The Hidden Haptic has a double meaning. It refers to both hidden gems of “third space” environments, and also the folks within them who are living with a chronic condition. These folks have perspectives that often fly under the radar. One of our goals is to highlight some of these individuals.

Davis Evanoff is a Columbus based musician that’s been on our radar for quite some time. He has multiple releases under his belt; they capture an earnestness and atmospheric quality that don’t often come together in the same composition. He is also on the Autism spectrum.

I knew Davis would be one of the first people I’d want to interview for this new project. I was very curious as to how the intersection of his diagnosis and art informs his life in general, and also the places he chooses to visit.

We hope you enjoy the interview below.

The Hidden Haptic: In whatever way you feel comfortable sharing, what is your diagnosis?

Davis Evanoff: So, I am diagnosed on the autism spectrum. I was diagnosed pretty young.

I was diagnosed at two years old. At my initial diagnosis, I was placed as pretty low on the spectrum, and then I didn’t speak until I was four, and then progressed on. I still had social and communication difficulties growing up, and I still do, but at this age, I’m 30 years old now, so I find I’ve been able to develop methods and tactics to help kind of move on through life, you know, in spite of all of those things, but I am what some would consider to be currently high-functioning on the autism spectrum.

Thanks for sharing. What do you feel are some unexpected, positive consequences or results of this diagnosis?

Positive consequences, you said?

Positive, yeah.

Okay. I feel that it makes me more, if I go out somewhere or I engage with a person or in conversation or whatever, I think it makes me hypersensitive to the details of that particular person or that particular space. Like, whenever I talk about it with people, I do have a high sensitivity to vocal tone, so I don’t make that, like, outwardly known, but I do have, if someone has a more comfortable tone of voice for me, it’s much likely that I would love to be able to continue a conversation whether that, you know, open rather than someone who’s not, and if I’m in a space such as a bar or a concert venue or a coffeehouse or whatever, it makes me more sensitive to the space of it, whether that be the actual physical space. Is it an open space? Is it a restrictive space? What sort of colors are, like, are they overbearing colors on the wall or the type of furniture? So it makes me, I guess, very acutely sensitive to details and that sort of thing.

Is there anything that you wish more people understood about you personally?

I think I would like people to know, in the context of my diagnosis, I would like them to know that when I’m silent at times, because I’m naturally a pretty shy person, when I’m silent, it’s not always a sense of complacency. I take the time really to process it, whether it be a conversation or any sort of environment that I’m in, I really do take the time to process, and so whenever I’m silent or I can appear withdrawn or anything like that, it’s not out of a sense always of distaste or complacency. It’s more of just I’m taking the time to process what’s going on or where I’m at or things of that nature.

Thank you for sharing. I think a lot of people can relate to that. Let me ask you another question that I didn’t put on here.

Do you ever feel like… I know with the popularity of certain TV shows, like Love on the Spectrum, things like that, people call autism, some people refer to it as a superpower. Do you ever feel belittled? What do you think of when people say things like that?

I’ve actually had this conversation with multiple people. It’s something that I tend to really push back on, but I also tend to push back on the higher… I would consider the argument of being a superpower, I would consider that being the super, super high end of the spectrum, and I would consider the dependence off of a caregiver or any sort of intensive behavioral difficulty as sort of the lower, lower end of the spectrum.

And I would consider those both to be stereotypical points of view of the diagnosis, and I push back on any sort of assumption that that can be an umbrella for the concept of being on the spectrum. So both of those I tend to push back on pretty hard, because I just don’t think that’s accurate. Now referencing to the show Love on the Spectrum, I actually have never watched that show.

Nor do I… I mean, I just… A, I’m not too big on reality, TV in general, but I also don’t like the idea of… And this could be said about a lot of things too, not just on the spectrum. I don’t like the attributes of people being so highly publicized and sort of presented in this sort of… interesting sort of context as dating or anything like that. I’m not too keen on that sort of blatant presentation of that.

Right. So, I guess, with everything you just shared, kind of in mind, where are your favorite places to hang out? In Columbus. There’s this concept that’s been thrown around a lot of third spaces, places that are not your home or your workplace, but places you just hang out.

So I don’t… I guess the concept of going out, like going to a place where, like a bar or anything like that, that sort of world I actually don’t engage with too much. I’m not a naturally going out sort of person. But in that context of going out to a bar, as just an example, and I’ll certainly mention other examples in a second, but if I were to go out drinking, I usually like places where, because I’m such… I have the mentality of I want a space to be available, and I don’t want to have a place be super packed and then like, oh, what do I do? And then I kind of spiral out into where do I go now that this place is too full? And there’s a couple places I’m able to do that.

I would say Seventh Son [Brewing] is one of those spots. I like the open sort of space. I think it’s, as in its presentation, in terms of, like I said, the space and the sort of tone, the lighting and stuff like that, I find it a very sort of warm sort of environment.

And I tend to like and gravitate towards spaces like that. So I think in terms of a bar, as an example, I think Seventh Son or places like it kind of fit my sort of welcoming environment for me. But I think around the city, it’s kind of the same way I like open spaces.

I like being able to have the space to do multiple different things, as I would when I go to a bar. I like being able to have multiple different options on where to sit without being overly congested in a space. So I think anywhere along the Scioto (River), like going along the Olentangy Trail, like right along the Scioto, I think is a good space for me.

There’s a couple different parks as well, but in terms, like I said, of going out in general, I tend to gravitate towards spaces like Seventh Son. Very warm sort of environments, whether that be the lighting or even the paint on the walls or anything like that. Just kind of the open concept.

I tend to gravitate towards those more.

