Unsigned Spotlight: Baron Minker
A beautiful, dreamy endeavor - Baron Minker carves out a thoughtful balance between worlds both savage and serene. What results is a sound like the singularity. An underground cadre of Terminator-like cyborgs who long not for violence, but for love and existential cohesion. It’s Skynet’s art rebellion. It’s an exercise in restraint and self-indulgence.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Dane Erik Forst – Songwriter/Composer/Lyricist/Guitarist/Keyboardist/Bassist/Drummer (Not sure a better way to put this. Multi-instrumentalist?)
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Baron Minker? How long has the band been around?
Prior to Baron Minker I had been involved with Harrison Garrison as Guitarist/Keyboardist and The Architecture where I wrote, sang and played guitar. I started Baron Minker officially in 2017 and have been writing/recording under that name since.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
Baron Minker was just some absurd name that came to me one day randomly. I’m not even sure where exactly. I just loved the sound of it. I didn’t even know what a minker was. I imagined some person that deals in the fur trade or something. It wasn’t until a while after that I bothered looking it up and the urban Dictionary said it was essentially a trash person or a slut. I liked the name even more after reading that.
Makes me laugh at the absurdity of the high and mighty sounding title. It’s got an interesting duality to it. Confidence or even cockiness mixed with some good old-fashioned insecurity and scuminess. That fits my sound pretty well, I’d say.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
I write and record everything, top to bottom. I did it this way on purpose to be able to translate what I wanted to create with more ease and less the “art by committee” approach. I had lots of frustrations when making creative decisions with too many other people involved and would previously result in stalls for months or even years. I had entire albums partially completed that I abandoned because I didn’t believe in the material that was coming out the other end. It was a tough lesson on trying not to force things that aren’t working the way you envisioned.
A lot of the subject matter of this album comes out of the isolation and indecision that comes with creating music in this singular way. It’s both the best and the worst part of the method. It’s funny because, now that it seems every musician has been forced to create in isolation because of the current pandemic, I don’t feel nearly as alone in my approach. I think it’s a more pure way of creating that listeners can really appreciate.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Currently, early to mid 2000s European/French pop bands and the records from them are all I can seem to listen to. Early Phoenix, Tahiti 80 and the Cardigans are just in my head all the time. I even recorded a Cardigans cover for the new album I’m already half done with. I never do covers but this one just came out of me one day and I made an exception. I’m also never not influenced by 70’s era funk and soul records. Curtis Mayfield, Issac Hayes, Bill withers, War. That stuff always makes me think bigger than what I’m currently doing.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
I wanted to start a band since I was probably 4 or 5 so it’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment. I remember listening to Simon and Garfunkel at full blast at that age and going partially deaf in my left ear from laying next to the speakers. I’m sure that was one of the very first moments I knew I wanted to be a musician.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …
I’m usually trying to make sure I’m prepared as I like to be on top of things and be professional when I know I’ll be having people’s attention. I respect people who came out to watch live music so I like to keep that in mind. I also like the unpredictability of playing live so I do all the anxiety work up front to make sure it goes as well as possible so the fun can happen in the moment.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
Just completing the album was a literal dream come true. Formulating an idea from scratch and going through the whole journey of making it was what I wanted to do. Anything from here is just icing on the cake. Having people listen to all the hard work after myriad times of not thinking I’d ever finish it is the reward for me.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Past – David Bowie – Pretty obvious but I think it would have been amazing to have been ignored backstage by David Bowie in some club in the 70s. Probably happened in a past life.
Current – Thundercat. Listening to his new album and it’s so amazing. It shouldn’t exist. I also don’t think there are many similarities so it would make for a fun show.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
You can wash your hands about 118 times to my album which drops on June 5th.
https://www.facebook.com/baronminker
http://instagram.com/baronminker