we’re stuck in a doom-spiral of infinite growth which is literally destroying our habitat; our forests and oceans. Weather patterns will get more extreme and entire social structures will collapse. This is the defining issue of our time. We need to find another way and fast.
How did you balance these big sweeping subjects with the sometimes delicate little details of music and lyrics?
I once heard Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On described not as a protest song, but a love song. And instead of him singing to a woman as he usually would, he’s singing to the world. I tried to come at it from that perspective. Musically I wanted the album to sound warm, like a 70s Stevie Wonder record. So even if you’re not paying attention to the words, you’re still (hopefully) enjoying how it sounds. Lyrically I didn’t want to leave any ambiguity or doubt as to what the songs are about, because I want people to get the message and start thinking about these things. It’s difficult to talk about important issues without coming across as preachy or self-righteous. I don’t know if I overcame this obstacle. I’ll leave it to others to judge.
‘Never Going Home’ particularly jumps out as a bit of high concept work. Do you like to put yourself in others’ shoes in that abstract sense?
I’ve always loved the way The Beatles could just invent complex characters in their songs, like in Eleanor Rigby and countless others. I was never able to do that as the lyrics were always too personal. But for this song it came almost fully formed. I love sci-fi movies set in space. They’re often morality tales, showing us a future where humanity has failed in some way. I imagined the song as one of these stories, narrated by a survivor who had to leave Earth after some man-made disaster. He’s trying to remember details such as what falling rain sounded like. Once I had that concept, the song wrote itself in a couple of minutes. Musically I wanted to pay homage to The Beatles for the inspiration, with a string section and acoustic guitars.
How do you feel the record compares to your previous work in terms of sound?
This feels like my best work. Maybe everyone says that about their latest record. But the songs on this album sound more like the way they sounded in my head than my previous ones, if that makes sense. It features a lot of contrasting sounds. Some tracks have jazzy instrumentation with piano, double bass and horns. Others have layered beats and have a more modern RnB sound. A lot of that is down to Ken McCabe (Wolfhound Sound) who mixed and produced the album, he’s a genius.
Your two daughters are on the record. How involved are your family in your music in general?
This is the first time I’ve asked my daughters to be part of a record. They’re old enough now (6 and 9) that they can do a really good job. They’re both really musical and love singing so it was no bother to them. I’m so proud of them and I’m sure they’ll be making music themselves when they grow up. Having children on the track adds a layer of gravitas and emotion that fits the vibe. It’s a cliché but it’s also true, the children are our future. This is their world and we need to make sure it isn’t broken by the time they grow up.
What are your hopes for the future?
Things will get worse before they get better. Humanity may need some catastrophe or series of catastrophes to jolt us out of this sleepwalking. I dearly hope that isn’t the case, but all the signs point to increased temperatures, higher sea levels, food scarcity and massive movement of climate refugees. There will be instability which could force us to look for alternative systems. I don’t have faith in leaders or politicians whatsoever. They have no long-term interest in fixing anything. We, the people, need to demand change. Right now it’s my job as an artist to spread awareness and force conversations. I know it’s overwhelming to think about, but it’s the most important issue we’ve ever faced as a species and it will soon be unavoidable.
