Using Art for Healing: Dane Caston Sits Down to Talk New Music for Hard Times
Check out our interview with Dane Caston, which focuses on music, healing, racism, and showing up for one another all themes from his new debut "Don't Know What to Say".
Claudine: Tell us about your relationship with music? I know you from World Peace Connection, and so I’m super curious to hear how you got your start with music?
Dane: Yeah great great question so music started for me when I was a kid, so growing up my dad produced music and was a DJ, so when I was little my room was his studio so he would have his equipment setup in my room, so I had been around music my whole life. I used to rap when I was younger, and then as I got older I started playing basketball and I felt like I had to choose one or the other and I chose basketball for high school and then never really tapped back into my creativity. And after I started traveling, southeast Asia with my wife, Chari, I just began to get a little more open to not limiting myself. I remember one particular time, Chari had asked me, she said “If your mom or your Dad ever gave you a gift would you tell them that you didn’t want it?”, and I was like no. And in that moment, as crazy as it sounds, it was kind of magical, it was really a word from GOD, and then I knew exactly what she and he meant. Who am I to tell God I don’t want this gift of music. It was a lack of courage to be completely honest. I was afraid to use it because I wasn’t courageous enough to just pursue my music, and at that moment I was like you know what, I can’t hold this gift back, so I started to create music. This was back around like 2015-2016 just starting to get my flow and writing. In the beginning of 2019 I put forth my first project called, Thank you Father, and from then I’ve just really been pursuing my career as a musical artist on top of running a non-profit.
In this era of social media, we all don’t know what we're doing, and so we then compare ourselves to other people to identify if we’re on track or not, against somebody else’s story or journey, and that’s something I’m dealing with now, as an artist even knowing better. I'm still finding moments where I fall short and am not doing better, so it’s really instead of looking at where I am not, I need to stop comparing, and look at how far I've come.
Claudine: This track is healing and therapeutic. So I’m wondering how you honed that voice for this record or even determined that you would use your music as a form of healing?
Dane: To be honest I think it really boils down to staying true to who you are as an individual and with me being a man of GOD I really allow that to be my center, it’s my core. Even with my artist name I kept my name, because I don't want to try to be anybody else or an alter ego. This is who I am, so it’s a reminder. When I'm writing songs I try to speak from a place of truth, and true experiences.I feel like as artists it's our job to portray time. When you look at your greats from Picasso to Steve Jobs they were doing what they could to portray a particular time, and it's those people who are remembered because they aren't necessarily trying to do the same thing, or portray a trend. They are more so being a voice for what people want to say or wouldn’t say, and really capture an era or moment in time, history and so I try to really do that with my music and me not trying to be a collective voice but me being my voice. You can go back and listen to a song be like wow this is what Dane was going through at this particular moment in his life, not necessarily like this is what was cool in 2016, I don't even wanna say I want to listen to this because I've outgrown that moment in time, but how do you make it nostalgic. That's kind of the thing I try to stay focused on when creating, because I am a vessel, I feel like all artists are a vessel and were just here to really be used to capture a moment in time.
Music lives for lifetimes, like your Beetles or your Michael Jackson's or even Bob Marley, they are all speaking on behalf of the world as well as their authentic feelings, and so that's literally where it came from. I never really have been someone to talk about worldly issues in my music, but again like I said it's my perspective on what's happening in my journey, but also this speaking from an authentic place and that’s really where that came from. We actually had no intent to even put this song out. We were just freestyling, and that’s what was really heavy on our hearts, the reality of being a black man in America. We didn't know what to say and then before we knew it it was just like wow this is actually coming together and it created the song it is today.
Claudine: What made you decide to embed social justice themes in your music when so many other artists avoid this at all costs? & What was the inspiration behind the new record, don’t know what to say?
