Q&A with Little Silver singer/songwriter Michael Dante Summonte

Little Silver singer/songwriter Michael Dante Summonte is a rambling sort of soul performer. His music, heard locally at Espresso Joes in Keyport and Cafe 55 in Brick, has an old time resonance, something between Robert Johnson and Bob Dylan, with Elliot Smith and Iron & Wine influences. He looks and sounds like a bonafide rock bluesman, but he is also unassuming, down-to-earth and agreeable to hear everyone's point-of-view. Summonte will perform next at the Annual Jersey Acoustic Music Awards this Saturday in Asbury Park, where he is also nominated in the New Act category.

Little Silver-Oceanport Patch: What’s your story?

Michael Dante Summonte: Basically…I’ve been playing guitar all my life. Started messing around with my grandfather’s piano when I was 4 or 5, and from there I moved on to guitar (laughs) because I thought guitar was cool. And ever since, I’ve been playing music…playing and writing and progressing that way.

How old were you when you picked up the guitar?

I was 12 or 13, and I was also playing bass at the same time. Then I got into bass a little bit more because I thought guitar was a little bit daunting. So I put it down for a year or so and then when I picked the guitar back up again it was a lot easier for whatever reason.

When did you start writing songs, lyrics?

I guess I was 15 or 16.

Some singers start off with prose or poetry and move on to lyrics. Your songs have that poetic influence. Were you writing poetry first?

Well, given that I was really so young, the material tended to be a bit sophomoric.  So, I was writing before…but when I got a little bit older the subject matter naturally became more mature.

So you abandoned the Love Me Do and moved on to the Happiness is a Warm Gun?

(Laughs) Exactly…the early stuff is all oh my god, my girlfriend broke up with me, la la la. You go through a few years of writing those kind of things and then eventually you realize, oh god, I can’t write these things anymore.

What are your influences?

The Beatles, but more so their later stuff, Rubber Soul, Revolver…and more so Bob Dylan, because I felt while everyone was trying to do the same thing, he was the one who really hit the hammer on the nail. Also, Simon and Garfunkel, Elliot Smith.  I also really like Radiohead because they're so innovative. Jeff Buckley and his father Tim Buckley. I got into the father when a friend who knew I was into Jeff Buckley suggested I check out his dad’s stuff.  Also, Cat Stevens…I love Cat Stevens.

What inspires you to write, to create? 

Music is very motivating and also therapeutic, but really what gets me going is observing life all around me and taking from that…life experience. And also different authors whose works I’ve read who are able to connect to whatever it is that makes us human and just all of that inspires me to write. I really liked On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I feel like he carried on the human stories that Mark Twain was writing about finding yourself by getting out of your element, out of your comfort zone and into the big, bad world and discovering yourself while discovering how other people live and get by.

What effect has "your element," Jersey, had on your music?

It’s had a big effect…I suppose it would be different if I was from the mid-west or the South, places that aren’t as industrial and metropolitan. Also, the pace of the place effects how and what you write. Another aspect of it is seeing old Jersey towns, ones that were big in their heyday, but now aren’t or ones that are coming back like Asbury Park. It has a very unavoidable and, actually, positive effect on your music.

What makes you happy?

It might sound cliché, but really, music is one of the happiest things I can do. It can really pick me up when I’m feeling down. Other than that, good friends and family…hanging out with them and just enjoying life really. Oh, also, discovering new things about life and finding out other people’s opinion on things, and even if you don’t agree with them, understanding why or how they came to those conclusions, that’s enjoyable to me.

What’s playing on your iPod?

Actually I play CDs…no iPod…I guess I’ll have to eventually graduate to that. But as for music I’m listening to, there’s a few things going on…Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman and, lately, Teaser and the Firecat. There’s also this female artist named Jolie Holland that I’ve been listening to since a friend gave me her CD. She kind of has an old-timey sound mixed with a few new things and I like the way she did it, very minimalistic. In Rainbows by Radiohead. I like that CD a lot.

Your music tends to have that kind of old-timey sound, that root, but that’s my opinion. How would you describe your sound?

I definitely take from the past more than the present, older stuff, older music more than the contemporary sound. So if I had to describe how I sound (laughs), which is always a conundrum, I’d say…it’s older sounding, yeah, which I hope for because that music resonates more for me than the newer people and sound. I tend more to the subject matter, or maybe it’s the sensibility of older music, and I hope to get to the place that they reached with their music.

What does the future look like? Or is that a bad question for you, because it seems like you’re into navigating as you go.

Yeah, I’m always just kinda winging it. My general M.O. is I’m winging it. I know only as much as the next guy, and you have to stay realistic about things. You wanna set goals for yourself in whatever career you choose, but at the same time you have to remember, a lot of that isn’t always up to you. But where would I want to be in ten years? I guess a nice, happy place with good friends, good company enjoying whatever it is I’m into and, hopefully, that’s going to still be music.

When will you be satisfied?

Umm…never because we’re humans. And when you get whatever it is that you think you need to be satisfied, you discover you’re still unhappy because being unsatisfied secretly makes you satisfied, or at least as satisfied as you are able. The grass is always greener somewhere else. That’s not to be pessimistic. It’s just the nature of being human. So keep on truckin’ (big laugh).

Download the movie