The Dan-Tastic world of Dan Trouble

Local musician likes cheeseburgers

By Emma Ornholt

I found out why they call her Dan Trouble. Ten minutes before our scheduled interview, I got a call from her manager telling me that Dan can’t be reached. I was worried my first interviewee had gone AWOL. Her manager then called back and told me she had just woken up, but her rabbits were hungry and desperately needed food.

I spent the next hour in the car with her manager, slurping a cheap macaroni salad in his passenger seat as we searched the city for bunny food. I still don’t understand why rabbits can’t just eat rabbit kibbles.

At her downtown home, the self-described, “big massive disaster of a human being” had nowhere for me to sit down. There was laundry, ashtrays, guitars, a child’s hula-hoop, and other items various and sundry strewn across the living room.

I pushed aside a Ninja Turtle shell costume, and gently laid a pair of oversized glasses onto the pinup girl-themed coffee table.

Dan was freshly scrubbed in a pair of ripped jeans and a wolf t-shirt, scarfing down her stir-fry supper while lighting up a joint. She tells me this is better than her meal yesterday, which consisted of a bong toke, a cookie, and one piece of gum.

After Dan had a quick joint, we got down to business. In all honesty, the interview may have only started after we began drinking generous amounts of rum – the so-called ‘double doubles’ – courtesy of her manager.

Trouble has been hitting the St. John’s music scene by storm. Formerly the host of Open Mic at Turner’s Tavern (RIP), this singer-songwriter is now the host of Tuesdays with Mast and DT at CBTG’S, that vortex of alternative music in St. John’s.

She has preformed amongst an assortment of local and Canadian musicians including United Steelworkers of Montreal, Elliot Brood, and The Burning Hell.

Though she began teaching herself guitar at 15, she started writing her own songs only a few years ago, and began performing them fairly recently. Dan credits Dave Witty of the band At Ship’s End with giving her the necessary encouragement and guidance to begin playing shows, which eventually led her to hosting programs with other musicians on the bill.

Her songwriting inspiration comes mainly from her friends and the strange sticky situations she finds herself in. Her method for writing is unusual, as she texts herself thoughts that may cross her mind at any point.

“They’re ridiculous. Look, this one says ‘I’m a sooky creep,’ which is true: I am a sooky creep.” She tells me she loves ‘80s music, cats, and cheeseburgers. When Dan isn’t honing her acoustic skills or insisting upon giving the world high fives, she can be found doing her day job – sleeping. She spends her nights working as a barmaid in the cave-like monument to merriment, CBTG’s — her main source of income, but she regards it as much more than that.

“It’s the only job I’ve ever had that I honestly love. I think I’m a CBTG’s employee for life. I spend more time there than I do at my house.”

As an openly gay musician, I’m told she tortures the male attendees of her shows by giving them the illusion of availability. However, she does like to cause a cosmic disruption by kissing the occasional nice boy.

Having already made her mark on St. John’s, this month Dan departed for Toronto on a week-long tour, performing at bars and venues throughout the city. Local music juggernaut Hey Rosetta! assisted Dan in lifting the tour off the island and onto the mainland.

“I’m just excited for the experience. I love adventure. I’m an adventurer for sure. It’ll just be nice to play somewhere else.”

Sometimes the place you are and the place you have to be are not the same. Dan Trouble will undoubtedly get to where she needs to be on her own terms, sooky or not.

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