Dane: Well that kind of goes back to what i just said being true to one’s self. Understanding that we are vessels as artists, we are to capture time. What happened was, it’s kind of unique, i’ll give you a little back story on it. I was with my friend Christian, who’s also featured on the song. He and I were hanging out together, we were shooting a video for another song that we're doing, and while we’re driving a friend of ours is in the car, and he was like “you know when you guys create what is your creative process like?”. And so Christian and I both were like “we talk about what we're feeling or what’s going on in our life”. He said “Have you guys ever thought about what the world needs to hear? Or what is the world trying to say?”.
So we're freestyling, we come up with the track, and we were like we’re just gonna keep this for ourselves. Like this is capturing a time of me and you hanging out. When I went home I shared it with my wife, and my family, and they were like “you guys aren’t putting this out?”, and we told them no, so they asked “Why not?”. We told them we made it for ourselves and they urged us to put it out. And then the enemy stepped in and said “You’re just doing this for clout, you’re trying to take advantage of a situation”,and I became apprehensive about it, but I had to rewind, and ask myself “What was the intent of this?”. The intent was to heal us, and it would be selfish to have something that heals us, but not share it with the people that we care about and let it heal them as well. So that’s why taking the initiative to share it and put it up on Social Media and asking other people to share it was and is a struggle right now. Like man, this is somebody’s son, and I don’t know if I should really be trying to quote on quote promote it for people to listen to it. But this isn’t about self-promotion, my face is not on it, it’s really about the injustice of what’s going on, and the reality of Black America.
I don’t know why a lot of artists aren’t speaking out or having much to say because you know that it's like the Entertainer's the artists are the ones who really have a huge influence but I think sometimes they are tied into certain things that don’t allow them to speak as freely as they want to, and I think this where the power of the micro-influencers comes in, because they can and will say the hard stuff.
Claudine: What’s the main message you're trying to get across with this record? What do you want for people to do?
Dane: I really want people to share it and because you want healing for them. And the reason why I think the healing is so important is because sometimes we don’t know what to say. What I’ve been trying to spread is that even in times where we don’t know what to say that doesn’t mean we don’t show up or say anything at all. As an artist I didn’t know what to say, but we’re still showing up, we’re present, and we’re speaking for a lot of people. In 2020 Social Media is so prevalent and a lot of our community, the millennials, don’t know what to say, there’s no MLK and we’ve done what we know post, talk with family, but many of us are lost. So we wanted to share that even in the visuals. It’s okay to say I don’t know what to say as long as you take a step forward, rather than being quiet. Being quiet leaves room for assumptions, and we don’t want to do that because it can push us backwards.
Claudine: As an artist and entrepreneur, how are you taking care of self? What are you doing to heal during this time?
Dane: During this time, I haven’t been as creative as i would like to be, but what I will say I have been doing which has been amazingly beneficial is working on my foundation, because if I can make sure my foundation is in good order, then no matter what else I touch or walk into will reap as well. And I am sowing into my foundation. I’ve been listening to a book called “The Compound” Effect” by Darren Hardy, and it’s been incredible. It talks about how taking small steps, and doing little things, helps us to reach bigger goals. A lot of times when we want to make changes, we have this on switch and we turn up super hard, and we burn out. He talks about how it’s better to have a toritse mindset, because a hare you’ll lose and be burned out before reaching the goal, and as the tortoise you win and have stamina to keep going thereafter.
Claudine: How can folks learn more about Dane and connect?
Dane: I am on all social platforms: Facebook, twitter, Instagram: @danecaston, and on Apple, Spotify, Tidal, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Google Play, You tube.
Feel free to reach out. I truly love connecting. This is the main reason why we created World Peace Connection. You can read about my humanitarian work through World Peace Connection on our website (www.worldpeaceconnection.us). The currency of God's kingdom is relationship, so if we can build better relationships, and connect with people who have pure intent that's truly how we can make the world a better place.
Listen to the Song Here: "Don't Know What To Say"
Song Details:"Don't Know What To Say" is a song dedicated to all communities looking for healing during the unexpected moments of confusion. Artist Dane Caston, is giving a voice to individuals, regardless of racial identity, who are in pain but don't know how to express the feeling.
