Dan Miller | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Daniel Miller |
Born | October 3, 1967 |
Origin | Rochester, New York, U.S. |
Genres | Alternative rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Guitar, keyboards, vocals |
Years active | 1990s–present |
Labels | Disney Sound, Idlewild Recordings, Rounder Records |
Dan Miller (born October 3, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter.
He has toured and recorded with the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants since late 1998. [1] Generally, Miller plays guitars for the band. Prior to joining TMBG, he performed with the groups Edith O and Lincoln. Having left Lincoln for personal reasons in 1998, he was contacted by John Flansburgh, who offered him a spot as lead guitarist for They Might Be Giants' Fall 1998 tour. [2] He has also toured with John Flansburgh as Mono Puff's guitarist in the late 1990s, and played on bandmate John Linnell's State Songs tour.
Miller is known to sing backup and some lead during live performances of songs. He also occasionally plays keyboards when Linnell is playing accordion or woodwinds. [3] [4] Miller co-wrote the song "Infinity" with Robert Sharenow on They Might Be Giants' second children's album, Here Come the 123s . [5] In addition to playing with TMBG, Miller and drummer Marty Beller had their own musical production firm called MartyDan Industries. Working together, the duo had created music for film, TV, and commercials. Dan is also credited on Jonathan Coulton's album Artificial Heart . [6] Miller states that he commonly "used a lot of crummy guitars...such as old Harmonys and Valpros," because he "enjoys the challenge of making something bad sound good." He describes himself as a "schooled" guitarist, compared to bandmate John Flansburgh, who was self-taught. [7]
On June 21, 2008, Miller married Annette Berry, a graphic artist and creative director based in Manhattan. Berry is credited with designing They Might Be Giants' 1999 studio album, Long Tall Weekend . [1] [8]
Year | Title | Director(s) |
---|---|---|
2019 | Hungry to Learn (In Post) | Geeta Gandbhir |
2018 | Armed with Faith | Asad Faruqi Geeta Gandbhir (Winner 2019 Emmy for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary) |
2016 | Death by a Thousand Cuts | Jake Kheel |
2012 | The Perfect Victim | Elizabeth Rohrbaugh |
2011 | Rhag | Doug Walker |
2010 | The Carrier | Maggie Betts |
Year | Title | Network |
---|---|---|
2014 | Gracepoint | FX Networks (Music Producer and Editor) |
2011 | The Substitute | MTV Networks |
2008-11 | Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force | A&E Networks (Theme and Incidental Music) |
2007-9 | Jon and Kate Plus 8 | Discovery Network |
2000-1 | Malcolm in the Middle | FOX Network (incidental music with TMBG) |
They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG expanded to include a backing band. The duo has been credited as vital in the creation and growth of the prolific DIY music scene in Brooklyn in the mid-1980s; the duo's current backing band consists of Marty Beller, Dan Miller and Danny Weinkauf.
Flood is the third studio album by Brooklyn-based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants, released in January 1990. Flood was the duo's first album on the major label Elektra Records. It generated three singles: "Birdhouse in Your Soul", "Istanbul ", and the domestic promotional track "Twisting". The album is generally considered to be the band's definitive release, as it is their best-selling and most recognizable album. Despite minimal stylistic and instrumental differences from previous releases, Flood is distinguished by contributions from seasoned producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. John Linnell and John Flansburgh also took advantage of new equipment and recording techniques, including unconventional, home-recorded samples, which were programmed through Casio FZ-1 synthesizers. The album was recorded in New York City at Skyline Studios, which was better equipped than studios the band had worked in previously.
They Might Be Giants, sometimes called The Pink Album, is the debut studio album from Brooklyn-based band They Might Be Giants. It was released by Bar/None in 1986. The album generated two singles, "Don't Let's Start" and "(She Was A) Hotel Detective". It is included on Then: The Earlier Years, a compilation of the band's early material, in its entirety, with the exception of "Don't Let's Start", which is replaced with the single mix for the compilation.
John Henry is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock group They Might Be Giants. It was released in 1994. It is the first album by They Might Be Giants to include a full band arrangement, rather than synthesized and programmed backing tracks. The album's name, a reference to the man versus machine fable of John Henry, is an allusion to the band's fundamental switch to more conventional instrumentation, especially the newly established use of a human drummer instead of a drum machine.
