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We’re very happy to have time today with acclaimed singer-songwriter, musician and producer David Belle; greetings and salutations David and welcome to Vents Magazine! Before we meander down the Q&A musical pathway, how is 2024 treating you and yours?
Hello Vents! Thanks for having me. 2024 has been bittersweet. I’m psyched my album is out and finally making the rounds so that’s cool but man, the state of the planet isn’t feeling too good. There’s so much conflict and division and inequality in the world. Come on humans, stop acting like blockheads! Can’t we all do better than this in 2024?
Major kudos and accolades on your freshly-minted new – and debut! – LP The Beginning! Starting at the top, can you talk about what inspired one of the very best albums of 2024?
Wow. One of the best albums of 2024 is very generous of you Vents. I appreciate the love. At the core of my inspiration for The Beginning were all those dueling feelings you get when you’re starting off on a new adventure and leaving a whole other life behind; that feeling of excitement and fear, the fascination and uncertainty with the unknown, and the almost urgent impatience to just go for it, and maybe even risk it all. It was all about walking that line, and pushing through it, ultimately letting go to be OK with not knowing exactly how it would go or where I’d end up. I ended up facing some fears, recounting some of the past, painting a bit of the future.
You co-wrote and co-produced The Beginning with Alessandro Meynardi. What was that collaboration like?
Writing and producing with Alessandro was the perfect collaboration. We often come at things from different angles due to our different backgrounds and musical approaches. He’s born and raised in Italy and is a serious formal student of music, attending first the Conservatory of Milano and then Berkley College of Music. I on the other hand am from New York City and while I studied a bit of classical guitar at the Greenwich House Music School in the Village as a kid, I am not really formally trained, I’ve just listened to a ton of different music my whole life and have a really diverse influence set. So it’s an interesting fit of opposites and kind of amazing it worked out so well. We’ve become super tight through it. And the further we go, the more trusting and intuitive we are with one another’s approach. The majority of songs initially were born with me coming in with a basic demo on guitar, bass, and singing to a drum track. We’d talk about where to take it, what we both heard, then we’d call in the troops and re record everything – sometimes live for a few of the tracks and then do some overdubs and redo vocals after. Alessandro can play anything. He is extremely gifted. And he can arrange and direct and steer an artist and he’s our engineer. Five stars and my brother now.
Can you introduce our ever-inquisitive readers to some of the other talented musicians who lent their musical alchemy to make The Beginning into a flesh and blood reality?
Well, Alessandro not only comes with all of his own insane talent and professionalism, but he brings a rich network of musical family and friends with him. His dad, Federico, is a talented keyboard player and champion of all our work. His brother Lorenzo Meynardi, is our killer drummer. The two brothers have been playing together since they were kids. They’re hilarious. Alessandro is always snarling something at Lorenzo in Italian. At first they didn’t know I also speak some Italian so I could understand everything. “Che cazzo stai facendo” etc… (ie. What the fuck are you doing!!?) Then there’s Riccardo Gresino our keyboard player. Another Italian Berkley alum. He is the sweetest man and has an unbelievable touch. Listen again to all the piano and organ parts. That dude is so talented. His wife Aubrey Situmorang, a bass player, is now playing with us. She didn’t play on the album. Alessandro did those bass parts but she’ll probably be part of our live set up. Then there’s my wife Josie Maran who sings the duet of This Old Love with me and she sings backing vocals on a bunch of other tracks. We are having so much fun creating music together. We just shot a video for Connection and also put my step daughter Rumi in it. Alessandro’s girlfriend Juliet also sings some backing vocals. And there’s also a singer named Rafi on a few tracks. All incredible female vocalists.
What are the pros to co-producing or producing your own material versus strictly farming it out to an outside producer?
I think a lot goes in to a successful creative collaboration but it starts with a certain synergy and mutual understanding and trust in one another. I’m psyched to collaborate with other producing partners in the future but for this debut and definitely the next album, Alessandro has been the right co-producing fit. We now own a recording studio in LA together, Black Lotus Studios in North Hollywood. He lives upstairs. I live just up the hill. We work in intense bursts for a few weeks at a time. Then take a pause and resume a few weeks later. Thus far this rhythm has been the right one. We do a few songs at a time then take time away to get some distance while writing new stuff. Then we return to tweak and change what was already recorded and set off on the new material. One track inevitably informs the next one in some way. So it’s been a really productive collaboration and the right flow. But there are some many extraordinary producers out there. I’m psyched to one day collaborate with some of them and learn from them and explore new places.