You already kind of answered this a little bit. How does your diagnosis impact your favorite third spaces in Columbus? Is there anything else you want to share regarding that?

I did kind of answer it, but I’ll kind of dig into it more.

I think my biggest fear of going out at times is this place is too crowded and there’s not really a whole lot of space just to kind of hang out. Because everywhere is taken, whether it be seating or just overall space, and it just feels congested and there’s not a whole lot that we can do, whether it’s the people I’m with or whatever, that we can do to hang out in that space. And I tend to really, like I said, gravitate towards areas that are much more open and they’re not as constrictive or things like that.

Just really kind of digging into that more. I think I like making it a very broad term. I like open possibility sort of spaces.

I like that. Thank you. That’s an open possibility spaces, yeah.

I only ask this because I think back to my childhood and there are certain different memories I have of going places on vacation and whatnot that I can tie my love of Synthwave and Vaporwave today to going to weird stores in the mall when I was five years old, things like that. Is there anything like that from your childhood? Are there any memories like that from your childhood that inform kind of, or just a favorite memory of some place you went or some place you went that informs your art today?

Yeah, there is. I still remember it vividly.

The first time that I went and saw a show at the Newport I think is like a really strong memory for me because I’ve been to concerts before that but those were like in big amphitheaters or stadiums or whatever. I’ve never been to a smaller space. So I think about when I went to the Newport, I was in middle school and there was a girl who I was seeing at the time.

Her older sister worked merch. This was like a local band showcase. In Columbus they used to be like super frequently but now they kind of died out a bit.

But we went to a local showcase at the Newport and I just saw so many bands that most of them aren’t even around anymore. Some of them kind of researched back up in a different way. That was the first time I saw a local band in Columbus called This Is My Suitcase.

I saw them at the Newport and then I saw City Lights when they were still around.

They were on the same show?

They were on the same show. I think of them as being completely different corners of the local scene.

The headliner, this might be even weirder, Lovesick Radio. That’s another corner. Those are like four different corners of the scene.

There were so many other bands too. A lot of them I don’t even remember them by name. I just remember going there.

That was my first real small show but that was also my first local show. Being in there and understanding in that moment, oh wait, music’s being made here. This isn’t like bands come from out of town just to play shows here.

It’s like bands from this city actually exist here and people actively create things here. I think later on I would go to different local showcases and I would just have this sort of reaffirming idea. It’s like, oh wait, this isn’t like a Nashville or an LA or anything but it’s possible to make things here.

Just having that experience really early on didn’t necessarily bring me to the point creatively where I’m at now but it sort of opened the possibility where it’s like, oh this isn’t unrealistic, we can do this here. It’s possible to make things here. That’s probably the earliest memory that influenced or did for me.

It’s interesting that you… I was thinking of places you travel I was thinking of travel for me when I asked that question but for you, you brought up the Newport. That’s my favorite venue in Columbus. Yeah.

My first show at the Newport actually wasn’t until I was in college. I wasn’t a big concert goer in high school. The first band I ever saw there was Family Force 5.

Oh Yeah!

It’s not to say that… because I’ve been fortunate enough where I have traveled a lot and it’s not to say that places I’ve been to haven’t influenced. I’ve been to really central art places like I’ve been to Rome and Pompeii and Brussels and Tokyo and I’ve been to all these cool places but I think in the local scene of where I’m from, Columbus I think gauging with the scene for the very first time in the context of going to see a show at the Newport, I think even if some of the bands on the bill weren’t the greatest bands it was a central component that I think in its own way had a similar influence to me as it would have if I went into an art museum in Tokyo which I did. It’s similar inputs they’re just different contexts.

Pivoting, you’re an artist. You’re a singer-songwriter. Do you have a core message you hope to communicate to the world you may or you may not if so, what is it?

I think I have more of an umbrella message and less of a specific message. I do have lots of things to say. I didn’t speak until I was four and when I first started writing songs I didn’t have the words that I wanted to say yet because I was so engulfed with the idea of creating song structures and sounds that could elicit those emotions well. But then when I found the freedom to write and I could write well it elicited those specific messages but I think those specific messages are good. The umbrella sort of thing I want to say is that people on the spectrum have stuff they want to say. It’s not necessarily like I said earlier – silence for people on the spectrum is not always complicit silence. It’s not always silence that means any sort of ill will towards situations or people or whatever. It’s not that at all. A lot of times people are processing the world as I was processing the world before I could even write what I wanted to say specifically and so I think the overall umbrella sort of idea I want to have is I have specific things that I want to say. But this isn’t overall stuff I think regardless of how I present it I know my voice is just as valid as any other artist I know my voice is as valid as any sort of silent creative. I have things that I want to share with people and I think that’s just the overall message with my work it’s not a specific thing that needs to be said it’s just something that needs to be said.

Right well that kind of brings us to the end here is there let’s take a page out of First We Feast. (Sean Evans) always says at the end “I’m going to roll out the red carpet for you” – plug whatever you want to plug!

Oh my gosh yeah! I mean again I’m a musician artist. I have all my music on streaming services or iTunes wherever you happen to find your music at if you feel as inclined to hear the things I have to say I write about a lot of different things because I have the freedom and the ability to write about these things as well so if you are inclined to listen to me again my name is Davis Evanoff, D-A-V-I-S-E-V-A-N-O-F-F and I would really appreciate it just for you to hear what I have to say about things and if you’re so inclined to share it with people please share it because I think there are many many people that need to hear what I have to say. And, not being self-centered or self-serving I just really really believe that what I have to say matters and I think people should hear someone express these things so that’s all thank you for the interview.

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Follow Davis Evanoff on Instagram and stream his music here.