Pop-Culturalist.com

Last summer, actor-musician Dante Palminteri made the courageous decision to go back to the drawing board. He needed to rediscover who he was and what he wanted to say as an artist. That moment of self-discovery has led to a newfound confidence and a wave of music that feels authentic to him. Pop Culturalist sat down with Dante to chat about that experience and his new single, “I Don’t Even Know You.”

PC: You’re an actor and musician. How did you discover your passion for the arts? Is there one that you naturally gravitate towards?
Dante: Definitely music. I grew up on film sets because my family is in the business, so it was never a realization for me. It was always something that was going to be there. But music was something I discovered. My whole family always played music for me. I heard these insane musicians and I was like, “I got to figure out how to do that.”

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Dante: That’s an interesting question because it’s two different career paths. I’m really influenced by guys like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who jumps into a situation without waiting for everything to be planned. Same as Elon Musk. He’s like, “I’m going to make cars.” Everyone’s like, “You shouldn’t do that.” He’s like, “No, I’m going to do it.” Then he’ll just do it. Those two guys have had a huge influence on me because they don’t sit around and plan everything. They jump in with both feet. I think that’s really important to do.

Musically, my biggest influences are John Mayer, Jason Isbell, and Chris Cornell. I love all of those guys. They’ve really shaped my lyrics, my songwriting abilities, and my internal ear. Those are really the musicians that shaped my musical dialect.

PC: Last summer, you spent some time discovering yourself. Why was that so vital? What did you learn about yourself during that process?
Dante: Man, I’m still learning. It’s more now than just being good at music. That’s not enough anymore because of social media. There are so many dope musicians out there. You follow the people who have something to say. I hate this word so much, but you follow those who are like a brand in themselves. It’s easy to be influenced by what other people want you to do. “Oh, don’t wear it. You shouldn’t wear those shoes to the show. You shouldn’t wear that shirt. That’s not your brand.” It like, “Well, who am I? Am I just a thing on a shelf that people look at and go, ‘Nah, I don’t like it’?”

I had to really learn who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. When you choose who you want to be, you have to go in knowing that you’ll alienate people. Whatever route you choose, you’re pushing people away from that. If you don’t choose, you’re also alienating everybody because they’re looking at you and wondering, “Who is that?” You have to have a stance.

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever heard is picture someone wearing your merch. What do they look like? Someone who’s wearing a Justin Bieber t-shirt isn’t the same person who is going to put on a Jack Johnson sweatshirt. That really helps you focus on you, your audience, and who you’re aiming to reach. I always try to picture that. Who is going to want to wear my sweatshirt?

PC: You have a new single out now. Tell us about “I Don’t Even Know You” and the inspiration behind the track.
Dante: That’s a fun one. My girlfriend is super business. I was talking to her friends at a bowling alley in Long Island City. I know not a place where you think inspiration would strike. [laughs] One of them was like, “Oh my gosh. You should have seen her. Five years ago, she was crazy.” I was like, “Her?” All her friends were like, “She’s the craziest one!” I was like, “Oh damn. I don’t even know this girl.” That was the inspiration behind the song. The first verse is very much her, and then I took it to the extreme on the record. She never dealt coke or anything like that. But I wanted to go a little farther with the song. Then in the music video, I was like, “Let’s make her involved with the mafia. That’s the next step.” I mean the song is real. I didn’t sit around with a bunch of cowriters and go, “What should we write about today?” She struck the inspiration. When I told her, she was like, “That’s funny.” So the song was inspired by an actual person.

PC: You’ve been steadily releasing music for the past few years. If you had to choose one song that encompasses you as an artist, what would it be and why?
Dante: It would definitely be “I Don’t Even Know You.” If we did this interview in two months, it would be the song that I’m about to put out. Before “I Don’t Even Know You,” I was in a weird place of looking at what was on Spotify’s Top Hits playlist and going, “That’s what I have to do.” It didn’t translate well because I really didn’t want to be making that music. People knew that. People aren’t stupid. They can hear that it wasn’t authentic to me. So with “I Don’t Even Know You,” I was like, “Okay, I’m going more in the direction that I want to go in.” This is the direction that the future releases will sound like.

PC: What does the rest of 2020 look like for you?
Dante: I have a bunch of songs in the bank, and I’m going to be releasing them in two-month increments. While I’m doing that, I’m back in the studio with bigger projects and getting ready to release more content. In 2019, I was so concerned about what people thought about my Instagram, what people thought about the music that I put out, what people thought about the artwork I put out—it got exhausting. You can only do it for so long. I feel like you have to go through that to get to the point where you’re like, “I’m going to do what I want to do.” That’s the only thing you can really do. If it doesn’t work, at least you took your shot. So 2020 is holding my happiness over what other people think.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Dante: Kane Brown

PC: First album you bought?
Dante: Oh man. The first? I remember the first CD I ever held. I was eight or nine and it was a Metallica album: The Black Album.

PC: First concert you attended?
Dante: Bon Jovi at Devil Stadium, baby.

PC: An album that changed your life and why?
Dante: An album that changed my life? How much time do you have? There have been a lot of albums that have changed my life. The first album was John Mayer’s Room For Squares. That album really messed me up. I didn’t know that you can do any of the things that he did. Then when I tried to play him on guitar, I was like, “What?” Because it was pop. It was pop music on the surface. But then the second you went a little deeper, you’re like, “This is insane.” His theory and harmony knowledge is out of this world.

Another one is Chet Baker Sings. I heard that album a couple years ago and I was like, “What is this?” I listened to every single and learned every song on that record. It’s one of my favorite albums of all time.

I can go on and on about this. Another album that changed my life was Tom Misch—Beat Tape 2. I thought I had a very concrete understanding of the music I liked. Then when I went to college at Berkeley, one of my friends was like, “You ever heard of Tom Misch?” I was like, “No.” Then they played me Tom Misch and I was like, “I don’t know anything about music that I thought I did.” I really had to go back to the drawing board. From there, it was Hiatus Kaiyote and Moonchild. Then we went backwards from D’Angelo to J Dilla and then A Tribe Called Quest and Mobb Deep. It totally destroyed everything I thought I liked and didn’t like.

PC: A venue on your bucket list to perform at?
Dante: Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn. It just looks so cool. I was there for the first time a couple of years ago and I was like, “I have to play this place.” It’s not giant. I’m not saying Madison Square Garden. Madison Square Garden is the ultimate goal, but I’m just saying in the next year, I would love to play Baby’s All Right.

PC: A must-have on the road?
Dante: A must-have? Oh, this is cool. I like this one. I get one? If I’m traveling on the road, other than toothbrush and that kind of stuff, water. I would say I really love film photography, and anytime I travel somewhere, I always take my camera. I like to take pictures. I wouldn’t call myself a photographer at all, but it’s definitely just something that I like to do on the side when I’m gigging. You just get some really cool moments from it, and I like film. I don’t know why. I just have a thing for film. Digital is cool, but I like how final film is. That’s it. You got twenty more of those. Use them wisely. People don’t even know what it is sometimes. My little sister, I took a picture of her once and she said, “Let me see it.” I was like, “It’s film—you can’t see it.” She’s like, “What do you mean? Just show me.” I was like, “No, it’s film. You have to wait two weeks to see it.” [laughs]

To keep up with Dante, follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Spotify. Pick up or stream “I Don’t Even Know You” wherever you buy or stream music.