We’re tremendous admirers of the tune “Wanna Take A Ride” which is off of The Beginning LP! What’s the VH1-Behind the Music origin story on this gem of a ditty?
Ah…. the great road trip rebel anthem ! Thank you for appreciating it. Note there are two Wanna Take a Ride’s on the album. Track 5 is a radio edit version coming in at 3:55 and then there’s the full monty – Track 10 (A Longer Ride) that is almost 13 minutes long. The back story of it is my wife Josie and I were just jamming really late one night in our home studio. It started with a backing drum track, I first did the bass line, then added the tremolo guitar and harmonica. It just got more and more bad ass – almost western dusty tumble weed cowboy town shootout vibes. But the image that came to mind that formed the basis for the title lyric was a vintage black muscle car rolling into a sleepy town – like a 1966 Camero SS or Mustang Fastback – and there’s a girl who steps out after her shift at the diner. As the dude in the car rolls by their eye’s meet and it’s that instant connection/attraction/temptation to leave the small town and head out to unknown adventure where anything is possible. Our first demo was me singing the hook and Josie echoing it with “Girl you gonna ride with me, Boy you gonna ride with me.” I then shared the demo with Alessandro and the band and we felt like it had to be done live – it was structured but also needed to be unstructured so that’s how it turned into 13 minutes complete with drum solo. What happened next was really cool. First, I needed to write some more lyrics to overdub for the now 13 minute long jam, so it became a painting in my mind of different light and color, and the story evolved into a road trip that led up into the sky across the universe into a cosmic road trip Rock n Roll Airways vibe with eight nor nine verses. So we recorded that and added the beautiful backing vocals on the choruses. It sounded so dope but I hated my harmonica playing. It worked fine on the demo but now it wasn’t strong enough. So I asked my friend the brilliant songwriter Stuffy Schmitt if he might take a crack at it and he said, “no way, i suck too, but lemme see if I can get Charlie McCoy to do it.” If you don’t know Charlie – Google him. He’s 83 years old and played with everyone from Roy Orbison to Elvis Presley to Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, on and on. He’s a legend. So next thing I know Charlie’s on the phone saying , “Yes sure I’d love to hear it, send it over.” So we send it over and he calls back with in half an hour saying, “Uh Dave, you know this is like Rumble. You know that track right? Link Wray…” I’m in a panic googling to find out what he’s talking about. And sure enough same chords…different song but same chords. Of course this legend on the other end of the phone knows his stuff. But then he says, “Why the hell is it so long? What am I gonna do for 13 minutes? Whatever you want?” I laughed and told him the story of how it came to be and just asked him to vibe with us and find his place however/wherever he wanted. We hung up and a couple of days later he sent over his track and said something like “That was fun. I even put some bonus stuff on there!” We all listened to it immediately and were blown away. It just elevated everything and he of course found plenty of room between all our guitars and stuff. And the bonus stuff he also sent is that bass harmonica he’s playing in the intro. Legend. Thank you Charlie.
In your humble opinion, what differentiates The Beginning from the other releases on the 2024 music scene?
Ohhh I’m not a good barometer on anything much going on out there. I don’t use social media, I don’t watch TV or listen to radio. I tend to get turned on to stuff from reading books and learning about what other artists were influenced by, or the other way I get into new music is someone will share something they’re into. I just checked out my favorite albums folder and only three for 2024: The Black Keys Ohio Players, Obed Calvaire 150 Million Gold Francs and Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard and Soft. I love the first few tracks of the Black Keys Album. Also love “The Diner” which is track 8 of Billie’s new album. One thing I find intriguing about The Beginning is there’s a certain variety to it. It’s not one sound or one genre yet it feels cohesive.
Who inspires you, musically-speaking?
I grew up with a huge and diverse vinyl collection. My parents were into opera, classical, jazz and folk music. My older siblings would also bring back records from boarding school and college; reggae, R&B, soul, disco, funk, folk and rock. I would sit for hours spinning one after another and then of course had my own cultural influences at different times; punk, new wave, grunge, blues, pop, rap, world music. I tend to listen to one thing over and over. It could be one song or an entire album. I’ll listen on repeat until the next thing grabs me. Some recent repeat offenders are: “Christine” By Christine and The Queens, “Pretty Pimpin” Kurt Vile, “Man Gave Names to All the Animals” Bob Dylan, “Glory Box “John Martyn, “The Numbers; Jony, Whom & a CR78” Radiohead, “Violet” Hole. “Crawling Kingsnake” The Black Keys, “Brand – New – Life” Young Marble Giants, “You Got the Love” The Retrosettes Sister Band, “Spoonful” Willie Dixon, “I am the Rain” Peter Doherty, “Rockawhile” Keith Richards, “WE” Arcade Fire, “So What” Miles Davis, “La Wally” Vladimir Cosma, Wilhenia Fernandez + the London Symphony Orchestra.
