Dan Black on Nightmare Backstage Stories and His Newfound Love of Cupcakes

What couldn't you love about UK pop import Dan Black? He writes songs that make our heart explode, a little adorable face paint and that accent! PAPERMAG had some laughs with the cheeky, killer artist in his dressing room before he hit the SOUNDS LIKE PAPER stage -- and before a few Hanson fans apparently flipped him off (and he loved it!). Like we said, it looks like our Prince/George Michael prayers have been answered. Amen. 

What's on your tour rider? 

I don't really have one particularly. Fruits. 

What's your favorite fruit?

I love bananas. I love apples. Raspberries. Blueberries. I love blueberries! I have the taste-buds of a small child so I like cookies and ice-creams and cupcakes.

What's your go-to cupcake spot in New York?

I've only recently started to get into cupcakes. You need to educate me, really.

I'm a Sugar Sweet Sunshine kind of gay. 

Okay. Sugar Sweet Sunshine! Nice tip. 

Any pre-show rituals? Do you ever get wasted before the show?

No, quite the opposite. If I play not fully sober, I tend to do a terrible show. Mind you, I sometimes will have a small drink, but nothing crazy. I save the fun for later.

Any vocal warm ups? Yoga? Video games? Fill us in!

Not really. A bit but I'm a bit slack. I try to be quiet and you know, get into the zone. Being on stage is sort of different to being "normal" in quotation marks. You definitely have to take a moment and change the cogs in my head and go into show mode. 

Checking out any Fashion Week shows?

No, I'm super busy. I'm gonna DJ for Dior. And I've got my own show -- show, show! At the Bowery on September 9th. I'm doing some show at Saks. So I don't really have any time to go to shows. All you have to do is look at the window. If you drive around a bit, it's brilliant!

What are your favorite New York shops?

I'm still learning New York. I kind of like the fact that I keep walking around and going "What's this?" But I like shopping at Oak and I love... I can't remember the name's of things. Is it Opening Ceremony? That's kind of fun.

So you're not a vintage guy?

I'm a bit lazy. I used to be when I was younger but I can't be bothered cause here's like one in a hundred things. But this is more in London, but here I'd probably find things more exotic and like "Wow!" So I should probably try to find a good thrift shop.

Can you tell us any nutty on-stage stories?

Oh, loads! I've fallen off stage. Nearly knocked myself out on stage. I've also got a disgraceful memory, I can't remember anything. What's a good one? Oh, we played a festival last year in England. And it was mainly students and people volunteering to be technicians to volunteer backstage. And basically when we arrived, everyone who was backstage was pretty much on Ecstacy who was supposed to be running the stage. It was running like about three hours late. I kind of liked it, but our crew was like, "This is a nightmare." You'd ask them questions and they'd wander around in a druggie stage. 

So... are you a Hanson fan?

All I know is kind of their classic Mmm... bop, whatever the next part is... doopity-doo!