Dan Mangan Achieves a Career Goal in 'What Happens Next' Documentary

Posted on Oct 19th 2012 11:00AM by Melody Lau
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It might feel a little early in Vancouver singer-songwriter Dan Mangan's nine-year career to release a confessional documentary, but he assures us that he never went into the process expecting to make a film.

"We took all this footage from it and just though that maybe we could put it into something," Mangan tells Spinner. "It just kept developing and growing and every time they'd shoot more, they'd add more interviews."

The documentary, entitled What Happens Next, is slated to air nationally on the CBC on Oct. 20. Mangan says that the entire thing came about "organically and CBC didn't say 'go and make a documentary,' they just saw what we had and said sure. I think people are going to respond nicely to it."
Anchor Vancouver venue the Orpheum Theatre is the focal point of the film, what with it being a grand goal of Mangan's to play there ever since he began performing. When he finally did he found the experience of playing there both strange and rewarding.

"It was weird," explains Mangan. "That's where Neil Young, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and Feist played. I've seen lots of different bands there so it holds memories for me as an audience member, so to be able to be the one onstage creating that for other people is kind of a real trip.

"It's hard to fathom, especially because it was in the midst of a tour, too, so in a sense it just felt like one more show, but it was also a really special hometown show for us. It was really cool."

Admittedly, after reflecting on achieving playing the Orpheum, Mangan realized playing there couldn't be an end goal as much as a milestone in his rise to success.

"What do you do when your whole life, you dream of doing a thing, and then you actually do it?" he ponders. "That's what we talk about in the documentary. How the Orpheum is this really great thing, but it can't be the goal because the goal can't be finite."

Mangan's next steps include more touring, especially in Europe, but when that's all over, he hopes to take some well-deserved time off to record new music and possibly expand his creative horizons.

"I desire to flex my creative muscles in other directions," says Mangan, who hopes to go into scoring films and dipping into soundtracks. He also says he's got tunes ready for a new record, though, and warns fans to expect the unexpected.

"It's a big departure from where we've been.

"I have no idea what it's going to sound like but people shouldn't assume that this band is any one thing because it will likely change. We're a bit of a chameleon, we take influences from a lot of different places, but I take pride in the fact that there aren't many people who sound like us. I did that when I was younger, I would try and emulate other bands, but now it's honestly just about trying to get out what's in our guts."