Following on the successful release of "Myths" back in October, Munk Duane drops “Just a Word” on 11/11/22. Mastered by Brian Lucey at Magic Garden Mastering LA (Lizzo, Post Malone, The Black Keys). Munk's music has been licensed to hundreds of television and film productions such as Hulu's Pam & Tommy, The 70th Annual Tony Awards, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Hawaii Five-O, 60 Minutes, NCIS and Blue Bloods, to The Sopranos, the Super Bowl Half-Time Show and NCAA March Madness. Munk Duane has appeared in major press including a feature in Billboard Magazine, as well as The Hollywood Reporter and The Boston Globe. He has been a guest lecturer for the Professional Development Seminar at his alma mater Berklee College of Music.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey Munk Duane, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. How has the time gone for you since our last interview?
Hello again! Thank you so much for reaching out to chat again. It has been a whirlwind these last two months, first with the release of “Myths” in October, then filming the music video for “Myths”, and now promoting the release for “Just a Word”. I’ve been getting such a warm welcome from all over the world for this latest crop of releases. They really seem to be resonating and that’s all a songwriter can ask for.
What role does the artist have in society?
Great question. I believe artists are the documentarians of our culture. Our creations are reflections of our times and have the capacity to live on in perpetuity. We can speak to the future with more than a cold textbook analysis of how we lived, but convey how we felt as we did so. We are the Scribes. We are also the mirror. People can think themselves alone in their perceptions and feelings, which is ironic in the age of communication that we live in. Artists can quell that loneliness and express empathy beyond the spoken word.
Your latest song is 'Just a Word'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
‘Just a Word’ speaks to what I was saying above about that feeling of singularity. In the land of Social Media, so many of us have stopped speaking “to” each other and have adapted a posture of speaking “at” each other. This vacuum of bi-directional communication is particularly detrimental to artists. Songs can be confessions, secrets spoken aloud, cries for help, existential questions or just the passing thought. They are designed to be a conversation. There has been a trend over the last few years where I would release new music and not hear a word from people, sometimes even my closest friends. I would take that apathy as commentary of what they thought of what I was creating. It is soul crushing but people have preferences and if I’m not theirs, that’s the risk we take putting ourselves out there. Then I’d see my streaming listener numbers jump up, receive a swirl of great reviews from around the globe or see my music get licensed for TV and film and I’d become even more confused. Maybe my friends are just sick of me - ha. The dichotomy does play hell with my confidence. It’s not about getting an “atta boy” or an ego boost. If music is a conversation, then the lack of response can tell an artist what they say isn’t important enough to answer. Imagine confessing an intimate feeling to someone close and getting the silent treatment. It feels a lot like that. The response doesn’t have to be supportive either. Hey, tell me you hate what I do. Tell me something. It’s impossible to orient ourselves in life whilst in a communication vacuum.
What’s your strongest memory of your childhood?
The sensation of being an outsider... from being the new kid in town, to being raised in a multi-faith home, to being a kid that loved to play sports but had a preference for the arts. Wherever I was, I felt like the “other”.
What’s your most embarrassing moment?
Ha - I can think of a few. Early in my career I would hit the bar more than I should have before a show, like many young performers do. There was one show I played down on the Jersey Shore where I hit the bar so hard, I actually started to get lost in the songs while performing. Not “lost” in the sense of being completely present in the moment, but “lost” like my GPS died while in a strange location. I never went that hard with the bar again, which is not to say I didn’t enjoy a few in the years to come. I found my limits on that gig.
Is the artistic life lonely? What do you do to counteract it?
Ha - when I find the antidote, I’ll get back to you. Because I chose to write and record alone for the sake of vision integrity, yeah, it can definitely get lonely. I move faster by myself because I don’t have to stop to explain “why”. More creativity sees the light of day this way, at least for me. I respect the power of collaboration, I’m just terrible at it. I was once called “creatively lonely” by a label person. It bothered me at first but I now wear it as a badge of honor. It’s part of my sound. I’m never going to understand 15 writers on a song. Lennon and McCartney, that I get, but how many creators needed to be involved in the Mona Lisa? I am by no means comparing myself to Leonardo da Vinci - ha!
What is your dream project?
Composing for the film that wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
What is your favourite or most inspirational place (in United States, Boston)?
The ocean shore during sunset or on a moonlit night.
What superpower would you have and why?
Oh, flight for sure. I couldn’t imagine feeling more free.
What can we expect from Munk Duane in the near future?
My music video for “Myths” will be released on December 2. It was directed by Dom Portalla, who also directed “Another Day Another Bullet” for me, which won the 2019 New England Music Award for Video of the Year. Dom also directed my video for “Dangerous”. “Myths” was filmed at the Spire Center for Performing Arts in Plymouth, MA, which is a beautiful old converted church built in 1886. Not “old” by European standards, but a historic asset here in the U.S., in one of our most historic towns. I’m continuing to work on new music through the holidays with plans for new releases in Spring 2023. I have also been getting new invitations to lecture after my first time doing so at Berklee College of Music. I have a Keynote coming up in mid-December. I need to finish my book, and when I say “finish”, I mean “begin”. The lecture requests are facilitating the need to crack down on getting published as an author. Maybe get a little sleep in there, somewhere.