Talk:Danny Weinkauf Interview

Introduction

To celebrate the upcoming release of his children's album, No School Today, Danny Weinkauf has agreed to conduct an interview with TMBW. Since the wiki is both by the fans and for the fans, we are letting you, the fans, submit questions you would like Danny to answer. Now is your opportunity to get to know the man behind the bass! This weekend, we will be submitting the questions to Danny along with a few of our own, and letting him answer his favorites. While he has said he will answer anything, we do reserve the right to remove any questions we deem inappropriate before we send them to him. Questions may also be reordered or copyedited before they are sent to Danny.

A couple of notes:

• As this interview was granted to celebrate No School Today, a portion of the questions should be focused on the new album, not just about TMBG, so think about what you'd like to know about the project.
• This is a wonderful opportunity to get first hand info for Danny's bio page on the wiki, so take a look at the info on there and see what details are missing that you'd really like to know.

Submissions were open between November 18 and 22.

Questions

Submissions are now closed. Thanks everybody!

To start off...

Here are a few questions to get the ball rolling:

• How much of the instrumentation on the new album did you do yourself?
• What made you decide to release an album for kids, as opposed to adults?
• At what point in the TMBG songwriting process are you and the rest of the backing band brought in? Does it vary from song to song or is the general structure usually already in place before you hear an idea?
• What is the origin story on the famous red pants?

Submissions

Place your questions for Danny below:

• How much formal training do you have in music? How is that beneficial (or detrimental) to your songwriting process? Apollo (colloquia!) 15:26, 18 November 2013 (EST)
• How did the vibe change from touring as part of Lincoln to touring as part of They Might Be Giants? Have there been any stops on tour that were particularly memorable, for good or bad reasons, you'd like to relate? Mongoose 23:16, 18 November 2013 (EST)
• What are some of your favorite children's albums from when you were a kid, and have they influenced this album significantly? Mongoose 23:19, 18 November 2013 (EST)
• I was interested to read that you've worked as a Pediatric Physical Therapist. How difficult was it to make the transition from PT to full-time musician? Was music just a hobby that you nurtured during your years as a PT, or something that you'd always planned to pursue? CallMeMommyMarshmello (talk) 13:01, 19 November 2013 (EST)
• Do you personally ever use This Might Be a Wiki? Apollo (colloquia!) 16:41, 19 November 2013 (EST)
• What bands / music would you listen to personally? PuppetToupee (talk) 15:00, 20 November 2013 (EST)
• Would you say the sound of the band has changed in your opinion since you started playing with them? Also, what's the relationship between everyone during downtime been like over the years? PuppetToupee (talk) 15:00, 20 November 2013 (EST)
• I don't have a specific question, but I'd love to know more about Lincoln (we know very little!); how did it form, what was the band (specifically Chris Temple) like, and how did you and Dan both make your way to TMBG? (And what were your initial impressions of TMBG?) -- 15:15, 20 November 2013 (EST)
• Do you still drink tea? What are your favourite teas? -- 15:15, 20 November 2013 (EST)
• Do you have any pets? --Self Called Nowhere (talk) 18:25, 20 November 2013 (EST)
• Do you remember the first song you recorded with They Might Be Giants? Were you a fan of their work or know them beforehand? What was your reaction to being asked to join the band? Did you expect to remain with the group this long? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.154.154.220 (talk • contribs) 17:28, November 20, 2013‎
• Who are some of your favorite bassists? Is there anyone in particular you credit with teaching you a lot? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.154.154.220 (talk • contribs) 17:28, November 20, 2013‎
• You play many instruments on your new album. Are these instruments you had played previously or did you learn them for this album? Did you find it easy to pick up new instruments? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.154.154.220 (talk • contribs) 17:28, November 20, 2013‎
• When writing songs, for this album or for projects in general, what instrument do you sit down and write with? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.154.154.220 (talk • contribs) 17:28, November 20, 2013‎
• How did you first meet Dan Miller? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.154.154.220 (talk • contribs) 17:28, November 20, 2013‎
• Where did you grow up? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.154.154.220 (talk • contribs) 17:28, November 20, 2013‎
• It's become a tradition for band members to have a song on the TMBG children records but you had the first with "Where Do They Make Balloons?" on No! How did this come about? Did you ask them for a spot or did they open the floor to the band? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.154.154.220 (talk • contribs) 17:28, November 20, 2013‎
• When did you start playing bass? Bells12
• Will there be a tour for your solo album? Bells12
• Kai has an incredible singing voice. Has he received formal training, or is that just natural talent? CallMeMommyMarshmello (talk) 02:02, 21 November 2013 (EST)
• You used to preface early performances of Where Do They Make Ballons? with a disclaimer that you were not a singer. What made you change your mind? Was there anything in particular that helped build your confidence for vocal performance? --BlueCanary (talk) 10:49, 21 November 2013 (EST)
• As a multi-instrumentalist, were there any instruments you found more difficult to learn than others? Are there any that you'd still like to master that you haven't tried yet? --BlueCanary (talk) 10:49, 21 November 2013 (EST)
• Do you recall any particular moment when you first felt like you had "made it" as a professional musician? --BlueCanary (talk) 10:49, 21 November 2013 (EST)
• Besides music, what are some of your other interests? Any interesting hobbies? --BlueCanary (talk) 10:49, 21 November 2013 (EST)
• Did you get your own Grammy statue or do you have to share one with the rest of the band? And if you did, where do you keep it? --BlueCanary (talk) 10:49, 21 November 2013 (EST)
• Danny, if you were to choose, what is your favorite They Might Be Giants album, and why? Any favorite song in particular? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Doctor particle man (talk • contribs) 20:12, 21 November 2013 (EST)
• What's your favorite TMBG bass line? Favorite Beatles bass line? Where do they make balloons?--Wireless mike (talk) 22:19, 22 November 2013 (EST)
• Apart from thematic differences in the song subjects, do you take a different approach to music writing for adults than you do for children? --Johnreale (talk) 10:56, 22 November 2013 (EST)
• In your Kickstarter, you describe yourself as bassist "for TMBG" rather than "in TMBG". With the whole history of John L and John F _being_ TMBG before there ever was a full band, there's an interesting and unique structure to the musical org chart. Do you consider yourself to be _in_ They Might Be Giants? --Johnreale (talk) 11:00, 22 November 2013 (EST)
• Do you workshop your songs with your own children, or do you finish your songs first before you share them? --Johnreale (talk) 11:00, 22 November 2013 (EST)
• When did you first think that writing children's songs might be something you wanted to try your hand at? --Johnreale (talk) 11:01, 22 November 2013 (EST)