Dennis Atlas On Pushing The Personal Limits of Expression

[Dennis Atlas of Toto interview excerpt...]
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Cris Cohen: I've always envied that musicians get to express these complicated thoughts and feelings, but metaphorically. You get to be very sly in the way that you're opening yourself up to the world. There's an envy that you get to have that release that maybe not every person gets to have.
 
Dennis Atlas: It's so interesting that you bring that up. I've never had anyone bring up what you just said in an interview.

That's true, but it's only as true as you want it to be.

Some people don't use metaphor. Some people are very literal. A lot of the biggest songs today, the things that people latch onto are not metaphorical.

It's literal storytelling.

And that's a big question as an artist.

How much of this am I willing to share with the public, who don’t have the full picture of my life? How much of it do I want to tell with a metaphor or an analogy?

That's the question. I'm not coming here with an answer for you. I'm coming here saying that's the question that I ask myself every day. Where can I express more in a way that I'm comfortable with, in a way that I feel safe doing in my art?

That's up to each individual. I guess that's the difference between abstract art and very literal art.

Full Interview

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