David Dino White

North Bay, ON - On David Dino White’s new EP, Hair of the Dog - set for release on Thursday, November 17th at the Voyager Inn - the 27-year-old songwriter explores intimacy, self-doubt, addiction and the fear of failure on a record that’s a culmination of good luck and ultimately, reaching for the near impossible.

A musician since the age of 16 - and one versed in guitar, drums, and piano - White’s journey to make Hair of the Dog was fraught with failure. “I’ve launched my musical career a half-dozen times,” White says. “I’ve been in and out of three different college programs, gone the solo route, been part of a duo and had bands that fizzled out. This is the first time I’ve made a band record the way I wanted to.” The key to the EP’s success, he says, was finding the right bandmates.

Joining White in his eponymous band is Sault Sainte Marie-born bassist Andrew Sowka (27, formerly of North Bay’s Faraway Neighbours and currently, Kalle Mattson) and drummer Ben Leggett, 31, a Corbeil native who was nominated for a Juno for producing the 2012 Craig Cardiff release, Floods, and Fires. The band takes its inspiration in equal parts from The Zolas, The Darkness, and Mother Mother, fusing together intricate guitar work with punchy drums and sweeping harmonies.

What White, Sowka and Leggett achieve is nothing short of exciting: standout track “The Hair” recalls The Beatles' “Doctor Roberts” in its harmony and craving for vice ('It was the hair - modern medicine didn't get me anywhere’). Elsewhere on the record, “Reach,” a gliding tune that could be mistaken for a John Mayer outtake, seems to make the claim that art-- and success - is in the eye of the beholder: ‘If you don’t believe, then how could it exist?’

Hair of the Dog comes on the heels of White’s debut LP Alone Together which saw the band tour across Ontario, playing some the province’s best festivals, including UP HERE, River & Sky, Windsong and North Bay’s Summer in the Park. The 5-song EP was co-funded by FACTOR, produced by JUNO-nominee Ben Leggett (2012’s Floods and Fires) and mastered by Noah Mintz of Lacquer Channel Mastering & Siegfried Meier of Beach Road Mastering.

David Dino White is set to release Hair of the Dog with a hometown album release show taking place on Thursday, November 17 at the Voyager Inn. Tickets are $10 in advance (available at The Voyager Inn, Escape Movement, Waxman Records, Music City, Acclaim Sound & Lighting) and $15 at the door. - Bay Today

Let me tell you about this EP released by David Dino White called Hair Of The Dog. This release is a perfect example of Canadian Indie music and the song writing that accompanies the creative slow indie rock. Some say it can be compared to a John Mayer type of style. But I think it is a David Dino White style and he is his own entity!! Accompanied by Ben Leggett on the drums and Andrew Sowka on bass, this EP is brought together perfectly.

A few songs I enjoy are:

“Reach” – A song about the joys of a relationship and the ignorance and addictions that come with the deep blue waters of love. The uncertainties of how to make the relationship work are covered in this track and telling each other your thoughts and how it goes unheard and what it’s like talking to a wall that doesn’t believe or can’t take a hint!! Just let him in, just let him. The roots have been revealed about the problem and all they have to do is believe. I enjoyed the Bass on this song and how it almost tells the story itself with the strumming of the strings.

“Hold Me”- Is a song about the déjà vu reminders of most love and relationship issues. Remember the first time you fell in love with your partner and how it was to the point of years later where the person just isn’t the same person they were in the beginning. How you want the same touch and want to be held the same as it was before but it’s just not in the works anymore!! Well tune in to these favourite tracks of mine. - Canadian Beats

Local musician David Dino White has taken an unorthodox approach to producing his debut album, enlisting the help of an online community on crowdfunding website Indiegogo to print his forthcoming album, Alone Together, on vinyl. With the intial funding goal reached in just two weeks, White expects the album to be released in March. PHOTO COURTESY OF LIZ LOTT PHOTOGRAPHY

It’s one thing to step out of your comfort zone. It’s an entirely different thing to jump off the cliff and take a leap of faith into the unknown, learning how to fly on the way down.

Just ask David Dino White.

The music industry can be full of standards and best practices of how to create a name for yourself. White, on the other hand, chose a riskier unconventional route and is reaping the rewards of taking that leap.

Two weeks ago, White launched a campaign on Indiegogo, an international crowdfunding website, to solicit funds to print his debut solo album on vinyl.

As the website says, Indiegogo “empowers people to activate the global community to make ideas happen.”

The 25-year-old musician has experienced that mantra first-hand. Now, with more than a month still to go before the campaign closes, White has received the support of a widespread community and already surpassed his goal of raising $3,000.

“I still am so overwhelmed with the response I’m getting; it has been huge for me as a solo artist,” he said in an interview with BayToday earlier this week. “The response has been so good that my confidence and desire to do more has taken off.

“It’s a huge kick in the butt for motivation,” he continued. “It shows that people want you to keep doing it and people like what you’re doing.”

The tracks have already been recorded, mixed and mastered, leaving all the donated funds to be put towards the expensive process of printing, pressing and shipping the 12-inch vinyl versions of the album.

The album, titled Alone Together, is set to feature seven songs and will be launched in March. White also called on a wealth of local talent to play on the album, including drummer Rob Joanisse, pianist Jonny Parolin, bassist Sully Sullivan and vocalist Annie Sumi.

