Diane, host of The Current’s Local Show, stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s Host Sanni about the Minnesota Music Month Carbon Sound Showcase that she helped curate, as well as her journey through music as a listener, performer, and radio host.

Sanni Brown 

Oh my goodness. Welcome back to The Message. Carbon Sound, Music for Life — Sanni here. I've been screaming about this interview all day. I'm really nerdy about how music is made, how we curate musical experiences, and in the building we have — not only are they a curator of musical experiences, they are also a musician, journalist, writer, emcee, DJ, host and producer of The Local Show for The Current that I have been sitting in the back in awe as a fan. And you be rappin'! Carbon Sound, The Message audience, Minnesota music scene — y'all probably know her better than me. Welcome Diane into the studio! (laughs)

Diane 

Hey what's up! (laughs) Thank you, that was such a nice introduction.

Sanni Brown 

It's so dope. So in my mind, I look at you and other artists and curators — in my mind I go, "wow, this person is smoking. Okay, this is what dope, what they be doing." And so today, I was like "let me go grab a lunch real quick before I get in here with Diane." And I'm like, "Diane's gonna have an entourage, and it's gonna be like a limo." And I'm like, "wait a minute. Diane, you work with me!" (laughs) But your essence and reading everything that you do and who you are, that is the image that I had in my head. So I just want to say thank you so much for taking away from all the stuff that you be doing to come and talk to us about what you be doing.

Diane 

Dang, I'm so flattered right now (both laugh) Because I have the same fan girl about your stuff — I'm like "oh my gosh, Sanni Brown, whoo!" (laughs) Such a fan.

Sanni Brown 

So I want to start off — you are the host of The Local Show. And so I have, coming into The Current universe, the Minnesota music scene, I have always looked at The Local Show like, wow. I am so serious because when I first came in — like I know hip-hop, I know a national acts, but being at Minnesota Public Radio has really opened my eyes to all the juiciness that we have right here in our local garden. But I've always been like intimidated to ask about The Local Show (laughs). Because I feel like the way local artists look at like the machine, that's how I kind of was feeling like about The Local Show because I was on the outside. I remember getting emails about Scouting Reports and you just do so much. You do so much.

Diane 

Yeah, that's part of a monthly thing we do at The Current is just paying attention to what's new and noteworthy and exciting. And of course, we get a very large influx of submissions. And so it's kind of a way of being like, "okay, we can't cover everyone in depthly —"

Sanni Brown 

That's what I was gonna ask you, how do you pick? Because it's not like people are wack. How are you picking? What's your system?

Diane 

There's three other writers that help; we just kind of come together once a week, or three times a month and listen to submissions together. And you know, we look through the list and we're like, "whose do we think are the most outstanding?" essentially. And then we go from there. It's hard to pick sometimes.

Sanni Brown 

I just saw a tweet the other day, somebody was talking about how we consume music. And young people are just like, "I just want to hear a snippet of the song and if I don't like it, might move on." Whereas — Diane I don't know how old you are. I'm in my 40s.

Diane 

Almost 38.

Sanni Brown 

Okay okay, so you kinda in the same thing — like, you know about sitting and listening to the album, looking at the booklet, things like that.

Diane 

Yeah, for sure.

Sanni Brown 

How important is that in what you do?

Diane 

Yeah. Sometimes I can catch a vibe. Sometimes it's very — it can be very fast. Sometimes I can know after listening for a little bit that like, no, this is not quite it. But it's such a fine line. It's not that easy to just pinpoint what exactly it is, but I've been a music fan since literally I was a toddler basically, so I consume so much music. And I'm a fan of so many different styles of music, and just an appreciator. And then being an artist myself or knowing how music is made, knowing the amount of dedication you need to have in order for music to actually sound good that's recorded — because I can look back at some of my own recordings and be like, "oh, I would never play this on air." Maybe it's good, maybe the talents there, but some of the refinement that goes into making a really quality song that's meant to be heard by a wider audience on radio, on a stage — that takes an incredible amount of work. And to be able to recognize that, it does take some experience. I'm also a live music enthusiast, so I have seen countless amounts of concerts. Especially in more intimate settings, which I think is more fun. I think I'm a great host of The Local Show because I love local music in that a lot of local artists are a bit more raw at points in their careers. You'll have these artists who have this massive, massive talent, but may not have the funding that requires you to be able to record music on that level. Because that's one thing that a lot of people might not understand — to record music is so expensive. It is so expensive. And so to be able to be a local artist, and still put out quality music that maybe is on a budget, that's not as high level as some of these really, really big, big artists, like that requires some gift. You know?

