DAV!D&CLARA Shares Insights on His Musical Journey

Thank you for joining us! Who Is DAV!D&CLARA and can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I live in Albuquerque New Mexico, in the united states. I’m a self-taught singer, songwriter, artist, and producer. I produce with my computer I named Clara.

What’s the inspiration behind “Hey, Cowboy!”?

I was hanging out at my sister’s house, and she was listening to a lot of cross-over pop music. Like “Taki Taki” where you can incorporate multiple languages in one song. I wanted to try it, and did it on the fly and very happy with the result. The content of the song is referring to a relationship I had years ago with a man who’d always call me crazy but in an affectionate way. He was multilingual, in the united states you find a largely racist white-skinned population that looks down on that because they view it as being “dirty”, I never felt that way. It’s really a middle finger to the culture in my home state and city. If you’re gay – which I am – you’re viewed as being weak, inferior, stupid.

Add being half white and half Latino, and it makes things interesting. I won’t say challenging, I’ve used the whiteness of my skin to my advantage to keep myself safe, others haven’t been as lucky. So that’s why the song crosses over, sounding like an 80’s rock song, with country music elements, combined with English and Spanish lyrics. It’s a statement that love is stronger than any small-minded bias or uneducated based hatred. Love is all that matters. We only have this one life to live, and we should be enjoying it, not being hung up on antiquated social tropes.

What do you hope your listeners take away from your music?

Something to dance to, to live to, to groove to. Something that spices up your day. I want you to enjoy the music I made as much as I did making it.

Who are your biggest music influences?

Gwen Stefani, she’s the reason I started making music, her music saved me from a suicide attempt when I was 14. The usual pop megastars as well, Madonna, Britney Spears, but also a lot of left-field artists like Nine Inch Nails, Korn, Roisin Murphy, Grace Jones, VV Brown. I listen to a lot of Allie X – a Canadian born pop singer now living in Los Angeles -, her album “Super sunset” really impacted me.

2020 has been a long journey for many artists coming up in the music industry. How has this year changed the game for you?

It expanded the amount of listeners looking for more indie content, which was perfect for me. For here in the states, covid decimated the live music scene, leaving people to do live shows from home and thinking outside the box. For me, that’s what I’ve been doing for quite some time. In 2015 I started doing more live shows from home to not deal with bigoted music venues and open mics who didn’t care for my sexually fluid style of lyrical content. So for me, walk in the park. For others, it’s been a challenge. Even if it had I would’ve found a way.

Do you have any specific moments that make you think “this is it” towards pursuing your music career more than ever before?

Every time I compose a melody, everytime I get an idea to write. Every time I breathe, that is my affirmation to make even more art, whether audio or visual.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I absolutely love knitting.

Thank you for speaking with us! Is there anything else you would like to add?

Please check out my sites and follow along. My new album is to include an interactive story experience with “Anton!o”, a demon who was binded to my soul when I was a child. The album goes through the motions of the experience, the spiritual journey from darkness to the light.

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