When musician (and regular Big Hollywood contributor) Ezra Dulis hears music that’s either anti-Christian or anti-Capitalist he longs for a creative response. But said response too often comes in the form of a pithy bumper sticker or conservative song parody.
“There’s really nothing of the same caliber from our side,” the openly conservative Dulis laments. Now, the Washington, PA. resident is trying to do something about it. Dulis’ musical career finds him alternating between protest music and odes to eternal love.
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His new EP “Politics, v. 1” uses crunchy musical riffs to roast the Obama administration and speak to a center-right nation that rarely hears music reflecting its core beliefs. He also hopes to stretch the boundaries of political music while embracing its true counter-culture roots.
“I want to make music that can be enjoyed by someone who isn’t right wing. I’m trying to make it something that can last beyond an election season,” says Dulis, who compares his music to acts like My Bloody Valentine. “We need to embrace an underdog status through that … and make something contemporary and immediate.’
Dulis, a videographer by trade, isn’t looking to drag the Left through the mud via his melodies.
His track “Barry’s Song” doesn’t demean the president – just the attitude that helped elect him and the “uncritical acolytes who fueled his campaign,” he says. Another track deals with Global Warming fears, a topic he treads on lightly.
“There are things to be said about stopping the current [Cap and Trade] legislation. It’s very hard to do that without falling back on conservative clichés,” he says. The young musician couldn’t be happier when liberals applaud his music. For him, singing to the choir isn’t enough.
“I’ve had a couple of friends who lean to the left who enjoy particular songs. I hope to get that admiration out of people regardless of what they believe,” he says. It’s the only way I can convince someone is if they keep an open mind.”
His first-self produced EP back in 2008 focused on love, not ideology.
He created “Wedding Songs” in the weeks before his 2008 marriage, a time when a soon to be newlywed could be forgiven for getting lost in love.
“It did grow out of the emotions I was going through at the time,” he says of the EP which has a much softer, more acoustic feel than his politically charged effort. “But I was also thinking about what I was getting into and the responsibilities, to show my wife I was being serious about it.”
When Dulis writes a love song, it’s more than just a toast to warm, fuzzy feelings. Songs like “Happy Homes” deal with his preoccupation with the fear of love running its course, and of couples staring down economic realities.
“I was trying to come up with something I could come back to … the basis of not just marriage but community,” he adds.
Dulis isn’t ready to tour the world just yet. He’s still learning to master multi-tracking tools that help him flesh out his musical vision. For now, he wants to see how far he can take his music career on the Web.
“These records were produced at zero cost to me. Anything I make off of it will be profit,” he says.
Dulis hopes his record will help “draw out other conservative artists from the woodwork,” he says. “I want to establish a community of like-minded artists … I’m firing a flare into the dark night and see who responds.”