Lincoln is the second studio album by the band They Might Be Giants. It was released by Bar/None in 1988. The album is named after John Linnell and John Flansburgh's boyhood home of Lincoln, Massachusetts. The album produced three singles—"Ana Ng", "They'll Need a Crane", and "Purple Toupee". It is included on Then: The Earlier Years, a compilation of the band's early material, in its entirety.
John Conant Flansburgh is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York-based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar.
Apollo 18 is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants. It was released in 1992 through Elektra Records and was named after the cancelled Apollo 18 mission that was scheduled to have followed Apollo 17. The album was also associated with International Space Year, for which They Might Be Giants were declared the official "musical ambassadors" by NASA.
Long Tall Weekend is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants, released in 1999. It was released exclusively online through the digital music service eMusic. The album was the band's first since their departure from the major label Elektra. Long Tall Weekend was also the first full-length album released exclusively on the Internet by an established major label band. Although the album's primary release was digital, CDs of the album were issued promotionally. Following the success of the album's release through eMusic, TMBG went on to issue a digital series of rarities collections — TMBG Unlimited — through their website.
"(She Was A) Hotel Detective" is a song and single by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. It was released as a single on May 5, 1988, two years after the release of They Might Be Giants, the album on which it originally appeared. The "Hotel Detective" title has become a somewhat recurring theme for the band.
"Particle Man" is a song by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, released and published in 1990. The song is the seventh track on the band's third album, Flood. It has become one of the band's most popular songs, despite never having been released as a single. John Linnell and John Flansburgh performed the song, backed by a metronome, for their 1990 Flood promotional video. Although it was released over a decade before the band began writing children's music, "Particle Man" is sometimes cited as a particularly youth-appropriate TMBG song, and a precursor to their first children's album, No!, which was not explicitly educational. The song is partially influenced by the theme of the 1967 Spider-Man TV series.
Here Come the ABCs is the second children's album and eleventh studio album by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, aimed at young children learning the alphabet. The CD and DVD were originally released separately, but since have been released together as a combo. There are 25 songs in the CD and 38 in the DVD.
"The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)" is a song and single by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, released in 1992. The track is one of three singles from Apollo 18. The song has also appeared on several compilation albums, including Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants and A User's Guide to They Might Be Giants.
"Purple Toupee" is a 1988 song by alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants from their second album, Lincoln. It was released as a promotional single in 1989. In 1994, a live performance of the song was recorded for the promotional live album, Live!! New York City 10/14/94, which was released by Elektra Records.
Danny Weinkauf is a Grammy-winning New York-based musician and composer.
Here Comes Science is the fourth children's album and fourteenth studio album by American alternative rock band, They Might Be Giants, packaged as a CD/DVD set. The album is science-themed, and is the third in their line of educational albums, following 2005's Here Come the ABCs and 2008's Here Come the 123s. It was nominated for the "Best Musical Album For Children" Grammy.
Artificial Heart is the eighth studio album by rock musician Jonathan Coulton. After taking a long hiatus from songwriting after his successful 2006 Thing a Week project, Coulton started production on Artificial Heart after encouragement from John Flansburgh, also the album's producer. Unlike much of Coulton's previous work, Artificial Heart's original lyricism is largely non-comedic and contains few references to geek culture overall, instead opting for heavy themes of betrayal, commitment, abandonment, and surrender.
"Can't Keep Johnny Down" is a song by American alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. The song was released as a promotional single from the band's 2011 album, Join Us. Like all the artwork surrounding the Join Us album, the cover art and labels for the disc were designed by the Office of Paul Sahre.
Nanobots is the sixteenth studio album from Brooklyn-based alternative rock group They Might Be Giants. Uncharacteristically for the band, the album's title comes from an album track, as the second track shares a title with the album. The album was released on March 5, 2013 on Idlewild Recordings — the band's independent imprint — with Megaforce Records in the US. The album was also separately released on March 8 in Australia through Breakaway Records and on March 11 in Europe, through Lojinx. One week before its physical release, Nanobots was released digitally for streaming in its entirety through the band's SoundCloud, announced by Rolling Stone. Prior to this, "Call You Mom", "Black Ops" and "Lost My Mind" were released through the advance digital Nanobots EP in January 2013. The EP, released through Amazon.com and iTunes, was met with fairly positive responses.
"You're on Fire" is a song by American alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. It was released on February 21, 2013 as an advance track from their album Nanobots, which was released March 5, 2013. On May 24, the band performed the song on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.
The Escape Team is the 22nd album by New York City-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, released on December 10, 2018 for digital download and pre-order. The digital download and pre-order was released simultaneously with My Murdered Remains. The physical album was released in May 2019.