In the wake of the release of The Beginning, can fans look forward to catching you on the touring/performing circuit?
Yeah one day I want to do our own type of Rolling Thunder Revue Variety Show Tour with other artist friends and a cool old bus and a bunch of Harley’s and we’ll drive across the country in the warm months and play country fairs and stuff. Maybe even have our own circus tent we set up in a field on the outside of town.
You entered into the world of music as an award-winning film producer and social entrepreneur. Did having a whole other professional life prior to The Beginning sort of inform and enable you to bring a set of tools to the musical table which you may not otherwise have had?
I barely made it through high school. Terrible student. It was torture. So I started working at a really young age to get my parents off my back because at least I had some financial independence that way. They then sort of respected that and trusted me and allowed me to find my own way with stuff. I always learned through doing something hands on. Theory was impossible for my brain. My mother was an Academy Award nominated documentary film director, so I first started working in film at a really young age. Then I got gigs as a production assistant just fetching stuff on commercial and music video shoots. One day I was sent out to shoot something for a short documentary and it was a disaster. Not a single steady shot. Nothing was usable. So the producer had me sit and watch the entirety of the two hours of my fuck up. I was mortified. I decided i needed to learn to edit if were to shoot. So I worked under a pro editor as an assistant. Then I started filming as a cinematographer. That led to wanting to produce and direct stories that I cared about and I went on to do that – mainly documentaries but also commercial stuff from time to time to make better money. So I learned it all from the bottom up. I eventually traveled the world and learned other languages and about other cultures and history and a lot of the stuff that I shunned from the boring text books in school. I also learned how to collaborate, tell a story, produce something against all odds and the importance of purpose, a dream, momentum and keeping rhythm. I also always had music and musicians in my life and when my friend Jackson Browne told me he wanted to do a benefit album for a charity I was involved with I was all in. Jackson, and our co-producing partner on that project, Jonathan Wilson, really got me dreaming of doing my own music. And after having worked side by side with them on that album I felt I had at least the baseline of tools to really approach it seriously and now I work on and play music every single day. The guitars and gear and song books are piling up !!!
Word ‘round industry campfire has it that, hot on the heels of the release of The Beginning, you’re already hard at work on your sophomore album; congrats! Can you give readers a hint or three as to what they can expect and look forward to with this second LP?
Thank you 😉 Yep, I figure if i do at least an album a year I can maybe kind of catch up to some of the greats and my heroes ! So I’m writing and recording all the time and we’re nearly done with recording album II. It started writing a bunch of protest kind of songs. Me upset over the recent wars breaking out – totally different situations but the Russia- Ukraine and Israel- Palestine conflicts. And also seeing the plight of refugees around the world and the rise of xenophobia and the nasty divisive tone of political leaders in many countries taking on more and more steam. It’s all happening at such a ironic time in human history; we have more knowledge, more personal power and possibilities than any time in history, and in many countries we have more personal liberties than ever before, and yet here we humans are repeating the same crap over and over again…. but the songs aren’t lamenting, they’re defiant and angry and kind of punkish. After a couple of those I thought damn, this is important but could be way to dense and heavy. Too masculine. So then I started to write from a more feminine point of view. (I have one son and three daughters and a wife so it’s largely a house of women.) That material has more of an ethereal and danceable quality. And of course it allowed for my wife and I do to another loving duet. So it’s kind of a reflection of my inner world today in the face of the outer world’s shit.
Any final thoughts you might like to share with readers about your new LP The Beginning, and where can fans go to find out more about you and your music?
I’m making music to make music. I am fascinated with the process and totally in love with the journey. It’s almost like painting for me. Just another painting. The more I make surely the better they’ll get. Thank you so much for taking time to listen and feature this first batch of work. As I said before I’m not on social medial so best way to engage is just listen on any streaming platform and there’s a website davidbelle.net and you can also check out my first videos on YouTube. @OfficialDavidBelle – with my film background and the encouragement of Jon Delange at TinderBox Music we’ll keep releasing videos cuz …..it’s just the beginning!
