We are sitting down today with Twin Cities queer musician, Paul David, to talk a little bit about his career and his new single.  Welcome Paul David!  Tell us a little about yourself?
Wouldn’t it be amazing if I were raised by gypsies in a small Eastern European country and smuggled out during the purge only to find out I was the son of the ruler of Taygete in the Palladian system hiding on earth for my own protection?   Yeah, well I cannot confirm or deny that storyline—the official story is I grew up a suburban boy in right here in the Twin Cities.  Bloomington was my stomping grounds for the first 18 years of my life. My Dad, James, was a draftsman and mom, Joan, worked for the high school my sister, Rachelle, and I attended.  

My Dad instilled us with a strong work ethic and a drive for perfection, while my mom balanced that with an understanding that it is OK to sit back, relax and read a book. I thank her for my appetite to read.

We were a happy family who got along with each other.  My aunt and uncle owned a 50-acre horse ranch in Stillwater, Minnesota, and weekends and summers were spent playing with our cousins—riding horses, running through the forest playing our made-up game of “Logan’s Run” (based upon the ‘70’s movie and TV series) or using $1000 of my uncle’s precious lumber to build free standing house-forts in their forest.

My sister, my cousins and I would spend time inside writing books and were self-published well before that was a thing: “publishing” them by gluing the typed pages into a piece of folded cardboard covered in old wallpaper.  My cousin, Anna, and I were close in age, and we have a cooking show and would combine things we found in the kitchen and make our younger sisters, Rachelle and Sarah, try our creations then clean up our mess.

I started piano lessons in elementary school and drums in the 6th grade. I sang in our church choir and in the high school swing choir…. I was drum major for the marching band when not playing snare drum.  I did all the school plays and competed on the speech team.  All those experiences have informed who I am and how I do what I do in this life.

Why did you decide to write and record music in the first place?
When I was a kid, I loved singing and dancing along to records in my living room (it’s surprising I didn’t become a drag queen… I was pretty good at it).  Music was something that made me feel alive—I loved singing and dancing.  When it came time to go to college, the only thing I could think to do was music. I applied to several colleges and Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, gave me an impressive scholarship. So, I set my sights on being a school music teacher.

While at school, I was one of the only drummers at the time and kept getting pulled to all the ensembles to play—and I found I really didn’t like kids much—so I changed my major from education to performance.

I fell in love with a large cousin of the xylophone, the marimba, and spent hours perfecting my craft.  I was going to be the first world class marimbaists with a purple mohawk.  It was the 1980’s and I loved messing with my hair.  For my junior percussion recital, I had finished directing my church choir for the morning, went to the mall and had them shave my hair into a mohawk and color it purple.  I walked on stage with a purple mohawk in a black tuxedo—I thought it was stunning.  It was a good thing I could play, because the classically focused faculty was not thrilled with the theatrics. The jazz and pop teachers were more supportive.

During college, I shed my protected, suburban background and began to discover who Paul David was—or was supposed to be. I, quite by accident, discovered my sexuality was not what I thought it was going to be.  At college, I met my soul mate and tussled with my queerness bouncing from girlfriend to boyfriend as I discovered who, and how, I loved.

I truly loved my college experience.  It was everything college should be.  However, when I graduated, I found not everyone was beating down my door for a purple mohawked classical marimbaist.

So I got a day job and made music on the side—mostly in church settings, where I was very comfortable.  I also found I had something to say. And in my heart, I was really a rock and roll baby.  While working for the Metropolitan Community Church in Minneapolis, I sold my marimba and bought an electric keyboard that I could program with percussion, bass, horns—all the things I needed to take the music ministry I was working with to a higher level.  In fact, that is still my main keyboard 25 years later in my home studio.

While working with the church, I got to write and arrange a lot—and work with volunteers.  I polished my skills in not just composition and performance, but team building.  That career path resonated with my soul.

However, the Universe decided it was time for Paul David to grow.  I left that role for financial reasons and over the next two years, all I knew in my personal life was to be torn down to make a new creation.  I ended a 15-year relationship when my partner got into drugs.  That adventure ended up with losing not only my relationship, but my home.  The music went dormant for a while too.  I was playing in a few pit orchestras, but the personal music creating was put on hold until I was asked by the local LGBT orchestra to write something for them.  2006 saw the birth and world premiere of “Emergence”—a tone poem inspired by the coming out process written specifically for the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra.  Shortly after that, I met the man who I would marry, Tom.

As we put our life together, I began writing again and took a role with another church in their music department.  When the pandemic hit, I had a lot of time to work in my studio and began churning out the music I am releasing today.

You just released a new single.  Tell us about it.
Show Me the Sizzle is just a great line!  It’s about the “Je ne sais quoi” that takes something from ordinary to extraordinary.  We all possess the ability to do this.  We just need to dig deep and find our version of it and have the courage to bring it forward.