White said that after the recording sessions at Ben Leggett’s The Bunker studio and Parolin’s Wave Asylum studio in September, he very quickly realized it was time to go all-in; go for broke.

But with the vinyl production process requiring a big investment, White said it would have been unrealistic to go it alone. Instead, he called on the help of anyone and everyone who his music has connected with.

“This campaign is really the first time I’ve been able to say ‘if you like my music and you want to support me, you can now,’” he said. “You come to the realization that there’s no point where there will be 100 people lining up for a product you haven’t made yet; you just have to make it and hope that people want it.

“This has really opened my eyes to the mentality of if you dream it, you can do it,” he said.

Of course, there was also the thought of “this might not work,” creeping in once or twice. Take, for example, the first few hours of the campaign, when it looked as though all the work was for nothing.

White said hours after funding became available and endless messages to everyone and anyone in his network, the progress bar had not budged.

“It’s scary to make an album by yourself in general,” he said. “But it’s even scarier to open a campaign to the public.

“It was just this gut-wrenching feeling of ‘oh no, I was right,’” he said in retrospect.

But then, after a friend from elsewhere in the province made the first pledge, the momentum quickly picked up.

By the end of that first day the campaign had raised $800, almost a third of his ultimate goal. After a consistent stream of generous people getting involved, White said he was overwhelmed by how people were so interested in helping him realize his goals.

White says he feels fortunate to be able to blend his art with the innovative platforms like Indiegogo.

“I do feel lucky because this has allowed me to do my own music my own way the entire time,” he explained. “Luck and time have a lot to do with where I am and what I’m doing, but I feel ready for it too.”

Now, in the midst of his inaugural three-week solo tour, he said his confidence is soaring and said riding the high of the campaign has made him perform what he feels have been his best shows yet. After already playing in North Bay, Sudbury, Toronto, Kitchener and Guelph, White has shows remaining in Hamilton, St. Catherines, Montreal, Ottawa and Kemptville.

He is also using that momentum to plan a summer tour, with hopes of being able to perform on esteemed platforms like Canadian Music Week and North By Northeast in Toronto.

“My confidence is higher than it has ever been, and I chalk that up to the support on Indiegogo,” he put simply.

Now that he has already reached his initial goal, and at a much faster rate than he thought, White has established stretch goals that include adding a full-colour lyric insert to the vinyls and, if he reaches upwards of $5,500, printing CDs too.

“Now I want to hit those stretch goals so people don’t stop caring, give them more incentive,” he said. “I’ve always been motivated, but I’ve never been more excited about the idea of what could be next.”

To visit the Indiegogo page, click here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-david-dino-white-press-vinyl - BayToday.ca

This time last year, David Dino White was a musician with a dream of recording an original album.

Friday night he celebrated that dream with a release party for Alone Together at the White Water Gallery. The show included fellow musician Rose-Erin Stokes, with White's other band, Jump Buffalo, playing the after-party.

“All of the songs on this album were written or inspired by the time I spent in Canmore, Alta., working at a dog sled tour company,” White says. “I worked from about five a.m. until about 9 p.m, and I lived alone. I wrote the album in seven months and recorded it last summer.

“The album was incredible to be doing. I can't believe it's actually happening.”

White started playing guitar at 16, and while in university was part of a band called White Coals. Since then, he helped a friend record a solo album, and then that friend helped with White's his solo album.

“I didn't have the confidence to do anything solo until recently,” he admits. “I feel really new to it all.”

White describes Alone Together as alternative indie rock, and says it has heavy metal and acoustic finger picking influences.

He describes his lyrics as very personal.

“When I'm writing it is usually very organic – It has to feel right. I'm usually fooling around until I find something that sounds cool,” he says. “I'm very lyrically hard on myself. It's very much from the heart.

“It can be a struggle to let the lyrics come out honestly, but still leave some room for the audience's interpretation.”

White is currently performing with a full band made up of his friends. He says he feels honoured they are interested in playing his music.

“This is my first time ever playing with a band for my original material. They've spent two months rehearsing with me to get it ready,” he says.

“My plan is to tour and promote the album with the band, and I think it's very exciting to be able to do it with a full band. It's also easier to make money with a band, since it is pretty hard to entertain a room full of people with just me and my acoustic guitar.

“It's my aspiration to do this as a career. I've been successfully doing it for about a year. It's not a lot of money but I'm really happy – my family is really supportive. I think having the love and support of family, knowing they will be there even if I fall, is very freeing. I don't think I'd be able to do it without them.

White says the one thing he did not expect is the amount of work it takes to be a musician.

“Nobody is going to do the work for you,” he says. “After I recorded the album last summer, I just kind of sat there hoping something would happen, but it didn't. I then decided to start an Indiegogo campaign to have the album pressed to vinyl record, which raised about $3,800 in people buying my album on vinyl.

“I've had to do everything — from the album artwork to the posters, to applying for a liquor licence for the album release party, to booking gigs, and even tracking costs to make sure you're making money.

“It's about more than picking up the guitar and singing, but I'm happy doing it.”

White's album is available on iTunes, Spotify, CBC Music, and a variety of other music streaming websites. You can also visit him at www.daviddinowhite.com and www.daviddinowhite.bandcamp.com

emily.haws@sunmedia.ca - The North Bay Nugget (Canoe Sun Media)