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The final interview from the 2021 Calgary folk music festival.

Dan Mangan – artist, entrepreneur, father, husband, and surprisingly a great middle-distance swimming champion.

Two time Juno winner

Dan’s most recent album was More or Less. (2018)

After many years of small venue performances, Dan co-founded Side Door Access with Laura Simpson.

“We believe artists deserve more control and fewer gatekeepers, and that an empowered arts community will produce the most  interesting, diverse and daring ecosystem of expression”

What started out as a local support system for artists (and audience) was completely re-arranged to bring music to all of us during the pandemic. Everyone involved at Side Door was swept along by a flood of requests and opportunities. Including Dan Mangan.

Now he’s seeing light at the end of the Covid tunnel and can start to pick up the remnants of his music and performing career.

When we talked a couple of weeks ago, Dan was getting ready to engage in his first public performance in many months at the Calgary Folk Music Festival.

Dan and I cover some of the above and more.  You can look forward to a steady flow of songs and albums to come from Dan in the next year and a half.

This is the complete interview.

Thank you Dan!

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First words on the Sidedoor Access Website

“We are a team of artists & technologists passionately building an efficient, friendly and transparent marketplace where anybody can perform, host, or curate shows for their communities”

And then this –

“Although our company was originally for in-person shows only, we quickly expanded to the online sphere, once gatherings became unsafe. Our job is to help artists, curators, festivals, and venues keep creating shows and help audiences find them.

When faced with a crisis, it is always art that helps us through. Whether it offers comfort, community, understanding, solace, distraction, or perspective, art has always been something humanity employs to make it through pain and suffering. We are committed to supporting the creators in safe and innovative ways to connect to their audience.”

Laura Simpson
Co-Founder & CEO

Laura’s founding partner is Dan Mangan, a singular artist who knows about endless road trips,  rooms full of strangers, and surviving the hard road.

SideDoor started several years ago as a way for emerging artists to play stages in towns, cities, regions, and provinces.

The stages were storefronts, backyards, front rooms, porches, tennis courts, and actual stages.

Forward to 2019 and a World epidemic that changed everyone’s life.

Dan tells the story of where he was and how Sidedoor Access  became “The Thing”

Here’s the story of how Dan, Laura, and Sidedoor became a sensation and changed their lives.  Again.

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Has the Side Door become the Front Door?

Singer/Songwriter Dan Mangan shared a “movement – an idea” with me on Mulligan Stew Radio.   Jan 6, the first show of  2018.

“We are building a platform where artists can earn a living by trimming the overhead of touring. We help you find magical small spaces with dedicated hosts and attentive audiences.

We want to help create human, tactile experiences offline. Music, Speakers, Dance, Theatre, Comedy – you name it.”

It was called Side Door Access.   www.sidedooraccess.com

Two years later and thanks, in part to a worldwide pandemic,  it has become a sensation.

Yes, artists can still play barns, basements, backyards, stores, coffee shops, libraries, etc

But now they can broadcast from HOME…and feel/see the audience

And best of all make a living

Here’s the latest from Dan Mangan…on the Side Door Story, his career, family, COVID 19, and the moment when he realized that his life was about to change.

Encore!!!!

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Fresh off his recent JUNO nomination, singer-songwriter Dan Mangan joins Terry for a chat about his new career direction. The pair discusses audience reaction to his new album ‘More or Less’, his recent turn scoring films, and how time has changed his relationship with his early hit songs. The podcast features two tracks from Dan’s new record ‘More or Less’.