Sanni Brown 

When we see a Miley, when we see a Taylor, we know the machine is behind them. We know that there's funding. And so when I see these artists — they don't have the funding, they don't have the promotion, like you said, it takes time you got to mix, you got to master, you got to rewrite, you got to edit. They don't have the funding, they don't have this big, massive machine, but they're dropping quality that sounds like what the machine is dropping.

Diane 

Exactly.

Sanni Brown 

And so for me, that be really exciting me and I turn into a complete fangirl (laughs).

Diane 

Same! (laughs)

Sanni Brown 

That's the magic of music, that's why we like them. It's like you took this idea, you wrote some words down, you went in there, and now this song is in our lives for the next 100 million years. It's magical, and thank you for saying it like that because I know what I feel, but I didn't have the description for it. And also, I do think that's the work you do on The Local Show because you're able to describe that.

Diane 

Thank you.

Sanni Brown 

So tell me about when you was young, what is your first memory of "I really dig music"? Like what was your early memories of "I think I want to be doing this forever"?

Diane 

Well, music was around our house a lot. For one, my dad used to take us on little road trips to places and I remember just driving in the car a lot, and my dad would play certain albums and songs — George Jones, this country singer. My mom would sing Patti Page on a karaoke machine at home. My dad used to play like Bob Dylan Greatest Hits, and I just remember listening and being attuned to it and just really enjoying music. And then as a young kid, I also was obsessed with MTV. This was during a time when Notorious B.I.G. was huge, and Busta Rhymes was huge, like this 90s hip-hop and r&b — listening to Janet Jackson, like all of that. I would be glued to the TV — TLC I was obsessed with TLC.

Sanni Brown 

You are naming my childhood playlist (laughs).

Diane 

Yeah exactly (laughs). We would have a tape player and we'd have tapes and we'd press play and and then write the lyrics down and stop it press — you know, before the internet and then I would learn how to rap along to these songs by Salt-N-Pepa. I also have another memory of my sister and I — Sister Act 2, Lauryn Hill. The part where she sings — (both sing "joyful, joyful")

Sanni Brown 

And Diane I heard you could sing too, girl. I was listening to your music baby — no Diane can sang! Not sing, you can sang! You got some Sister Act in there miss ma'am. I'm just saying I heard the album, but I'm sorry go ahead (laughs). I'm sorry I had to say it. When somebody can sang, I need the hood to know.

Diane 

Yes, I am a singer. And that's another memory I have; my sister and I were obsessed with that last scene in Sister Act. It gets to the end of the scene with the choir and stuff, and then we'd rewind it. And we'd watch it again. And we'd just like dance around, dance around, watch it till the end, rewind it, keep watching it. And then I would get to a point — I was a weird shy kid too — but so the music was an escape. I remember I used to literally lip sing or sing in front of the mirror a lot too as a kid.

Sanni Brown 

I love those stories though, because we don't see them as — but look what you're doing! (laughs) It's like you were doing that when you were young, you're just creating and you don't go "oh wow, I never even thought about that." When I got into radio, I had the old tape recorder and I would tape Salt-N-Pepa and I wouldn't rap with them, but I would pretend I was the radio personality.

Diane 

Interesting! Yeah, that makes sense!

Sanni Brown 

So I was pretending to be future Diane, y'all. That's what I was pretending to be. So that's really cool. I love hearing about that. So are there any other music movies, next to Sister Act, that stuck out to you when you were young?

Diane 

Oh gosh. Yeah, plenty.

Sanni Brown 

Whatever comes to your head, don't fight it.

Diane 

Sound of music.

Sanni Brown 

Oh, that's a classic one baby, yeah!

Diane 

I'm obsessed with Julie Andrews.

Sanni Brown 

Well who ain't? (laughs) And if you don't know, check out Julie Andrews. I, to this day, I rely on Sound of Music whenever I need to know the "doe, a deer, a female deer." The shows taught us music education back in the day. I like it when people like all music, because then I feel like when you only like one kind of genre, you're limited, and you just miss out on so many vibes. Did your parents listen to a lot of different music?

