Talk:Danny Weinkauf

Dan vs Danny

Aside from being part of the "Band of Dans," I don't think I've ever heard him called Dan. I think we should move this page to Danny.

I agree. Go ahead if you want. :) -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 20:35, 25 Apr 2006 (CDT)

Depends on who you know- I have been calling him both for about 20 years and he answers to both.

Age?

Does anyone have any idea of what year Weinkauf was born? I haven't been able to find his birth year anywhere.

Well, I don't know, but it does say it's his birthday right now. I'm so happy for that almost-half-of-one-hundred-year-old for being a bass-player. :) -User:Flansfan

RED PANTS

I feel like there should be a special notation of THE RED PANTS somewhere. Seriously. --Self Called Nowhere 16:51, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

"Weinkauf is known for his pants, which tend to omit a wavelength of roughly 630–740 nanometers as preceived by the human eye. He has been recorded wearing these trousers as early as 199_." No, seriously, can I add this? -Apollo (oh no!) 17:07, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

DO IT. Also, my friend was at a screening of Gigantic and apparently during the closing credits some women in the audience yelled, "RED PANTS??" really loudly. --Self Called Nowhere 17:12, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

 :D they are certainly pants to be excited about. -Apollo (oh no!) 17:18, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

Marty wears them too, y'know. -- Jason DeLima - ♥! - 20:14, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

Does he?? LAME. --Self Called Nowhere 20:20, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

Yup -- Jason DeLima - ♥! - 20:23, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

Bah. Well I still consider Marty "the new guy" so it doesn't count as far as I'm concerned! What a Danny wannabe. --Self Called Nowhere 20:29, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

The pants. *loves*. They really are pants to get excited about. -Sparkling_Omelets

I'm wearing red pants right now, just because of him!

Who wrote Danny's basslines?

Hi, this is my first ever Wiki post. I'm not sure where to ask this, but does anyone know if the backing band members write their own parts? Particularly interested in Danny – I know that he plays on the recordings where he's credited, but were his bass parts written by Flans/Linnell or did he write them himself?

As a comparison, to my knowledge, most "backing band" / "touring band" members do not compose their parts despite the length of period they've been with the band. Examples that immediately come to mind: Of Montreal (most other members except Kevin Barnes), Yeah Yeah Yeahs (David Pajo).

I'm asking this because after being initially smitten with the Johns for a while as a fairly new TMBG fan, lately the bass lines have been growing on me and I'd like to know whom to swoon over for those lines! Thanks :) --Eka / I Might Be a Cephalophore 22:33, 18 February 2013 (UTC+7)

hi! first off, this is a perfectly fine place to post any questions of this nature. second, to your question, my personal guess (mind, this is speculation) would be that danny does generally write his own parts, as do the rest of the band members. the johns might provide a general outline, and, obviously, they give a melody and harmony to follow, but i think it's up to the band to add their own flourishes. in some cases, like, say, "seven", where bass parts are the primary instrument(s), the lines may have been concocted by a john. and sometimes the bass will actually be synthetic and done by mr. linnell, as in "au contraire".

in the earlier years (ie pre-john henry), i know flans would occasionally pick up the real, live bass, but nearly all of it was synthesisers. the johns put those parts together themselves (iirc john linnell did most of the synth bass). over the years, the style of bass in tmbg's music has definitely evolved from those lines. don't forget that tmbg has gone through numerous bassists. i think each kind of had their own style, and each was allowed to express that during his run in the band. tmbg's "backing band" is kind of more a part of the actual band than a typical backing band, i think. i don't imagine the johns restrict their creative output too much — if they write their own songs for the children's albums, i don't see why they can't do their own instrumental pieces! mr. weinkauf is a very competent musician, and i think he brings a lot to the table. his basslines tend to be loads of fun, and right on for getting into them! :D sorry if this was a bit incoherent. it would probably have been advisable to collect my thoughts before responding, but this is something i get kind of (perhaps unjustly) excited about. -Apollo (colloquia!) 11:34, 17 February 2013 (EST)

I would mostly concur. Though I think it may vary a bit from song to song. My impression is that the Johns bring some songs to the table as a fairly fully formed demo, and then work with the band to fill in their individual parts and improve upon the original idea. Where as other songs are brought in as more vague outlines and are worked up together as a group. I know Flans has said that the band members are always the arbiters of good taste when it comes to their own parts, so I think they have a lot of influence when it comes to the final product, but not autonomous control (except on those songs they write themselves). --BlueCanary 21:37, 17 February 2013 (EST)

Marty Beller got into this in an article he wrote, from just after Join Us came out. He's talking about drum parts and not bass, but tomato/tomato, right? http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2011/07/marty-beller-of-they-might-be-giants

"TMBG’s recording process is ambitious, and the material is unpredictable. Some songs arrive as fully realized demos with loops or programmed drums. The challenge of topping the loop both sonically and musically is not always obvious. Other songs’ grooves and arrangements are up for grabs. I love this process. Whatever shape the track arrives in, we all have a common goal: to make the song as immediate and as memorable as possible. This demands a lot of trial and error, but the variety of approaches is wonderful. We recorded one song at several different speeds. On another I use my knuckles on the body of an acoustic guitar. On another I had two sticks in each hand and played the side of the floor tom to give a more traditional snare “train” groove additional flavor.

~ magbatz 01:23, 18 February 2013 (EST)

Thank you for the answers Apollo, Blue Canary, magbatz! Didn't expect to get a response so fast! I guess in this respect the Dans & Marty more resemble "full" band members than touring/backing members. Interesting that TMBG are still normally described in the media as a duo (with the three guys mentioned as some sort of addendum) instead of simply as a five-piece. Does anyone know whether the guys were ever promoted/mentioned as official members or anything like that?

Anyway, I just registered on the Wiki and hope to contribute someday. Cheers all! -Eka / I Might Be a Cephalophore 15:36, 18 February 2013 (EST)

i'm pretty sure that at least in the join us liner notes (perhaps others, i'm not at home to check anything right now and my memory is not very specific) all five guys are listed as "they might be giants", and i'm fairly certain they're in alphabetical order (ie johns aren't inherently first). however, i'm pretty sure for promotional and technical purposes, they might be giants is john linnell and john flansburgh. i do personally still consider tmbg to be properly a "duo", because the johns are the core of the band, and they're quite a lot less replaceable than the dans/marty (which is not to say that those guys aren't superimportant and talented! it's just that they have gone through quite a few backing band members over the years). but i think i might be getting a little off topic. :p -Apollo (colloquia!) 16:05, 18 February 2013 (EST)

the johns are listed first on join us. it's the else where they're all in alphabetical order. -- 16:35, 18 February 2013 (EST)

I believe in one of the interviews from the Join Us promotional period, Flansburgh told the interviewer, who asked a very similar question, that "spiritually" Dan, Danny and Marty are full fledged members of the band but that for complicated legal reasons, the Johns retain the legal rights to the name. --BlueCanary 00:29, 19 February 2013 (EST)

Danny Weinkauf Anagram

My favorite anagram of anybody's name in the band:

WANNA DIE FUNKY

--You&Me!! (talk) 13:55, 18 November 2021 (EST)