We recently got the chance to interview Dante Mazzetti who was born and raised in New York City. We chatted with Dante about his music, his EP Hotel Vol. 2, working as a FDNY Firefighter, and more!
upfrontNY: When did you discover your passion for music?
Dante Mazzetti: As far as I can reach back in my memory, I wanted to make music. My father was often playing guitar and writing songs. Other musicians would come over and they would play together. I wanted to be a part of that music that was happening in my household. It kind of just took hold of me.
I was always fascinated by sounds and wanted to get my hands on all sorts of different instruments. I loved figuring out the nuances of each instrument – little things like how the tone changes depending on how much pressure you put on a plucked string.
upfrontNY: Who were your musical inspirations growing up?
Dante Mazzetti: I have this great record collection that I’ve been listening to since I was a kid. A lot of the records were my father’s – Slim Harpo, Howlin Wolf, Leadbelly, Mississippi John Hurt, Otis Redding, The Band, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Towns Van Zant. All of those guys have had an influence on my sound. Through the years, I’ve listened to all kinds of music, but these ones have been a constant throughout my life.
upfrontNY: How did growing up in NYC influence your music?
Dante Mazzetti: One of the advantages of growing up in the city is that I’ve had the chance to meet lots of truly talented musicians in the New York scene and I always tried to get what first-hand knowledge I could from them. When I was a teenager, I got to be in this jam session at my friend’s house with Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and some other well-known folk artists. It was really cool to be a part of that. I was also introduced to Dave Van Ronk around that time – another iconic figure in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene. Dave and I sat in my friend’s living room for hours one night. He told me all about the folk movement and taught me about both playing guitar and living a full life. Those kinds of things probably wouldn’t have happened if I lived elsewhere.
I think another part of NYC that really has influenced me is that New York is filled with all sorts of people with all sorts of stories. Since it’s such a big city, people feel free to be whatever they want to be and try on different identities. I’ve met people here that I am sure couldn’t exist outside of the city’s anonymity. Some of my lyrics have been influenced by interesting characters that I’ve met here. “Breaking in the Sun” was inspired by a father that I know here in the city and “East Village Tattoo Queen” was inspired by a bartender from the East Village neighborhood. Their stories are unique, but also universal. That’s what so interesting. So, while I hopefully will never fully understand how devastated the father in “Breaking in the Sun” feels, I CAN understand what it is like to feel small and insignificant.
upfrontNY: What do you love most about NYC?
Dante Mazzetti: New York City is a place where happiness, tragedy, anger, and love intersect on street corners daily. It’s the ultimate experiment. Thousands of people walking around from all walks of life, all the cultures of the world. Some wandering aimlessly and some with sharp purpose. All forced to interact with each other. That’s the special thing about New York. It’s not a place where you can be in your own bubble. The Millionaires and the homeless share the same street. In many places, people have the luxury of not having to interact with each other. In that divided environment, you can become cut off, isolated, and no longer able to understand each other. As Ric Burns’ New York documentary points out it is a place where the “most critical human experiment on earth continues to unfold…to see if all the people of the world can live together in a single place.”
upfrontNY: You recently played Rockwood Music Hall for your EP Release. What was the best part of this night and being on stage?
Dante Mazzetti: We played at Rockwood’s Stage 3 which is such a great space. It’s downstairs in this intimate space which is draped in darkness and red velvet. It’s a great room to sit and listen. I like to play intimate spaces. You can really connect with the audience. It’s more like hanging out with a bunch of friends and sharing music. I love it when people feel comfortable enough to call out and be part of the conversation between the songs. It’s also part of what makes each show unique. The makeup of the audience is a big part of the show.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about your EP Hotel Vol. 2?
Dante Mazzetti: I released Hotel Vol. 1 this summer. Hotel Vol. 2 is a four-song album that is a bit darker and more contemplative than Vol. 1. I grew up in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. There is this famous hotel right down the street from me called Hotel Chelsea. There is no other building in New York City that has been the home and muse for so many generations of musicians, writers, and artists. I have always had a view of the Hotel Chelsea from my window. During the course of writing these songs, the musical history of the famous hotel inspired me. I thought of the characters that I see coming in and out of the front doors. I thought about who could be roaming around the interior.
I have been writing and rewriting some of these songs for years. When I create a song, I want to paint a series of pictures – visuals that are both mine and the listeners. The listener is the artist as well. The faces the listener sees are mine and theirs. The intricacies in facial expressions that could never be imagined the same from one person to the next. The writer paints broadly and the listener creates the focus – the final touch. It is only a work of art together.
For this EP, some of the recordings were done in my home studio and some were done at Mercy Studios here in Manhattan. I’m always torn between recording in my home and the studio. At the studio, I get to record in a perfect sounding room with vintage microphones, but sometimes I find I can get more intimate or expressive vocals when I record at home. Sometimes home studio productions sound more honest and authentic. Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen was a big influence on my current recording process. He recorded that album in his home with his 4 track cassette recorder. I was very impressed that he decided at the height of his career to using home recordings as a major release. I think that’s why that album feels so special. I don’t think you can get that from a studio. He had to be staring at his own interior walls to grab that emotion out of that album. The feel of a song is more important to me than perfect sound quality. I believe people don’t necessarily want perfection. We think we do – and we strive for it. But really, the things that we truly love are flawed.
upfrontNY: Do you have a favorite lyric or song from the album?
Dante Mazzetti: In “Breaking in the Sun,” there’s a line that says, “Yesterday’s memories are tomorrow’s heavy load.” I like the expansiveness of that line. There’s a juxtaposition between the past and the present and the reality it reveals.
upfrontNY: What is your dream venue, city, or country to one day perform?
Dante Mazzetti: There’s not one particular space that I dream of playing. I would really love to set up a tour and play in really cool intimate spaces at each stop. Each space would be a room with a lot of history and character – places with a past. Not a cookie-cutter venue. Spaces that have a story. I love traveling and exploring different cultures, so a world tour like that would be a dream.
upfrontNY: Aside from music you are also a FDNY Firefighter. What has it been like to be able to follow two different important paths?
Dante Mazzetti: You know we are constantly bombarded with the messaging that we can be this or that. We have to choose one passion, one path, one road. And once we set our path, that’s it. If we start a family, we have to follow that blueprint that society has laid out for us. If we get a blue-collar job, like a firefighter, we have to fit into that mold. If we choose to be an artist, there’s a mold for that as well. It’s been very liberating to allow myself to be all of these things. We are not carbon copies of each other. We are all unique and each of us can travel many different paths in life. I encourage people to stop trying to fit into their expected mold and just find what speaks to them.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about working with the First Responders Children’s Foundation?
Dante Mazzetti: They are an amazing organization. Each year, about 200 first responders die in the line of duty, and thousands more become permanently disabled. I have seen first hand how this can affect the family members. It’s hard. And while there is nothing that can be done to bring back their loved one, First Responders Children’s Foundation works to offer support to those children and families. I wanted to help to bring attention to the work that they are doing. It’s important.
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