The Voice – Owen Danoff

By starrymag | April 28, 2016

Q) Now that you’ve gotten all the exposure from being on the Voice I was wondering what’s next musically for you?

 

Owen Danoff:  Well I actually had been at work a little bit on an EP before everything started with The Voice, so I’m going to get that together and finish and put something out as soon as I can. And I have been looking into bookings and everything and I’m just going to you know hit the ground running and really try to you know just get my music out there as quickly as possible.

 

Q) How do you think your time on The Voice will influence the music you make going forward?

 

Owen Danoff:  I think it’s just going to make my music from now on – I think it’s just make me feel extra comfortable with trusting myself as an artist and writing music that I believe in and really trusting that to resonate with people rather than you know seeking out what I think people might want from me or anything. I think that’s a big thing that I’ve taken from the show.

 

Q) I know working with Adam was very helpful he’s a teacher, but I guess my question right now is what about from your other teammates or even other contestants in The Voice, were there things that you learned from them like whether it was watching them or just they gave you insights or encouragement. What are some of the things you learned from the other people non-judges that is?

 

Owen Danoff:  I mean there’s so much that I learned from everybody. Everybody is so unique and so incredible in their own way that I think everybody has things about them that I really want to try to figure out how to incorporate into my own life.  You know some people like Adam is one of them is like the most comfortable person on the planet on stage. If I could you know get any of that from him I’d be so happy. I don’t know I think everybody just has so much to offer the world, so yeah I think just you know knowing them and everything is really helping me grow and you can learn so much from – you know so many different things from each person.

 

Q)  I know when you got on The Voice you were more of a sneaker guy then they changed your look, so is there anything you’re going to take from The Voice in terms of clothing or are you going to go back to be a sneaker and a hat and jeans sort of guy?

 

Owen Danoff:  Well I’m wearing Vans right now so that answers the question. I think it’s going to be – I think I’m going to mostly stick to the Vans and the high tops but they did you know put me in some cool boots so I’m going to – there might be a balance but no I have about 5 tabs of Vans high tops on my computer right now that I’m going to probably buy in the next day. So I’m going to stick to my guns a little bit with that.

 

Q) Now last night it seems like you were struggling a little bit you know during your instant save performance, can you talk a little bit about that kind of what was going through your mind in that moment?

 

Owen Danoff:   I wish I knew. I honestly have been running that song all day with no issue whatsoever, and I think it was just a blank or something I don’t know. I really just felt like – I felt totally prepared for it until the exact moment that I didn’t feel prepared, and I don’t know totally what to attribute that to.  I’ve had that happen to me in my own concerts where I’ll you know drop a line or do a couple of things like that so I don’t know if that was just – if it was just time for that to happen or you know if I was maybe feeling stressed about what was going on but I don’t know. I don’t know.

 

Q) Why did you choose Burning House for that performance?

 

Owen Danoff:  I think that’s a song that (transcend) genre I think it’s beautifully written and the guitar part for it is amazing. I think I’m actually probably going to be covering it at some shows going forward because I think it’s just a gorgeous piece of music, and I really love it and wanted a chance to you know perform it.

 

Q) The Voice is a contest, did you figure the song choice was part of the reason that maybe some of the younger fans weren’t familiar with and maybe landed you in the bottom 2 and would you change anything differently now going forward?

 

Owen Danoff:  I’m not totally sure because the week that landed me in the bottom 2 I actually did a very current song, “7 years” by Lucas Graham, and I think if anything I might have – it might have you know done better for me to kind of present myself in the way that I thought like that I think people wanted to see me as if that makes sense.  Because I think a lot of people that were enjoying my run on the show were probably enjoying me you know playing guitar and doing all these things, and to not play a guitar on that song and sing a kind of song that people might not attribute to me might have been kind of a shocking – like a startling change of direction for some people even though you know it felt natural to me because I don’t know = I feel like I have a wide variety of influences and you know I think who I am as an artist is maybe a little larger than some people got the chance to see on the show, but I’m not sure. I think maybe it would have been a little safer to stay in a certain lane you know a little more even than I did.

 

Q) Were you shocked about being in the bottom 2 two weeks in a row, and when they didn’t call your name did you feel any sort of relief or how did you feel in that moment as well?

 

Owen Danoff:  I didn’t really feel too much shock. Two weeks ago or no last week I guess when I was in the bottom two for the first time you know I was kind of looking at the iTunes charts and everything the night before and it was definitely not out of the question for me that I would have been in the bottom two last, and I didn’t really feel like anything had changed in the week after so I was expecting it a little bit last night.  When they called – you know when it was announced that it was (Daniel) who was moving I was honestly just really happy for him because I know how hard he works and he you know has done an amazing job on the show and did a great job last night on his group song and the save song so I’m you know just rooting for him.

 

Q) I wanted to get back to the EP that you said that you were planning to release, you released a really nice album a couple of years ago, 12 Stories, how would you compare the new music to that?

 

Owen Danoff:     That’s a great question. I would say it is a refinement a little bit and a you know a continuation, but I think I’ve become a little bit more focused in who I am as an artist because 12 Stories I’m really proud of it and I’m very proud of every song on there and the process and you know the recording and how everything sounds, but it’s definitely a little all over the place. There’s you know almost like a country song on there and then a rock song, and there are a few songs on there that I think really were the foundation of the direction that I want to go in and I just really want to expand on that and make a really focused EP.

 

Q) Which songs are those and do you have a time table for this?

 

Owen Danoff:  The songs – so there are 3 songs, there’s one called “Hometown Headstone,” one called “I Wish I Knew Better” and one called “Amsterdam” and they’re all just kind of lyric-drive of folk rock kind of Paul Simon inspired.  I think that’s really where I feel comfortable and I think it’s – I don’t know I don’t hear too much like that right now and I think it might be kind of – you know I feel like it’s kind of a personal thing that I have made for myself whatever the sound of those is so I really want to expand on that and keep pushing forward with that.

 

Q) And any time table at all?

 

Owen Danoff:   I think I would hope you know I have to see contractually when I can release everything you know it’s up to UMG who we signed our contracts with, but I would probably say soon maybe June. And then I have people lined up to record with so I’m going to jump in the studio as soon as I get back.

 

Q) Earlier you talked about kind of what you learned from the other contestants, what’s kind of the biggest thing that you learned from your own coach and also from you know any of the advisors that came on the show?

 

Owen Danoff:  The biggest thing has been just that Adam and Miley especially they really were pushing me to be comfortable in myself as an artist and to not feel like I need to change the way that I sound or the way that I am to connect with people. I think that’s the most encouraging advice that you could get from somebody so that’s really the biggest thing that I want to take with me moving forward.

 

Q) Is there anything that you would like your fans to know about you or your experience on the show that maybe they didn’t get to see when the cameras were rolling?

 

Owen Danoff: Just that I spent a lot of time reading all the things they were writing in to me and I could not be more appreciative that they’ve all been following me on this journey and I cannot wait what happens next and hope that they’re with me.

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*