I was listening to “Get Me Bodied” by Beyonce in my car recently and loved the way the claps in the song acted as the percussion.  And her quasi chant of the lyrics intrigued me.  Now run that through the filter of big band and ‘70’s easy listening and boom: Show Me the Sizzle was born!  It’s a confection, let’s be real. This is not a song that is going to save anyone’s soul, but it is a catchy, fun bop.  You get to the bridge and I had WAY too much fun recording that.  

Who are your inspirations in the music industry?
Being from the Twin Cities, and a child of the 1980’s, Prince was an enormous influence on me.  I never met him personally, but I have had the privilege of working with and getting to know several of his side musicians.  

I am also inspired by innovators outside of the mainstream music industry.  One of my biggest influences was my jazz professor at Coe College, Dr. Paul Smoker. He was an avant-garde jazz trumpeter who taught me to learn the rules, then break the rules. He helped open my mind to finding music in all things.  There are generally sounds in my work generated from unique sources.  In “We Can B Free” I used a take of my dog barking at me while I was recording and layered it with claps. I did a virtual overdub for the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus small group, OutLoud and their recording of a song called “You Are Enough”.  I used a large dildo as the snare drum sound (processed, of course) because what could be funnier than a group of gay men singing “You are Enough” to the sound of a dildo being played?   In my song, “Karen Wants A Reservation” I use found audio of a disgruntled customer who wanted a reservation but couldn’t use restaurant.com to make one. In “Sunshine (after the Rain)” she makes another appearance with “God Bless America” after every one of my “funny” quips. 

How do you go about writing a song and what is your process?  
Well, it depends on where the muse leads me.  The music needs to go where the music needs to go.

I usually begin with the whisp of an idea…perhaps a groove idea…perhaps a chord change… perhaps a great line.   I may sit at my drums to find the groove or perhaps I find a sound on my synthesizer and see where that takes me.   Sometimes the music comes first… sometimes the lyrics come (and those just generally sit in a pile until I need something to match to the music). Sometimes the whole thing comes along together or sometimes it comes in chunks.  I have stacks of “works in progress” that may never be fully realized songs.  BUT, all those stacks are resources if I get stuck while writing. 

What are must haves when you're in the studio working?
I always scent my home studio with Palo Santo.  It is a wooden stick you burn as incense from South America.  It clears the air and puts me in the creative mood.  I also have my crystals and lupus lazuli to inspire creativity. 

What is the best piece of advice in this business you followed?
You do you, boo. Be who you are, do what you do for YOU, not for fans, or a label or anyone else.  Do your art for YOU. Ignore those that don’t “get” you.  

What artist have you had the pleasure of working with and what was it like?
In 2013 I worked on my single “Superhuman (feat. Dr. Fink)” with Matt Fink of Prince and the Revolution.  This was around the time Prince was getting Third Eye Girl ready to tour and while we were in the studio working, Prince took a playful shot at Matt, and I was there when he read it.  Needless to say, working with Matt, who is an amazing person as well as musician, was a bucket list thing.

Do you think your music is mostly enjoyed more for the beats or for the lyrical flow and content?
As a drummer, the groove is super important to me.  But generally, I pay great attention to my lyric content.  My hope is that the groove catches you, but the lyrics keep you coming back. 

What's your all-time favorite song? 
Do I have to pick just one? I would say “A Little Less Conversation” by Mac Davis (yes, I know Elvis recorded it too, but I am talking about Mac’s version—who wrote the song—on his “Sound Painter” LP).  Funky, minimal and fun. 

What was the last album you listened to?
Troye Sivan’s new one, “Something to Give Each Other”. 
Who have been some of your favorite artists that you’ve been able to work with? 

What is your main goal as far as music?
To touch as many people as possible through contact with my music.  I believe I have hope to give.  I believe I have inspiration to provide.  I believe I can get your butts shaking and your feet moving.  I want people to hear, listen and be inspired by what I offer the world. 

What separates you from other artists? (What makes you different?)
My perspective.  As with every artist, I am using the same 12 notes in various octaves colored by the tamber of instruments I chose.  My words are composed of the same 26 letters as every other artist. It is just my perspective on how to combine those letters, those notes and those sounds that make me unique. 

When you're not in the studio, what do you like to do for fun and relaxation?
I love hanging out with my husband and our dog Paris.  But in my free time, I read Tarot Cards for clients.  I guess it’s time to come out of the closet as a psychic!  I have always been drawn to the paranormal, and post-pandemic I wanted to do more with my gifts.  I mean, I have always known there is something more than we are taught to believe.  And I know my music comes from somewhere outside of me.  Tarot card reading is just an extension of that.