Today we’d like to introduce you to Dane Myers.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Dane. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
In 2014 I left college to give myself a chance at doing something I loved. One of my best friends from high school moved down from Tallahassee and we started a recording studio together. We were so passionate we were able to overlook not having a recording studio or a plan. Instead, we convinced enough local songwriters that my bedroom was the best place they could record their first album. From there, the business grew into a relatively successful project where we were booked sometimes even 60 hrs a week. We moved into better spaces and grew an awesome community. But we wanted to make music that people listened to.
And we had trouble finding artists who had a strategy for their music and the budget to support it. We tried to help artists market their music and build an audience but eventually, we started burning out. After it started falling apart, I moved into a cooperative living community called the Peanut Butter Palace with some friends I went to college with. I think I was looking for something new and everyone there looked so healthy and happy which was the opposite of how I felt at the time. I started learning more about sustainability. We had dinner together three times a week and everyone was reading books and doing yoga and writing in their journal. Instead of obsessing over a failing business, I started to feel like a human being again. And I started to notice my environment more—how I could save energy by hanging clothes up to dry, how I could save water when washing my dishes. Simple small things.
In 2018 the IPCC published the climate report (not) heard round the world. I was playing music around Orlando and making enough money to live on, but I was essentially getting paid to sell alcohol with my music. I wanted to do more than play at bars. At the behest of my increasingly bohemian lifestyle, I took an exploratory three-month road trip where I recorded an album out of my car. The last stop on my trip was to visit Miami to make something about sea-level rise. Before visiting, I spent an evening researching the active leaders in the climate space there and found this video of Linda Cheung. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2arLe3e5w-A I was so inspired by her message of “We use art to inspire people to care about climate change”. It 100% felt like the lane I wanted to be in. I reached out on Instagram and long story short we became collaborators, close friends, and even roommates.
Now, I’ve spent about a year working for Linda on her projects with Before It’s Too Late and at a wonderful solar company that she connected me with called Goldin Solar. At Goldin Solar, I’ve done everything from shooting video to managing software development. Linda and I recently co-produced a 7-days challenge for kids which was supposed to be shown to thirty thousand kids around South Florida before COVID closed the schools.
I think I just wanted to lose myself in art and business climate projects. Our odds of maintaining a livable environment for ourselves over the next 80 years is low. This is initially discouraging, but after accepting that, my life became more purposeful.
So today, my focus is on using my music and art to inspire people to look at life differently. I have this idea that the American Dream is obsolete. If the American Dream is built on growth, and if we’re overgrown for the first time in history, then our culture needs to change to reflect that. We still celebrate materialism and growth for growth’s sake. The New American Dream, as I see it, is about making the society we’ve built last, celebrating innovative sustainable technology, lessening our personal impact on the environment, and experiencing authentic community in the process.
To this end, I’m releasing music and videos through social media, giving people rides in my Tesla model 3, and performing concerts for free in people’s homes where I also talk about climate action and pricing carbon. If you’re interested in learning more about our situation with climate, check out this tool from Linda’s work called En-Roads en-roads.climateinteractive.org and this video explains what a carbon price is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yx3-YqlEig
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Yes there have been struggles! I really believe in meditation. I remember having these really high ups and downs when I left school to do music. So the answer is no, it hasn’t been smooth, but with meditating, I’ve grown more level headed along the way. I struggled with feeling insecure about my future because of leaving school and not having a degree, etc. Besides rent and utilities, we lived off of about $40/wk when we were operating the studio. I think it had a big impact on my self-respect and self-worth. I grew up pretty comfortable so being poor was pretty cramped. I also went through a break up around that time, too which had a big impact on me. I think I started to deeply dislike myself and I treated anyone who liked me like they were lame.
More recently, I’ve struggled with just being busy. For so long I had no idea what I was doing or how to make my way, now it feels stressful to realize how many good opportunities there are and the art of saying “no” and letting go so I can focus on the most important stuff. Meditation helps with that too.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I want to create memorable experiences and tell people about carbon pricing. I make songs and music videos and give people rides in my Tesla to share my music and perform epic concerts in people’s homes. I also want to stay engaged in community. My neighbors and I share in a delicious vegan meal plan I started where lunch and dinner is delivered five days a week for $65/wk. I’m releasing an album and finishing up a video project I worked on for Before It’s Too lAte for 6 or 8 months.
If people want to get my album they can hear it for free on Spotify or any other major music platforms. Just search Dane Myers leaves or Dane Myers Thankful and you should be able to find some songs. I also make videos in my Tesla if anyone wants to hang out, see a spiffy electric car, and hear my music the way I record it (in my car). You can book a Tesla ride once all of this COVID stuff is over at danemyersmusic.com/car-ride
And finally, if people want a way to share environmentalism with their community reach out to me about hosting a house concert. Like I mentioned, they’re free ways to experience music in an intimate and memorable way and also spread information and emotions related to climate change with your community.
What were you like growing up?
Hah. I loved playing Pokemon cards and Runescape and drumming. I have really good parents and I had good support growing up. I was confident and I was easy on my parents. I think my dad was a big influence on my worldview. He considers himself a pacifist which is interesting because I see him as very practical but I guess deep down he’s got some strong idealism. My Grandmother was also super funny and always entertaining everyone with stories and costumes. She and my mom are probably why I tended towards performance.
Contact Info:
- Website: danemyersmusic.com
- Phone: 352-229-4867
- Email: dane@danemyersmusic.com
- Instagram: @danemyersmusic
- Facebook: facebook.com/danemyersmusic
- Twitter: twitter.com/danemyersmusic
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