Diane 

Yeah, so my parents are like, karaoke singers — they just like love going out and singing karaoke.

Sanni Brown 

I love that your parents are karaoke singers! That's so romantic (laughs).

Diane 

I know! (laughs) My dad loves singing Sinatra, my mom will sing a lot of like, kind of classic pop singers.

Sanni Brown 

I love that so much.

Diane 

And I just still, I've never been like "oh, my parents listen to this. It's not cool." I've been like "woah, I love this song by ABBA and the Carpenters!"

Sanni Brown 

I'm like that about my mama too. My mom, she would always stop at songs that she liked. But I'm noticing that the people that we work with here, they like music, there's no genre that they prefer. It doesn't matter, if it makes them groove, they groove to it. So how did we become the Diane who hosts this massive show? You know what's poppin' on the scene, they're coming to you to help curate the freakin' scene! And you're like "oh, I just did a blog," like nah, this was magical things happening for you to become this! What was your path here to become this Minnesota music scene experience creator?

Diane 

Well I was raised by a music scene too, like a local music scene. You know, post college I was in bands. I had a hip-hop band D Mills & The Thrills, I was in a reggae band, I had my own folk band —

Sanni Brown 

Wow!

Diane 

Yeah, in Fargo-Moorhead.

Sanni Brown 

Wow, three different different — dang!

Diane 

I just loved playing. I love performing. I feel like I'm — it's in my blood to perform and be on a stage. I enjoy it. I mean, it can be the most incredible fulfilling experience and it can also be the most devastating. So I just became a public figure basically in Fargo-Moorhead.

Sanni Brown 

From you performing?

Diane 

Performing and then I also was the editor of the High Plains Reader, which was an alternative weekly. So I just became such a notable figure in Fargo-Moorhead for the amount of performing I did, people would see me perform, and yeah I developed a really big following and fanbase in Fargo-Moorhead. And so it was just like "okay, I must be doing something right." And you know, I'd never really gotten on radio before. And I want to go back to the comment I was making about it costs so much money — a lot of my projects were all DIY, self-produced, like that kind of thing. And it makes it a little bit harder to get on the radio airwaves. Like I understand that grind. But yeah, I was playing in bands and getting on the radio wasn't necessarily a priority to me. It was more just I love performing. And it's fun. It's fun. And there just felt like there was a demand and people would ask us all the time to come perform. And then I started getting into doing tribute shows, so I'd perform tributes to Rage Against The Machine and then Beastie Boys. And in D Mills & The Thrills, we'd cover a lot of hip hop classics. We did a lot of Outkast, we did A Tribe Called Quest. I think people appreciated the expansiveness of my talents. And then on top of it I just love performing.

Sanni Brown 

I do have a question. I do got one more before I let you go. What was it like opening up for Nelly? (both laugh)

Diane 

Oh my gosh. It was so fun. I just crushed it — like the audience loved me for that show. Someone threw a blunt onstage to me (both laugh). I have a song called "I Look Like Shit" — a lot of my music can be pretty self-deprecating, too. It's like lift up and then I'll also really make fun of myself. And so there's a line where it's like, "I eat —" and so someone was like "here!" threw it onstage. And then after that show, I developed these two massive fans and they ended up following me at like, every D Mills & The Thrills shows, so it was just like one of those things.

Sanni Brown 

Diane do you even hear these stories?? (laughs)

Diane 

I love that I can just go to town with you. You make me feel comfortable! You're a great interviewer!

Sanni Brown 

Diane — I think what makes you and other artists so magical is you don't act like you're magical. Like you don't see it. But you are, you're magical. It's really dope to know that you brought all your juice here from Fargo and mom and dad inspired — and you didn't think they were cringe — that's dope you were a great child (both laugh) You are the poster child! (laughs)

Diane 

Something like that! (laughs)

Sanni Brown 

I'm hoping that local artists are listening because I really wanted you to tune in and listen to what Diane be looking for in an artist on the low tip. So while you're out there creating and everything just know we got a whole Local Show on The Current every Sunday night from 7 p.m. to midnight and it is hosted by the Diane, okay. And be careful because you might pull up and become a fan. I'm just telling you (laughs). So thank you so much for coming in today.

Diane 

Thank you. My heart is exploding because I'm just such a fan of your work.

Sanni Brown 

And I'm a daggone fan of you Miss Diane. Carbon Sound Music for Life!