www.DavidStagl.com - Artist Profile

Falling Off The Merry-Go-Round is the perfect title for David Stagl's debut CD. A CD featuring a collection of songs focused on our loss of innocence and need to address and solve our own problems. It is a CD about the sad and fearful time in our lives when we leave behind the non-concerning time of our youth but also a future of optimism of our new freedom and where we will take our life.

While the Chicago born singer-songwriter's style shows the influences of artists such as Bruce Springsteen and U2, with its focus on the importance of making a personal and emotional connection, it would be unfair to categorize him. David is one of the new generation of artists who helps you recognize the problems in life and then motivates you to solve them.

For example in Better In The Morning, David talks about the "bad day" all of us have and the desire or hope that with a new day tomorrow, all of our problems today will be gone. Unfortunately as we all know, the problems don't just magically go away, we have just postponed them until later. The same is true in the song, Overrated. Things in life will happen to you, sometimes bad. You may even feel like the rug has been pulled out from under you. However it is time to grow up and address the problems head on.

David Stagl is an artist with a purpose. His focus is on you as a person not the artistic image you expect him to put out. He is a source of encouragement, direction and solution. A source of inspiration reminding us that we all make mistakes and falling off the merry go round is a good thing.

Better in the Morning
Sometimes after a bad day I just try and say the hell with it and go to sleep. The hope is everything will be OK in the morning. The problem is I usually can’t sleep. I had a really bad day at Disneyland which is supposed to be the happiest place on earth. The day culminated in an argument with my girlfriend. She went to sleep, and I wrote this song.

Tags
So there’s a girl, and there’s this sort of awkward/not-awkward chemistry between us. Is she interested? Maybe she’s not. One day you tell her how you feel and chaos ensues. This song is about wanting something you can’t have.

Kinda Awkward
I was in a lengthy relationship that felt like it lost that flame. We didn’t want to end it so we just tried to keep it together, but it was just a lot of uncomfortable silences. This song is about how sometimes somebody has to start sleeping on the couch before you realize how special the thing you’ve got is.

Mary
I have these “friends” who insist on trying to get me to do things I don’t want to and shouldn’t do. They like to put me in weird situations and then disappear so I’m left to get myself out. Mary is one of those situations.

Quicksand
Quicksand is about doing the wrong thing when you know better. All the signs say it’s going to be a disaster, but you do it anyway thinking maybe it will work out OK. There was a girl I dated who used to wear what seemed like an entire bottle of perfume. When I would go pick her up my eyes would literally water and burn. That should have been a tip off.

Overrated
I wrote this about losing a loved one or just the thought even. This song is about how we can take everything for granted until one day reality comes knocking. It’s about losing your support structure you didn’t realize you had. It’s about losing your innocence and starting to understand you have to take care of yourself. When you get rocked down to your foundation you start wondering if life is worth it. The answer is yes.

Not So OK
Not So OK is about realizing what you’ve lost and wanting it back. It’s about admitting your mistakes.

Still Shines
This song was written as a message to the people who don’t understand me. Whether they’ve known me for years or just met me, everyone has an opinion about what I’m supposed to do or be. Afterwhile it just gets you down. This is about rising above everyone’s opinions and expectations.

Only One Home
When I was 19 my cousin jumped off a bridge. I’m one of those people who feels better after listening to sad songs. Only One Home is me trying to put the feelings I felt when that happened into terms that more people can relate to. I think if you’ve ever lost a loved one--and that doesn’t necessarily mean death--then this is the song for you on those lonely nights.

Inside Out
Inside Out is sort of about how we as Americans tend to only see the faults in others but can’t diagnose our own problems or accept any responsibility. I think sometimes we really should just sit back and take stock in the fact that we’re living and how much of a miracle and blessing that alone is.

Down
I wrote this on the floor of my apartment in the middle of a nasty summer when I lived in Chicago. I had no air conditioning, one fan, and a rapidly diminishing supply of ice. There was nobody around and nobody calling. Just me alone on a Friday night drowning in my own sweat with my guitar wondering if I’ll ever make it doing this music thing.